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I always liked the Hierophant model (your's is looking fantastic by the way) but was never too keen on the Harridan design,
and looking at your detail pics of the Hierophant makes me want to jump in a start work on sculpting my own Harriden.
Which I will do at some point, but for now, other projects need to be finished .

The Harridan was a bit of a disappointment to me as soon as I saw it because you just can't stick wings on a body and have it convincingly work anatomically. The Harridan is just a Bio-Thunderhawk.

The wings as they are cannot flap, the carapace interferes with the movement of the wings, no allowance was made to allow for the movement of the wings, there are no shoulders to mount adequate support for the wings and musculature and there is no wishbone to anchor the flight muscles.

The Pteranodons of the Mesozoic come closest to what the Harridan represents but even they had shoulders and musculature that permitted flapping. The Harridan as designed clearly could not get off the ground.

Interestingly enough the Tyranid Gargoyles address the above issues and have shoulders that could permit flight..............

I would be interested when you make your sculpture, keep me in mind when you start.

Yeah as soon as I start it I'll let you know.
Not sure when that will be though as I'm still waiting for my two Tervigon's to arrive,
so I can build my Haruspex and Hive Crone conversions.

Looking good! Your blogs are always a learning experience

Thanks, I try to be entertaining.

Rhymes With Orange:

I went a bit overboard with the orange highlights on the Hive Tyrant and (what are these little dudes) Ah yes Termagants. so before I backtrack and repaint the legs I took some pictures.

Airbrushing highly thinned orange kind of sneaks up on you and the orange looks much more intense once it dries so use it sparingly because if it looks right when its wet it'll be too orange when it dries.

http://i.imgur.com/b4YfYbU.jpg


While I'm waiting for the Umbral Umber Formula P3 paint to come it's a good time to bring the Hormagaunt brood up to speed. I'm trying to paint everything at once so as my technique improves everything will be at the same level of accomplishment.

Here we see a close up of my first work Termagants left and my most recent work yesterday the Hormagaunts which still need the carapace fringes highlighted and the orange glazing.....

http://i.imgur.com/8ElvTYh.jpg


Termagants much too orange!

http://i.imgur.com/x9s66CU.jpg


and the basic painted Hormagaunts............

http://i.imgur.com/JiRX0Ed.jpg

The last time my wife complained about that

Arguement ended

Ha you got that right, I've seen that mess on our bathroom vanity more times than I can count.

Much better than my retort, "Ya know I don't have to lift the seat, I can pee right over it." when my wife complained I don't put the seat down.............

That answer did not go over too well.

lol I bet that earned a day or two in the dog house.

Okay so yesterday I cleaned primed and painted the base coat on the Harridan and cleaned the flash and mould plugs/vents off of the Chaos Warhound and this morning I cleaned the flash and mould plugs/vents off the Lucius Warhound which is now in the process of being primed. Its been a busy week but now time for pictures

The Harridan wing root recesses were cut out to receive the extended plugs moulded into the wing roots so there is a nice solid connection to stabilize the wing without gluing.

Note the slot I cut in the wing recess to receive the moulded plug.

http://i.imgur.com/QLINaT1.jpg


The model is primed and the underside painted a flat white prime and allowed to dry overnight to receive the acrylic paint a thin base coat of Model Air Khaki Brown.

The upper surface I left in grey prime as the top base coat will be P3 Umbral Umber.

http://i.imgur.com/vdTDYWQ.jpg


With wings attached this is an impressive model the top view showing up the diminutive figure beside the head.

http://i.imgur.com/X8fFiaI.jpg

I don't think fw does good enough of a job showcasing just how big some of these kits really are. That last pic really brings home why they can charge what they do.

Cool goal, organic cockroach colored, I was even thinking then I would go further, shiny lacquer them with hairs using static grass for that extra creepy feel.

There's a lot of work before the semi-gloss glaze goes on.

Oh Yeah:

Finally got my paint yesterday and started painting the upper scoots this morning.

I had serious reservations whether this huge beast would lend itself well to the cockroach theme until I saw these images. Oh Yeah, that's what I talk'n 'bout...........

I painted both sides with about 20 drops of thinned Umbral Umber and I wore my index finger out holding down the trigger; I had to switch to my thumb but the first coat is finally on.

http://i.imgur.com/ilOfHs8.jpg



http://i.imgur.com/CX6xcIJ.jpg


I still have a concern if the Harridan will look good in brown. I can't do the entire top surface of the wings all one colour and they're too thick for the parchment technique. I'm thinking maybe tiger stripes

Ah, may want to use a "cave cockroach" patter as they have a mottled pattern

A Tale of Two Titans:

Last night I couldn't get the airbrush to work right so I soaked the components in brush cleaner overnight and everything is working fine this morning.

The image below shows the two Bio-titans bodies, the Hierophant with a solid brown carapace and the Harridan with the beginning of a tiger striped effect that I am experimenting with; I think it needs an intermediate stripe on each scote.

http://i.imgur.com/wduE5xH.jpg


The image below shows the Hierophant and the bottom view of it's head which I am having so difficulty. I left the top of the head grey and I feel that if I make it all brown it won't look right as the head is so small in proportion to the body it will be overwhelmed if only picked out in brown.

http://i.imgur.com/oWvF8Dv.jpg


The legs and weapons on the other hand are coming along splendidly. At the moment they only have two colours sprayed on but the airbrush allows such variety that they look like they required more colours and work than they actually did.

http://i.imgur.com/wIRYPN6.jpg


For someone who in January could not even get paint through the nozzle of an airbrush my technique has improved dramatically. An affect that I can attribute to the excellent "Precision" AirBrush shown in the images.

For thirty bucks US it's an astounding airbrush and bargain plus the shipping is free.

Awesome-looking Nids, though I can't help think of the Cluster Lizards from LEXX...

For the head a lot of the pics I have seen have a more yellow scote right before the head and then the head appears more black than the brown of the rest of the body. Maybe that is a way to give the face more definition.

Beautiful scheme, properly organic. ^and omg lexx reference!

I think some yellow spotting would help the beast pop, a contrast while maintaining the feel of the thing.

A Harridan Cannot Fold Its Wings:

It seems to me a Harridan must fly it's whole life. It has no legs to spring into the air as some birds do or sprint forward to gather ground speed so the wings can assist take off as larger birds such as the Albatross do. Add to that the carapace interferes with the ability to even fold the wings let alone flap. The small rear appendages are not sufficiently long enough to allow the wings to flap in close proximity to the ground so a static flapping takeoff is out of the question as well.

So the scenario is the Harridan is launched from the hive Mother-ship, do what Harridans do and somehow get back to the mother-ship where there are no doubt cradles that house the Harridan where not in active service.

That said this model and the Hierophant is the simplest FW models imaginable. I bought and painted both in less than two weeks of sporadic attention in which I also cleaned and prepped two Warhounds and drove to and from Florida and attended a Baptism.

Below are images for your edification and probably need no explanation:

http://i.imgur.com/XjZ1Bap.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2UMV0ba.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/z1OtvhD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/wWqjVo8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rfZbm0a.jpg

 The_Blackadder wrote:
So the scenario is the Harridan is launched from the hive Mother-ship, do what Harridans do and somehow get back to the mother-ship where there are no doubt cradles that house the Harridan where not in active service.

Maybe they fight until killed or the planet is completely pacified. If still active once the planet's defenses have been neutralized the Hive Mind triggers a massive internal Hemorrhage and it is vacuumed up with the rest of the biomass to be recreated when needed again.

I had read that about tyranids but it seems to me viewing the models of these Bio-titans that they are ancient. There are scars and age related stress cracks and fissures that would not be present in just off the shelf creatures. I suppose we have to wait for a more esoteric response from a real 'Nid Geek.

BTW I mean "Geek" in the most respectful of terms.....

Maybe its more like a winged serpent?

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Beautiful scheme, properly organic. ^and omg lexx reference!

I think some yellow spotting would help the beast pop, a contrast while maintaining the feel of the thing.

Oh hey, I'm not the only person who remembers it! Now THAT show was nightmare fuel when I was a kid, some weird but really dark/creepy things that could easily be re-purposed for 40k.

...Maybe a 40k-style 790?



...Right. I'll stop derailing the thread now! XD

the nids have special psycher powers that no mortal has seen because the world will have been pacified and everything devoured by then. The powers teleport the ancient bio titans back aboard the motherships where they are cradled within the huge biomass and receive sustenance to give them energy for the constant flapping. The harridans are dropped from orbit and occasionally get pooped out so they are teleported back up to momma for some more nid milk.

Totally made up just as good of an answer as you will probably ever get.

Aw ya had me goin' there for a while.....

I want some true made up "Facts"; you know, like global warming......

The stress cracks are from it crash landing after wearing out. The Titan does not die but is dormant until the world is pacified. At which point the feeder tentacles from the ships in orbit descend and retrieve the bio titans. The dormancy if often mistaken by idiot guardsmen who run up next to it to get a vid pic to sent to their loved ones next to it. Let it be known no guardsman has EVER been photo'd next to a crashed harridan and reported back for duty.

Edit:also

Without the lower jaw looks like a redneck cousin to the rest of the hive
[img]upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Redneck_hillbilly.jpg[/might]

I was wondering about its jaw, it makes more sense that it is absent

A Thirty Dollar Airbrush:

I love my $30 dollar airbrush. I can't imagine what airbrushes that cost ten times as much can do that this little jewel doesn't?

I just returned from a hiatus in Georgia, picked up where I left off painting the Hierophant legs. It's a shame that the camera doesn't pick up the depth of the paint on the legs.

http://i.imgur.com/qLZXWvw.jpg


I can see down three levels of pigment which gives the muscle an extremely lifelike appearance; almost repulsive to see, just what you want on your Tyranid Bio-Titan.

http://i.imgur.com/M1IYslo.jpg


I'm not giving any credit to my painting abilities, I give all the credit to the airbrush. I still can't paint for beans with the other brushes I have.

http://i.imgur.com/AyentaO.jpg


And the Paasche Talon Still sits in the box virtually untouched...

http://i.imgur.com/i5wI2MS.jpg


If you're having trouble getting the results you want with you current airbrush I heartily recommend the Precision PZ-360XS.

http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Airbrush-Valve-Crenelated-0-2mm/dp/B004KNDQMM

Free Shipping.

Auto appended....not today

Dsteingass here on dakkadakka does great work with the cheaply airbrushed also, I just need to get my compressor working again to try it out as well.

Here Come's The Weekend Baby What's Goin' On:

Do we put our feet up baby or party all night long?

Well I vote for "Party" but I am frequently outvoted so I retaliated and decided to work on the Hierophant with the following results:

http://i.imgur.com/TRBH7Qy.jpg


Most threads I've seen show the finished results but I have decided to throw caution to the wind and show the interim steps i.e. the masking because of course this thread is a tutorial and has to show how it's done.

Not that I am to be taken as "God's spiel" being a novice at airbrushing but alternatively a firm believer in, "If I can do it you can do it....."

Anyway (as you may perceive the weekend imbibement is firmly taking it's toll) I have started detailing the painting of the Hierophant

http://i.imgur.com/QftaXyT.jpg


The Above two images were from earlier this week but today I started highlighting the scutes with AV Light Brown and it is providing satisfactory results:

http://i.imgur.com/3w0vh9Y.jpg


Note the 3M tack putty isolating the areas to be painted from the already painted parts.

http://i.imgur.com/hIm8kYM.jpg


Because this model is so big the process is taking much longer than I am accustom but by Monday I hope to have the carapace completed.

Really getting to look like real parts of real animals. Good job.