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Modeling => Projects Blog => Topic started by: Nutty on July 31, 2019, 04:59:17 PM
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Hello Everyone,
I've recently decided to start collecting Craftworld Eldar, and I figured I'd start a little plog to document my journey through the webway.
It all began when I, somewhat unexepectedly, placed the winning bid on an Eldar army; and they arrived in the post earlier today:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190731/a8751426e376665a6fee9593a1edba54.jpg)
Most of the miniatures need a bit of work; the paint has chipped, a lot of weapons are bent/broken, etc. So the majority went straight into the bucket for a nice long soak. Luckily for me the lot also contained a number of unpainted warriors and a metal farseer with just a coat of primer; so I have something to work on right away.
So after some minor repairs and coat of primer, my army is starting to take shape:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190731/ecf78467d134a64ec20f1b52a6cf1ac1.jpg)
Now it is time for some actual painting; I've alwyas found the Ulthwé scheme particularly striking, so that is the plan for now. It's been a while since I've tried painting black armor though.. so that plan might change in the near future. :)
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Looks like you got a good mix of units to start the collection off :)
GW store were doing demo's of their new contrast paint, if your local is still doing it, try out the black contrast paint, it does a good job for infantry.
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Hi Nutty, welcome to the forums ;D! Lots of cool stuff already in your possession, I look forward to seeing how you progress with your eldar army!
I also love the colors of Ulthwe, but I've always been put off by trying to create the bone patterns that Ulthwe is known for.
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I also love the colors of Ulthwe, but I've always been put off by trying to create the bone patterns that Ulthwe is known for.
Tamiya Masking tape :) It gives a nice straight edge and does damage the paint under it. You can then use normal making tape to over lap the Tamiya stuff and stick down some paper towel or what ever to prevent over spray. Works well for straight lines and Tamiya also do curved tape.
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Thanks for the warm welcome!
@Magenb: It really is a nice mix of units; although some of the stuff in there has not aged well. I have a list of what is in the bucket in a post over at the Eldar subforum, and a revised list on my pc at home. I might add that into this thread as a bit of a 'to do'-list.
The advice is always welcome; I'd might give the black contrast a try. But painting the black armor has been going surprisingly well. A bit of further testing is needed to see how well it translates to vehicles though. The patterns are something I still have to try, but I'll keep the masking tape in mind.
Right now my main issue seems to be with the eyes/lenses on these guys. I've tossed the first five I did back in the bucket because I had repainted the masks so many times it started clogging the edges of the lense. Edit: I've changed the way I'm painting the lenses and it seems to working a lot better for me. With a bit of luck I can finish the unit over the weekend.
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The first 5 guardians got painted today;
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/ulthwe-guardians.35165/full)
Despite my change in method the eyes are still giving me the most trouble, I might have to restrategize again.
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Hi Nutty, some advice on eyes. Paint them with a light, off white color, use a dot of contrast paint to tint the eyes to what you want, then clean up around the edges.
Try that!!!
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Looks good Nutty.
I kind of cheat with lenses, Tamiya make a range of clear glossy paints (x-27 for red). The gloss catches the light, especially next to the matte armour next to it. GW glazes and gem stone paints also work too.
Its just a matter of how much effort you want to put in, you can to a metallic gradient under before putting the clear gloss on or just a light layer.
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Thanks for the advice;
Myen'Tal: it is similar to what I was doing (paint yellow, wash with Biel-tan green) but I have some turquise contrast laying around, so I might as well give it a try.
Magenb: I'm all for cheating if it looks good. I have the red gem paint and most of the glazes sitting around here somewhere. So that is certainly something to try.
Touching up seems to be part of the problem though. The mask seems to end up chalky and uneven eventhough I'm using the same method as for the guns and other 'bone'-bits. I might go with bone coloured helmets and a black faceplate instead.
Anyway I have the day of work tomorrow so I have time to pick up some paint and try some different things. The two of you have certainly given me food for thought; thanks again.
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Well I spent most of yesterday looking at pictures of Eldar and experimenting with different methods and colours.. and I decided to out a pin in my idea to start an Ulthwe army for now. I can't quite get the black to look the way I want, so I've slightly altered my plans:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190808/3285036877ccc44bc3630006291ecaea.jpg)
Ulthwe, Iybraesil.. almost the same thing really.. ???
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Well, I am definitely a fan of that Iybraesil scheme :). Yeah, black is definitely a difficult color to make "pop" as it were, so I definitely understand you having difficulties there. It also makes me wary of trying schemes with black as the main color. I think you've did a great job!
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Well, I am definitely a fan of that Iybraesil scheme :). Yeah, black is definitely a difficult color to make "pop" as it were, so I definitely understand you having difficulties there. It also makes me wary of trying schemes with black as the main color. I think you've did a great job!
I think the lack of "pop" was what turned me away from the idea; if I spend 2-3 hours on a model I'd like it to hold my attention for atleast a minute or so. The Iybraesil scheme does that a lot better, and is quicker to paint.
However I did get a bit tired of (re)painting guardians so I started on my first aspect warriors to mix things up a bit:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190808/164bf3d023f8ef9e9cc1f091ce5961d1.jpg)
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Those are looking great already!!!
Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions remain among my favorite craftworld models... not so much the third edition SS, but the banshees from third or fourth, still loving them!
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The new guardian scheme and the banshee's are looking good.
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Thank you both
The Banshee sculpts have stood the test of time pretty well I think. Maybe if you sat them next to the 'current' models they might show their age a bit more, but they are nice miniatures to paint. So much so that I have spent the entirety of yesterday evening painting them and got right back at it this morning.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190809/63b8d9c3003aa61c33d206b8e9358a1f.jpg)
I usually get distracted after an hour or so and start doing other stuff; but these ladies almost painted themselves. :)
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The white is looking very clean and your work on the swords is great.
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I agree with, Mage, the white came out beautifully. The swords are looking pretty snazzy as well :).
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Thank you both; I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, I do want to redo the eyes as the turned out a bit to dark.. and more grey than green. But I think I'll leave them be untill I've practiced on some more guardians.
However I got distracted by a Wave Serpent along the way:
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190814/cfcd1743aff66adc788e8ff6aef77ae9.jpg)
I ended up magnetizing the turret weapons (mainly so I can use them on the two Vypers when I get around to those) so the turret is a bit wobbly. So I might try and fill the magnet holes with a thin layer of greenstuff so that everything sits flush again.
There is still a bit of painting to do on it, but I've been meaning to try my hand at a vehicle to see how my method for the blue/teal works on larger surfaces.
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Looks good so far.
Magnets are great when there is a horizontal mount, verticle mounts like the wave turrent and Hornets tend to droop as the size of the mangets don't counter the weight distribution, especally on long weapons like pulse lasers. So they would well on war walkers and wraithlords, etc.
Wave Turrnets are usually a snuf fit for me, so they mostly hold them selves in place. The vypers have a craddle, there is not much room to mount a magnet, but a little bluetak will keep them in polaec for a game.
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Welcome to our little corner of the universe. Sorry took do long to respond. You got a good bit going there, that's great. So far I like what you've done on all the models but just remember, you don't have stay with GW'S color schemes.
The white is so smooth a ND creamy, you did them a great justice.
Will check in with you more in the future. Keep the paint flying.
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Thanks Dread, paint hasn't realy been flying lately due to the weather and videogames, but I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough. If I had went with a custom craftworld I would still be painting guardians in test schemes.. it takes me forever to come up with something I like. I might design a craftworld for these guys at some point (mainly because I don't like the Iybreasil rune all that much) but I quite like to colours. It's going to be a bit of challenge to tie in some of the aspects in with the rest of the army, but I'll work that out when I get there.
@mage: I'm using diametrically polarized(?) magnets and they do a good job keeping the guns from drooping, but there is a bit of room around the magnet and the original mounting point:
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/starcannon.36099/full)
This causes it to sit a little crooked unless you mush the magnets, on the turret and gunshield, into the slot. It can be done, but than I risk breaking the magnets of when swithing weapons. A tiny bit of putty should allow the magnets to sit flush whilst still having enough 'pull' to keep everything in place. I ordered some thicker (3mm as opposed to the 2mm I'm using now) magnets for future vehicles, and those will fill up more of the hole and (hopefully) eliminate the problem.
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Progress!
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190912/aa36f263fddc8ed9166b45123a39cf3b.jpg)
It is starting to look like an (very small) army.
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Looking good, keep it up Nutty.
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Awesome start, Nutty!!!
Loving the cohesive look you've achieved across your forces so far.
Are you looking forward to any new eldar models in Phoenix Rising?
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8) great stuff Nutty. Color choice is spot on. You've got a great start, looking forward to more.
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yeah I got into Eldar just in time for the new goodies :)
I'm looking forward to new models; it would be cool to see some updates in the range, I do like most of the aspect warriors we have but some are starting to show their age.
Untill they do I'll just keep chipping away at my current pile. I'm working on some rangers now; I came across a box of 5 for a good price.. so I couldn't resist.
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My Eldar had their maiden game this week. :)
I played a 1k game against the newest member of my gaming club, and since he is new to the game I wasn't to worried about list-building. So I brought everything that had paint on it, plus a few units to fill out the point. In the end it looked like:
--- Ulthwé Battalion ---
- farseer w/ witchblade
- warlock w/ witchblade
- 20 guardians
- 4 Dire Avengers + exarch w/ 2 catapults
- 5 rangers
- 4 banshees + exarch w/ executioner
- 1 Vyper w/ starcannon
- 1 Fire Prism
- 1 Falcon w/ brightlance & Crystal Matrix
- 1 Wave Serpent w/ twin Shuriken Cannon
I figured that would give me the chance to try some different units, and make for a interesting fight vs a new player.
Since he told me he had a Deathguard army I assumed he would bring the DG half of the starterset plus some extra units.. but I was quite wrong.
His list looked like:
--- Deathguard Outrider Detachment ---
- 1 Daemon Prince
- 1 Lord of contagion (termie lord with a big scythe)
- 3 blight haulers w/ multi-melta & Missile launcher
- 1 bloat drone w/ fleshmower
- 1 bloat drone w/ 2 plague-spitters
- 1 bloat drone w/ 2 plague-spitters
It was a pretty rough match up for me and I struggled to get through all those T7 Nurgle daemon engines. But the guardians deploying from the webway wrecked the daemon prince with a psychic support from the farseer and warlock on T2. After that they kept the drones occupied for two turns with a little help from the celestial shield strategen, which bought my other units some time to whittle away at the daemon engines. But in the end we tied on objectives killpoints with my Falcon and Vyper playing keep away with a drone, hauler and the lord of contagion.
I also painted up my finecast rangers; and the first one broke on the way to the game...
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/eldar-rangers-1.38460/full)
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/eldar-rangers-2.38461/full)
edit: these pictures looked a lot better on my phone.. I'll have another shot at it when the light is a bit better.
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Damn that fine cast. It's just a terrible medium to make sculpts out of. A pin vise should be able to drill out a hole on both ends and allow you to insert a pin to give your glue support.
Sounds like a pretty tough match up. Having a battalion gave you the advantage with command points, but he brought some pretty tough cookies there.
Did your guardians have a weapons platform. If so, what was it armed with?
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A pin will help keep it in place for sure, but it's frustrating that it broke the first time I packed them up.
The match-up was pretty rough; I didn't expect someone that only played a few battles to show up with a list like that; but it turns out it's his entire DG collection. The extra CP was nice to have and it did allow me to try some different strategems.
I didn't give my Guardians a weapon platform; I only have a metal one with a scatter laser on it. It also worked out easier pointswise. ;)
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Nice Battle Rep Summary, Nutty! You know the game is going to be rough when Nurgle brings nothing but daemon engines into the fight ;D. You did well with what you had against such a force.
I wish I could see more of the Rangers, though, I cannot really make out too much from the current images, though I wish I could!!!
I need to get back into the swing of things. Eidolon took a lot out of me ;D, but you're inspiring me to get back into it!
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So it's been a while since I worked on my Eldar, but recent Christmas loot has gotten me back into the swing of things:
(https://i.redd.it/4iohthwpgt841.jpg)
It took a few tries to assemble it, but I think I got it right. In the end I've rebuilt/reinforced parts of the wing mechanism with styrene, and I had glued in a few washers to keep the wings from drooping down. Now I need to keep myself from playing with it long enough to finish painting it.
I think I might do the belly in a light grey when I get around to it. Not that the blue is any form of camo.. but I always liked that two-tone look that some fighter planes have where the bottom is a different colour to make the plane harder to spot from the ground. :)
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Hi Nutty,
That flyer looks like a beast! Smooth coats from the paint, so far so good. I'm looking forward to seeing how you progress! It must've been hell to assemble though, lol! Same thing with a lot of the larger AoS models, I've found.
I like the idea of the two tone scheme, you should go for it!
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Looking good so far. I remember assembling mine years ago and all the filing and heating things up to straighten them and scrubbing all the mold release off. It was worth it though. Haven't fielded mine on many years. Hope you are having a good time as well as good luck with it. Two tone is gonna look great on it, the Grey gets my vote.
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Thanks guys, there's always a little extra effort needed when building FW, but the moving parts added some extra challenge. I need to go back in and re-bend the brightlances; I guess I bent them out of shape whilst painting.. but I'll get to that once I'm done painting.
In the meantime the first few coats of grey are on, and I've started on a bit of a highlight:
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing.42099/full)
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Sweet nightwing, that's one puppy still missing from my collection.
I haven't seen a straight lance from FW. Hooutrageously sexy lycra-clad pixieer bath will make them easy to bend back though.
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Thanks Mage; it's such a good looking plane, I just had to get one :)
Along with a few more layers I did up the gems and got started on the base:
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-belly.42263/full)
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-deployed-top.42264/full)
I also messed about with a mirror I had laying around to see If I could capture both sides of the plane in a single shot.
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-on-base.42261/full)
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-deployed-side.42262/full)
With a bit of luck it'll be done by the weekend and I'll be able to take some shots in the daylight.
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That is absolutely awesome, Nutty! That paint job is so crisp and clean! I love it!
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that one white strip running down the side, just hits the spot! well done.
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Nope, it looks to nice. You're just gonna have to strip it and start over, haha! It's a very sweet ride for sure.
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That is a very striking colour scheme and I can't wait to see it finished. Also I really hope that you get to take a picture with better lighting as I think the low light level of your current pictures are hiding the overall excellence of your painting.
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Mickey Mouse work there, Nutty!
For a beginner, you've hit the ground running with your painting.
All my first 40K models had a 2plus armor save the paint was so thick. You're doing very well, mate!
The flyer looks slick as well. Very creative photography with the mirror. Keep up the good work, Nutty, you are a natural... Pointy ears forever!!
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Thanks for the kind words everyone :D
But I'm afraid I have to let down Saim-Dann; I'm new to Eldar, but I've been into 'the hobby' for well over a decade, and I have the paint-caked chaos warriors to prove it ;)
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DOH!!
Sounds like your Kaos could use a bath with your Eldar, mate... Be well!
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I gave the gems a few coats of gloss varnish to test how it'll look, and did a few touch ups over the weekend:
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-front.42769/full)
The engines/afterburners are still a bit iffy. It might just take a few more layers of yellow to get them looking right, or I might re do them all together. I decided to try a yellow/orange rather than a white/blue to add a bit of colour to the model, but it's been a while since I used yellow.
I think I'll try and tweak the exhaust a little and after that I'll give it a coat of varnish and re-apply gloss to the gems/canopy
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-back.42771/full)
(https://yaktribe.games/community/media/nightwing-belly.42770/full)
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Looking great Nutty.
The engines look good too me, I'd be happy with it :) If they are still looking a little off maybe some heated metal effects near the tips of the engines? (Daaanger Zone- Painting Heat Damage on Engines - Spikey Bits (https://spikeybits.com/2013/10/daaanger-zone-painting-heat-damage-on-engines.html) not the best tutorial but gives you an idea what I mean)
If you want to go all out I have seen some cone flames that people put on the back of the engines if you want more of an after burner effect.
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Dude, Nutty, that looks incredible! I love it!
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The engines look good to me as well, but I don't think they really add anything to the overall look of the model as you can only see them from the rear.
I really like the look of your gems and how they shine.
It is still a shame that you haven't got a better light to use, as diffuse daylight isn't the best thing for photography.
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Thanks for the kind words guys,
@Magenb; I might try that heat damage, I've seen Ron's (FTW) tutorial back in the day but this looks interesting as well.
@Alienscar; the light here isn't great, but I might build myself a lightbox sometime soon. Building the thing shouldn't be that hard, I just need to find some suitable lights.