+ inload: A trot down memory lane +

 + Space Marines, 90s-style +

+ A deep hobby rut sometime needs something completely out of the blue to blow away the cobwebs. Something, in my case, like breaking out some long-buried treasure – Space Marines from the 90s. +

+ Looking just like the RTB15 Strike Force single-piece miniatures; these are the short-lived and ill-advertised two-part marines that were (by the looks of things) made from the same dollies; plus a couple of the slightly-modified later versions. +

+ History of the models +

+ What's the difference? This is real rivet-counter stuff, and I confess to being a bit unsure about the timings. These were released towards the end of Rogue Trader, when the Marines were going through a quiet redesign and being issued what's now called Mark VII armour. I'm unsure whether the single or two-piece ones came first. +

+ I'm inclined to venture that the two-piece ones were produced following the pattern established by the RTB01 plastic marines (separate body and legs) and intended to be cross-compatible with the RTB01 sprue, but that they were subsequently repackaged as the Beakies were quietly retired in favour of Mark VII, and re-cast as single-piece models. Eventually, as GW moved over to a commercial model of single casts with a different (flat-shouldered) arm sprue, the single-piece models were converted and re-cast again. +

+ A pile of potential +

+ If you're a collector, the key difference between the early and later ones is the shoulders. Both the single-part Strike Force Marines and two-part versions had a raised bobble that was intended to be used with a short-lived arm sprue that accompanied them. The later recut had flat shoulders, so they could be used with the later plastic arm sprue. You can see some of the arms from that later sprue above: they're the ones in grey (though unhelpfully I've shot them all shoulder-part down; you'll have to trust me that they're flat!)+

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+ Our Presence Remakes the Past +

+ I'd had a set of the Strike Force Marines many years ago, and I'd idly wondered since whether they would work with the RTB01 plastic arms. If my hunch was correct, and the two-part marines were produced as a compatible expansion, the early plastic arms should marry up nicely –  or at least as closely as any models did back then! +

+ My own Strike Force Marines, alas, are largely scattered to the winds and lost to history (with the exception of Brother Engel [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]), so I owe these figures to the boundless generosity of the PCRC; Stuntwedge (for the lead) and Bob Hunk (for the RTB01 bits). +

A spot of retro glue fits in rather nicely, no? 

+ The backpack is the style supplied with the Strike Force models; but I'd have been interested in trying the RTB01 backpack or the earlier metal ones as well. +

Built and unprimed, on the original 25mm bases. The grey boltgun is from a Rhino.

+ The experiment proved a success. The arms seem to fit nicely – and if you'll excuse a little editorial opinion, I think the proportions are actually a bit nicer than the arms with which the models were actually supplied. +

+ It was an experience coming back to working with lead/plastic combination minis. I have hazy memories of getting the whole strike force assembled and handed over to my big brother to spray them within about an hour of getting the box home (which perhaps explains the rather 'interesting' pose Engel has), but I took my time over these relics of a past age, and it took me an entire evening to get the five assembled. +

+ Flash and mouldlines needed trimming and filing, but the majority of the time was spent wrestling with the poses and adjusting slightly shonky casting. The fixed-forward nature of the marines' poses meant that any pose besides 'stoically menacing' is pretty hard to pull off, a problem exacerbated by the limited bits I had to work with and limited poses of the RTB01 arms. +

+ It's easy to start treating old miniatures like treasure, but that's precisely why these old veterans have never seen paint. Rather than being too precious with them, I decided to take advantage of the soft lead and cut off the bare head to allow a better pose. I also cut and repositioned the RTB01 boltgun magazine – another bugbear of mine – in each case. Slightly infuriatingly, repositioning the magazine backwards actually means that the accompanying arm fits and grips it a lot better! +

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+ Fall in, Marines +

+ After rebasing onto 32mm bases – purists may recoil, but I like the additional framing these offer – I gave the models a prime of Grey Seer, partly for retro theme (my 90s models were always primed white), but mostly because it was the nearest I had to hand. +

+ Once sprayed, the differences between the materials is obscured, and the results were pretty good, I think. +

+ The bare-headed sergeant is interesting, as they were only ever available in the two-part versions. I remember looking at the Blood Angels in WD139 and wondering how the painters had converted their marines to have a bare head. It's a shame, as the sculpt is really characterful. I went for a fairly conservative pose, and added a little heraldic shield as a nod to modernity. As noted above, it's easy to let nostalgia or notions of 'what's correct' stop you from making the models you actually want to build. +

+ This marine is reloading his boltgun; a pose intended to make the most of the fact the two-part marines can turn. The spare magazine is also from the RTB01 kit, as are the bolt pistols and other kit on the squad. +

+ An example of the difficulties of getting dynamic poses from these miniatures, this was an attempt to have the marine aiming, which involved cutting the gun arm at the shoulder and wrist. You can't get the marine looking down the boltgun without cutting the helmet off, so the result is a bit of a compromise. Still pleased with him, though; a nice in-between pose, gun up and scanning the area. +

+ When looking at these pictures, I had the weirdest impression that I was looking at Epic marines. I guess over the years I've played about with different scales of marines, and so without some sort of reference, I can't quite tell what's what! It's interesting to think about 'truescale' here; because it was the giant heads and hands and tiny legs of later models that first spurred me into more ambitious converting – but while the proportions here are clearly exaggerated, these marines don't strike me as stylised as later ones. Perhaps it's the use of the RTB01 arms, with less detail, slim arms, and smaller pauldrons and hands, that makes them read slightly more realistically than the later releases. +

+ The plasma gun here is one of the few touches of modernity; it's from the Mark IV Horus Heresy kit, I think, and included simply because I happened to find it while digging these models out. I'm half-tempted to find a period gun, but it strikes me that some source lighting glow might be fun to play with. +

+ ... and someone's got to be last, so here's a marine performing the rite of 'technical knock' on his blessed battlegear. Partly forced by lack of parts, and partly for the challenge of having a left-handed marine (repositioning the thumb was an experience), I'm pleased with the result. It also leaves the chest decoration visible – and that's noteworthy because it's got that distinctive gem that seemed almost a Jes Goodwin hallmark around this time. +

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