Celebrating a job well done I recently decided to bid on a set of Tom Meier’s troglodytes produced by Citadel back in the glory days around 1985. I’ve had my eye on Meir’s lizardmen and troglodytes for quite a while now. Their snake-like, curling bodies, strange poses and oddly shaped weapons decorated with arcane symbols give them a very distinct look. A look, I must admit, I’m quite fond of.
Especially the troglodytes have a certain weird vibe – perhaps because the minis are huge. I mean huge compared to pre-slotta Citadel minis, but even next to the minis you see now a day they look big.
It was thus with great satisfaction that I succeeded in securing the seven troglodytes including the original box and actually doing so without having to pay some absurd sum.
Sadly when I unpacked my precious troglodytes I discovered that all of them are starting to show signs of the dreaded lead rot and some are even beginning to crack. The seller had not mentioned this in his auction and perhaps I should have returned them but I’m so glad that I finally have a set of these minis, and managed to purchase them for a decent price, that I’m willing to spend the required time restoring them.
But clearly I now need to get cracking at the lizards, since they are on their fast way towards disintegration. It thus looks as if my next painting project will be this set.
Do you have any experience handling lead rot you want to share? I’ll probably need all the advice I can get soon!
Shamutantis 
Are they really rotting? I can’t tell from the pics, but it almost looks as if they’ve been primed in a dark gray primer that’s “curling” off revealing shiny metal underneath.
Regardless, to be on the safe side I’d put them in acetone (to strip any paint) a few days, brush and rinse them thoroughly and then put them in a glass, pour over liberal amounts of baking soda (bicarbonate) and pour some water on it. Brush the models vigorously in that, then pick them up and rinse them under running water. Dry and prime the whole model (including undreside of base) and then affix to a base proper and paint as normal. This should hopefully save them.
Hi, sorry for this very late reply! I somehow thought I had done so. Thanks for the tip. What looks like grey undercoat is actually the decaying surface of the mini. I have now begun the process you describe and I really hope it works. I’ll tell you the result in a later post when the troglodytes have recovered from their chemical bath.
Cheers
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