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Starting this thread to see how far minis have progressed over the years. If you have a mini that's old post it and hopefully somebody will post the newer version.

I've got the ooooooooold WHFB Orc Catapult, the one with tons of ugly Grots

I've got a few minis older than I am, mid 80s at a guess, that I got from relatives. They paint up a treat, there's a few here that look just a nice today as they did nearly 30 years ago:

This old Farseer

Probably this:



It's from 1994 and I got it off of eBay for a really good price last year.

My squats or 2nd ed Bloodletter

I have some old Citadel C11 halflings, and got those off ebay because I didn't like the 'butterball with ill-fitting clothes' theme of newer versions. In some of those ebay lots and trawls I also ended up with the gnome jester from the old Dwarf King's Court set, and a were-boar that could be easily mistaken for a piece of chewed gum.

I also have a few Grenadier dragons from the mid-80's, Julie Guthrie and John Dennett sculpts, and I don't think there's been much 'progression over the years' for that particular kind of mini either.

You might want to check out the Flashback Friday thread. Lots of retro classic stuff over there.

The oldest stuff I have is some ancient lead grenadier stuff. Here is a sample:

(Some Ral Partha stuff in there as well) Two of the first minis I painted are in that pic.

From a GW POV, I’ve got a chunk of old RT lead (and plastics)


If you are looking at how things progress, here is a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition dreadnought in a row.


Also on the topic of progress, Here is a HB and sarge made from the modern tac box, where you can put together a full suit of Mk. VI corvus armor joining a squad of RTB01 beakies in my 4th squad. The flamer a 3rd ed gun, held by a RT marine.

This little guy is my oldest. I got him 15 years ago in a pack of space marines. During one of my moves, my car was broken into and almost everything I owned was stolen. This guy was in the pocket of my jacket, so he's kind of special to me.

When I started doing conversions, he was one of my first practice models. Maybe someday I'll try to give him a better paintjob. lol

Oldest models I have are the Chaos Toilet, Kaleb Daark (both on foot and mounted), Sergeant Centurius, and a full Nightmare Legion Regiment of Renown.

Will probably remember a few others later, but that's what I can remember off the top of my head.

Would these fellows count? Just found them in the garage recently"

I have a RT Rhino and part of a Predator.

These were my first *miniatures* ever I think they are Ral Partha.



Using a brush and paints that were pretty much like this



My first models were actually Star Wars; I had an X-Wing fighter and a Millennium Falcon, neither of which were completed (holy crap did I ever destroy them), and then afterwards, I had a U-Boat model, which did get successfully put together. I had some other odds-and-ends models too (cars, motorcycles, planes, Japanese robots), before I got into lead miniatures.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Probably this:



It's from 1994 and I got it off of eBay for a really good price last year.

If you build that kit, you gotta show us how it looks! I love that show and have been watching it on Netflix (no spoilers please, I'm only through season 1).

As for my oldest mini, it would either be one of my 1999 release Space Marine Land Speeders (the kit is about the same as the current ones except for the single-piece body that makes it a PITA to put together), or perhaps my recently acquired metal Chaos Champion on Juggernaut (no idea how old the kit is). Of course, I have a bunch of metal Flesh Hounds of Khorne that I don't know how old they are (two different types).

The first model I ever completed was Polar Lights' Klingon D7 Battlecruiser. I actually assembled and painted that model in two days (I was like 15 at the time and I didn't do a very good job, but I was proud of it at the time!).

Probably the old metal dreadnought I keep inside a sock for self-defence.

Yeah, that thing is probably the oldest.

I still have some beaky marines from RT floating around. Used to have a bunch of RT Eldar and Space Marines, but sold them off.

Captain Dickery, has two Lightning Claws and is full metal.
TBH I don't know what edition but it's metal so = old.

My 1989 Ultramarines Captain is older than I am by a good 8 years, and inspired the design for Captain Sicarius almost 20 years later.

 toasteroven wrote:
Would these fellows count? Just found them in the garage recently"

Have you ever looked up how much the old Hero Quest boxes sell for now?

The captain would probably also be Sicarius from the Medusa V campaign from 2006ish.

This guy

 Grimtuff wrote:
The captain would probably also be Sicarius from the Medusa V campaign from 2006ish.

This guy

I'm afraid he's not the one i've got. I have seen it before and I really don't like it!
He seems to be 2nd (Metal, Slightly less thin shoulderpads than RT, still might be confused for a ball of chewed gum) and converted, it was this body:

with the second edition Terminator claws. Weird.

 Peter Wiggin wrote:

Have you ever looked up how much the old Hero Quest boxes sell for now?

Nah, but it wouldn't do me much good either way. These three are it, as far as I can find. My sisters and I loved that game when we were kids, but we didn't exactly treat it well.

TSR Bard

Dwarf King on Throne


From a metal set by TSR for D&D, '88 or '89

I have several old Rogue Trader metals. How about a Space Marine with an autogun, or the old two-handed power axes?

Or this rogue trader with a power axe (not my paintjob, just an example)

Old metal DA model looks like this

From 1988 a chaos familiar... (#11) http://www.solegends.com/citcat1988/cat1988p026-00.htm



I'm in the middle of painting him up and making a sceinic base.

 SirDonlad wrote:
From 1988 a chaos familiar... (#11) http://www.solegends.com/citcat1988/cat1988p026-00.htm



I'm in the middle of painting him up and making a sceinic base.

Kinda looks like the sack puppets from the movie "9"

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

 SirDonlad wrote:
From 1988 a chaos familiar... (#11) http://www.solegends.com/citcat1988/cat1988p026-00.htm



I'm in the middle of painting him up and making a sceinic base.

Kinda looks like the sack puppets from the movie "9"

Or a mannequin.

 Peter Wiggin wrote:
This little guy is my oldest. I got him 15 years ago in a pack of space marines. During one of my moves, my car was broken into and almost everything I owned was stolen. This guy was in the pocket of my jacket, so he's kind of special to me.

When I started doing conversions, he was one of my first practice models. Maybe someday I'll try to give him a better paintjob. lol

great job on that old @#$%y starter set model, even better story behind it.

For me... are we talking oldest that I bought new or oldest we've gone back and bought?

I got my first 28mm models in the early 90s, RT marines and some RT era adventurers.

First model was about a year before them, Epic Space Marine starter set with the Warlord titan.

I'll have to unpack them and take photos one of these days.

 Grimtuff wrote:

Spoiler:

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

 SirDonlad wrote:
From 1988 a chaos familiar... (#11) http://www.solegends.com/citcat1988/cat1988p026-00.htm



I'm in the middle of painting him up and making a sceinic base.

Kinda looks like the sack puppets from the movie "9"

Or a mannequin.

Did you just win dakka this day?

Some pre-slotta GW Dwarfs from the early 80s. A huge collection of them, actually.

40K-wise, some really old SM captains in blister, RT-era Calgar in blister (sitting on his throne), old Games Day blisters.