True. And, I’ll note that, regardless of scale, many of the modern sculpts are far, far better than most of the old ones. The detail on Reaper’s stuff, particularly their releases from the last few years, is simply amazing. (One could probably say the same about a lot of the other manufacturers, as well, but Reaper’s where I get most of my minis, and so, that’s what I’m most familiar with.)
I’ve still got a lot of unpainted minis that I bought when I first got into D&D in the early '80s. I realize that I’ll likely never paint them, largely because so many of them are just so crudely sculpted, in comparison to what’s available today.
Thanks for starting this thread, JC. I’ve been interested in trying out miniature painting as a hobby for a while now, but I never could find any to buy locally.
Question for those of you who have painted these figures before: do you think these learn to paint kits from Reaper’s website would be a good way to start out? If not, what do you recommend?
One more question: why are some of the figures, like these, green instead of grey?
That’s a picture of the ‘master copy’ of the miniature.
The original sculpting on any miniature (well of this style of fantasy miniature) is normally done in a two part epoxy putty. The most common variety to use funnily enough is called ‘Green Stuff’, well because it is green when mixed 
This original sculpt is usually refered to as a ‘Green’. The Green is then used to make a mould for casting the mini in White Metal.
Quite often the light colour of a white metal mini can make it difficult to photograph well, particulary to pick out any fine detail, so you will often see the Green used as an example shot of what the mini looks like.
From Lady Chance I pass on sincere thanks, people.
She and I are old enough to have played, painted and such in the 1970s, God help us, and she still has a large collection (packed in foam, of course) of miniatures she’s painted over the last 30 years.
Your efforts in this thread have brought joy to a middle-aged fantasy crafter. Well done!
Remind her to post pics of her efforts! It should be shared amongst us fellow mini-painters.
+1
Would love to see some of her paint jobs. I’m a complete pleb when it comes to painting mini’s but I love to see others work.