Well, now I've caught your attention......this is a blog about gaming miniatures, both old and new school but with a leaning towards old school. I've been in the hobby since the 70s and seem to show no sign of stopping in the foreseeable future.....
Julian Benassi - 25mm ancient Greeks and a Hinchliffe Models video!
17.11.2022 Edit. It is with deep regret that I discovered that Julian Benassi passed away on the 20th August this year. RIP.
Major Julian Benassi was mostly known back in the day for his larger scale historical pieces. I have fond memories of looking through Military Modelling magazine and gazing in awe at the painted examples either on the front page or in the Hinchliffe Models' ads (although later he released under his own name). I saw a few small adverts for his 25mm ancient Greek ranges although never came across any examples back then... also a range of fantasy that I'm hoping to see one day (although I wonder if they are the later additions to the Hinchliffe fantasy/sci-fi range... certainly not sculpted by Peter Gilder but possibly Dave Rotor... (on the Lost Minis WIKI here).
The man himself...
A small Military Modelling ad from 1981
I have seen a listing for the Ancient Greeks however can't find it! Pics will have to do instead until I get my act together...
The box they came in via eBay... not the original packaging I assume!
Lovely old school miniatures. I'm told Warrior Miniatures has them now and have emailed them earlier... just checked their website and this is one the front page 'Unfortunately due to personal circumstances we are unable to take any orders or respond to queries at this time.' I do hope they're ok.
There are a lot of old school catalogues, including Hinchliffe via this great site below;
A lot of anecdotes about the man himself from Ron Tamburrini on https://www.planetfigure.com/ - use their search engine and search for Benassi. Ron worked with the Major back in the day and it makes great reading plus, the site itself is a wonder of the hobby.
If you have an more pics or info please let me know and I'll update the post.
There is a wonderful video of Hinchliffe Models in its heyday on YouTube. Well worth watching.
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Had a couple of Benassis larger models back in the day- both Napoleonic no idea where they are now like a good bit of my 1970s-early 80s stuff went in ahouse move I suspect. Never knew her did smaller scales - those greeks look fine.
Great stuff...and interesting about the sci fi figures. I've seen those Greeks available from Warrior and they are ridiculously cheap if bought as one of their army deals (about 40p a mini). I'm hoping Warrior come back online soon (they went off just before Christmas) as I want to order some orcs.
I thought that Major Benassi had passed away long ago. I was, am a fan of his figures. Quirky and full of character unlike the perfect examples of today.
3 comments:
Had a couple of Benassis larger models back in the day- both Napoleonic no idea where they are now like a good bit of my 1970s-early 80s stuff went in ahouse move I suspect.
Never knew her did smaller scales - those greeks look fine.
Great stuff...and interesting about the sci fi figures. I've seen those Greeks available from Warrior and they are ridiculously cheap if bought as one of their army deals (about 40p a mini). I'm hoping Warrior come back online soon (they went off just before Christmas) as I want to order some orcs.
I thought that Major Benassi had passed away long ago. I was, am a fan of his figures. Quirky and full of character unlike the perfect examples of today.
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