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Farseer looks amazing. Left pose on the wraithlord, for sure. Happy anniversary. And congrats on a fun game with your daughter.

Thanks all for the comments!

Wraithlord 1
Ok, so finished up the build last night, and at first I wasn't too happy with it (Ember's new Wraithlord does the look the biz over here, major envy going on), but after coming home from work tonight and taking a good long look I'm actually happy with how he finished up:



I really wanted to mount the Shuriken Cannons on the Shoulders, but with the Head and arm positions this wasn't actually feasible without it looking like the cannons we're targeting an orbital ship! So no go!

What I do think works very well is that the pose frames the Head and the Gostglaive as the focal points of the miniature, so when it comes to painting I'm gonna go to town on these two area's!

Weather is very hot in UK today, so will wait for tomorrows cooler temperatures before undercoating and basing.

Ha, thanks man! I must say yours tuned out pretty cool too. I understand abou the weather, its been in the 30's here for the pat weeks, with no rain at all, so I haven't been able to get anything under coated either.

Wraithlord 1

Some steady progress tonight.



1. AP Skull Bone Undercoat spray
2. Ushabti Bone undercoat touch up
3. Basecoated base in Russ Grey
4. Astrogranite Debris applied to base
5. Some additional Astrogranite applied to the base
6. Bone armour fully washed with Agrax Earthshade

Feeling a bit inspired by the way this is turning out now, now that its got some paint on it

The base is conjuring up all sorts of images in my mind, of a dead Eldar world with the sands of time covering over it. Only bare clues remain of the world as it was, such as the stonework underneath earth and sand.

This is going to make for some really thematic battles with my Daughter's Necrons, as there based in the same way.... oo-er.

Ooh nice looking forward to some thematic fluffy battles between two armies of space-undead

Hmmmm. I think this Wraithlord will be the last model I use Army Painter spray on, and I'll be going back to GW Corax White followed by a Ushabti Bone full base before washing in future.

When I've examined the undercoat spray up close, there's a definite .... 'grittiness' to the finish of the spray, almost like it contains incredibly fine sand. Where the spray hits the model dead flat, it doesn't seeem so bad, but where the spray has hit the model at an angle, its definitely showing this grittiness.

If you examine the model from more than say 10" away its very hard to detect, and re-layering Ushabti Bone after the washing is helping to hide it away... but still, its not perfect

Thoughts? Feedback anyone?

I mean it could be me, it could be residual spray dust in my 'spray box' I use for spraying indoors, or it could indeed be the particular spray can I have.

I'll post a photo in the morning when I have better light.

Ive had that problem with GW spray too, it normally means its too hot.

Yeah I've had that with GW spray cans and also Halfords rattle-cans for cars. It's been 35 degrees C for the past few days here and I get a bit of grittyness on those too.

Damn weather has a lot to answer for!!

I *might* start looking at an airbrush then for base coating, that grittiness really irritates me.

I think it's the paint drying in the air before it's hit the model.
Us Brits aren't use to this sort of heat, the paint on my wet pallet is even drying out.

Wraithlord 1 Update

Well, bit of an update as well as continuing the discussion above about grit. I managed to capture the issue in this photo here, where if you look at the models left shin along the shadow line you can see the 'grit' in the paint work.



Short of stripping and beginning all over again (how is that even done on plastic models these days?), I don't really know how to fix this.

Progress

However, onto the progress - Basing finished, and I'm halfway up the model to the hips area laying down the first layer of Ushabti Bone layering up the panels. I've deliberately left several panels as these will be done in my Craftworld Purple colours.



Thank God for wet palettes, otherwise I would of gone insane remixing up fresh Ushabti Bone to paint - it was 32c in my house last evening!

But now I'm in a quandry - do I strip and start again? Or just keep going?

Lightly sand it down and finish with a paintbrush? But on the topic, I've had this fuzziness happen from numerous manufacturers and it is a heat/humidity kind of related issue.

Yeah just get some fine grit sandpaper (maybe 1000-1200-grit?) and just lightly rub it. It'll probably take the primer off in places too, but you can paint over small sections of unprimed plastic easily enough.

The Wraithlord is looking quite good so far, as someone who's considering an Eldar army (with a Wraithlord, love those guys) I'll be keeping an eye on this.

Your farseer is awesome, great color scheme and really nice execution.

And I vote "keep going"

Well guys - bit of an update, I did keep going with this, putting on the first layer of Ushabti Bone all around the body and down the model's left arm to the hand, but yet again I've discovered all sorts of grittiness on the model. It's a real crying shame, because I'm actually quite happy with how the paint job is slowly turning out. Painting with a wet palette and using multiple coats is really growing on me as a paint method.

However, my Wife said it best when she turned round and said if I finish the model as it is, no matter how good the paint job is, I'll never be happy with it because of the grittiness marring the clean lines of the model.

I did contemplate the sanding down method, but there is so much of this grittiness that its in some real hard to reach places on the model. For example there's a line of it inbetween the model's right leg and the tabard hanging down.

So, I've taken a bit of time to think about this, and I've decided to strip it and start over. I've been doing some research on this, and I'm going to use the Methylated Spirits method to strip after reading up about Super Clean, Fairy Power Spray and the Dettol methods as well.

There's a good video on this here:




Luke has some other great videos, so I highly encourage perusing his channel.

So let's chalk this up as a huge lesson learned. I have another game today that I'm going to use the model as is, and then its to the Meth Bath for him

Edit:

PS Slight tangent but also relevant - I'm also going to pick up an Ultrasonic Cleaner for this project, as I'm very likely to looking at buying some OOP Metal Howling Banshee's from Ebay as the next unit in my army. Since these will likely be the original ones with las-pistols, so I've also ordered some Harlequin Shuriken Pistols to convert them with for proper equipment.

Why Howling Banshee's? Because, well, background fluff reasons. Must get that written up at some point! Oooh, I am a tease

Let me know how the meths turns out i've used dettol before which does work really nicely, but meths seems like it'd need less cleaning.

Looking forward to the background fluff too

Oh you tease you, offering us some glorious fluff only to refuse to give it to us yet because you haven't gotten it written up yet.

You'd be better off with Biostrip 20. Trust me.

A Sunday Hobby Day

Well, an eventful day so far. I decided to dedicate my Sunday to all things Hobby related, including getting a start on my Wraithlord cleanup mini project. But first, let me introduce to a new hazard in hobby:



And lo, before the terrible furry terror can climb on my desk and play with my in progress projects, or spill paint pots that it has cleverly worked open, or drink the rancid paint water in the cups on my desk, I've also taken the time to:

1. Give my Desk a thorough cleanup, dust and general tidy. I got some extra platic shelf boxes that fit nicely on my desk for storing tools, glue, and as a new bitz box.
2. Setup a pair of new water pots using some spare plastic tubs with lids (far better than cups!)
3. Give my home-made wet palette a thorough clean and re-setup, ready for the next painting session
4. Cleanout my desk drawers to give me a load of room to store my paints & sprays in drawers and not on the desk.

Yeah, it's all been getting a bit feng-shui, my painting environment feels a 100% better. Anyways...

Stripping

So, I won't be getting a Ultrasonic Cleaner until Wednesday (pay day), but it's not stopped me from pressing on with a strip job of my Wraithlord. I picked the necessary tools from my local Home Bargains store yesterday, including:

1. 3 Bottles of Methylated Spirits
2. A series tupperware boxes, with lids, so I can strip miniatures probably up to the size of a Riptide Battlesuit if needed.
3. Latex Gloves
4. Spare tea-towels
5. A cheap set of toothbrushes

So, I've mentally added Patience and Elbow Grease to the list of ingredients, and I've begun the process of stripping the Wraithlord today.

Round 1
Just like the video, the Wraithlord was submerged into the Spirits for about 15 minutes to give it a good soak. Took it out, not much paint removed at all as expected, so gave the model a thorough scrub all over as much as possible with a toothbrush for about 20 minutes. This is to help 'score' the paint so the spirits can do its work.

Round 2
Another 15 minute dip, took it out and gave it a thorough brush over. Paint is most definitly dissapearing from the model, with it removing from the flatter, larger areas fairly easily. Important note: the inital layer of Ushabti Bone I was working and the shade wash of Agrax Earthshade has all but dissapeared after this stage, but the primer is clinging on. Some small parts from the model have come off - the Tabard, the Groin Armour plate, one of the Wings, and unfortunately the Sword Hand. I think this down to a combination of vigorous scrubbing and tiny areas of plastic contact for where the plastic glue was used to cement the peices together. Sigh. Nothing too far gone it can't be repaired with some application of patience, but atleast its letting me get to some of the harder to reach areas.

Round 3
Another 15 minute dip. Thorough brush over. The primer is lifting off with a good application of elbow grease and a toothbrush. Tried using a "Nice N' Easy" hair dye brush to get into the nooks and crannies, but the bristles are too few on the brush to make much of a difference. Most of the primer is gone from the larger flatter ares, but there's some stubborn bits around the shoulders thanks to not being able to get to it with the toothbrush.

So, I've decided to see what can be done with a thorough 1 Hour soaking in Meths.... tick tock, tick tock, waiting as I write this. I've gently twisted the head off (oh the horror!), so I can reach those troublesome shoulders and I've also had a look around for something small and bristly to use for the stubborn areas I can't reach, and I think I've found the answer... Inter-dental Brushes! Yes, those torture devices you use for picking out food from between your teeth!

UPDATE

So, left it for an hour, then a thorough brushover with both the Toothbrush and with a couple of Interdental brushes all over the model and the seperate parts. Here's the results (spoiler: it's Grey!):



Close up of the legs where the paint previously 'gritted':



Very happy with this result!


What else is on the agenda today?

1. I'm going to have another play with my Craftworld rune today in Inkscape, so if I progress it a little more. Once I'm happy I'll put it up for viewing before I start creating my own transfer sheet for my Craftworld.

2. History & Fluff. I've got my hands on a 6th Ed Eldar codex to have a good read through today, so I can hopefully develop my fluff a little more tightly along canon lines without actually interfering with anything established in canon lore. Another teaser - I want Jain Zar to be an important part of that fluff, but I'll have to do my research, and of course I could really do with reading Fracture of Biel-Tan to decide where my Craftworld sits with Ynnead and the Ynnari hosts of Yvraine.

Happy times

Wow, that's quite some stripping setup you've got there. I normally just cut a 2-litre bottle in half, pour some isopropyl into it, let my minis sit for a few minutes and then powerscrub them with an old toothbrush. It doesn't always work the first time, but after three or four rounds they end up fine (and shiny, for some reason).

Updated previous post with results and photos!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Unhappy Update

Right, so after the successful stripping, I decided to get the primer back on the model and get back up and running painting this thing from tomorrow onwards.

And it's gone and happened again. I mean what the is going on.



I mean, I prepared as well as I could....

1. Left the model in pieces
2. Set up spray box, using Kitchen Towel as a liner to prevent spray dust hitting the model from previous spray jobs.
3. Shook the can for a good 2-3 minutes.
4. Sprayed continuously, going from left to right no more than 15-20cm away from the model.

Arrgghhh.

So, I've tried to simply scrape the paint off the model this evening afterwards with a fresh blade on my craft knife, and I'm never going to reach it all. It's maddening as hell.

Still, I have a plan.

1. Strip the model. *again*
2. Check I haven't damaged the model with my craft knife from scraping.
3. Undercoat with brush and very thin White scar all over.
4. Undercoat with Ushabti Bone as a thin coat.

Then hopefully, I'll have a flat surface to work with for painting.

Bummer :( is it still really hot outside or did you do it in a cool place?

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Bummer :( is it still really hot outside or did you do it in a cool place?

Was done around 11:00pm last night it was warm but more around room temperature and nothing like it was when I did the first spray job.

Feeling very gutted on the whole project this morning. Trip to Dentist didn't help. Sigh.

Right, well, things haven't been good over the last two days....

1. The Wraithlord. It got stripped a second time after the AP paint developed Grit-itis again. After stripping, I tested a can of Corax White on some Chaos Cultists I had lying around. "seemed ok", so took a risk. Didn't pay off. Won't bore you with more photos, but not happy with the results still. *Sigh*. I could strip it again, but I've had the heart torn out of me with all this.

2. I've kinda fallen in love with the newer plastic GW Wraithguard models. Got to see some at the weekend against my older Metal ones, and I have to say, I'm missing out.

So, I'm gonna go away have a long think about Craftworld Nemisar, and where I want to go next. So, until I restart this thread or another one like, I'll leave with the beginning paragraphs of my fluff that is written up as a treat for following me this far........

Thanks Guys.

PS If you reading this on a superwide monitor screen, resize your browser window so you get more of a 'book feel' reading it.



Before the Fall - The Royalty of the Aeldari

Before the fall, the Aeldari race with its galaxy spanning empire stood at the brink of greatness, with dominion over all other races, even there long term enemies the Necrons. In between the nascent wars with these younger races, the Aeldari ruled an Empire that spanned the Galaxy.

And rule they did.

In the quiet time between golden age and eternal damnation, several prominent families rose to power within the Aeldar race, and began a familial based method of ensuring the race had rulers and leaders capable of keeping the Aeldar together across its galactic dominion. They aspired to become the heads of state as Monarchs, or the leader of war fleets as Admirals, helping ensure that the Aeldari continued on a path for the betterment of their kind. These families became very dynastic in nature, with titles passing from parent to child.

Altruistic motives and noble goals pushed these families to attempt to lead the Aeldari to an everlasting golden age of peace. Yet, as with everything the Aeldari touched and experienced, these efforts proved ultimately to do nothing more than hasten their own downfall.

Noble leadership gave way to games of internal politics, entertainment sought through intricate games of political intrigue and favour currying. Leaders of different philosophical factions sprung up within these leading families, all vying with each other for power and for position. Perceived enemies in the shadows were dealt with through indirect, but deadly means.

Eventually, these families earned a title that came enshrine the deadly games they played - 'Nemisarii', meaning 'deadly opponent' and 'ultimate retribution' in the human tongue, amongst other more complicated meanings.

But the excesses didn't end in the public facing throne rooms of power, or in the magisterial court rooms, or abroad in the war councils of the Admirals protecting and expanding the empire. The families themselves began to give over the rights of their own lineage to the Cult of Fertility, where Sister-Midwives would help ensure the genealogy of a child was perfect, that their marriage potential was maximised. The cults became a power-within-a-power of the Nemisarii, effectively having a stranglehold over entire bloodlines.

As the Fall of the Aeldari unknowingly approached, the Nemisarii we're caught in its death grip as surely as any other of the Aeldar Race. Blood was openly spilled in the hallways of power due to murderous paranoia running rampant, and even the war fleets of Admirals moved from war-games of first blood, to acceptable losses of the least experienced, to outright contests of power and pride where any loss was acceptable in the pursuit of victory over rivals. The cults of fertility gave way to darker Cults of Excess, Sister-Midwives becoming High Priestesses wielding sacrificial knives.

The Nemisarii we're as damned as the rest of the Aeldari race.



A final warning, and the Escape...

Amidst all of the hedonistic descent into madness, a few of the Nemisarii still clung to old ideals, to futile attempts to keep the Aeldar on the path to enlightenment. It was these Aeldar that heeded the call to leave the worlds of the Empire behind, before the great calamity happened.

These Nemisarii still wielded considerable power and influence, and managed to construct many Craftworlds to take as many of the willing Aeldar refugees as possible. The ships we're constructed at a maddening pace.

But another seed of corruption took place during all of this mad escape. Open invitations to the Craftworlds we're seemingly taken up at an electric pace - places became scarce, and eventually what places we're left became bartered for, vied for, and ultimately fought over.

And so yet another seed of their destruction came to be as the fall overcame many of the Aeldari - many of the war fleets led by the Nemisarii turned their own guns on their fellow people, destroying the ships before they even left the wraithbone docks, despite their being time to escape, to survive.

Amongst this madness, one Queen of the Nemisarii ordered their Craftworld depart. Ignoring the pleas and plight of her own families, she had been informed by the Seers of other Craftworlds to either leave while she still could, or face annihilation with the rest of the Nemisarii.

And so, half constructed, poorly provisioned, barely crewed, but with still sane Aeldar aboard, Craftworld Nemisar sailed for the stars and their fate, as they watched their own families destroy each other and disappear into death and madness.

That is dark, very dark.

Vey nicely written. I love it!

Man that's dark as feth. I love it! Really sets the evolution of the culture along its path to damnation. It was genuinely shocking to see them tearing each other apart at the end there, but at the same time it fits perfectly with the utter desperate insanity of a civilisation tearing itself apart too.

I also like that they were basically a lifeboat desperately jettisoned from a wreck of a civlisation. That's what all craftworlds were, really, but your background really hammers home that desperation.

A+ stuff

Well, I was going to post back with some good news, that I had reconsidered my stance on my Eldar, and made proper plans for a ful larmy and that I had a new method of undercoating to get the results I wanted.

I'd even ordered a Yvraine model from ebay, with the idea of converting her into the current Nemisarii 'Queen' Farseer type character!

Then this went and happened: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/731165.page

This is almost the last bullets to the head of my Eldar project. I wanted 3 Wraithlords and 7 (7!) Wave serpents for my eventual army!

Arrrggghh!

The next week will decide if this gets abandoned for Primaris Marines, or that the Eldar Nemisarii project lives on!

I struggle to believe that they'll replace the Wraithlord model. For one it's beautiful, and it's also relatively new.

I can see the Wave Serpent model being replaced, but again it's not as if they look outdated.

They'd better replace Aspect Warriors before that though. If we get plastic replacements of two already plastic kits while Aspect Warriors are still monopose Finecast I'll do my nut...

Aspect Warriors are finecast? Man, what the hell was wrong with pewter.

edit: twenty two quid for a Primaris Captain? What in the name of all that is holy and unholy