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In the interest of variety in my 40k collection, I want to get a female Eldar HQ choice. The idea is an Autarch with a sword, pistol and swooping hawk wings, and possibly a chest plate similar to those on a Banshee.
Only issue is that I don't know how to make that work. Any suggestions on what I could do?

Simple head swaps for most Eldar characters to a female head will do it if you don't feel the Banshee mask on an old Autarch is enough - I often consider Autarchs to be female because when I think of Banshees, I think of mostly female. Same thing goes with a Farseer; since the model is less defined you could argue that whoever is under that Ghost Helm is male or female, or simply change the head around to confirm it.

With your description in mind, the older finecast Autarch model has everything you need from the get go - Shuriken Pistol, Power Sword, Wings and Banshee Mask.



Unfortunately I don't reckon you could get a Banshee chest plate since Banshees are finecast models that don't come split up like normal plastic sets.

 General Annoyance wrote:

With your description in mind, the older finecast Autarch model has everything you need from the get go -

Aside from being male...

The female Guardian torso works.







If you don't want to mess about with green stuff, just steal legs, and and head from whichever Autarch or Aspect Warrior model has the parts you want.

Like I said, I think you could pass off the model as being male or female. Maybe they're flat chested!

 General Annoyance wrote:
Like I said, I think you could pass off the model as being male or female. Maybe they're flat chested!

Or maybe they don't go for the ridiculous breast plates They go more for medieval style(where plate armour was same whether you were male or female. No breast shapes)

Yes... totally what I meant

Given that the OP asked how to use a Banshee breastplate, I think it's a reasonable assumption that he's looking for a way to make a female Autarch who is actually visibly female.

He'd be hard pressed to use a Banshee chest plate since Banshees are either metal or finecast, but a Guardian one could work. The problem I would have personally with a Guardian chestplate is that it doesn't look very ornate or decorated, and adding that kind of detail could be very tricky

Adding hawk wings to a banshee might be the easiest thing. You want a sword/pistol for gear anyway.

The one guardian torso is the other easy choice. Might be worth adding some parts from the Dire Avenger kit to spruce her up a bit.

Aside from using GS you could use;
- finecast Howling Banshee torso
- plastic Guardian torso
- plastic Dark Eldar torso

 insaniak wrote:
Given that the OP asked how to use a Banshee breastplate, I think it's a reasonable assumption that he's looking for a way to make a female Autarch who is actually visibly female.

You could just use a bare head for that. It is what I would do if I saw the need to express a specific gender on one of my Eldar.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 insaniak wrote:
Given that the OP asked how to use a Banshee breastplate, I think it's a reasonable assumption that he's looking for a way to make a female Autarch who is actually visibly female.

You could just use a bare head for that. It is what I would do if I saw the need to express a specific gender on one of my Eldar.

Hey that's what I said!

In all seriousness, that's basically the easiest way to do it

The finecast farseer I have (the dual wielding one) looks androgynous and needed no conversion.

 Ashiraya wrote:
The finecast farseer I have (the dual wielding one) looks androgynous and needed no conversion.

I'd say the same for the plastic Farseer too - in fact I believe someone converted one to look female on this site with a simple head swap

Edit: found it - http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/534536-Alaitoc%20Farseer.html

Yeah, now that you mention it, all the farseers could be construed as androgynous.

I think its the shorter helms / unhelmeted parts that do it.

Eldar helms are clearly much taller than their heads anyway so it is not like it matters.

I have worn a breastplate in real life and I can assure you it makes you flat as the ocean.

Well, if I were a better sculptor I would solve your problem cheap. But here is what I have managed with GS for female Eldar (these were straight howling banshees, but taking autarch bits and converting would be easier)
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-102599-51468_Bansheesculpt.html

Damn that's some good handiwork.

Guardian female torso.
high elf archer legs (so you dont have to greenstuff tooooo much)
finecast swooping hawk wings.
bits and bobs

right weapons

and helm and i think you should be good to go.

OR you could also try the darkeldar bits. the female scourge torso with bird wings. though i wouldn't look nearly as good with the fine cast ones.

I use the Chapterhouse Studios Female Scorpion for my Corsair Princess and one of their old Jetbike Farseer conversion torsos for my Void Dreamer. I can post pics if you're interested. I don't think either are for sale anymore but you might get lucky on eBay or Bartertown.

That aside, I think using a Banshee base, specifically the exarch, for the Autarch is the best bet. It has all the visual elements of the Autarch armour, which is all aspect warrior derived anyway. Plus if you want to represent a banshee mask on the model, you're already there. The finecast version shouldn't be too difficult to convert. A little bit of sanding of the mane and the back should accommodate the wings in a snap.

Alternately, if you have any banshees on hand, you can make a greenstuff cast of the chestplate. Then, using the new plastic Autarch kit as the base for the model, simply cut away the male chest (a cut above the sash and on each shoulder pad should do the trick.) and glue in the cast you made. I use that technique to convert my base corsairs to female, but with a cast of the female guardian chest rather than a banshee.

Some interesting ideas. It may be easier, however, to look at attaching wings to the banshee Exarch, thinking about it.