"Blowpipe gunner" (1984) by Colonel (Retired) André D. Gauthier OMM, CD depicts a gunner with the Blowpipe, a man-portable surface-to-air missile (MANPADS) which was in use with 129th Air Defence Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery in the 1980s. This model was presented to Artillery Section by LCol NH Connolly, Maj HP Mundell, Maj MD Capstick and CWO (Mr Gnr) CM Bowden in July 1985.
Colonel Gauthier provided the following information, “Yes indeed Blowpipe Gunner 1984 is one of my sculptures. 24 of a Limited Edition of 40 Blowpipe Gunner 1984 statuettes were cast and thirteen copies were sold. In 1993 the Blowpipe LLAD shoulder-fired weapon was replaced in the Canadian artillery by the Javelin LLAD. I therefore dismantled one copy of Blowpipe Gunner to covert my casting moulds to the Javelin LLAD. The 'pistol grip' location of the Javelin LLAD was not located as far out as its location on Blowpipe so I had to re-sculpt a new right arm-and-hand and re-make casting moulds for Javelin Gunner 1993. Thereafter, I converted the other Blowpipe statuettes in stock to the Javelin version. A total of 25 copies were sold: 16 as Blowpipe and 9 as Javelins. Since the last copy was sold in 2010, I destroyed the moulds and no other copies are available.”