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.

7/12 of the Eldar rangers that I have are the old models. I picked them up on Ebay for cheap and I consistently use them in games. The problem with them is that I hate how bad they look compared to the new models. Is there any way, through painting or converting, to make them look better?

Maybe there is even a way to make rangers out of GW parts that is more cost-effective than buying new ones?

There is always a way to make them look better or make your own.

It really comes down to how experienced or talented are you at various skills. If you're up to the task of using green stuff, infinite possibilities exist. Most of us are not that great with it, though, so that limits things a bit.

Personally, I liked the older rangers and didn't think the new ones were much different except the cloaks are more squared and billowy and the different heads. Converting metal is always a bit tougher, though, but some work with a file may alleviate your problems or some green stuff to change a few shapes would work well. Some head swaps with the more modern eldar plastics might help along with file work to clean up the cloak edges and the like. You can always file at green stuff to overcome any deficiencies there.

To make new rangers, I always thought I might just take some guardians, convert the guns with some plastic tubing and a lot of cut work with some filing, and then just sculpt new cloaks onto them with green stuff but it seemed like a lot of work for a unit I hardly ever use and cloaks/cloth can be hard to sculpt well. I've made trench coats for my Orks before, but there isn't really an expectation of clean lines and all that with Orks. =) However, if you're interested, you can basically make that sort of thing by applying flat pieces of green stuff and kind of pushing it around all the parts and then going back in and detailing it all out by pushing and pulling the sheets of green stuff into a semblance of cloth flowing around them. After it dries, you can use a blade to cut all the cloth bits into straighter lines to get the edges better as well.

Just some thoughts...

I had the same issue. I really like the newer style, but bought a set of the older style just to have something. I ended up converting some regular guardians instead and really like the way they turned out.

There are many people out there who've converted as well, but here's mine:

 mars2024 wrote:
I had the same issue. I really like the newer style, but bought a set of the older style just to have something. I ended up converting some regular guardians instead and really like the way they turned out.

There are many people out there who've converted as well, but here's mine:

What did you use for the guns? Are those the Avenger Shuriken Catapults?

Ack, sorry I meant to respond to this ages ago:

The long rifles are greenstuff. I cut the regular guardian catapult off just beyond the action and then glued on a rolled bit of GS. Cloaks are obviously GS too.