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Hello everyone!

Thanks for looking. I live in Japan and the recent nonsense has cramped my style. I made a full army order from maelstrom before the embargo fiasco and I have not cracked open a box from that order until now. I'm blogging the progress of my army and I have already calculated many details from paint choices to conversions. I have been planning to record this blog for as long as I have been planning this project.

Also, I'm waaaay out of practice in terms of both painting and modelling. To make matters more complicated I seem to have a complusion towards trying new and difficult things, granted I research like a fiend beforehand. I invite you to learn from my ... unique ... approach to the hobby, and what will no doubt be a adventure filled with many hobby challenges.

Right. First off, where the magic happens:



You should note that setting yourself up in the hobby we love is no small feat in Japan. Everything is expensive and tiny, and I am basically illiterate. This workstation is a friggin beast and I'm set to enjoy many seasons happily pursuing my projects. A good foundation is a must! It took a lot of time to get it just so.

I have a planned army that I can scale up or down. I like 1750 because its a pain in the ass point level and tests list building skills.

Haemonculous @ 60
Liquifier

3x Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3x Blasters
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons @ 146

3x Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3x Blasters
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons @ 146

3x Kabalite Trueborn w/ 3x Blasters
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons @ 146

5x Kabalite Warriors w/ 1x Blaster @ 125
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons

5x Kabalite Warriors w/ 1x Blaster @ 125
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons

5x Kabalite Warriors w/ 1x Blaster @ 125
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons

5x Kabalite Warriors w/ 1x Blaster @ 125
Venom w/ 2 Splinter Cannons

9 Wyches w/Haywire grenades @ 178
Raider w/Flickerfield

4x Beast Masters @ 228
10 Khymerae, 4 Razorwing Flocks

1x Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances @ 115
w/Flickerfield

1x Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances @ 115
w/Flickerfield

1x Ravager w/ 3x Dark Lances @ 115
w/Flickerfield

Lots of vehicles. Nothing wrong with venom spam; its very much in keeping with the fluff of a hit and run raiding force. People that say venom spam is boring, bore me.

Okay, so that's where I'm going with this project. I decided to start with the venoms. Something you should note is that I bought an airbrush last year and after turning it on to see how noisy it would be, I boxed it and never touched it again until this week. Holy feth, the airbrush is amazing! I'll write a post in P and M about my experiences with it. There is a learning curve to be sure, but I don't think anyone should be without one if they can afford it.

So...venoms...

My list has 7 of these gunships. My plans for this vehicle are as follows.

*had to do something eye catching with the canopy. I think the half windscreen looks stupid so that was out. I want to hide the pilot entirely, too. I wanted the venoms to scream "futuristic, advanced beyond your comprehension, sleek and deadly"
*I don't use wyches in my venoms, so I am replacing the gunner with a kabalite gunner.
*I want to include some bad ass kabal markings on the fusilage.
*The venom kit has a lot of bits, frankly I don't know what to do with all of them. I am planning for transportability so things like chain snares while awesome looking, will be left on the sprue.
*All bases replaced with resin bases with a strong rare earth magnet embedded in the drilled out center. All flight stands will be fully magnetized for maximum convenience.

On to the pics:



Seven venoms cut, cleaned, and assembled. Even the prep stage is time consuming. I'm methodical with this stage, moldlines etc. Good thing I multi-task by listening to audiobooks or lectures to pass the time.



I spent an afternoon shooting primer though my airbrush. I learned how this tool works by priming every base in the army and then I felt ready to hit a model. OMFG, amazing! Excuse me, but I've been into miniatures since the early to mid 90's and using an airbrush to prime after using GW spraycans for nearly 20 years was like... eating bowls of cereal with orange juice for 20 years and having someone tell you "hey man, have you ever tried it with milk?" Smooth thin coat but with good tooth. I used Vallejo black AB primer thinned with Vallejo AB thinner.



Next up, I wanted to get started on the canopies. I had a good idea kicking around my head for the past few months, but as usual I'd never seen it done, have never tried it myself, and didn't know at all what the results would be.

First, I would need to fill in the venom's windscreen. I was totally unsure how to do this. Then I remembered the tape I had squirreled away months ago from when I whould bust out the AB. Worked like a charm (hobby tools are a hobby all their own, I'm beginning to see).



Seperated the "glass" pieces



Then to work with fingers crossed!





There was a bit of clean up work which resulted in some primer lifting off as well.



I knew I would be going over the de-primed areas again with primer applied via brush.

Here they are as I left them, trimmed and touched up.



Here is something to give you a rough idea of the effect. This is a canopy BEFORE touch ups...I just wanted to check out the effect and whether the idea worked.

A last picture for what comes next to leave you with...



I would like to read what you have to say, don't be shy. This is the style of the blog.

Cheers, happy hobbying!

How did you do those windscreens?
They look incredible.

HOLY WOW what Ninja said. If thats not some crazy stencil then I can't even begin to fathom how much work that was or what steps you took to make that. Amazing looking venoms!

Thanks guys

I used a kind of adhesive decal (non water slide). Process was just as it appears in the photos.

I'm just having a really hard time figuring out what you did in between picture 5 and 6 where it goes from looking plain to having crazy detail, is picture 5 just the opposite side of the decal?

I was beginning to think it was freehand but i didn't know how someone could be so uniform like that.

Anyways I'll be tracking this blog really good job on the venom I'd love to do something like it on my own as I just painted the symbol and the inside and then painted the opposite edges and windshield cradle.

@ Helixfire: Thanks for the kind words. Picture 5 is just low adhesion masking tape. Picture 6 is the applied adhesive decal I mentioned in my last post. Look at the top right corner of photo 6 and the top left corner of photo 7; you'll notice bits left over from the process.

Seriously nice work on that base coat.
Wow.
I actually dropped an F-bomb OUT LOUD when I saw how good it turned out.

Eric

Haha, thanks Eric

I have applied a base color to the primed models and it came out a bit darker than I was expecting. I'll take some shots and update my progress today.

This looks really promising.

Looking forward to more.

Thanks, Speedfreak. I'll be keeping it interesting I think. Also, my updates should be fairly regular, so check back soon.

Those decals on the windscreen look great! How did you cut them out so neatly and how long did it take you?

I'm also interested in what company the decals are from. The hobby shops here in Hong Kong stock a lot of Japanese products (if those are actually Japanese decals) and I'd like to try them out in a future project. They might work well for Raider sails too.

Are you going to go over the basecoat with a lighter airbrushed highlight or are you planning some other method? I'll be watching this space!

Thanks for commenting on my stuff too!

That is a lot of venoms, and those are brilliant looking windows. I too would like to know where you acquired this

Thanks, Jon.

The windscreens took patience, which in turn produced a result that I'm happy with. I didn't really know if it would work until I was finished about 3 hours later. I believe Hasegawa produces the decal. I have something MUCH better planned for aethersails.

The color after the basecoat is somewhat problematic. I'm using a mixture of colors to get my basecoat. It came out darker than I had planned (green:blue:black) and more blue. The problem is that I want to reach a Jade green for my highlights and I'm going to have to mess around tweeking paint ratios the get the right color for the next step. I'm going to airbrush it over most of the nose and wings, leaving the recessed areas darker. Totally new territory for me though. I have been enjoying your stuff all month, so I'm happy to return the favor!



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Thanks, Kenshin!

I laugh at the fact that i can sort of understand the news papers!


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Oh and nise army Looks good!!!!

Lol, thanks Tech Guard! I can't read it myself

Update:

So I have managed to apply a base color to my venoms. The color is a custom mix of green, blue, and black as previously mentioned. I have come to rather like it. I think once I work up the highlights (if I can even figure THAT out), I think it will look pretty good. The wind screens aren't glued in yet for AB purposes.



At this point I really need some advice from advanced airbrushers. How do I break up the flatness of this base color? Where should the next coat be? I am feeling out of my league here.





I keep my WIP stuff in the display case because it is safe, out of the way, and dust proofed.

While I let the issue of how to proceed with the venoms marinate in my brain and out here for you all in my blog, I decided to proceed with some wyches. I have a concept for how I want to model the squad, but no idea how to apply the paint scheme from the venoms to an infantry model. All I know is that I want them to look sinister and deadly. I absolutely hate the Flinstones bones-in-the-ponytail wych heads. A soon as I saw the venom kit, I had a Eureka! moment. Stay tuned for that in a couple days. Also, I could really use some how to paint a palid skintone.

Here is the start of some infantry (basically an excuse for me to use the airbrush again). Those are cork rectangles and the bits are pinned using a .5mm pinvice bit and .5mm brass rod. A .5mm pinvice/brass rod is in my top 10 hobby tools for a successful project. I pin everything. Every joint and the foot/feet to the base. With plastic there is less need, but it's a habit. The one foot down, running wyches will all get the pinning treatment.



Comments, advice, and support are most welcome!

Thanks for looking!

Love the color scheme on the venoms.
How much was the airbrush you got for that?

It was around Y17000 with the compressor and other stuff, package deal.

Thanks for the compliment!

Stunning result on those windshields. I am literally in awe.

Looks great. Where did you find those decal sheets for the windows?

Thanks guys. I bought the decal sheets at the local neighborhood gundam shop (gotta love Japan sometimes...), which is actually a tiny family run shop, a stones throw from my house.

I have seen similar products many times at other model shops. All of the big Japanese names produce a range of decals.

It's always nice when you try something new and it works out. I hope my plan for the raider/ravager sails turns out as well.

epic work on this already, and barely past the base coat!! Looking forward to seeing more - what do you have planned for the sails? I struggled with these...

As for the raider/ravager aether sails, I figure they aren't fabric so why paint them like a sailing vessel from the 16th century? I have seen some cool ideas on the net and on dakka using decals or trying to create an effect mimicing futuristic technology. I'm going to try and simulate the effect of an "energy field" based sail. I can't really explain it better at this point but I have a idea of what I want it to look like.


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P.S. Thanks for the compliment

For gaming and transporting purposes, I recommend you not to glue the flying base to the Venom.
I think the best solution is to use magnetic bases.
I cut a plain wood nail to the right height and glue it in my base with the head upwards.
A rare earth magnet in the hull of the vehicle and it's all done.

Wow, brilliant windshields on those!

@ Speedfreak-- I totally agree with you. I have embedded a magnet into each skimmer base and have modified each flight stand to include another magnet. The ball joint seems okay though. The first time anything bad happens involving the ball-and-socket, off they will come.



@ Foxtale-- Thanks man! Your DE army is loaded with character and creativity, and is one of the crop of DE blogs I'm really enjoying. Keep it up!

JUST TO FOREWARN YOU--ALL PICTURES ARE TAKEN WITH A CELL PHONE, PHOTO QUALITY IS VERY POOR, BAD LIGHTING/BAD CAMERA, IT IS A CRIME

Here is the first of my wyches. The paintjob is much better in real life. The whole squad will have the same style of head. The head of this model is blue tacked. This is the first model I have painted in five years and it is good to finally be painting again! (my hobby had become largely collecting miniatures, browsing dakka, and the odd bit of modelling for the past 5 years)





I really need to get some advice on a good way to take pictures. Comments welcome!

A great start! Especially for not having painted for so long. I especially like the detail in the utility belt.

Using a white paper or two as a background usually helps.
And using two or even three laps at the same time.
Holding your camera against a flat surface to keep it still.
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/The_Weazle/Tutorial%20Foto/01-1.jpg
Nowadays I usually take most pictures with my iPhone4,
and using these tips, the pictures turn out great.
(and sometimes the free photoshop-application)

edited (iPhone4)

@ Ysclyth-- Thanks very much for the kind words and the continued interest, it's appreciated.

@ Speedfreak-- So you use an iphone too, huh? Iphone 3 or 4? I hear 4 has a better camera. I will definately start using a white background and more light sources as per your advice. Thanks a lot for the feedback and helpful comments

Hey Everyone,

It's been a long time since I updated my Dark Eldar army blog. I have been busy with various things, but nevertheless I have found an hour or two, here or there, to chip away at the project. Recently, I reached two milestones which prompted the update: (1) all airbrush work is was completed and (2) everything has been based. So without further ado, I give you the Kabal of the Twisting Abyss. Please note the everything is still very much WIP (except for a single fully painted wyche)

Raider and 3 Ravagers. Note that they have been fully magnetized.



Lots of warriors in stage 1 painting (basecoated in my creepy Commorogh kabal green)



First few kabalite warriors painted up but still rough/WIP. Should give you an Idea of the color scheme.



The best ride for the discerning slaver.



A proper beastly unit.



My wyche unit in the foreground, Urien chilling in the back.



There is still lots to come. They army has a long way to go but things are moving forward. Thanks for looking, feel free to comment.






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Sorry, I missed a photo of my true born. Here they are:



Thanks!