Citadel "Fellowship of the Ring" BME1 from 1985!

Well I do love me some old Citadel models, and their Lord of the Rings range from the mid-1980s has a special appeal. Don't get me wrong, I also love the newer LotR "movie range" models from the early 2000s till now, but the old chunky Citadel style really gets me where I live. They're oh-so-characterful and easy to paint too!

I already had an old Frodo Baggins in the cabinet so some time ago I decided to acquire the rest of the Fellowship. These models comprise the BME1 set (minus Aragorn, Boromir and Frodo) and were all procured via ebay... despite being long OOP they're not that hard to find or expensive, thankfully!

 

First up, Legolas... I really like this sculpt. Unfortunately the metal ferrule at the bottom of the bow shaft had broken off so a cack-handed greenstuff repair has to suffice.

 

I finished the model in earthtones and think it turned out OK.

Gimli son of Groin Gloin!

Sam Gamgee. This is a pretty good model. I love the walking stick.

And all the pots and pans of course!

Merry and Pippin! Can never tell which is which.

Little packhorses aren't they!

Gandalf. The Gandalf models from the old range are great, really iconic and representative of the popular image of a "wizard".

And Bill the pony!

I didn't take a ton of time painting Bill, you may be able to tell. Packhorses are a pretty low priority for my painting desk tbh.

And the catalog page from the Third Citadel Compendium. I guess Merry and Pippin are identifiable this way :-)

Still missing Frodo, Aragorn and Boromir from this set. I don't really feel a need to paint a Frodo because I have already done one from the Citadel ME range. Aragorn looks pretty cool but I prefer the Boromir model that came from the "Moria and the Balrog" set (that model is pretty pricey though). Anyway I have Aragorn and Boromir from the modern range (inasmuch as you can call 20+ year old models "modern") so there's no rush on that.

Hope you enjoyed the trip down the Middle Earth memory lane!