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As many past threads have dealt with this topic, I have finally located the missing molds for the old Citadel Imperial Dragon; sometimes known as the “Chicken Dragon.”

I bought the rights to this in 1984 from Bryan Ansell, who was at the time negotiating with the owners of the old Heritage USA/Miniatures Lines then produced (save for the ACW Figures) the Heritage Lines (something that fell-apart due to one of those owners being a huge ************ about the deal, making unrealistic demands, and having absolutely no understanding of the power-differentials between himself and Ansell).

But... I bought the Miniature/Production Rights. The Molds and Masters were thought lost in an accident in 1991/92, along with much else of value.

Due to what was a stroke of fortune due to a disreputable act by a Mold Maker, another set of molds was recently discovered, and returned to the owner.

There is now some effort to get it back into production.

But here is the first casting of the Citadel Imperial “Chicken” Dragon since early-1985:



MB

That is brilliant!!!

Thank you so much for bringing that bit of history back into production!!!

Wonderful.

I saw one in a local shop sometime in the eighties and fell in love. Sadly didn't have the economy then...

Now, sign me up!

/ Best regards Fredrik

The official release announcement is still a ways away (I need to finish cleaning and assembling one of them, which is a freaking LOT of work).

But before Summer the official announcement will be made.

And it is very possible that “more affordable options” will be available, as well as options that don’t weight 5kg+.

Can't wait until you can get this going. I've wanted to add one to my collection for a long time, but the actual effort to acquire one has so far been beyond me.

Is this real ?
I need a minute to pick my jaw up from the floor..

I feel like this is some dark age of technology intact STC find 40k equivalent level of awesome find.

That's an insane story. Those genesis years really fascinate me and I love looking at collectors catalogues of old stuff for early citadel. Thank you for resurrecting this bit of history. I am very keen to see more of this.

Frickin wow! Talk about luck!

I went hunting for picture and I assume it's this fella ? : http://solegends.com/citcat1983comp1/citcomp1022-01.htm

I think the picture doesn't show the scale very well because 24" wingspan is insanely huge!

I dread to think of a price, but I'm really really hype to see this going into production!

Agamennon2 posted a pic of the Dragon in an earlier thread when Op founded the molds.

In all his glory among biggest GW dragons.

Legend has it, that they heard so many 'fat dragon' jokes, Citadel dragon were anorexic for the next 2 decades.

Very excited about this and looking forward to news!

 Lord Perversor wrote:
Agamennon2 posted a pic of the Dragon in an earlier thread when Op founded the molds.

In all his glory among biggest GW dragons.

any chance you can repost the image ? I cant seem to view it from my work PC

I just copy pasted the image URl from the previous thread, just noticed my phone neither load it for some reason.

There is a link to the original page on Stuff of Legends with the image.

 Lord Perversor wrote:
I just copy pasted the image URl from the previous thread, just noticed my phone neither load it for some reason.

There is a link to the original page on Stuff of Legends with the image.

Thanks! theres some big boy dragons there I need for my collection

Here is a breakdown of the parts and some paperwork that came with it.

http://solegends.org/citdragon/thedragon/index.htm

Can't wait for these to be available. Will order the minute they are. Such a wonderful find to get this all time great model back in production, congratulations!

Holy crap, that critter is huge!

Any idea yet how much this might cost on release? And how much it'll weigh? Coz, yikers.... Don't want to think about postage for a metal thing that big.

 Snrub wrote:
Holy crap, that critter is huge!

Any idea yet how much this might cost on release? And how much it'll weigh? Coz, yikers.... Don't want to think about postage for a metal thing that big.

Currently we are looking at between $175 and $250 for the model.

And I believe that it weighed-in at around 3 to 4 kg (that’s over $100 in just the metal).

There is also some effort to slim-down many of the parts, given that newer Pewter Alloys are more “study” than the older Lead-Alloys.

And there is also a means to produce one in plastic at some point (given I have access to studio-level 3D Software, both for VFX, and for Industrial Prototyping/CAD-CAM Milling or 3D Printing).

And I have some parts that I began in the 1980s when I bought it from Citadel to produce some modifications (Legs in a flying pose. Legs that are a bit more “robust.” Different horn and head options. New wing options. ... etc.).

Currently I am awaiting some records from Customs to jog Brian Ansell’s memory about how I happen to have the Master-Molds for the Dragon (when I bought it, there was a LOT going on with Citadel: Opening in the USA. Negotiations with the company that used to be Heritage that Brian had talked about licensing to produce in England... Buying-out Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone... WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus .... for which I had several of the original Cast-Metal Warlord Titans until my late-wife stole literally everything I owned that wasn’t in another State or locked in a bank that she didn’t have access to, when I was in the hospital after an accident in May of 1999... Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Miniatures; the same in Books; and 5x that in artwork and other rare collectibles).

I just didn’t expect the Master Molds to be recovered, or I would have been more careful about the chain-of-custody, rights, and so on... But the Import Manifest from US Customs will tend to clear things up.

MB

i would love this in resin or plastic. BUT its such a historic design from a toy/model POV, may still be interested in metal

its not as detailed as the resin forgewold stuff or smaug and is quite a bit smaller than smaug but still; its cool and deserves its place in model history

SF

BeAfraid wrote:

 Snrub wrote:
Holy crap, that critter is huge!

Any idea yet how much this might cost on release? And how much it'll weigh? Coz, yikers.... Don't want to think about postage for a metal thing that big.

Currently we are looking at between $175 and $250 for the model.

And I believe that it weighed-in at around 3 to 4 kg (that’s over $100 in just the metal).

There is also some effort to slim-down many of the parts, given that newer Pewter Alloys are more “study” than the older Lead-Alloys.

And there is also a means to produce one in plastic at some point (given I have access to studio-level 3D Software, both for VFX, and for Industrial Prototyping/CAD-CAM Milling or 3D Printing).

And I have some parts that I began in the 1980s when I bought it from Citadel to produce some modifications (Legs in a flying pose. Legs that are a bit more “robust.” Different horn and head options. New wing options. ... etc.).

Currently I am awaiting some records from Customs to jog Brian Ansell’s memory about how I happen to have the Master-Molds for the Dragon (when I bought it, there was a LOT going on with Citadel: Opening in the USA. Negotiations with the company that used to be Heritage that Brian had talked about licensing to produce in England... Buying-out Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone... WH40K, Adeptus Titanicus .... for which I had several of the original Cast-Metal Warlord Titans until my late-wife stole literally everything I owned that wasn’t in another State or locked in a bank that she didn’t have access to, when I was in the hospital after an accident in May of 1999... Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Miniatures; the same in Books; and 5x that in artwork and other rare collectibles).

I just didn’t expect the Master Molds to be recovered, or I would have been more careful about the chain-of-custody, rights, and so on... But the Import Manifest from US Customs will tend to clear things up.

MB

Can't wait! Though I'm dreading the customs and shipping being based in the UK....

That's absolutely horrible about the wife, did you ever manage to get any of it back?

Amazing news! I'd love to get one when it becomes available.

Do you have an online shop? I would very much like to follow it.

Any news about the dragon? I want one!

Was hoping you had El Pollo Diablo, from Monkey Island, but sadly a Dragon will have to suffice...

I would also like to know if there's any update on this.

Given OP hasn’t posted on Dakka since their last message above, probs worth sending them a PM.

Quick update…

One bout of Osteomyelitis and Osteosarcoma later….

And then an interruption as the Company I am licensing (and maybe buying into) was considering a Merger/Acquisition that interrupted… Everything…

And we are back to trying to get this MF back into production (obviously referring to “Miniature Fiends” or some such).

I have been told that while I was being carefully poisoned that NARA has begun digitizing the Customs Records in Fort Worth.

And I used what time I could to work on optimizing parts to use newer alloys that are lighter (and need less metal), along with making the parts easier to assemble.

And creating some options for head, tail, wings, Legs, etc (I can show you some of them in just about 30 to 60 days). Including a set of plastic, more “in scale wings” (I am toying with the idea of making the plastic copy actually “Flyable” for those of you who have done R/C Aircraft, after I got a weight estimate on the parts, and found that the Micro-Ducted Fans used on indoor R/C models would be sufficient to “fly” it if I can figure out control surfaces). The “more In-Scale Wings span nearly 40” when outstretched.

But given Dragons tend to live in places where Substance or Property Dualism or Thomist Hylomorphism exist (along with Dragons)… the ability to convert “Soul/Will” to “Body/Mass” to “Energy” to do “Work” and aerodynamics will be a bit more forgiving of living things who REALLY WANT to fly.

Sorry for the long absence.

Advice: work REALLY HARD to avoid even minor cancer.

I think I mentioned that it isn’t hard to tell why people are so desperate to avoid Chemo (“Here! Take these Poisons, they will ‘cure’ you” … “Oh, what a relie… Wait!? Did you just say ‘PoisonS???’ Never mind “Poison” to begin with, but MULTIPLE POISONS???” … “Well… Yes… they have an EXCELLENT TRACK RECORD… But here are medications for the DEBILITATING side-effects… and medications for the side-effects of those… and …).

MB

Well that sounds absolutely wretched. Best of luck with your future health, and with getting this chicken hatched!

I am also glad to hear you are still kicking and looking forward to seeing where this project goes.

Best of luck, and hope you're feeling 100% soon.

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

I sympathize with your health problems, dear BeAfraid, I unfortunately experienced the same thing.
Glad to see that you are hanging on and that you are continuing despite everything this wonderful project of dragonesque resurrection.
We all have stoles in our eyes imagining that we could finally have this mythical beast in our hands one day ^-^