Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

What I've learned in all of this is that when you blow up photos of your painting it looks terrible, lol.





I'm still working to smooth the blends and maximize the contrast. I've tried to stipple some black spots to give the appearance of flowing magma. It also breaks up the blends a little.



After I've finished the body, I'm looking to do some OSL to sell the magma effect in the brightest spots. Maybe I'll just save it for the sword.



I'm really spelling out each step to help refine my process and show what the mini looks like during the "in-between" stages. A lot of times we skip ahead to the finished product and new painters may get chased away.

He looks funny half painted like this. Like he's wearing pants or something haha.

So far, so good. Nice rich color, very fiery. Looking forward to the rest.

That magma fire is beautiful!

You might say he’s wearing hot pants! Sorry, I’ll be leaving now!

The bottom half of that looks great.

The top half looks blech! :p :p :p

It will look amazing once finished though.

Hey Dakka!

Thank you for all your compliments! The value of the P&M Blogs board is the feedback you give. In this age of quarantine, we're the only community we've got!

I've finished up my prototype Dire Avenger model. This is what I was going for...


I'm really happy with my execution on the idea. I'm also happy that what I imagine in my mind is roughly what I'm getting as a finished product.

Note: I will smooth the helmet when the GS dries. I'll also close the gap on his back once the glue fully cures. I'll also do a little work on the elbow joint but the idea is I'll keep the gun separate for painting.

I will also close the facemask area to sell the 40k feel. If you look closely, I accidentally sawed off part of the left "hip guard." I also chipped part of the "scale mail cod piece." I could use GS to hide these mistakes or simply paint it as battle damage.

I want to impress upon you how gentle you must be to carve out these bits. The legs on the wardens are flowing robes and the small pieces that I've saved want to give before the 1/4"-in-diameter legs.








So, how'd I do? Appropriately painted, would you believe this is a Dire Avenger?

I'm not sure what to do with the arm "disk." This is where the Vanari Warden shield gets glued and it looks kind of awkward. However, I could try to freehand some "ying-yang" symbols that Asurmen is so prone to wear. I could add some runes or some Eldar bits too. Or I could clip it off and sculpt over it but that seems hard on such a small, finicky bit.

I also need to adjust the hair. My casting materials just came in so I'm going to try to cast the Warden head pieces and use GS to make the "PERFECT MOWHAWK"



What do you think?

That looks amazing.

You could always put a sort of "tech-shield" there. Your guy looks a little less armoured than the vanilla DA, so some sort of small arm-mounted force-field shield could work well to "make up the difference" in armour saves. Really all you'd have to do would be etch some designs into the disk, and mount some inked clear plastic on to the disk with whatever patterns you want the energy shield to carry. "Shield-and-gun" DAs is a really unique look as well that could help differentiate your DAs even more, and leans into the archaic fantasy look you're using as your base model.

 Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:
That looks amazing.

You could always put a sort of "tech-shield" there. Your guy looks a little less armoured than the vanilla DA, so some sort of small arm-mounted force-field shield could work well to "make up the difference" in armour saves. Really all you'd have to do would be etch some designs into the disk, and mount some inked clear plastic on to the disk with whatever patterns you want the energy shield to carry. "Shield-and-gun" DAs is a really unique look as well that could help differentiate your DAs even more, and leans into the archaic fantasy look you're using as your base model.

Thanks!

Good ideas all. The story of my army that I'm building is that they're a remnant of Craftworld Biel-tan. When Biel-tan fractured, the stationed their rag-tag corsair fleet in one of the fragments. Buried Aspect shrines lay underneath the surface of Biel-tan, filled with long forgotten suits of armor and weapons that were of older make and somehow... more deadly...

They now fight as the Aeldari once did at the height of their power.

I've also decided to name my Wraithblade squad:
The Rana Dandra or "The End of Days" which represents the final battle of the apocalypse for the Aeldari. This is because those lost spirits of this wraith host believe every battle to be that final day.



... listen, I spend a lot of time staring at these guys. It helps me get through it all lol.

Hey guys,

It's been a few months but I've rearranged the workspace and can hobby again!

I've built out my Maugan Ra Wraithblade. Here he is posing alongside the rest of the squad who are in various stages of painting.