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So I thought I'd wade in amongst the heavyweights in this section of dakka and post my own, somewhat laconic workings.
I've always been a fan of the wraithlord model since way back when, and it was only when I saw my cousin's new plastic kit (yes I know its been out a while, but my bugs have been keeping me busy) I decided I'd have a play.
I wanted to make the model as natural looking as possible, albeit in a dynamic pose, given then scope of conversion work available for plastic kits these days, and especially since the wraithlord model is often pictured in such static positions. For the first of 3 (or maybe 2 I haven't coughed up for them yet) I went for a double handed grip on the sword, to show the beasty putting its not inconsiderable strength behind the swing. Suffice to say I wouldn't want to be on the end of it! The wraithlord was a nice change from nid gribbly bits, although it was more of a challenge for the gs work, obviously requiring more finesse than I'm used to and something I still need work on (see the close up on the knee joint). I've put the photos of the blue tack posing, then the wire armatures for the upper body below, the last photos are using blue tack to hold the upper body on, as i plan to paint them separately for access.

Questions, queries, criticism,comments and thoughts are welcome, including ideas for colour schemes (I'm currently leaning towards red black and white, but not a saim hann theme).



Armature to avoid fiddliness while gluing



[img]http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2011/1/12/172930_sm-Conversion%2C%20Dynamic%2C%20Eldar%2C%20Wraithlord.JPG[/img


The work on Kharn will follow shortly when I have enough good stuff to be worth putting up. As a prelude, think Kharn, dynamic pose, and BIGGER!

As a thank you for the comments so far, I thought I'd add a little background fluff for the wraithlords, and the spiritseer that will invariably have to go with them:



His eyes were like knapped flint, dark and sharp. His posture, poised and alert despite his outward relaxation, forever hiding his inner self from the sight of others.
He allowed his gaze to span the holo image of the battle below with barely contained contempt. He would have spat had the gesture not demonstrated the worth of his enemies. The images showed them clumsily advancing towards his own lines, in a manner only a mon-keigh could consider stealthy. Even these gorily clad humans had learnt no guile or subtlety from their dark masters. What thoughtless arrogance he mused, to waste such gifts that those terrible entities could bestow, gifts that no inferior mind could truly appreciate. He turned his dark frustration inwards, and forged his incandescent emotions into pure force, honed along the edge of his sword, manifesting in a coruscating psychic blaze that danced along its length. He idly turned the blade in his hand, his scrying showing him the faces of those whose threads he would cut that day. The thoughts of the battle to come simmered in his blood as he rose, walking towards the towering wraithbone constructs that were soon to house the spirits of his kin.
***
She applied her great will to gather up the fragments of her consciousness that she had spread throughout the network, their separate wants resisting, pleading to stay in the comforting embrace of the inifinty circuit. More forcefully now, melding them together so that her psyche resembled something of a whole, yet still a shadow of her glory. She moved toward the golem, drawn towards to the summons with a pang of nostalgia that only he could induce. She poured herself into the blank slate that sat beneath, feeling her very nature recoiling at the transformation, like blood returning to a limb. Recalling the wrenching, twisting agony of her own birth, she broke free of the conduit and became one with the machine that was the wraithlord.
He gently traced a single finger along the giant palm, feeling the pulse of eldritch energy ebb and flow along its crystalline skeleton, responding to his touch.
+I am here brother+
His mind, unbidden, raced back to times when he stood side by side with her and his sisters, her banshee helm covering her fierce features with an even more terrifying visage that struck at the heart of their enemies. It had been a bloody skirmish against the same brutal chaos cult when he had last touched her mortal skin. Although her body had been broken the unrestrained ferocity of the Terminator Lord's attacks, it could not match the ferocity of her spirit. In her undeath she had chosen the way of the phantom lords, and in time she had been joined by the rest of her family, whose shared spirit could not be tamed by life's end. Now, they rose from their unsleeping peace in the circuit, reanimating the constructs around her in preparation for war. Even in death, their duty continued.

Ok, as promised, some pics of the Kharn remake. The idea here was to re-do the old kharn model, a favourite of mine since I started the hobby. Alas with the size creep of the new models, Khorne's favourite skull taker seems a little vertically challenged these days, so I thought I'd build him. It turns out that I've inadvertently stumbled on an attempt to make a true or art scale marine without realising it. Having browsed the forums for ideas after I started cutting and pasting, I found Migs' Legion stuff, which has been a big help. It was fortunate that I had chosen the Chaos terminator lord as a base, as it suited the "fill in the terminator" technique that he advocates. Theres obviously going to be a lot of gs work required to rebuild the arm, as well as sculpt the armour over the new size model, I've included some first attempts at the skull from which the chains will hang about his waist.

I also had a go at resizing his plasma pistol, which I;ve included in the pics, but I'm not happy with so I'll have to try again. Anyone have any tips on sculpting weapons that are all straight lines and fine detail? I've not got the technique right yet.




Below is a shot of his biggerised torso, blue tacked onto the nearly finished legs for a size comparison with the original model.
The chains are included to represent which piece i'll use, albeit with some alterations.




The last two are examples of my first try gs work. AS stated, more practice is required, and any tips are welcome.

Finally, I'm considering robbing kharn of his trademark bunny ears, because I;ve never been much of a fan of them on bezerkers. My worry is that he'll cease to look enough like kharn to be recognisable. Thoughts?

Update:
I've done the gs work on the left exposed arm, which I've reposed. It's not anatomically perfect, but It looks suitably imposing I think. My gs skills weren't up to sculting the veins that were on the original model, but I'm hoping the definition and paint job will cover that up.

I've also added more detail onto the legs (chaos termie lord originally), including some arrows on the thighs, and the skulls and tassles from the original too onto the shin guards. I'm not 100% happy with the detail on the tassles, but I think its the best I'll get.

Lastly I've started on the plasma pistol resizing, this time using plasticard as the base, and much less GS. It still needs some details like rivets and so forth, but I'll have to wait until the GS is entirely dried.

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The last one shows the size of the plasma pistol rework vs the original, bottom, and my first attempt, top.

Comments, critique and questions always welcome!

I'll see what I can do about more wraithlord updates, at present I've only managed to add on the flamers to the shoulder mounts, and gs the bottom of the sword onto the double grip, neither of which are especially update worthy. I'm struggling with the tabbard, which I'd like to make really long and flowing, but I dont know what to use as a good armature for the gs, as the twist ties I have aren't holding. Any suggestions?

In the meantime, here's some more kharn progress. I've finished, the arms, and attached the torso to the legs. All that remains is sculpt the skull on his stomach plate. The last thing I need to decide is whether or not to keep his bunny ears. The photos below include a non-bunny ears head, just so you get the idea. I've tried to position the exisitng kharn head in place, but the tassles etc off his mouth guard get in the way, so some butchering will be required. Any thoughts?

Thanks for all the support so far everyone, its definitely spurring me on to finish the project. Speaking of which, I shall post some pics of the nearly complete kharn tmrw, as well as the start of painting on the wraithlord.

Until then, I'll share my ideas for the background of my new eldar force.

1. Instead of a craftworld, they would reside in the webway, having fled there after the fall. They started as a smaller band of refugees, but as careful word spread of their escape, more splintered remnants of the eldar joined them. They now hide in a distinctly secret part of the webway, not all too far from the black library. I'm not sure how I'm going to come up with some background to explain the avatar I want to use, what with there being no craftworld etc, but it shouldn't be unfeasible that they brought a fragment of Khaine's essence on board one of their ships as they escaped.

2. Being close to the BL, they are linked closely with the harlequins, who will definitely be making it into my army. It will however, not be a harlequin theme, as I was disappointed to find they had done away with the rules for the solitaire, one of my fave fluff characters, and I shan't be overdoing the 'quin influence because of it (as a small protest).

3. Given their associations, their presence has drawn the attention of some of the more radical elements of the inquisition, who are resolved to fight chaos in any way they can, even of it means using the xenos as allies, and their knowedge (see Inquisitor Czevak for precedent.) I also read some fluff about humans called the Illuminati on lexicanum, so I might try and convert some such guys as part of a grey knights add on force, because that way I get to collect two armies, and I'm excited about the new dex, and it ties together nicely in a fluff sense. The thought of a synergisitc approach between the two is intrigiuing, but given that I couldn;t rely on my opponents letting me field two small armies or allies all the time ,that a more balanced eldar component would be a better approach, plus some fluffy inquisiton add ons.

4. They all have an absolute hatred for chaos, and routinely seek it out and attempt to destroy it at any opportunity, resulting in the loss of many personnel. Hence the inclusion of the wraithlord, and the bit of fluff I wrote about them. (There's going to be two, as I'd like an option to include some shadow spectres/warp hunter/fire prism). despite their losses, they are replenished, alebit infrequently, by the assistance of corsairs, exodites, and basically any eldar who are not attached to a craftworld or choose to leave it (too strict, dishonour etc). This outcast mentality, combined with a shared passion should create a sort of dirty dozen effect, with lots of disparate eldar joining together to fight the primordial annihilator.

5. I'm thinking of Alioth for the name, or possibly Cor Hydrae, not sold yet. I'd like to include some serpent iconography, ala saim hann, but less red and white, more jade army style. I also like the idea of the entry to the webway that they use most regularly being hidden in a nebula, perhaps called the Serpens nebula, or perhaps Hydrus, I'm not sure yet. With the hydra influence (thanks Migsula) I feel that instead of being clustered together in one place in the webway, they'd be spread out, so that attacking or finding one "cell" wouldnt cripple the whole.

6. As they have a refugee feel to them, I'm tempted to try and include some exodite outriders, riding some sort of dragons, or dinosaurs, tying into the serpent theme and generally looking cool, possibly using the guardian jetbike rules as counts as. Furthermore, rangers are definitely a must, as I reckon that they have more of an outcast vibe.

All comments, ideas, critique and questions are welcome. If you have any suggestions for expansion or improvement let me know!

Right, as promised here;s the updated kharn and wraithlord pics. The kharn pics show the gs work i did on the stomach, attempting, not entirely successfully to recreate the leering skull on the original model.





These are the wraithlord so far, I've only base coated the hawk turquoise, which has come out more blue on my iphone camera (left the other at home- oops), so you'll have to trust me when I say that its a bit greener and lighter than it looks. I'm not 100% yet on which bits will stay green and which will be white, but i'm envisioning a white serpent design coming up one of the legs, and probably some more freehand on the head piece.





Enjoy! If you have any comments, critique or questions or suggestions, feel free to post them!
Thanks!

So after an abortive first attempt, I resprayed and tried again:





Highlighting still needs doing, as does the nmm power sword effect which ill be attempting for the first time. But you should be able to get the jist of where it's going colour wise.

Feedback is always welcome!

Thanks for all the comments so far, sorry there's been a delay in updates, busy alas with non hobby things :(

So I've not managed much painting, but I've started on some more models: Exodite dragon riders!
Preview here, more pics to follow...



Enjoy!

Yes, I did it in sections, laying on lumps in the rough shape of the muscle groups, triceps, biceps, foreams etc. I let these dry and then did the deltiod and pectoral join to the bicep after to avoid altering the shape of the first bits. The sculpting itself was done while the GS was realtively soft, then touched up when nearly hard. I don't have the finesse for the veins etc, but I like the overall shape.

Ok, so after a little break, here;s the completed wraithlord:









I'm not fully decided on what kind of basing I'm going to do yet, I'm thinking desert rock, sand, burnt grass etc, but we'll see after the shadow spectres are done (with the encumbent rocks on the bases how well that works...)

For the exodites, my plan is for a dark blue/green on the mounts, with a contrasting bleached bone on the riders, with turquiose as the contrast colour, tying in with the wraithlord.

Criticism, comments and thoughts are always welcome.

Thanks for the compliment- I have just such a beasty facing off against the wraithlord on my shelf at the moment. If I ever start an army profile I'll put the tyranids up.
Meanwhile, here's some shots of a few shadow spectres I've been working on. These models are gorgeous, and I would highly recommend them to anyone, as long as you have a bit of patience as they are rather fiddly.







The last one shows the lighting effect I'm trying to get off the crystals in the weapon. Its my first go at directional lighting on models so If anyone more practised can give me a few tips I'm all ears! Other than that I'm feeling like the main body of the models, which at present are all dark grey, could use a bit extra, maybe a spot colour or a few coloured plates just to break up the totality of the grey. Any suggestions?

More updates on the nearly finished spectres:







Thanks for the vote of confidence tipios, I've tried to replicate the same source lighting on the back around the aspect symbol and under the jet outlets of the jetpack. Now all that remains is to dot the i's, cross the t's and I'll post some completed pics in the showcase section. Thanks again for those who have helped to motivate me thus far- your continued support will help us both get results sooner!

I thought about doing some other coloured plates on them, but when I tried they ended up looking a bit too patchwork. I agree that they look a little subdued, but it gives the lighting on the cannons and the jetpack more emphasis. Plus the highlighting (can't get it to show on camera) adds enough extra detail that you don't notice as much.

The problem I'm having photography-wise at the moment, is that the light sources I'm using (natural or artificial) are bleaching the colour out of the model so it all looks too monotone. Can anyone give me some tips on reducing this?

Thanks for the compliments so far ladies and gents- it definitely keeps me going, and so here's some more for you- the beginnings of my fire prism.
Plan is to add similar lighting effects to the spectres, with a lighter grey for the underside.





Comments, criticism, thoughts and queries always welcome!

Thanks! The prism tank has its own thread on the painting and modelling forums, or you can find it pretty easily in my galleries. I attempted a bit more OSL from the crystal on the end, and to a lesser extent the one in the middle of the barrel, but given the movement of the turret, I was loathe to put any OSL on the hull in case it looked off, so the effect is somewhat reduced from the spectres.

Need to get round to finishing kharn, but all this eldar stuff keeps getting in the way!

Thanks for the input olly, I've highlighted it a tad on the finished version, but I never go overboard with edge highlighting since it can make the dark grey look too light.

On to newer things however, and I present: Starscream the revenant titan. Lots of heavy gauge wire, a black and decker power drill and a bit of patience sees this monster nearly assembled. I'll update soon once I start to paint him...



The colour idea will be along the same lines as the prism, Dark grey in the main, light grey contrast and hawk turquoise for the designs overlaid on the plates etc. Stones in purple and some decals painted in light grey.

Alas no, I didn't use a mask. I didn't have the kit available so I tried it. Not the most time effective technique but worth it in the end. Thanks for the positive comments- If you are considering some patterns for the sails, you can make it easier by doing the swathe of colour first then going back in with the darker colour underneath. Best of luck- I'll be looking for the results!