Today’s post isn’t a newly painted, but it’s one that I’ve given a new base to as well as a little bit of touch-up, so it counts as a “Neglected Model” in that it’s now up to 2018 standard. It’s a model I actually thought I’d posted up here before, but it turns out that I can’t find any reference to it. The figure itself is a mercenary-type hero for WarZone 1e – in other words any Corporation could pay the points and have him in their force, excepting the Dark Legion, though they’re not actually a Corporation. Still, his stats aren’t important.
Nevermind the sporran – Check that belt buckle!
What’s important is that I saw a cool model while I was busy painting my Cybertronic dudes as nWo wrestler, so what else could I do with a muscular dude in a kilt, a leather jacket and no shirt?
Roddy Piper with classic t-shirt and kilt design.
Roddy with Hot Rod design on black t-shirt.
Yeah, Roddy Piper, amirite? I painted him with the sandy-brown hair that he had earlier in his career, during the Rock’n’Wrestling/Wrestlemania 1-3 era. One thing I noticed when I painted him though, was a facial likeness to another, more recent wrestler of the mid-1990’s.
Trips, before it was time to play the game…
So that was an interesting find once I had him painted. A few other people have pointed it out over the years unprompted, so it’s not just me, apparently.
Anyway, whether it was Piper or Triple H cosplaying, there’s still the jacket. I don’t think Roddy ever had a jacket with the logo emblazoned on the back of it, but since he had no t-shirt, what could I do? These days, Ronda Rousey is wearing Roddy’s actual jacket around the WWE as he gave it to her, along with his blessing to use the “Rowdy” moniker before his passing.
Roddy Piper’s Hot Rod! logo.
So there it is. The leather looks pretty rough in spots here, but bear in mind the size it’s blown up to here. It’s worth noting that the freehand is all untouched, mid-late 1990’s work. I thought this would be a fun model to finish and post up since I’ve been doing a lot of the WarZone stuff lately. And yes, I know neither Roddy nor Trips ever joined the nWo in any of it’s incanations, but it’s a wargames model with wrestling crap painted onto it, not an accurate historical document of wrestling’s past. 😉
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
I’ve actually only seen Piper in They Live, never as a wrestler. Always seemed like a pretty cool dude, tho. I do get more of a HHH vibe from the Model, but it looks pretty awesome either way.
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What’s HHH?
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Just a different way of writing Triple H.
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Oh, just saw Azazel’s “Triple H” tag, guess it’s a wrestling thing.
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Yeah, the name of a character – the one down below with the long blonde hair that the figure resembles. Originally (in WWF) Hunter Heast Helmsley (because alliteration) which gradually became shortened to Triple H / HHH.
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Like most of the guys from those days with a few exceptions, he was a better character than a wrestler by today’s standards, but he still managed to be very entertaining through the years. The HHH thing came through more when the paint was on.
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Piper was of the era in which you’d have been considered daft for going out and doing anything more than the minimum that the match required, hence why veterans from his era are always telling modern guys to “slow down and sell more”! He and guys like Jake Roberts were always great examples of how a charismatic talker could become a massive star without being an athlete the likes of Randy Savage or a bodybuilder the size of Hogan.
That’s a great mini as well, one I may have to track down.
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Piper and Jake were perfect examples of Charisma and Psychology as well, though – which is why they still stand up so well today compared to so many of their peers. Seeing the Bucks (start) to slow down a little as they get older is good to see. As much as I love him, it’s terrifying to see Ospreay go all out, mostly because he refuses to *not* constantly land on his neck and head…
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Fantastic free hand mate.
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Thanks mate!
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Great work on that freehand dude
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Thank you, Alex.
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Brilliant freehanding and tartan… 🙂
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Thank you – It looks a bit sketchy on the blown-up picture, but great in-hand.
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Just lovin’ that jacket!
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Cheers – I’m quite happy with the results.
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So cool mate. I had the big chunky rubber toy of Rowdy in the 80s. I was actually quite sad to hear he died so young. He was definitely a big character. This model is superb man. The logo is really bloody cool.
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Thanks, IRO – I had the same one. Actually, I had a bunch of them. I wonder what happened to them all? He was definitely one of those larger than life guys and was doing a reasonable job of getting some non-awful acting work at the end as well. Loved his work on Always Sunny.
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I had about a dozen wrestlers and the ring too. Stupid me sold them all at a trash and treasure market along with my ridiculously large collection of He-Man figures, vehicles and castles. Sigh……… I miss them all.
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Time to eBay and see if you can regather them? See what your daughters think of King Kong Bundy and Skeletor?
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Haha 👍🏼
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This is such sweet work and the likeness(es) are definitely there. Good job!
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Thanks, Mikko. 🙂
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The freehand is excellent. Very smooth blends down the letters. Overall a cool miniature with the right amount of nostalgia mixed in.
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Thank you, D&B. This one is definitely a reference to (and from) the 90’s!
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Nice work, like everyone before me has said, nice freehand! You’ve got a knack for it, that’s for sure.
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Thanks! It’s one of the things I enjoy most about painting when I have a figure where it’ll work.
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I’m not into wrestling, but I do remember RP. Now he’s RIP. nice work on this!
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Yeah, he was one of those guys that became a bit of a household name back in the 80’s.
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Love the transition from orange to yellow on the freehand.
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Thanks Curis. I did it by painting a big panel and blending the colours before “drawing in” the letter outlines with black paint.
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