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This is a blog in which I will attempt to document the building and painting of 2 Eldar Wave Serpents Type-II, 1 Eldar Falcon Type-II, and 2 Eldar Fire Prisms with Falcon Type-II mods starting on 13 of November, 2011.
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First Wave Serpent completed..?


First Fire Prism complete?



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I'm currently on a little project and it came to me this morning that I should make a blog on dakka about it. This blog will probably have a slight dry-spell in the winter due to many MANY games coming out that I are on my "must play" list including but not limited to: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Monster Hunter Tri G, Mario Kart 7, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Guild Wars 2.... yeah, you get the picture. Anyway, these are my first purchases of GW Product for over 2 years since I completed my 1.5k Eldar army. I decided to make these purchases for two reasons. Firstly, the Japanese Yen is incredibly strong at this moment in time. I can literally order Forge World variants of models and have it delivered to my door for CHEAPER than GW Japan retail prices. Secondly, the new Eldar Fire Prism model was released about one year ago, and I have two in my armylist. The metal prism cannon is a pain during gaming, but honestly, I just wanted to get "updated." Because of these two reasons, I thought to myself; hey, why not, and went ahead and purchased the following items to completely update and upgrade my Eldar skimmer squadron:

2 Eldar Wave Serpent Type-II Complete Kits (Forge World)
1 Eldar Falcon Type-II Complete Kit (Forge World)
2 Eldar Falcon Type-II Conversion Kits (Forge World)
2 Eldar Fire Prism/Night Spinner


(Fire Prisms have not arrived yet.)

I decided to first work on one of the Wave Serpents. These are all the Type-II bits you receive from Forge World if you decide to purchase a Wave Serpent Type-II.


Here are all the bits and pieces that will be used to make the Wave Serpent. As you can see, I've already somewhat started work on it. Hopefully I can fully cover the next vehicle I'll be working on.


First off, after some dry fitting, I came to the conclusion that the back plate was pretty warped and wouldn't fit. I had to go and carve up and file some of the resin down, as well as bend some if it back to fit the model. Green Stuff work has been done to repair some of the places I had to cut up.


I also went ahead and magnetized the underside of the vehicle, as well as covered up original holes for transparent bases. For this I used disc magnets 3mm in diameter, 2mm in height.


As you can see, I have 3 magnets set on my vehicle's underside. This is because I go for a 3-pronged magnetic base. It is very stable, and I highly suggest anyone who is looking into building Eldar tanks try this out. You will literally never have any problems regarding model stability.


and an overhead view.


Next up are plasticard additions, as well as magnets on them in the turret and for the underslung shuriken catapaults. The magnets used here are the same as before, 3mm in diameter, 2mm in height. The plasticard is also 0.5mm thick.


Final bit for now, in preparation for attaching the Type-II tail onto the main upper shell, I drilled holes meant for pinning in each piece. A bit hard to see, but they're on the "corners."


Held together by pins! (not yet glued.)


Anyway, thats it for now I think. I'm actually waiting on a few magnets to be delivered before I start the next few steps. Hopefully what I've posted here will be useful to someone.

19/11/2011
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Got my magnets in today! The place I ordered from apparently didn't have stock of what I had ordered so it took much longer than usual.


I thus proceeded to build and magnetize the Wave Serpent.

Here is what the top-shell of the Wave Serpent should look like when completely built.


The bottom half. Magnet work everywhere.


After magnet work, I proceeded with the necessary Green Stuff measures to blend in bits and pieces.


Here is a quick side-by-side comparison between the Wave Serpent Type-II and a regular Type-I GW Wave Serpent.


Finally, a quick question for Dakka. Which do you guys think looks better for my Brightlances? With(Left) or without(right) the "power core" thing attached? Thanks!

20/11/2011
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Basically worked on getting my model ready for, and primed today.
Pre-primer! Greenstuff has been sanded down to form a better blend. Apparently, dakka also didn't care about the power core thing so I've decided to go for without it.


Everything is now primed and ready for the first coat of paint tomorrow!



Another question for dakka. I'm kind of stumped on how to paint the bulbous thing on the Type-II turret. My current options are either to keep it black, as part of the turret, or perhaps paint it up in a spiritstone/gemstone style. Which does dakka think would look better?

Those look really cool. If I was starting my eldar from scratch today I would be very tempted by the type-II upgrades!

Kouzuki wrote:20/11/2011
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Basically worked on getting my model ready for, and primed today.
Pre-primer! Greenstuff has been sanded down to form a better blend. Apparently, dakka also didn't care about the power core thing so I've decided to go for without it.


Everything is now primed and ready for the first coat of paint tomorrow!



Another question for dakka. I'm kind of stumped on how to paint the bulbous thing on the Type-II turret. My current options are either to keep it black, as part of the turret, or perhaps paint it up in a spiritstone/gemstone style. Which does dakka think would look better?

Looks good so far. I think you should paint it gemstone/spiritstone style to break up the colors a bit and provide a nice focal point.

What scheme are you going with?

If vehicle is going to be primarily black, paint gems and bulbous parts in a red gemstone style.

Good work and keep it coming

Seems like a promising start... I'll be following this

Oo yay, replies.

Regarding paint scheme, I will most probably paint these upcoming tanks in an Ulthwe'ish style, similar to my current army.



One thing I want to do is have more prominent grey highlights on the black this time. Going for:
Adeptus Battlegrey -> Codex Grey -> Badab Black Wash -> Codex Grey -> Fortress grey.

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:Those look really cool. If I was starting my eldar from scratch today I would be very tempted by the type-II upgrades!

This.

And I've never heard of this before, but you've got me intrigued! Were they expensive? Ok, silly question its Forge World.

Do the upgrades count as anything in game or just add to the tanks appearance?

Cave_Dweller wrote:
And I've never heard of this before, but you've got me intrigued! Were they expensive? Ok, silly question its Forge World.

Do the upgrades count as anything in game or just add to the tanks appearance?

Well... "expensive" is a very relative term =p. Ordering from Forgeworld, even with shipping, is actually cheaper than buying the normal models at Japan retail prices, although that speaks more about Japan retail prices than anything ^^.

In GBP, a regular Falcon is £31, whereas the ForgeWorld Type-II one is £35.
The Wave Serpent is £28, and the Forgeworld Type-II one is £31.
General 10% increase.

The parts themselves don't add anything though, only alter the appearance, mostly the tail and the wing extensions are the major parts.

Looking good I've always like the Uthwe color scheme

21/11/2011
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Today's update won't really be P&M. There really isn't much to show. I just went ahead and painted black over parts that the primer didn't really hit, and after that went over everything with a thin layer of black paint. The "real" painting will start tomorrow.

However! I did get something in the mail today that is pretty related to this.



A dice bag and scatterdice! I got sick of confusing which scatterdice is whose, or losing them during games. As such, I decided to make this purchase.

In the picture are some Chessex scatterdice. Apparently they're quite a while out of production, but still very nice dice. Sharper edges than the GW ones which is a plus in my book. Everything is the same as GW scatterdice. 2 "Hit" marks, 4 directional marks. Don't know if you can see clearly in the picture, but they're a white color with grey'ish specks on them. Kind of like marble. As of now, will use one of them, the other 4 are going into storage for potential future armies (Probably an upcoming WHFB one,) or just in case I *do* lose this one >.>

Additionally, I also received a nice dicebag from Dragonchow. Black&White wavy stripes... or I can turn it inside out to be straight black. Quality is awesome. I'll need to beat it up a bit to see how good it really is, but first thoughts are: Awesome!

That's not ulthwe... That's the much better version of it
Seriously though, good job on the lightning effects.

22/11/2011
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Painting progress! as well as something cool in the mail.

I started on highlights on the black today. Basically did Adeptus Battlegrey -> Codex Grey, and washed with Badab Black. Because of the wash, everything looks like a huge mess at the moment. I promise, after I've put on some varnish it will look better!
Next step is to re-highlight some of the bits and pieces, as well as finish up with a Codex Grey -> Fortress Grey edge highlights




I also received yet another awesome thing in the mail today!

A new Pack 432!


Whats inside!?!? That's right! Some custom cut foam specifically made to fit Eldar Type-II vehicles! (I also have a 1" regular Eldar Troop Tray to go with this!)



It still smells a bit of burnt plastic/foam. Need to leave some teabags inside for a bit.

These are the templates that I made myself in Photoshop. Perhaps they will be useful to someone in the future.

23/11/2011
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Progress report.

I've basically finished the edging/highlighting on the black! They seem a bit harsh at first, but I was going for a feel similar to what can be seen here.
http://tentakelgames.com/2011/02/24/ulthwe-done-right/

The "brighter" black will probably stand out more and look better. One complaint about my current color scheme is that it looks like the black hasn't been highlighted. Hopefully these stronger edges will change that!




Any opinions/suggestions/criticisms about what I've posted sofar? Do tell!

I'll probably also start with the main bone-colored parts tomorrow. I'm currently debating as to which would look better
1.) Snakebite Leather -> layer up to Bleached Bone/Skull White
2.) Dheneb Stone -> Gryphone Sepia wash -> Bleached Bone/Skull white

Which does dakka think will look nicer?

I'd go with the dheneb stone base. Looking good overall I'm really liking the enhancements. Are you going to add any other details or weathering or battle damage? You don't often see weathered eldar vehicles....

Everything looks awesome, I've also been tempted to get some Type-II Serpents but I'm a bit worried about the warping.

Btw, IMO the brightlances DO look better without the power core, just a sleeker finish.

^ and agreed, Dheneb stone base. Lastly, loving the freehand work on your other grav-tanks, it looks brilliant! I'll be following this with interest

Nice stuff.

24/11/2011
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Thanks for the replies people!

I took the advice given and have started painting the bone parts with Dheneb stone. Its the first time I've used the color, and foundation paints in general, so I had to mess around trying to find a good thinkness for it (You can see this at the bottom are of the hull). I was able to achieve a nice smooth coat on all the parts, so hopefully it turns out alright!




I was also able to acquire the Imperial Armor Apocalypse: Second Edition yesterday, and taking a look at the Eldar entries, I'm now also kind of tempted to get two Eldar Warp Hunters now that they have been made "official." I'll probably wait until I'm done with my five tanks first though.

Cave_Dweller, I'd like to ask what exactly you mean by "any other details?" Regarding weathering/battle damage, I don't plan to add that just yet. Might go with the flow and add some later on, but its not currently on the agenda. One of the reasons I like Eldar is because of the "clean" look.

Lovely work, I'm glad to see Eldar being worked upon. The price difference is amusing, especially if you put in an order to FW large enough for free shipping. I came in late, but I think the removal of the blocky 'power cores' from the brightlances suits the Type II models better.

Finally, if you get a Forgeworld piece that's badly warped or mis-cast, you can call them and they will replace the piece.

Good luck, and subscribed!

--Brian

26/11/2011
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Basically progress from both yesterday and today as I didn't do anything much show-worthy yesterday.

I've done up the bone areas now and am starting to work on the lightning patterns.
The white ulthwe white lightning is basically done. If someone sees something funky that I should change, please tell me! I've sketched out where I am going to place the purple lightning now, but it may be a bit hard to see in these pictures.





The bottom hull is also almost finished. The only thing left is for some of the gemstones on the back and on the bottom. As you can see I've also painted a bit of the insides. Nothing too detailed as chances are, only very few people are ever going to see it once I put both the top and the bottom together. Still though, some basic stuff just to not have it straight primer/chaos black.


Comments/critiques/whatever is appreciated!

@Briancj. yeah I know that I can request replacements if something is too messed up. I thought I could deal with it myself this time though.

wow this is looking really nice! Just came across your blog and must say, I am pretty impressed! I'm so happy to someone filling out those huge gaps on tanks! I thought I'd be the only one doing that haha
I am also pretty impressed by those freehand "Ulthwe-lines". I would have messed up a thousand times! Nice work! My only complaint is the black. In my opinion you used too much grey and especially on a too large area. The Badab Black didn't really tone it done enough... For my Chaos Space Marines I went from black -> black 1:1 adeptus battlegrey -> adeptus battlegrey -> codex grey -> fortress grey, while not highlighting all areas. I think it is important for black to leave some parts pure black , otherwise it will look too grey-ish. You need to be especially careful with the first few highlights! If you paint them too big, you created a grey-black and thats not what you want! Pay close attention to where the light will hit the surface and only highlight those areas. Be careful with the last very light codex and fortress grey highlight too, as those can ruin your black also.
You can see what I mean, by looking at my CSM's. Especially the lower left and lower right one are good examples imho (maybe click on the image and then zoom in)




Still very nice work! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model! Looks very promising!

SnakeByte wrote:wow this is looking really nice! Just came across your blog and must say, I am pretty impressed! I'm so happy to someone filling out those huge gaps on tanks! I thought I'd be the only one doing that haha
I am also pretty impressed by those freehand "Ulthwe-lines". I would have messed up a thousand times! Nice work! My only complaint is the black. In my opinion you used too much grey and especially on a too large area. The Badab Black didn't really tone it done enough... For my Chaos Space Marines I went from black -> black 1:1 adeptus battlegrey -> adeptus battlegrey -> codex grey -> fortress grey, while not highlighting all areas. I think it is important for black to leave some parts pure black , otherwise it will look too grey-ish. You need to be especially careful with the first few highlights! If you paint them too big, you created a grey-black and thats not what you want! Pay close attention to where the light will hit the surface and only highlight those areas. Be careful with the last very light codex and fortress grey highlight too, as those can ruin your black also.
You can see what I mean, by looking at my CSM's. Especially the lower left and lower right one are good examples imho (maybe click on the image and then zoom in)




Still very nice work! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model! Looks very promising!

Thanks for the suggestion! I actually did what you said the first time around for my army (if you look up a few posts, there is a picture of what my current army looks like.) but I was told by quite a few people that the army just didn't look highlighted at all. This time I decided to go for heavy highlights, like done here:
http://tentakelgames.com/2011/02/24/ulthwe-done-right/

If anything, its probably a slightly different style, but hopefully it'll look alright when done!


Also, I did mess up the lightning alot. I'l just lucky that black is a forgiving color to work with ^^

27/11/2011
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The first Wave Serpent is basically done!

(145) Wave Serpent | Twin-Linked Bright Lances, Spirit Stones.

Also, a side-by-side comparison to the Type-I vehicle it will eventually be replacing (I'm not going to unveil these updated vehicles in my area until I'm done with all 5 of them.)




As always, criticism, comments, or just whatever is appreciated!

Hopefully my Fire Prisms arrive soon... I want to work on one of them next! Any tips regarding building/painting the new Fire Prism from those that have experience with it will be appreciated as well! I've yet to even see one of those... so its going to be a bit daunting.

Nice work!
Guess the black looks good as it is Everyone has his or her own style, if you feel comfortable while painting and your models looks awesome the go for it!
Though maybe I would go for some even lighter highlights on just some well chosen edges, to give it that shining in the sun kind of look... but that could already be a bit too much as I'm reading this on my mobile and the pictures are really small!
Still, nice work!

Hey, cool stuff man. Nice builds and lovely paint jobs.
And I definitely need to get some battlefoam, that looks so handy...

Well... Thes seem to be ready, but maybe some small amounts of freehand here and there?

SnakeByte wrote:Nice work!
Guess the black looks good as it is Everyone has his or her own style, if you feel comfortable while painting and your models looks awesome the go for it!
Though maybe I would go for some even lighter highlights on just some well chosen edges, to give it that shining in the sun kind of look... but that could already be a bit too much as I'm reading this on my mobile and the pictures are really small!
Still, nice work!

Thanks ^^. Maybe you can give me some pointers if you look at it on a bigger screen, although honestly, the picture quality is kind of lacking. I only have my iphone to take pictures with =[.

That said, its especially obvious in my side-to-side pictures, but the heavy-highlighted black is much brighter than the toned down highlights, and I think I prefer it for now!

Meph wrote:Hey, cool stuff man. Nice builds and lovely paint jobs.
And I definitely need to get some battlefoam, that looks so handy...

Thank you. Battlefoam is very handy, especially for odd shapes like for Eldar vehicles. They *are* a bit pricy, but I honestly think it is well worth the investment. I've never been disappointed with my old bag, and the new one is even better!

sluggaslugga wrote:Well... Thes seem to be ready, but maybe some small amounts of freehand here and there?

Any suggestions =x?

01/12/2011
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A few days have gone by since I last updated, but I just got the Fire Prisms in the mail today! Ordered them off a US-based Ebay store. For those in the Asia-Oceanic region that are having trouble with prices and the embargo, I highly suggest you check this "solution" out! There are many reputable ebay-based stores that sell at a discount and *will* mail overseas. I got these two Fire Prisms for the price of one retail here, even with shipping! Forgeworld Type-II Falcon parts in there just to show I'm going to be using them too.


These are the parts you will get if any of you decide to buy a Falcon Type-II Forge World kit. (Either conversion or complete.)


Basically spent what time I had today washing and prepping the parts. Here are all the parts that I will be using for this build.


Quick question regarding style. Which of these two does dakka think would look better? The difference between the two are the wing-tips. The top image has the regular parts from the Fire Prism. These are meant to represent Vectored Engines, but due to the larger Fire Prism turret, they really balance out the model. The second is from the Forge World Type-II Falcon kit. This piece doesn't really represent anything in-game but looks nice and simple... perhaps not large enough to fit the Fire Prism turret though.
1.)
2.)

Additionally, Mario Kart 7 was released today! Hopefully I can acquire it tomorrow as I'm really looking forward to playing it!

I love those new fire prisms! Really exited to see what you do with them!
I think you should use the forge world ones. You used them on your other tanks too, didn't you? I think it is important for Eldar to look somewhat "connected", so I'd go for those...

What the heck!? Today!? I was so excited and now I forgot to preorder it! Well maybe it's better that way, I have a chemistry and a math exam upcoming haha
Tell me how it is, once you got yours, okay?