I don't know for sure why the model was replaced—I had nothing against the old one, but I suspect the new one will stay, since the race description booklets (for the Heroes 5 Limited Edition) use drawings of the new model)
That's who I was reaching out to. I had no hope whatsoever that Nival would do it, but our community sometimes rivals the developers in talent...
One person is already fixing the hero interface (added a doll and pockets, and placed the hero' same primary skills on one page with the inventory; IMHO, it's way more convenient), maybe someone can suggest how to replace the model...