Happy Monday chaps & chapesses, last week & weekend was completely hectic so I didn’t really get too much hobby done, but I did manage to finish something a little bit special. Any Oldhammerers out there will certainly recognise this picture from Rogue Trader:

The chap circled has been a bit of a mystery for many decades, but thanks to the power of the Inerweb Hivemind, we now know that he is an unreleased RT ‘Adventurer type’, and that in terms of being rare, he’s up there with rocking horse poop and hens teeth… Basically, you’re unlikely to ever see an original, let alone own one. Luckily for us, the wonderful people at Foundry have some of the original molds from back in the day, and they re-cast some previously unreleased RT goodies in time for this year’s Bring Out Your Lead event. I didn’t make the event itself, but luckily, Foundry have made the set available, so, long story short, I have a few sets to play with.

I knew that I wanted to do a proper 8-Ball as an homage to the original but the only photo I could find is the RT one, and that doesn’t give much detail other than ‘massive 8-ball head and green clothes’… Not too much to go on really! On seeing the model, you realise what a lovely sculpt it is from the front, but the back is pretty plain. It has a nub that looks like it should have a backpack attached, so I decided to take a liberty and add a Flamer backpack, (minus the excess skullage), and a length of hose to connect it to the front of the suit. I also added a knife on one side, which I imagine is held on via a mag-strip (saving me the effort of sculpting a sheath), and a random cog on the other, just to break it up a little… and because cogs are cool. Paint-wise, I went with a khaki green for the suit, but used grey and red on various pads just to add some interest. The backpack got painted ‘distressed yellow’, and I painted the famous 8-ball helmet black, added the detail freehand, and then glossed it to give it a bit of depth and to allow it to reflect highlights naturally.

On reflection, it’s a bit of a Boba Fett pallet, so I’m really starting to think of this guy as a bounty hunter… I have another one to paint as well, so he can have a pal to play with – got a bonkers idea for him btw 😉

Anyhow, here’s the finished piece. I absolutely love it – retro, classic, ridiculous, mysterious, beautiful, cool… all of my favourite things in one convoluted little sculpt. Enjoy: