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Meganula!! How cool is that?!

Don't like the "wings" though... I think they ran out of time on the project and just told the sculptor "get it done". Would need to make my own to make them look right. I also think the gun and the head need to be switched. Actually, I think the gun screws up the look pretty badly. I think I'd just mount the head and say that the heat beam came from the eyes & measure from there.

I like the rules but they take up a section of the FOC that already has way too many good choices. (FA) They would have been much better in some other slot... perhaps as an elite choice to give that part of the FOC some speed. I have the same issue with the Necron bikes which are cool looking and pretty decent in their own right... just not as good as the other options available.

Sounds to me like you should just build your own from scratch. Ooh, project!

No... I like them... a lot. They just need new wings and a modification to the gun area. No use going overboard... they're really neat models.

I think that they are cool models, but as you pointed out... they fit in an already crowded FA slot. They also seem meant to be anti-tank and anti-fortification units... something that we are already strong in. Cool, but they don't bring anything that we'd really need.

Began the next project... a pair of Necron fliers. I'm going to magnetize the bits (mainly the Tessla Cannons) so it can be fielded as either variant. Took me all night to assemble just one of the planes & I haven't even magnetized the guns yet. Pain in the @$$. Now I remember why I'm so find of buying and refurbishing used models... the bloody things are already put together when I get them!

Gits,
Both variants have the Tesla cannons. The parts you need to magnetized are the gateway or the gun underneath.

LOL! Figures.

On mine, at least at the moment, those bits seem to plug in securely without magnetization. I suppose that'll loosen up eventually, but for simplicity's sake I'll let sleeping dogs lie. I thought about checking the codex when I was contemplating the magnetization... but I was attacked by apathy and just went ahead and did it anyway!

Too apathetic to check codex, but not too apathetic to magnetise... Consider the irony... Looking forward to WIPs, anyhoo.

I need some advice.

I'm quite torn as to where the blue should go in relation to the vehicle. Had a good discussion with Iffy about it and while she made several very good suggestions, I'm still torn. I want it to fit in with the other vehicles, specifically the Barges as they're closest in design to it, but they don't need to be exact copies of the Barge design, or indeed each other (I'm thinking the fighters could be more individually painted...)

These are some of the best ideas that Iffy and I came up with.

1. Paint them very closely to the barge design.



The body would be gold and the wings blue, though I think I would leave the tips of each wing gold.

2. Essentially the reverse of the above. Iffy suggested some blue energy patterns on the gold, but as I'm NOT Iffy, I'll stick to the simple colors and chipping.

3. Paint them in an Egyptian style, with the body gold and the wing panels alternating gold and blue OR the reverse (but same pattern). Like the pattern you see on the Pharaoh's head piece. (Iffy's idea)

4. Make them look more like the "scorpion's tail" part of the Barge above... so the body is gold and each wing has say, the first 2 or 3 panels blue (working out from the body) and the rest gold.

5. Paint each plane in a different style or pattern. As all these options are counter-changeable... I could just reverse the pattern from one plane to the other.


I'd love some feedback on this as I'm really uncertain as to where to go.

Thanks,
Gits

Roll a die...


But seriously, egyptian stripes sound cool.

I think all the wing, or maybe leaving the tips (like 2 sections). With the inner part and the gap between plates still gold, I don't think it will overpower the scythe. Now if the center cockpit thing was teal, that'd be to much.

I should add that I think that all of the options above would look good... which is why I'm having problems making a decision about them.

 whalemusic360 wrote:
I think all the wing, or maybe leaving the tips (like 2 sections). With the inner part and the gap between plates still gold, I don't think it will overpower the scythe. Now if the center cockpit thing was teal, that'd be to much.

While i agree with leaving the tip of the wings gold and having the other panels blue, i diasgree about having the cockpit blue and the wings gold (maybe with details picked out in blue as well), i think that would look great!

However, pretty much all the options sound like they would look good Gits (sorry)...

Construction on flyer #2 began last night. Most of the body is done, should finish up quickly & then I just need to do the fiddly bits (weapons and such). Second one seems to be going together more cleanly than the first, guess even I get better with practice.

4. Make them look more like the "scorpion's tail" part of the Barge above... so the body is gold and each wing has say, the first 2 or 3 panels blue (working out from the body) and the rest gold.

This one is my favorite... at least in my mind's eye. But you are right, any would look really good. You wouldn't paint 6 rhinos all the same, and I don't see why Necrons wouldn't have a little bit of variation in their vehicles too!

I'm inclined to agree with the above; I love the pharaonic stripes idea but would worry it might look a bit 1k sons.

Gold body with blue wings, with 0, 1 or 2 of the tips gold would fit with any combination of your barges (matching the wings, prow or tail respectively). I think this would look good and uniform.

Blue body and gold wings - I just suspect this might be too much gold... maybe with 1 or 2 blue tips... maybe...

If you are going striped, I think blue body and then alternate gold/blue on the wings (to end in gold) would look best (again, trying to limit too much gold... - then again, your current stuff does have a lot of gold...)

For a different idea, how about body blue and outside crescents blue with inside crescents gold?

The original design is to have the models mostly in gold... the blue is kind of an accent, though in a few models (like the Tomb Stalker), the blue dominates.


I'm not sure what you mean by outside and inside crescents. You mean make the outer half of each crescent/wing blue and the inner half gold? Oh wait... I just walked over to do a little work on the model on your comments became obvious. Probably because I used the same turn of phrase. Outer being near the tips, inner being near the body. Your last suggestion is actually one of the counter-changed options from my original list... and a good one.


Building progresses on flyer #2. The main flyer with tessla is now finished. Just need to do the portal/death ray & I can start painting! No pics until I have some real progress to show, sorry. I love the way these look. Necrons are becoming my favorite army from a visual perspective. Funny how a few, well done new models can change your perspective.

Saw one somewhere where they left the inner most plates and the outer most 2 plates done in the metal colors, and the middle in the "secondary" colors. Looked pretty good.

I think you got what I meant Switch the blue/gold to taste. I thought suggesting checks or racing stripes might be going too far...

So... when I get around to actually painting these beasts... say, tomorrow or Saturday... exactly how much detail do you want to see? Do you want step-by-step photos so the technique can be fiddled with by you... or will "major progress" shots be sufficient?

I often wonder if I'm boring my readers with too many updates... which are mainly there to keep me motivated.

Personally i prefer as many pics as possible. I love to see how others go about things.

I mean if you really dont want to offend people with lots of wips, just spoiler them

I prefer step by step photos - if only to highlight the difference between any given step and the final result - which always seems to just come together right at the end.

I'd also err on too many updates than not enough - unless they are rambling off topic

I don't think it is possible for you to bore me with any thread

OK guys, not a problem. My route to getting that weathered gold is a bit unorthodox... just a bit, so the step-by-step may be useful to someone. Build is done on the second plane. Next update *should* have some pics!

OK, painting ensues... sort of. Just a couple of quick shots to be complete.

Built



Primed



The funny thing is the amount of digital manipulation I had to do to get the second picture to look something like what it looks like in real life. Photographing black on black does not make for a happy camera.

With luck I'll get some real color on them tonight before I go to bed.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Photographing black on black

Well there's your problem right there

I probably should have changed the background in my light box but I was struck by a bolt of extreme laziness from on-high... go figure.

OH, and I think I've settled on a painting design for the flyers based on some pretty spectacular work done by another dakkanaught. Nicked ideas are always the most satisfying, eh?




Base Coat
Complete airbrushing with Vallejo Air "Rust". It looks flat in the photo but it's actually a metallic dark reddish brown, a bit lighter than tin bitz.

my favorite base color

SL

Agreed, that looks amazing even just basecoated....

First Highlight
Airbrush a 65-70 degree spray of Vallejo Air "Gold" (#1066). 65-70 deg = spray off perpendicular by 20-25 degrees. While I want the top surface to be lighter, I'm not too concerned about having a perfectly uniform coating as I want the gold to look worn and an uneven layering process seems to help with that.




Second Highlight
Airbrush with Vallejo Air "Gold" (#1066). Yes I know, same stuff. I bought a second bottle some months later and the formulation was very different, yielding a much more silvery gold. You could make your own by mixing the regular gold with silver to lighten the shade. I hope they haven't permanently changed the formulation as the darker gold is much more useful and you cant blend the lighter shade down to the darker one. Normally, I'd just do this as a straight up 90 degree spray, but with the big flat surfaces on this flyer, I opted for some edging instead. You'll note I also edges the circles inscribed on the wings... more on that later.