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.

Hi folks,

Here is a Scythed Heirodule I have been working on for a while. Whilst the scheme I used can usually knock down a unit of 20 gaunts in 4 hours, this critter took significantly longer For those that are interested, the scheme is inspired by the colour of a Fierce Snake (also known as an Inland Taipan), one of "those" wonderfully placid but utterly deadly Australian creatures that you will probably never see.

Cheers
M4cr0

I've never seen a metallic Tyranid before, it doesn't sound like something that should look good, but it actually does!

... utterly deadly Australian creatures that you will probably never see.

Is that because if you actually see it, you're already dead?

Reminds me of some kind of giant mutated beetle. Good job!

this looks awesome, i agree with samuria, "a metallic Nid" sounds like it shouldn't work, but this is pretty good

Looks great! I've been thinking of doing something similar, but adding a wash of green and blue to give it a double colored metallic tint like a lot of bugs irl.

Very Nice!

Very cool take on Tyranids!

Thanks for the kind comments folks. With the new nids coming out soon, it was good to get some practice painting something big.

Soul Samurai wrote:
I've never seen a metallic Tyranid before, it doesn't sound like something that should look good, but it actually does!

... utterly deadly Australian creatures that you will probably never see.

Is that because if you actually see it, you're already dead?

My group of regulars all said the same thing. One of them said that my Hivefleet looks like it swallowed some Necrons and decided to keep the colour scheme You see a lot of metallic colours in nature though: insects (giant mutated beetles!), reptiles and some fish. I find metallic easy to tint with washes, so a lot of shading can be achieved without spending time on brush control, an important factor when you are speed painting.

Australia is a big place with some incredibly remote areas. The fierce snake lives in an area where few people go and it is very hot so they are unlikely to hang around during the day. So while they have the deadliest venom (0.025 mg/kg is a lethal dose, compared to the next deadliest, 0.04 mg/kg which is from some kind of sea snake), few people get bitten. Brown snakes (second most venomous on land), on the other hand, well...they turn up in the backyard sometimes. Yay!

Love the scheme, and ona totaly unrelated page. I have seen the mentioned snake in the reptile excibit at the local natur historial museum

 Trondheim wrote:
Love the scheme, and ona totaly unrelated page. I have seen the mentioned snake in the reptile excibit at the local natur historial museum

Thanks Trondheim! I have never seen one in the wild, too remote and hot for me. The safest place to see one is in captivity, for spectators anyway. The handlers/zoo keepers are the most frequently bitten. Interestingly, the snake's head only turns black in winter (like my paint scheme), to help it absorb solar energy. I guess if you saw it in Europe somewhere it would have had a black head too, unless they had a very powerful lamp in there!

Fantastic paint work! Great job on the fine details!!

Nice, love the model

Really nice looking different aesthetic- looking forward to seeing more!

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
Really nice looking different aesthetic- looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks spirallingcadaver (cool name by the way ), I think I will start a blog and put some more stuff up, so that it is all in the one place.

Sounds great Laban, give it a try . I use a double tint of green and sepia over Lead Belchers/Boltgun metal for my Battletech miniatures and it looks really good. The washes blend nicely to give an interesting metallic finish that is similar to some iridescent beetles. I haven't tried green and blue, but I imagine it would look even better on a Nid.

The metallic colours came out very nice! You got any more nids painted up like this?

Looks wicked, would love to see the rest of your army!

We need more tyrainds painted with metallics.

 Lord Scythican wrote:
The metallic colours came out very nice! You got any more nids painted up like this?

Thanks! I have quite a few painted up and...well...you can never quite have enough Tyranids. My work is just finishing up for the year, so I will try and post some more tonight if I can.

Thanks again for all the comments, it is great motivation to do some more painting over the holidays

Im impressed and I usually don't like Nid pics

Thanks for the comment mate. I wanted to try something different, so it's a real compliment that they are having the desired effect

Below is a taste of the rest of the army. I have started a P&M blog if you folks want to see what I 'm up to next. I can't wait to get my hands on a Crone!

Nice scheme.

The silver exists in the nature, as the Saharian silver ant!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCaVvHeI8jU

Wicked BWarlord Thanks for that!

"That ant looks like it was painted by a n00b. Where's the shading? The OSL?"

Nice Scythed Hierodule mate, looks fierce. Like it just killed an allied force of CSM, Orks and Guard. Just sayin..

Bwah ha ha ha It sure did. 30+ guard, 17 chaos cultists, 12 ork boys, an obliterator and a techmarine to win the game. I considered modelling some trophies on the base, but the base is too small

I gave my 'nids hints of metal all over the place because.... I actually figured that if they are consuming industrialised planets, there would be tons of refined metals around for them to incorporate. There *are* actually real creatures with metals in them; there are a bunch of beetles and such that incorporate iron into their shells and as such are super tough. Tyranids evolving to kill advanced technological races would totally use whatever they can find around the place.

I also like painting metals.

So I gotta admit... I heard "Metallic Tyranid" and almost stopped reading, and just wanted to check to see how bad this would be... I've seen it done before, and it never, ever has looked good.

You have proven me wrong in this; it looks great, it looks natural and it fits perfectly. Well done.

That seems to be what most people are saying: "I just came in to see the train wreck." No worries, I'm happy to surprise people.

The scheme has worked well on everything I have tried it on so far, though gargoyles are a challenge due to the extra components (I'm talking about you, wing membranes). When I hit a big flyer I am going to rethink how to do the wings, as the way I do the washes won't work well over such a large area.

Thanks for dropping in, regardless of your motivation. All of the positive feedback has been great

Ah yes, wing membranes... The bane of every paint scheme I've tried to make.