Sunday, February 16, 2014

Ray Rubin - Grenadier's Box Set and Blister Card Artist

Ray Rubin, Vice President of Grenadier and artist of all of Grenadier's box & blister card art, was born and raised in Manhattan, NY. He also began collecting figures when he was 11 years old and joined MFCA early on.  Ray's background is colorful and varied; attending Hunter College in NY and receiving his BA in Design (while Art was his love he fully appreciated the necessity of having graphic design & sculpting in his portfolio) , serving a 2 year term in the Army, working as a researcher for Fortune Magazine, a Buyer for Brookes Bros., then graduate school. Eventually Ray ended up in Detroit where he helped establish Squadron/Rubin Miniatures, a line of primarily 54 mm. historical figures.


After nearly 3 years in the Midwest, though, Ray yearned for the East Coast again and returned to help set up. Canterbury Pewter (our mother company) with Andy Chernak. Grenadier was set up immediately to produce 25 mm. American Revolutionary War figures (the initial figure was a …Grenadier, hence the name.) but soon other historical lines came to be.

While Ray has sculpted for years (and painted professionally also) his chief concerns now are packaging & design specialty figures (like animals), and is in charge of coordination between all the various departments. As he likes to put it his, greatest joy is in seeing that everything works properly.  Every box cover and blister card we have ever done has been painted by Ray and the progression of his "visions" match the progression of our quality.

Andrew Chernak (Seated) and Ray Rubin (Standing)



Space Squadrons Blister Card Art

Space Squadrons Box Set Art


 (Source Grenadier Bulletin No. 4)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Space Squadrons - Starsoldiers Kit


Excerpt from the book "The Fantastic Worlds of Grenadier" by Terrrance Gunn
(click here for the first 15 pages in pdf)

A check mark next to the Starsoldiers Kit name would indicate the presence of the miniatures.
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According to Wikipedia:
Although they were primarily focused on the well-established market for historical miniatures, their early products included science fiction themed Starsoldiers (product codes #S01-19) and Space Squadrons: Stellardate 2998 (#SS01-SS19) spaceships,..
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Star Soldiers from the March 1978 Grenadier Models Catalog
According to Miniatures Workshop this line was later incorporated into the Gamma World Line.
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According to The Stuff of Legends:
By the end of 1976, Grenadier's line of 25mm miniatures consisted of the Ancients line, Starsoldiers, John Carter Warlord Of Mars (discontinued), American Civil War, and Wizzards & Warriors.

Power Armor Troops

S01  Powered Armor Trooper
S02  Powered Armor Trooper with Bomb Racks
S03  Recon Troopers & Commander

Infantry, Non Hostile Environment

S04  Troopers with Laser Rifles
S05  Grenadiers & Rocketeers

Insurgent Infantry

S06  Insurgent Infantry with Needle Rifle
S07  Insurgent with Cone and Rocket Guns
S08  Insurgent Command Group

Andromeda Aliens

S09  Photon Rifleman
S10  Andromeda Bombardier and Rocketeers
S11  Andromeda Statsis Fieldman and Officer

Galaxy Aliens

S12  Alien Rayrifleman
S13  Alien Rocketeer and Grenadiers
S14  Alien Statsis Fiddmen and Officer

Heavy Weapons

S15  Laser Cannon with Aliens and Human Crewmen
S16  Statsis Generators and Mortars
S17  Rocket Pods and Mines
S18  Anti-grav Sled with Rocket Pod
S19  Robots
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Wargamers Digest V4 N1 1976
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S01  Powered Armor Trooper

S08  Insurgent Command Group

S09  Photon Rifleman