Recently I picked up two packs of the current release of Space Marine Heroes. These are the red plastic versions of the first series that were blue plastic. When that first series was released here in the States a few years ago, I collected a few of them of them to make a unit around the single Ultramarine guy that I had painted. However only recently have I been remotely focused on my Ultramarines so I never built these models. Until now.
My inspiration was a sick day. After leaving work early feeling like absolute crap, I went home and slept for about five hours. Feeling a bit better later in the day I didn't feel well enough to paint or draw but assembling simple models was just the right thing to focus on for a bit. And these models are definitely simple. They are push-fit, and some of GW's best examples of them if you want my opinion. I use Plastruct Bondene Styrene & ABS Plastic Solvent Cement to secure the bonds, but only on a few parts. I left some partz unglued so that I can paint behind them.
The first guy is Brother Castor. Or that was his name in the first set. In this current release he has a Blood Angel name is Brother Arteno. He's about as standard of a Space Marine that one can imagine.
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| Brother Arteno. Or Brother Castor. |
This next one is a standard guy as well, but that pose makes all the difference. I really like this one a lot. In the first series he was called Brother Gaiam. He does not appear in the current release so no Blood Angel name for him.
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| Brother Gaium. |
This next guy was called Brother Toriad in the original release. He was a rare model exclusive to Japan and not part of the U.S. release. But he was available in a Barnes & Noble exclusive game. He is now included in the current series as Brother Sevrael. Note that I used the spare head from Brother Gaiam as I liked the idea of him screaming at whatever he's shooting at.
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| Screaming Brother Toriad/ Sevrael. |
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| Brother Titus/Marzio. |
I think this model was inspired by one the Codex covers (maybe 7th?). It's quite a dynamic pose and quite different from the others. His name is Brother Garus and is not in the current series.
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| Brother Garus. |
And this is Brother-Sergeant Sevastus. In the current series his Blood Angels name is Brother-Sergeant Baldaeo.
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| Brother-Sergeant Sevastus/Baldaeo. |
The squad Sergeant might be familiar to long-time readers of this blog. I painted this miniature a few years ago for my Celestial Lions. In fact, I think he is the last model I have since painted for the Celestial Lions. So I decided that this Ultramarines Sergeant was going to keep his helmet on. Besides l like the look of the red helmets on Ultramarine Sergeants and I want to continue that here.
As you likely spotted in the lead photo, the marine that these guys are intended to join up with is somewhat smaller. These Space Marine Heroes were probably the last 'first born' models designed before the Primaris Marines arrived. The previous growth spurt the marines had was with the Deathwatch Veterans who were mostly in MK VIII armor. These guys probably scale up well with the MK VI miniatures that were launched with the current edition of Horus Heresy but I have yet to see a comparison. Anyway, I don't think it will matter too much once they're painted, but then we'll just have to see at that point.
