This is my first blog so I hope people will enjoy the project coming together.. (definitively hasn't been like 5+ years since I last attempted this...)
So the premise: In the grim darkness of the far future the doomed race of the Eldar was slowly fading away with the flow of time. Drifting through the sea of stars, fading....
Alas!!! Fear not, hope is re-kindled! The Nesh-Ravan (children of a million suns) craft world emerges from the far flung forgotten fringes of the galaxy ready to retake what was theirs and put the upstart lesser races in their place!!
Yes.. errrm... so anyhow.
No craft world would be complete without some pesky Guardians thrown at the enemies for the defence of their home.
Pretty happy how they turned out. Its been many years since I painted some models so it was a nice way to get back into using those painting muscles. Bases will have a bit of flock on them but I forgot to do it today and took the picture anyway. lol.
Of course no craftworld would dream of going to battle without the dreaded wave serpent. This was the first time I ever used an airbrush to paint anything other than wraith heads so it was an interesting experience. Also first time using colourshift paints and liquid masking as well as stencil so a lot of learning took place. She's not quite finished yet. I haven't decided what I will do with the fins yet. Sadly, the liquid mask did take of the layer of shifting paint that was on the fins so they just look a bit drab and black. Was Hoping they would remain nice and pearlescent and cold have called it there but alas will have to figure something out. Also not sure what to do for the canopy. Any suggestions I'm all ears.
Thanks man! I am attempting to replicate an isectonoid (if that's even a word) type feel. Beetle like pearlescent deep blue armour carapace, and yellow force field effect. Unfortunately I failed with the latter on the hull of the serpent because the stencil I used wasn't suited for the job.
The way I see it the Eldar are so advanced their tech would be resembling bioengineering exoskeleton than the inferior 'machines' of the pathetic corpse god worshipping imperium and other crude lesser races. Or at least it shoud be! lol
I'm really liking the colour shift paints. Even on the guard I only added a slight layer over a semi gloss black primer, its subtle but noticeable. Unfortunately cant really see it on the photos but the bodies aren't dull black but have a tint deep blue shift which is more or less what I was after. I am very impressed and hope to improve results and understand better how the paint behaves. .
Liking the wraith heads. And man that serpent is looking fantastic already!
You could leave the fins black with a little bit of highlight and some color for the spirit stones. Or if you want more color to the model altogether you could try blue. Gives a nice contrast with yellow.
As for the canopies I usually paint them blue or brass, but I'm still lacking the experience to make smooth gradients. With an airbrush you surely could pull it off.
Ive gone with brass(ish) on the intake/exhausts and undercarriage as well as the interior. Painting it gold now, will wash with violet or earshade and highlight up to a metalic/gray and see how it looks.
The fins will sadly have to wait. The brand new iwata neo I got had a dosgy needle which's tip bent so im returning it and waiting for a replacement. I will however apply the same patter I have on the wraiths to the fins but the head/gem section will be black with big blue gems.
I think the gold compliments the scheme very well! Its turning out a lot betetr than expected.. Im glad I didint go with gray now. Bronze is the way to go.
Eldrad fits my scheme perfectly and what army would go to war without that beast ? Hes the first model ive painted that is not a guardian or a vehicle. I tried following GW's guide but have deviated with some things as I did not have the right paints so I improvised where I had to. (For example the eyes white and washed red because its easier and i didint have the right orange). But overall happy how hes turned out..Not sure how I feel about his staff.. Feel like Im missing something.. Feedback is appreciated.
The wave serpent is finished also It was the first model I painted using an airbrush and the first time I used masking/ colourhsifting paint. I have made a feew errors. There is a flaking paint near one of the fins due to using liquid masking which spilled over into the panel which kind of sucked. I think i might add some edge highlighting possibly.
Let me know what ya'll think. I do need to make some osrt of photo booth I think. Phone cam is not great but I hope the pics are decent enough.
Yeah It seems a bit dull next to the gold trim.. It was meant to be colour shifting but I dont think it works on such a small area with the level of airbrushing applied and also the primer was semi gloss as apposed to gloss...
I will revisit with green colour shifting paint once my 40 days lent is up and I can buy some stuff from greenstuff wolrd. Might just play around with some blue/green colours or try brush applying the colourshifitn I have on hand and see if I can come up with something.
Thank you for the feedback! Dakka love!
Ohhh.. And the cloak was highlighetd using drybrushing verticaly with a wide Citadel brush using Mechanicus Standard Gray then horizontaly with Dawnstone and last slight touch ub with Celestra Gray.
Liking that colour scheme! The colour shift paint works well I think. So I'm a little bit late but one of the things for the next Wave Serpent (because when is there only one??) would be to work on the consistency of your paint when airbrushing the yellow. There's some minor paint splatter as you go from the colour shift to the yellow and I'm wondering if it's your desired effect or not. Another little bit of feedback I could give is to try some panel lining on the yellow areas in particular, they're looking a little flat in comparison to the great colour shift paint!
Eldrad looks awesome by the way, digging the cloak!
Tyranid Horde wrote: Liking that colour scheme! The colour shift paint works well I think. So I'm a little bit late but one of the things for the next Wave Serpent (because when is there only one??) would be to work on the consistency of your paint when airbrushing the yellow. There's some minor paint splatter as you go from the colour shift to the yellow and I'm wondering if it's your desired effect or not. Another little bit of feedback I could give is to try some panel lining on the yellow areas in particular, they're looking a little flat in comparison to the great colour shift paint!
Eldrad looks awesome by the way, digging the cloak!
Hey
No it wasn't intentional at all! There is a lot of mistakes I'm not happy with. In hindsight I should have masked the front for a start.. The coloushift is nice though!
I have never airbrushed or painted a vehicle before. I had a rough idea what I wanted to do but no clue how to do it, it was all mostly trial and error. Initial plan was to have a orange/yellow hex pattern between the fins, Unfortunately when I tried this the stencil I had wasn't fit for purpose. It was too high up and the paint didn't do what I needed it to do so had to cover up with multiple layers of yellow to try and salvage it. It was all a bit of a mess to be honest. I wasn't patient enough with the layers and was trying to force it which shows.
Regarding the panel lining. I'm not sure what you are referring to? Do you mean the little gaps between the panels?
Yeah Id like to have those but not sure how to do that with airbrushing. I tried to paint those in using abandon black but it looked horrendous so I covered it up. If you look at the weapons platform for my guardians id like to have that effect on the vehicle. Don't know how to do that using an airbush though. Maybe washing would work but I'm scared to touch it in case I ruin it even more lol.
Hmm I'm not sure I will be running more than one wave serpent in any of my lists. I don't like the idea of wave serpent spam.
The next vehicle is going to be a fire prism. I think it will be nicer to work with ass I wont have to worry about the fins. In hindsight.. I just realized I could have painted added the fins separately sub assembly
It's all a case of trial and error man, you've done a great job on the airbrushing and it serves to take you much further!
With panel lining, the trick is to run some water down panels in small areas at a time and dot the paint of your desired colour into the water and the capillary action of the water will drag the pigment through the panel lines. It's a hell of a job on Eldar tanks, which I've done four of, you may have to do a couple of passes but it's worth the time I think. The only thing you have to decide is what colour you want to shade the yellow, black may be a little too stark a contrast.
I circumvented the fins by just not modelling them on Keep it up, I'm keen to see more of your stuff!
I just saw your fire prism. Love the canopy! I Think I know what you mean. Its not quite the effect that I am after through and I don't think it would gel with the yellow..
I think careful application of seraphim sepia in the crevices/panel lines and then edge highlight might work with yellow. Albeit very time consuming. Ill try it out on a spare support platform I have as they have same sort of plates before I tackle the prism.
By progress I mean I slaved through finecast 10 Rangers ...Nearly done but still WIP.
Really not enjoying painting something thats full of tiny flaws... Very demotivating.
They look great! I had a box of the finecast Rangers and they killed any and all motivation to work on finecast ever again. I still have some kits in the pile but now I'm trying to source metal models for Eldar.
Yellow and black is always a great colour combo, in my opinion.
I really like your Rangers. I am lucky that I have a bunch of them in metal, so am not going to have to deal with finecast. Shame you have had tha problem.
Yeah they go for an absolute premium on ebay. A lot of money for second rate troops :(. I dont think I will run them in nattle once i have more guardians/dire avengers until they get their special deployment rule back. A different conversation all together. The cloaks turned out ok. Experimented with different washes and methods so that was useful experiance.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also i need to get me some sort of photo stand type contraption. If anyone can recommend oneor point me to a tutorial Im all ears.
If you're after a photo booth, Argive, I can recommend this one from Amazon - reasonable price, and I've been happy with the pictures coming out of it once I was made aware of the additional step I needed to take when using my phone to take pictures.
I pulled the trigger on the mini phgotobooth and a wet pallette from amazon. Thought the redgrass was a bit too expensive so went for a budget options to see if its worth its mustard. Will update some pics once I get the booth.
Always love seeing an Aeldari force come together. It's coming along very nicely. The heads on the wraithguard/blades are exceptional. Looking forward to seeing more.
Got the mini photobooth thingy in the post. Its quite neat. Here are some photos.
The rangers are done. Im waiitng for nice weather to varnish and add some tufts but Im happy to call it a day. Failcast painting feels like trying to polish a turd but I think they turned out ok.
The reapers on the otherhand are a bit of a mixed bag. Really like how the bone armour turned out on the heads... But the launchers... Ohh the launchers...
I didint have any khorn red so thought Id try mephiston red and wash over it to darken it. Seemed good in theory but it just ended up realy really glossy and horrible. Not too impressed.
Might strip it. Need to figure out how to strip models. Got a bonesinger I got second hand which is metal and these guys are finecast resin.
Rangers look good, I dig them. Nuln oil is notorious for going glossy particularly if you don't shake it very well before using it. Reapers looks good though even with glossy guns.
I have varnished and finished basing the rangers and the reapers plus eldrad. Added finishing touches on te reapers and am very happy that the varnishing dulled the shine on the glossy cannons. Much prefer this look!
All went well apart from eldrad got reaaaalllyyy frosty I think its because I went bit heavy with the spray? Im using tamiya acrylic varnish. Now Im really wondering about varnishing my wave serpent because its colour shifted...
Work starting on the Winged Autarch conversion...
Trying to figure out the coours still. I like simple contrasty scgemes but at the same time want the wings to be cool.
Unfortunately Im not willing to spend £16 just to get the current winged autarch head as I cant find it on any bit stores...I subbed in a dire avenger because I have one kicking about.
Finished painting the Autarch pretty much. Have to do a bit of clean-up and basing but more or less finished.
Really like how the helmet plume has worked out and the fade/blend on the greaves. Not sure if you can see it in the pic so will update once its all complete.
However, feel like the overall paintjob is very gak... . I did experiment with some techniques and colours so that was useful for some exp. Also used a new wet palette I got off amazon but think I need a set of new brushes because it was hard to get a good point/flow for the detail.. I really like orange/red/yellow schemes and blends that I see people do but I'm light years away from that level of goodness. The visarch armor has some cool design. Green-stuffing the flames on was a crazy punt and I think it looks cool and very 40k so im going to keep it.
Question is. What color should the wings be?? The colours are already quite busy on this mini so really not sure how to approach the wings.
Hmmm Interesting. I actualy thought he looks really bright and colourful. Too colorful for my liking. I will get the ol lighbox out and snap a shot later because it could just be the photos.
I had an idea of having the wings in similiar style to the fur shoulder piece. But I think it will look too similar and the two will clash.
The vistarch is finished. Quite happy with the overall finish in the end despite all the earlier grumbling. Now thats hes done it looks pretty cool. The wings blend came out well.
Let me know what you dont like, and how I can improve me bros!
The wraith are finished. Theres surprisingly a lot of detail on these lil blighters!
I feel like I didn't go deep enough on the detail on the arms and not sure how I feel about the overall scheme with the red tabbards. Also need some practice with weathering effects. Really enjoyed making the bases. Probably my favourite part of these guys. I have put a lot of time into these fellas and feel a bit drained...
A day or two off and I'm probably going to get stuck into spirit seer to shepherd them along and a warlock followed by some support weapons and a wraithlord. Looking forward to painting those characters and finishing the current army list I've build before moving onto building some new stuff as I'm a tad painted out..
Hi Argive! First- there is some terrific work here- really well done! I'm one of those guys that always wanted to play Eldar but knew I couldn't carry off the bright colors and intricate patterns, so I stuck with Imperial Guard for a lot of my career (cut my teeth on Napoleonics, so not sure why I hesitated to get into space elves, but there you have it). I've got some Eldar now and will get started on a small task force 'soon'.
For critique of your Wraiths, I can offer mostly only superlatives: the technique is technically very clean, the swords are amazing, the color scheme is very pleasing (and working with yellow is no treat), but undoubtedly the best part of them are the carapaces- I've tried working with semi-adhesive shape stencils once or twice and the experience gave me a command of invective that even for a retired senior non-commissioned officer like myself left me in awe of the unplumbed depths of profanity I never knew I had.
The only area I'm wondering you might improve upon (and it is only my tentative opinion, not being able to cast my Mark I Eyeball on the actual figures under natural light) is if the arms might not benefit from some highlighting, or a bit of metallic edging here and there to emphasize the multiple pieces that make them up?
I really do like 'em just as they are though, I hope one day to have pieces coming out half so good.
As for the new pieces you've started, stay motivated. You've got talent and an appreciative audience. I find for myself the hardest thing is to just 'start', especially on days when the day has been tiring and my motivation levels are low. But once I sit down and pick up a brush, a couple of hours will go by and I won't even notice.
I look forward to seeing how the Seer and the support weapon come out!
Meer_Cat wrote:Hi Argive! First- there is some terrific work here- really well done! I'm one of those guys that always wanted to play Eldar but knew I couldn't carry off the bright colors and intricate patterns, so I stuck with Imperial Guard for a lot of my career (cut my teeth on Napoleonics, so not sure why I hesitated to get into space elves, but there you have it). I've got some Eldar now and will get started on a small task force 'soon'.
For critique of your Wraiths, I can offer mostly only superlatives: the technique is technically very clean, the swords are amazing, the color scheme is very pleasing (and working with yellow is no treat), but undoubtedly the best part of them are the carapaces- I've tried working with semi-adhesive shape stencils once or twice and the experience gave me a command of invective that even for a retired senior non-commissioned officer like myself left me in awe of the unplumbed depths of profanity I never knew I had.
The only area I'm wondering you might improve upon (and it is only my tentative opinion, not being able to cast my Mark I Eyeball on the actual figures under natural light) is if the arms might not benefit from some highlighting, or a bit of metallic edging here and there to emphasize the multiple pieces that make them up?
I really do like 'em just as they are though, I hope one day to have pieces coming out half so good.
As for the new pieces you've started, stay motivated. You've got talent and an appreciative audience. I find for myself the hardest thing is to just 'start', especially on days when the day has been tiring and my motivation levels are low. But once I sit down and pick up a brush, a couple of hours will go by and I won't even notice.
I look forward to seeing how the Seer and the support weapon come out!
Hi Meer Cat
Thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciate the kind words!!!!
The Eldar a.k.a. weird space elf aliens have always captured my imagination. For some reason, I imagine them being much more organically hi-tech exoskeleton insectoid carapace alien dudes, so that's what I'm trying to capture in my army. I hope you keep at it and grow your army. Hopefully will get to admire your work!
I think you are right, I should have edged the arm segments and the legs to get them to stand out a bit more. I will have to remember to do that on the next batch. Fun fact half the torsos are glued the wrong way round
Once again thanks for the feedback. I seem to have got some mojo back and enjoying it again so that's made it fun.
FYI the blades are nothing special really. Gloss black primer and two shades of colour shifting blue and then some lothren blue edging. I would like to try my hand at some of the GW style crystal weapons and need to look for a tutorial really. However keeping with the theme for my army I'm trying to make them a bit beetle esque.
ingtaer wrote:Looking good mate, have fun with the new brushes. What are you planning on free handing on the cloak? Runes and such like?
Yeah they are great. But think some of the hairs on the 0 are showing splitting already though which is a bit disappointing. But they do hold paint very very well!
Hmmm... Well I was just going to try make neat lines around the borders/edges of the cloak so a thick yellow line with a thin black line running through it. I've never free handed before so was just thinking that if I can get a clean result that would be happy days. But I think maybe some runes on the ribbon bits (which will be blue) might work as well as maybe some pattern on the skirt.. I will have to have a think and see how brave I am. Thank you for the suggestion its got my mind ticking.
I have like 9 warlocks to do in the future so was going to go to town on them and really practice cloths/robes and freehand and just go wild so might just stick to basic stuff on this guy.
I especially liked the hexagonal pattern on the Wraithguard heads. At first I was going to suggest adding some transfers with the eternity symbol...and then I noticed the cool pattern. Well done.
You have been busy since I last visited, so I had quite a bit of catching up to do. Good work all around.
I especially liked the Autarch conversion and the Wraithblades.
@ Fifty - Thanks man, the tiles ware a test for my WL. I wanted to add a sort of imperial flooring asthetic and aclos add some pop to the models.
The entire basing theme for my army is that my guys are rocking up to a world once part of the Eldar empire they have learned has been colonised by IOM and an Imperial industrial outpost has been set up. The intent to reclaim the maiden world they have foolishly spoiled.
However, somebody got there first and beat them to the punch so they are cleaning up, "liberating" resources as they wade through the derelict outpost ready to cleanse the world of whatever killed the foolish humans.
Some progress has been made but been away this weekend enjoying some roller coasters and training so should hopefully get stuck in from tomorrow
So have made a bunch of progress on the spirit seer.
Appologies for the low quality pics.
Still a WIP but for the most part most of the heavy lifting has been achieved. Its now mainly a touch up and cleaning operation.
The plan is to add a bit of white and maybe some blending to the mask and once he's painted and varnished I will go over the helmet with gloss brush on varnish to make it seem like tis made of deep glass. Might even try it for the gems.
So the spirit seer is done. Not sure how I feel about the face, I sort of just put some ard coat on it... but perhaps I should have maybe researched how to use it instead of just plopping it on... I think it came out looking thick and not the smooth glassy finish I wanted.. Not to mention the slight frosting on the gold work but a slight touch up of retributory armour and it was good as gold(crappy pun intended)
I worked with some edge layering on the yellow which I think came out very well and will be included in my paint jobs moving forward. I wasn't convinced edging works with yellow but it sure does! lol. Last of all the free hand on the bottom of the cloak came out looking like a garbage fire despite my best attempts. I cant draw a straight line with a pen so should not have expected anything more for a model lol! Not giving up and will try again on the farseer whose moving up the que. The gun batteries are well on their way too!
Hope ya'll like it and let me know what you think.
Looks good mate, it is hard to tell with a photograph on the varnishing but if you are not happy with it maybe knock it back with some dulcoate and try again?
That yellow looks great and I think you are being well too hard on yourself.
My only slight criticism would be that maybe it wants for a different spot colour? Maybe red/orange gems rather than the blue for at least a couple.
ingtaer wrote: Looks good mate, it is hard to tell with a photograph on the varnishing but if you are not happy with it maybe knock it back with some dulcoate and try again?
That yellow looks great and I think you are being well too hard on yourself.
My only slight criticism would be that maybe it wants for a different spot colour? Maybe red/orange gems rather than the blue for at least a couple.
Thanks ma dudes.
I think I'll stick to it as a reminder. I'm going to have a look on how you're supposed to use ard coat tomorrow haha...
You might be onto something with the red accent gems ingtear. I added red to my wraiths but I think the tabard plates are too big of a part and didn't like how they turned out.
But orange/deep red gems might be just the thing.
I was considering doing orange trim for my characters instead of the yellow like my man Finnan who inspired the hell out of me when I first got back into the hobby: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/2190/269370.page. (Such a shame the guy stopped painting/updating his work) But I wussed out in the end due to understanding the level of work that man put into his models. Paragon of dedication!
I will chuck some red gems onto my farseer to test the waters.
And finally the support weapons are done. at least enough that im willing to call it a day. The spinners and D- cannons are my favorite. spinners particularly as I enjoy wet blending/blending.
Surprisingly a lot of detail and awkward painting on these. Anyway, I like how they turned out for the most part. They are salvaged ebay models that were pre glued and primed so did some tidying up and re-primed. Lost a bit of the detail but overall it worked out as fine as can be expected.
Learned a valuable lesson; make sure the crew dudes back is not in the way of the weapon and also, to cut away a gap so that the weapons slot in without grinding against the platform...
Automatically Appended Next Post: I really dont know how to make these not upside down...
Its my specific Eraftworld Eldar.
The have their own fluff/background & scheme. Think I talked about it a bit in my first post.
Im going to do some side pieces for display when I feel I need a break and actualy have some display space. For the time being Eldar is the top, midle and bottom of the pile.
I have finished my farseer and his two warlock chums.
2 of the conclave are born. Only another 8 to go for a full squad lol. Haven't come up with their names yet. Need to sleep on it. Open to sugestions.
A bit disappointed in how the "heat" singing spears turned out, struggled to blend stuff in such a small area. I think would have been better with an airbrush but couldn't be bothered to set up just for those two guys..
@Ingtaer - Thank you for the suggestion of mixing up different colour gems and spotting some red. I think this makes it pop.
I like the war paint on the warlocks for the mos part/ Turned out a bit thicker than intended. I think I'm getting some new brushes come payday with some better points lol.
Looks good. I like the markings on their masks. The spears look cool. If you wanted to add a little more "heat", you could put just a touch of white at the furthest points. Looking forward to a group of 10!
Yeah, those blades really are chunky. The effects aren't as bad as you make out! My eye isn't drawn there anyway, the helmets are really nicely shaded and I like the 'warpaint'/markings. That's something a bit unusual that you don't really see many people do, and especially on the face it draws the focus.
Indeed. Old skool models Really shows next to the farseer lol.
Thanks I'm happy how they turned out. And the eyes as well. Didn't blotch them up and retained detail which I really struggle with lol So will take that as improvement..
The face paint was inspirered by Finans Blog.. His execution was a million times better naturally…
I have finished my wraithlord right on the final day of the paint challenge!
Quite happy how this chap turned out. Apart from the cloth of the tabard. I have completely made a mess of it. I have never painted clothing this long and straight so my usual techniques were laughably inadequate.. Really irks me but wont repaint it. Ill keep it as a reminder to do better next time. I have taken previous advice onboard and have added some highlights to the black so he's not so dull. Worked a treat. I think maybe if I went whole hog and painted all the bumps as gems he would be even more awesome? I know they are not technicaly gems but reminds me of the wraiths in DOW 3. Its a cool look but was afraid it would make him "too busy".
Had a lot of fun converting him and building and with making the base. Bit of varnish to make a puddle behind the barbed wire, some skulls, the Toxic UV resin! That stuff is so dope! The GF said I was excited like small child with his new toy.. I wanted to make it seem like he's just bulldozed through some industrial headquarters ruins and is casually stomping over the muck blapping whatever killed the imperials in the first place. I think that worked to a degree. Really like the tiles for some reason. Like the floor caved in from above. I think they add something unique to the model.
Also did rust/corrosion/weathering for the first time. That was interesting and fun! You just kind of wing it and don't have to worry about being very neat.
Somehow a drop of gray paint flicked onto his head which was lying separately on a bed behind me.. Feth know how that's happened.. So rather than strip it and get the airbrush out again I decided to over it up with some yellow but that just didn't work so In my frustration I decided to go for broke and scratch/chip it off which actually looks really cool I think. To me looks likes he's just barrelled into the battle field and he's just taken a few rounds to the face but absolutely not cared a single bit.. He's an undead killing machine after all! I added a couple more scratches to make it more grimy which I think worked well. In hindsight I think I should have added more weathering around the feet and the model in general.
I was intending to add some transfers to the tabard plate but run out of time for the challenge as I've never done transfers. I will have a go at transfers tomorrow and add follow up images and call it done. I've noticed some specs on the photos I somehow missed.
I did want to have like a decayed skeleton inside a uniform hanging on the barbed wire.. Imagine No mans land WW1.. Does anyone know how I could have done that ? I could not think of anything.
Thanks! Hope you guys like. Please offer feedback so I can get better !
He's beautiful mate, you should be proud! From the blends on the head to the chessboard on the base - everything works. Will be a nice centrepiece for the army!
I also wouldn't have noticed the tabard if you hadn't've mentioned it - and I struggle with painting cloth folds too. Battle damage on the head is aces.
I am also a big fan of the weapon platforms and your psykers; the scheme is really visually striking. Looking forward to seeing more!
Awesome. Great movement in the pose. Paint is solid, as your wraiths have all been, only moreso due to the larger space to work with. Base is great. That gold on the starcannon is killer.
So I have managed to build and prime this batch of dudes..
Really excited to finish all my troops and just move onto bigger and better things.
Could probably do with another unit of rangers in my arsenal but I find 2 is plenty.
Storm guardians, in particular, will be interesting to paint. I have 2 more squads of stormies and DA to build and prime before we move onto phase 2.
I'm going to baptize them in flames of battle today regardless
Yes I had them rebased so thought Id chuck them another spray coat for good measure as the person I got them did a mediocre job of priming.
I need another exarch to make 3 x 3 man squads for my new lists thought.. Think Ill slice and dice one trooper up and promote I mean convert him up with left over AML from the batch I built.
Well things have been ticking along. I have been in a mad fit of building...
So far I have built and based:
16 storm guardians 2 wraith lords - converted and scenic bases 15 Dire avengers 10 warp spiders 5 fire dragons 8 warlocks Avatar of khaine Metal dark reaper exarch 2 Support weapons 5 wraithguard 5 wraithblades - fully magnetised.
I thought Id treat myself with a fun autarch conversion ive been planning for a while before moving onto shadow specters and wraith seers.
I think I'm going to stop and paint the things that are primed. Unless Im not going to stop building until I have my entire pile of grey plastic converted into models and boxed up ready for priming... I'm just really in the grove of building right now lol. I think once I'm done I might be in my new place so painting will be more enjoyable in a newer better set up with dedicated airbrush space etc.
I might start painting if I start getting bored with building which may well happen (more than likely)
Anyway here is my autarch conversion creation. Strictly speaking he should have a forceshield instead of the sword but the DA arm kind of sucks and I liked this pose better. I wanted to get him dual wielding and it was between this and scorpion chainsword and power sword.. went with this ultimately. Shadow warriors head works really well IMO.
My shining spear conversions I have planned will probably use their heads.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Not sure about the banner now that I look at it.. Might go with wings instead.
It's a cool helmet, and will make for some good Shining Spears. I like the addition of the blasters. As far as the banner vs wings, you have the winged Autarch from before, this guy looks cool with a banner, and the wings could be a little fiddly with the halberd.
But I think I'm going to Save those for a spirit seer with falochus wing conversion im planning on doing. Seeing as I got a totally not needed plastic farseer kit like all the other eldar collectors lol.
I also have the kits double banner fine cast bit. Ill dig it out when I get home from my GF's in a couple days and give it a go and see if I like it better but was planning on sticking that on Asurmen so in most likely hood I will keep him as is. Very happy how he's turned out. Much better then the first one lol. I cant to GS necks for the life of me though..
Also in the pipeline / plans. I want to have a go at making some forcefields. Most likely recipient will be a dramatically posed wraithseer. I'm thinking of pouring some UV resin on a small balloon to get a curve and then fix that to a base.
stripping these bad boys after night shift... Can't sleep due to dr apppt so might as well get some hobby done.
Using cellulose thinner for the first time as its supposed to be super quick.. Hope it works!
Automatically Appended Next Post: ok time for bed...
so its 4 am.. Had fun doubles game today. Eldar vs GK.. Yeah.. it went as can be expected.
And i got everything ready for priming tomorrow.. The rest is in various drawers and boxes waiting for its turn. Wish me luck!
Time fo bed..
So whilst building my second wraithseer, I decided to have a crack at experimenting with UV resin to see if indeed I can create a cool forcefield effect to go with wraithseer no1. converted/dynamic model pose.
(No. 2 will be the stock standard nothing fancy as It would be nice to have at least one model in my army that looks as intended and not go bonkers with conversion lol)
Couple things:
I don't really know what properties UV resin has other then it goes rigid and hardens when exposed to UV light. I haven't been able to find much in terms of how it reacts with paints and varnishes... If anyone has any tips I'm all ears.
Id definitely recommend wearing a respiarator as this stuff really gives off fumes when you UV treat it and stinks like hell and cant be good for you!
I thought the ballon I poured it on would pop as the UV reacts and gets hot but it didn't. Interesting the UV came away from the surface of the ballon as it got treated.
However even after treatment, it's still very sticky. I tried washing it under a tap to see if its just some residue but it continues to sort of sweat. WIll leave it overnight to see if it stops. ive treated it several times to see if theres any reaction to Uv but ther is not.
Anyway, I think this method has potential and this is a very cool material to work with.
I used the green toxic one I used on bases and don't use much of as I wanted to keep the clear for once I have an idea of how to work with this. The key is to be patient and do not try to spread the resin with anything as that creates tiny bubbles.
WHat Id like to do on the proper attempt once painted is to have sort of like bullets being stopped sort of mid air entering the forcefield. I have an idea how I'm going to try to do that so will try that sometime next week on my test piece. No idea if this wil work lol. Also will try some inks and stuff on it to see how it handles colourshift paint. Could be interesting.
Anyway so this is the sort of proof of concept pictures I have for now. Im open to any sugestions or useful information regarding making realistic force fields or working with UV resin..
Cool force field, and pretty simple to make by the sounds of it. The balloon was a piece of genius! How do you intend to suspend it? Flight stand or does it extend to the ground?
I plan on the final piece to be extending all the way to the ground. Ill cover any frosting from CA glue with scatter/rubble.
Also getting a heat gun and some acrylic sheets. Will try to mould those over a small ball of some kind. Really need to break the airbrush out again and get some inks to plat with tinting and stencils.
If the UV resin is similar or the same as 3d printer resin, washing it for a few minutes in 91% isopropyl/rubbing alchohol and/or putting it out in direct sunlight like a window, possibly in a clear thing of water you don't mind not using for eating again seems to clear the stickyness for my prints.
So I have based the specters and maugan ra before he goes on a walk again lol.
I decided that these models don't have anough death and skulls on them. (especialy maugan ra lol)
So I went through a lot of skulls to make these funky bases.
Not sure what's next. I probably should start painting again really.
Am really enjoying the building and not feeling a burn out at all so think I will keep going.
Think will do banshees next from BOP and new Jain zar.
Then do a squadron of tanks plus knight and stop there for painting.
Right.. so ive been working my butt like a sweaty hamster. Taken advantage of having free reign of the house for a week so ive done A LOT of airbrush things. Once I get my new hobby space I shuld be able to do things ad hoc and not have to create huge work piles to make the set up time efficient. Unfortunately I bought, broke and returned 2 cheapo airbrushes - I wanted a cheap one to do the high volume base painting with the red and orange but the 1st one clogged up within seconds and kept clogging up... The replacemt, more expensive, the screwy bit of the oring/nozz broke off when I unscrewed it to fit a bigger size one...Alas My trasty Iwatta CS Neo did all of the work. I think im not going to bother getting any other airbush for a while. Wanted to get a cheap one to do bulk stuff and keep this one for more precision work but hey ho. But got a decoupling thingy and a proper airpush holder so making things much easier. Will look into getting a splitter and a secondary airbrush down the line for sure.
So lets break it down.
1st the wraiths -
Really happy how these guys have turned out so far! I have learned from my previous experience. And thing the heads and the weapons have some out much better. Also the general armour hue, is much more pronounced. Colour shift paint is very hard to capture on camera so trust me when I say the bodies look pretty cool. Unfortunately the GSW order of green and really light blue colourhsift has still not arrived so I had to push ahead without and make do with the darth blue and cobalt blue paints, these make quite a dark finish. I wanted to apply a final lighter highlight and a green tint to really bring out the organic insectoid otherworldy effect I am chasing. Alas I can always do some masking and just layer thes eon top. Once done I can start painting the details. Doing the fins by airbrush was the way to go. Building up yellow is such a pain in the neck. WIll slab a shade on these and add a bit of touch up highlighting. Hope to do some transfers on these guys. However the ground work is done and Im happy to sue them in tomorrows game Also as mentioned the dynamic wraith seer will be getting a forcefield eventualy. Cant see in the picture but he has a little guardian slumped up on his base. So I'm trying to paint a story that he's trying to protect the living and throwing up a forcefield.
So having the concept of my original warlocks with their psychicly generating superheating spears and swords I decided to take this opportunity to use the airbrush to build the fades up. And Oh my god how good it looks for very little time investment. Literly did a couple colours whilst doing the wraith heads and warp spiders. Compare dto the ones I did by hand these guys already look incredible. One thing I did accidentally by not masking and not enough control is build up a a bit of an OSL effect. I actualy really like it on some of these guys so Im probably going to keep it when I paint these fellas. Also Being able to do precision zenithal highlighting should make the cloths and tunic fols much easier to paint to a high standard.
The AOK is basically just based and I did a fade on his head and sword. Im quite anxious about painting him to be honest. Hes a very old culpt, there is lot of detail there and none of it seems to be consistent if that makes snese. Like hes made up of several different things and its not clear where one ends another begisn and what colour these should be. Even the GW artwork he looks far too messy in terms of colour pallete. I wil need to have a good ol think about him when I have chance.
Asurmen and maugan ra are juts primed with a can, nothing special there. I feel very similarly about Asurmen as I do AOK. So not sure how hes going to turn out. Unfortunately I don't have any blue highlighting airbrush paints so Im going to work on him by hand. With Maguan Ra, im planning on suing black contrast all over and then pick out the bony details. Should be a nice easy job lol.
Lastly - Warp spiders and Fire dragons and shadow specters.
Im really happy how these guys are shaping up. Its a new experience painting something that's been airbrush based and highlighted. So will be interesting. Im mos curious about edging but should be fine. I think I have mostly got my light sources correct.
I really LOVE how the warp spider back packs have turned out. Think they look incredible. Cant wait to see them once they are finished.
Bit concerned about the over spray on the back of their heads though... Ill have to sort it out somehow. Might be real lazy and do a pass of red over the heads with the ol aitrrush. Anyway I also did some fades on their weapons. Hoping to match the support weapons approach.
Shadow spectres are just straight up greayseer. Contrast apothecary white on top is the plan.
The ground work has been laid.
Overall quite happy how everything turned out. There haven't been any major mishaps which is surprising given the workspace conditions.
Also I think I'm going to need anew airbrush booth... The one I have doesn't seem to have any suction now. Maybe I've ruined it with spray cans. I had to change the filter because I really went to town.
I like the idea of the Wriathseer protecing a still-living dude. I love i when people tell stories with their models. It can be what elevates it from craft to art, in my opinion.
Thanks guys! I'm particularly happy about the wraiths colour shifting and the heads. Looks really cool on the table!
Just have a support weapon to finish building.
I have enough variety of things primed and ready to go!! I'm feeling the inspiration coming as I have plenty of ideas for battle lists and these are firing up my hobby mind.
I'm going to start with the shadow spectres, and Magun- Ra. The spectres have a FW book on the way so I want to at least use them once or twice before they get their rules rewritten and probably nerfed lol. Or if they get better make a staple of my army.
Sort of got side tracked by making a Yvraine conversion.
Here's what I have so far. Not sure How I feel about the head. It does look a bit too much like the Mistweaver head.. I really dislike what Yvreine's head looks like so its an improvement lol. What im planning to do is to add the headdress element somewhere depending on how the remaining bits fit. Maybe I'll add it to the girnyx lol.
I'm thinking of using the hip cloths as shoulder pieced in the mock up it looked quite cool.
Nice! It all came together great. The use of the hips on the shoulders and the headpiece as a collar of sorts really changes the model's sillhouette. Quite unique.
Its attached to just behind where the ears would be. I think this is some of my best work so far in terms of converting. Really like how she's turned out. Cant wait to paint her.
However now looking at the pics im not sure about the stabby knee as its obscuring the weapon and drawing too much attention and not quite fitting the aesthetic.
First on the table are those dark reapers. Seeing as they are getting featured in most of my lists They need to get on with the programme and look the part!
The Great Work can commence once again..
I have finally set myself up in the new digs moved in proper and sorted out other aspects of my life so I can get back to painting..
Hopefully will see some actual minis painted.
Im itching to get going
Wish I could have a truly dedicated space. I share mine with Mrs. Captain Brown and Ms. Captain Brown and all my figures have to be packed up in the storage room (no display case here).
My workspace complete. Took some time to gather the will and jump back in at the paint brushes.
Nearly finished the batch of dark reapers. Used darren lathams guide and basterdised it to fit my skill/patience threshold but have to say they look much better than my previous ones.
Should have better finished pics ready tomorrow. All i really got left is do the base rims and and varnish them.
Have never painted green gems before and my red are still pretty meh... need to work on these.
Not sure whats next. Got so many things i dont know wherr to start lol. Think will just speed paint a bunch of guardians to get them out the way. And then move on to Dire avengers.
But before all that im going to paint the reapers big daddy-o magun ra himself.
Want to try out contratrasts and hes primed with grey seer...
youwashock wrote: Glad you got the motivation to do these guys. They look sweet! The Exarchs, especially, hauling out the heavy firepower. Excited to see Maugan Ra!
Thanks!
I need to do some research on how to use contrast paints. Wanted to only paint him using contrast..
I had a plan some time ago but completely forgot what I was going to do lol.
Those Reapers look fantastic! Mr Lathams videos are really good, though I too have to adjust to match my skill level! Still, the results speak for themselves! I’ll be watching out for Maugan
Here we are. I think I need to make/get a new photo box. the cheapo one I got is pretty flimsy and a pain to use.
Any tips on DYI or links to off the shelf stuff is welcome
Anyway. I like how these guys turned out. Sadly one of the troopers is missing an "ear?" that's due to finecast being finecast.. :( However, I decided to paint him anyway and put it down to battle damage
The varnish seems to have made of some blending/transition of the highlights on the armour very bland... I need to take that into account on future projects when using this method.
I think they look great. There is something about them that invokes both classic/retro and modern paintjobs - and that just feels good.
I can see what you mean about losing some of the contrast on them compared to the last pic; it almost seems like they have a subtle oil pastel blend going on, particularly on the red weapons. It's definitely not unpleasant but I can see that it might make them pop less at arm's length on the table.
The bone parts turned out really well, they seem to tie the black and red together.
I have a cheapo lightbox from ebay too; I have pretty much given up on it and just try to take photos in natural light...I am lucky enough to live in the land of eternal sunshine though and if the stereotypes are anything to go by a pom might not be so lucky! Would also love to hear any recommendations...
I've had my share of frustrations with finecast too. An ear is a minor loss given their track record and good on you for rolling with it!
I just had a refresher look through the last few pages; I forgot how much I love the colour scheme of this army. Hope we get to see more soon!
PS did you make any progress with the resin forcefield idea? Felt like you were on to a winner there!
Thanks! Im glad you like them. The first ones I did look terrible by comparison like the are not even finished!
Im surprised how drasticaly my ability/skills/tools/willingness to paint detail has improved. Its a nice feelgood feeling.
Aye I have been thinking about the wraith a lot. Hes close to the top of the pile so hopefully you will see how it all turns out sooner rather than later.
Currrently im retro fitting all models to have magnetised bases which is goin pretty smoothly pretty fast.
Also got the nee AOS lumineth endless spells. The lightining bits and swirly bits will be nice conversion fodder
ive been magnetizing bases (unitl I run out of 3x2 magnets!)
Been busy Housing all of my stuff and magnetizing finally. I think this is a good thing to have the backlog as a visual thing rather than being packed up in boxes so I don't have to look at it lol. Im going to need another detolf soon enough but will just upgrade to a couple more shelves first.
However, now its time to paint again.
Magun ra - The reaper daddy-o man himself is gracing the paint desk.
Pictures will follow.
I've finished Maguan-Ra to go along with his reaper brethren. I have also decided from now on I shall call him "wagwan-ra" Dunno why.. just seems apt.
I took what I learned from doing the reapers and applied to the big man himself. Really like how he's turned out. Apart from the tabard... WHy or why I cant paint straight tabards that look good!? I dont know why but I just cant seem be able to paint how it should look.
If anyone has pointers about how to paint long straight Up--> Down cloth folds Im all ears. Really hate how it looks.
On the upside I really like how the base turned out. Wasnt sure if it will work but I think it worked fairly well. Always fun experimenting with UV resin. I think I could have added some green OSL to the model's underside in hindsight..not sure if it wouldn't clash with the blue gue armor finish though. I certainly don't feel comfortable trying to pull it off! SO will call it done
Anyway. Hope you guys like it. As usual please give that sweet sweet feedback so I can do things better.
Going to take a break for the rest of the day and decide what I'm tackling next. I think I will just do a batch of guardians...
Wagwan-Ra looks fab, the bone bits are nice and smooth and the subtle highlights on the black are great too. I think the cloth looks TL old, I’ve been trying (others can judge how well!) to give broader highlights where the light would hit. I try to use one of my lamps to help guide me, though it’s easier on surfaces with a bit of shine. I probably would have done something with the eye sockets on his shoulder pads, maybe purple or green?
Thanks!
Somebody pointed out his gun is abit flaccid on the paint comp thread.. I stopped noticing it as I was working on him but guess didint straighten it enough lol
@ Gobert, I did consider it but decided it would be too much.. Wanted to keep the armour bits uniform. I was considering the mans eyes themselves might need a dash of airbrush green OSL but again decided against it. Felt like adding more would clutter him up. Maybe it was a bad call.
Managed to get into a routine of doing at least 2-3 hours an evening. Man its been hard to find time/motivation....
Layer one of base paint done. I tried with a gray undercoat before moving onto yellows to see if I can get a smoother finish with less layers on these guys.
Lockdown has been the biggest thing to motivate me to paint. I've strayed away from online games and what not, so the brushes have seen a lot of action. Keep up the good work. I especially like your Rangers! It's pleasing to see another Eldar player around, and another Berserk fan. Keep going struggler.
Shadowbrand wrote: Lockdown has been the biggest thing to motivate me to paint. I've strayed away from online games and what not, so the brushes have seen a lot of action. Keep up the good work. I especially like your Rangers! It's pleasing to see another Eldar player around, and another Berserk fan. Keep going struggler.
Hey man thanks for the kind words!
Didn't want to reply until I had something worth showing lol. Lockdown doesn't really mean much to me. I've been working full time all the way throughout so not like I have any extra time unfortunately.
I have been chipping away at these guys. I just did my final layer of blue to give them that neon blue feel to match with the original ones.
I experimented a bit with the yellow layers and like the finished effect looking almost bone like. think it contrasts really well with the neon blue.
Next is tidying up with black and starting on slight armour highlight. Bit of dark reaper mixed with black for a very dark grey and then slight highlight to make the armour stand out as it looks very souless currently. after that just eyes and touching up some details plus the CC weapons on the stormies, and of course the bases.
I feel like I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Certainly have learned my lesson of trying to batch paint 30+ infantry dudes..
It seems forever since I started on my guardians...
However, these are now finished. I am very happy with how these guys turned out despite some of the bits being failcast.
I have learned some interesting tid bits doing these guys. I like the updated scheme and the recipie is upgraded. I feel the yellow now is a lot richer and the highlights pop a lot nicer giving it a wraithboneish feel which is what I'm going for One thing im not entirely happy with is the special weapon muzzles. I was trying to go for the melta burned out muzzle effect but winged it instead of doing some research. I dont feel the fad is good. But I really like the green power cables on the special weapons.
Anyway, the biggest lesson is to never paint more than 10 models at once EVER again
These guys have already been baptised in flames of war and have assassinated a shield captain on bike
Anyway, Appologies for all of the pictures and not many details.. but I also got a new light box and thought id use it.
Hope ya'll like them.
Yar, I do like that black and yellow colour scheme. It's very much worth getting your 'backbone troops' painted nicely because you'll see a lot of them, I'm sure! Congrats for having gotten them done.
Thank you for the comments chaps.
I welcome feedback from the more talented and experienced!
I decided that the next thing I am moving onto ma shadow specters.
I am going to try out two schemes.
The spectres are currently greyseer gray.
The local GW manager has gifted me a sample storm cast dude after our conversation about how I can go about painting them as per FW site - Basically after mentioning I don't really have anything to practice on that im willing to sacrifice. Very kind of him.
I'm going to try out the GWs own "ghostly warriors" scheme as per their youtubes on half the model and try the FW written recipie on the other half.
Well.. Having a play with tesseract glow on top of grey seer today was... educational. I seemed to have messed up and it looks really messy. But there are glimpses of greatness.
1. I need to be quite liberal with application.
2. The paint dries very quickly so don't touch with brush
I have been slowly getting my Spectres done.
Quite happy how these guys turned out. I tried to make them as close to the original FW website a I can.
With the exception of going a bit crazy on the airbrush OSL effect. think i overdid it and should have used a smaller nozzle/bigger needle. Thats what you get when you are out of practice.
The only thing left to do is to paint the eyes and the gems on the chest.
Not sure if I should go for Red to drop a bit of a pop, go with blue to keep the pallet consistent and cool or for green.
Nice to see some more stuff from you, and that's a cool execution of the classic-style spectres scheme. I enjoy the ghostly osl type glow you've got going on the guns, and the skulls really add something to the bases. I like how their more 'earthy' tones constrast against the more ghostly, ethereal colours of the aspect warriors. Nice one!
It Has been a while since I've painted anything but managed to get back in the swing of it with these guys.
Other than being more patient and applying more layers and glazing up not really sure how else to improve. But im calling these fellas done.
I have got some stuff completed and figure its time to blow the dust off this thread
It was the first model I painted using an airbrush and the first time I used masking/ colourhsifting paint. I have made a feew errors. There is a flaking paint near one of the fins due to using liquid masking which spilled over into the panel which kind of sucked. I think i might add some edge highlighting possibly.
Keep it up, I'm keen to see more of your stuff!
Not sure if you can see it in the pic so will update once its all complete.
