A Harlequin Miss!

Recently I was in VA for a Blood Bowl tourney, at FTW games in Modlothian (Richmond), and found a bunch of retro Harlequin Eldar minis on display for sale.  It was obvious by the poor paint, the dust on the base, and the fact that they were throw-backs to the late eighties; that someone had purchased them as a young blood, painted them up, went to college and boxed them up... and there they sat! Probably his young wife forced him to "clean out the closet" so they ended up at the store! Well, I took pity on one and brought it home with the intention of doing a "how to" post on stripping a mini and starting over--so here is the piece as it arrived!  The previous owner sure missed an opportunity on this cool Harlequin mini!

Poor application of color, not a lot of attention to detail, and the dust is still on the base... again, probably a young blood "back in the day"

 

This is the paint stripper that I use on metal minis.  DO NOT use it on plastics as it will melt them!  Make sure you put on rubber gloves or it will give you chemical burns on your skin, and use it in a well ventilated area.  I would also recommend eye-protection.  Once applied, let the mini sit for about ten minutes, and then scrub off the paint with an old toothbrush.  Rinse well with soap and water making sure to get all that paint-stripper off.

 

Here I am using an X-acto knife to clean away the few small areas that the toothbrush could not get to.  Note: Make sure this is a discarded toothbrush, and not the one you are currently using! *wink*

Ta-da! All ready for priming and painting!

 

Super-gluing the model to the base.  I have a bottle of paint behind him to secure him in an 'upright' position as he was a little wobbly in the base.

Next I am going to fill in the gaps in his base with "Fix-it" a chemical welding compound that you can buy at most hardware stores.  Modelers often refer to this as "white-stuff" although this particular brand cures in about ten minutes... so work fast!!!

 

Applying the putty with an X-acto knife (I misplaced my modeling blade awhile back... I think it is time to get another!)

 

Shazam! After priming, here he is ready to have some paint applied to him!  The reason that removing the original layer of paint is so important, is because it preserves the details on the mini... if you don't remove that original paint, the extra layers of paint you apply start to get all gobbed up, and the fine detail of the sculptor is lost!

 

Hope this is helpful to you.  I will be sure to post the process through paint along with the finished product.