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This stuff is looking pretty frickin' amazing, that baron is by far one of the best I've seen in a while. Keep up the good work

There's two things I really appreciate. One is Dark Eldar by default and the other is extensive conversion work. This thread has both! I really like the custom Baron Sathonyx model you're working on. And your army's color scheme is beautiful in its simplicity. Keep at it! I want to see more!

Epic thread. Consider me subbed.

Thanks, guys. Your support helps to motivate me!

Up next are 5 kymerae. You can see the models earlier in this thread, but I wasn't satisfied with the red studio scheme I had done originally, so I re-primed them (by hand; 10 vallejo grey primer: 5 acrylic thinner: 5 VMC white) and started a new scheme. I wanted to try a multiple layer approach to see the effect. So far I've done 2 layers of: 7 parts VGC fleshtone shade: 7 parts "AesSedai thinning blend" (9 parts Future/1 part water): 1 park violet ink. I pleased with the effect so far.

I am wondering using a metallic like oily steel, washed and dulled down would look good. I don't think bone is the way forward here. Any thoughts?

I wanted something more suggestive of another dimension rather than the gruesome, but ultimately organic, inside out scheme. Also, I had the idea to try a completely new technique that I had heard about many times: glazing. I re-primed the models by hand with a custom very light grey and then painted them using successive layers of glazes. I feel it was a great learning experience, I'm happy with the results, and they will look more cohesive with the whole army, I think. Also, these metal models are really nice...been a while since I've painted metal.

Please let me know what you think, thanks.

Wow, blasted to page 2 without comment...

No love for khymerae?

They look brilliant, love the colour!
The basing is also top notch

Thanks, Hoe!

I think maybe I'll push through the whole pack now. So, I guess that will be 4x "razorwing" swarms (using FW flying rippers), 3x beastmasters, and the Baron.

Anyone have any thoughts on a good scheme for the "razorwings"?

Dark grey would look nice on the Razorwings and really fleshy looking wings that are sort of like bat wings with veins and tissue visable, I think that would look pretty cool
And It would contrast with the brightness of your other models.

Was wondering if I should go contrasting or complimentary. I also have a Tyranid army, but I doubt I'll every use flying rippers. Even so, I wonder if I should just use that scheme on these razorwings.

Dark grey with which other color do you think?

A vibrant pinkish colour? I think it would go with the turquoise colour of your army and also with the khymerae.
Or even a more organic colour like bone or brown?

Yeah, a strong vibrant pink is the way forward, I think.

Hi, I just finished 4 bases of count as razorwings for my dark eldar. Let's face it, the original models are terrible and FW flying rippers are pretty much the default choice for most players. I don't really enjoy resin models, but I found them to be the best choice here. You can see more of my dark eldar in my painting blog. Comments welcome.

It's been on the shelf for too long...

Found myself a bit burnt out on painting, so I decided to switch up my project to get the juices flowing again. I had planned to convert 8 grotesques a couple years ago and even bought the bits, but it got shelved and I moved on to other things. Anyway, I had a lot of fun with the models and I'm really happy with how they turned out. Please share your opinions.











Then there were two converted from the screaming bell rat ogre, which had a ridiculous pose and a weird open hand, but based suitably and reposed, look like a psychotic Beast from Xmen







Notice i ground down the base to just the ____ worm that he's "floating" on. I wanted him to have a hex-rifle slung across his back just for any future wysiwyg players and also for the coolness factor. I took it from the wrack kit, agonizer from wyches, skull trophies from hellions kit, I think...and the little talos arms of course!







I will eliminate the mold lines on the mini arms, fyi!

New house, new country, new hobby space, and oh Yeah, new edition of 40K! Dark Eldar-ahem Drukhari-are back in the table! Here is that haemy now painted, grots to follow!

This was a finecast model and the first time I've picked up a brush in over 6 months, so two strikes right away lol. Anyway, I still have some small touch ups here and there and the base needs to be painted, but this HQ is looking close to complete.

No comments :( Oh well...

Here are some super zoomed in sneak peeks of what I've been working on. Check out that skin! Really like it.

Absolutely amazing blog - just logged in to comment!

Love the beast pack and the amount of work you've put into everything.

these dark eldar are superb! will be following!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the support! Got a bunch more Drukhari coming down the pipe.

The grots are coming along, not done yet, but getting there. I made a new rule for myself that I will paint everything to completion before moving on to the next project. That means following through on all details then gloss/matte sealing. I have a bad habit of leaving the last 5% unfinished. Anyway, very happy with how they have turned out! Some weathering and highlights as well as vials still missing. Please comment and/or critique, it is appreciated! More pics will be coming once they have been fully completed.

Damn! They look really good. Rat Ogres with Talos parts, correct?

Dude! How have I missed this? Those rat-ogre Grotesques look absolutely perfect really, really nice work

 Azazelx wrote:
Damn! They look really good. Rat Ogres with Talos parts, correct?

Yessir. Thank you!

@ Ynneadwraith: Stop by again, lots more coming

Those guys are just a success all around. Conversions, color choice, paint. Love 'em.

 youwashock wrote:
Those guys are just a success all around. Conversions, color choice, paint. Love 'em.

Thank you!

Since my mother is visiting I haven't had time to paint anything this week. But here is a mini-update that got like no reaction in the fiction forum:

The thought just occurred to me earlier this week that writing a small fiction to complement my painting might be fun. I banged it out in just under two hours and it was a nice little exercise. I like how it turned out.. Curious what others think--anyone care to comment? If you enjoy it, I might do something similar for each model or unit I paint.

"Delicious" grinned Kelzarel, wizened lips parting in crooked smile as he admired his refection gleaming in the motionless onyx visors of his newest creations. Like an evil thought, severed and given form, he floated down their assembled ranks. How many souls had he sacrificed to get here, he mused. Thousands. Tens of thousands. A small price to pay to give his vision form. He was an artist. A sculptor of bone and tissue. He mind drifted back to the day he saw the Arch Haemonculous Rakarth unveil his newest creations. "Grotesques" the master had named them, and throughout the covens the name was whispered like a thunderclap. A personal challenge to every would-be sculptor. Kelzarel would have tasted bile, had he the internal organs to produce it, at the thought.

He drew first upon those most readily available: his rivals. By means most foul he began to cull the unlucky. Bargaining with the promise pain and power, the very currency of the Dark City, the haemonculous gained the support of the archon of the Kabal of the Twisting Abyss. Immediately, Kelzarel's underground workshops began to scream and shudder with activity. Two hundred cloning vats held his prizes, like an ungodly nest filled with monstrous eggs. With a malefic chuckle, he thought back on his foolishness in those early days. He remembered how his dolls twitched at the dissolving of their existing bone tissue and and how they contorted as he filled the resulting cavities with new, enhanced bones. Perhaps it was haste that caused the miscalculation. As the growth began to escalate, the dolls began to pop audibly in their vats. It was not a total loss, however, as it did provide Kelzarel and his apprentices a welcome diversion from their labours. The failures would of course be liquified and used a nutrients for the next batch; Kelzaral would not tolerate waste. It would set a bad example, after all.

And so it went, year after year, failure after failure. Green-skin, pink-skin, and grey-skin, all were transformed under his loving touch. His fevered mind would not be denied. Perched on his platform high above chamber, Kelzarel would conduct them all with a gesture from one of his appendages--an elegant custom he had grafted for just this purpose-- and his minions would set to work. Great symphonies of blood he lead. The shriek of drills and dermatomes, the solid crack of retractors, and the gentle song of the harmonic scalpels. Such music he made!

It was only on the Hive world of Lastrati, that the Kelzarel made the breakthrough he had been seeking. The inhabitants, in their primitive quest to find genetic perfection, sought out all manner of ritual. Perhaps it was the touch of the ruinous powers or something native to their homeworld that altered them. Regardless of the cause, the cults of Lastrati had come under the most unpleasant gaze of the master himself, Urien Rakarth. The great haemonculous unceasingly scoured the galaxy for samples to add to his genetic library and to this end, he dispatched one of his lieutenants, the Croniarch Sekh, to raid Lastrati. Kelzarel had long ago placed agents in the coven of the master. Dutifully, Kelzarel's spy, a wretched little apprentice by the name of Crehndera, brought the details to Kelzarel in exchange for the antidote to a rather horrific concoction that rendered her genetic material useless for alteration. After hearing of the plan and liquifying Crehndera, Kelzarel immediately dispatched his Kabal allies to seize the prize. The lightning raid took only eleven of the crude monkeigh minutes, and the entire cult was removed from the face of Lastrati.

Such beautiful flesh he found. Slowly, he crafted their bones. Gently, he layered sheet after sheet of dark muscle. Lovingly, he pulled and repositioned organ after organ. Finally, he anointed them will the blend of compounds he named after himself, for like him, the cocktail was perfect. And thus tens of thousands of deaths were distilled into these eight. Towering above even an astartes, Kelzarel's grotesques would drag untold thousands back to the Dark City. The thought warmed Kelzarel as he drifted away from the uniformly motionless, upturned visors of his creations.

Harmonic scalpels. I heartily approve.

Hell yeah! I'm a sucker for well written fluff, and you've certainly delivered on that front

Those grotesques are amazing!!!

EDC