Topic: Blazinghand's Blue Craftworld Eldar

[Grizzlykin]

Jumping in on the band wagon!

That's some really clean modeling work from I was always to lazy to do this and now I kinda regret it sometimes.

Really great modeling that's for sure the only thing I would say and it might just be due to you camera but I feel like you might be applying you paint a tiny bit too sick. But I might be totally wrong. It feels like your winged character on the wight wings like there is a surplus of paint in lower part of each of the feathers.

Still really great job and did play a real bunch of game really nice to see Keep it up.

Looking forward to you next kitbash

[Myen'Tal]

As everyone else has noted, really cool Autarch(?) conversion, likely way beyond my own modding ability . I'm loving the Seers best, just really have that glamorous look that Craftworld Eldar ought to have. Also the vehicles look great too, and so do those Ultra Marines you faced in the Tournament!

[Blazinghand]

Working on a couple new flyers - a Crimson Hunter Exarch I've had on the docket for a while, and a Hemlock Wraithfighter. I'm pleased with the basing, but still have a lot of work to do on the CH Exarch.

[Myen'Tal]

The basecoats on those flyers look very smooth, BH, and I love the pattern you have going on the wings! Cannot wait how you progress!

[magenb]

Looking good so far, are you planning on marking the Exarch differently to a standard CH?

[Ynneadwraith]

I do love the eldar flyers looking forward to these coming together!

[Dread]

I really like the smooth dark blues. The accents really bring it out. What color are you going to do the spirit stones? Did you use the blue on the bottom or black? Weapons colors? Oh, well hurry up and finish them haha.

[Looshkin]

Really nice, clean start on those flyers Blazinghand. I look forward to seeing future developments.

[Calamity]

Yes I too would love to see what you do next with those flyers. 

[Blazinghand]

Ah, unfortunately I've fallen down the Age of Sigmar hole and am working on some Aelves these days. I'll take some progress photos this weekend...

[Myen'Tal]

Ah, unfortunately I've fallen down the Age of Sigmar hole and am working on some Aelves these days. I'll take some progress photos this weekend...

Oooh, what kind of Aelves, I wonder? 

[Blazinghand]

For Mother's Day, I decided to paint up a miniature of the family cat as a gift for Mom. I went with the Stonehaven Miniatures cat, because I've seen it around and it looks pretty cat-like.

The Miniature




The Stonehaven cat is a one-piece metal miniature that comes with a very small base. It shipped in a padded envelope and arrived intact with no damage.



It's very small. It's about the size that you'd expect a cat would be for 40k or AoS scale.




Very nice detail, though the collar isn't what I'd want it to be. I'm guessing that having a collar ridge right in the valley of where the neck meets to torso would lead to casting irregularities, so instead the cat has a necklace-like collar. Only a couple of streamers - one off the nose, one off the tail, one off the side, all easily cleaned up. The face could use more detail, and the nose seems a bit wide, but overall it's what I was looking for.

Painting the Mini

Painting this miniature was quick and easy, even when trying to paint a 3-color calico cat. It plays very well with both drybrush and wash techniques due to the many crenelations and detail from the fur. Because it is so small, I went for brush-on primer. One thing to note is that the mini is so down low close to the base that it is hard to paint the underside. Getting it to look like the family cat was pretty easy!


The family cat.



A stirring likeness!

Overall I'd say it's a fine mini and easy to quickly paint, great for whatever you'd need a small cat mini for - say, as a familiar for your D&D character.

[Myen'Tal]

Adorable cat, both the real life and miniature varieties. Cool idea for Mother's Day. Good work.

Still waiting on those aelves  .

[Blazinghand]

There's a swordmaster in the size comparison pic! I'll see what I can get up in the next few weeks.

[Alienscar]

The face could use more detail, and the nose seems a bit wide, but overall it's what I was looking for.

Looks good Blazinghand and as MyenTal said a neat idea for your mum.

I agree with your assessment of the models face and when looking at your photo of the bagged model the face has the look of a lioness rather than a domestic cat.

[magenb]

interesting find, it would go well with a number of customized Yvraine builds or even the old warlock.

[Dread]

Kudos for tackling the cat for your mom. It's very difficult to replicate something like that but you did great. Proudness!

[Blazinghand]

I've given GW's new contrast paints a try. For my Warhammer Fantasy RPG campaign, a couple of my players don't come from a miniatures background, so I picked up a couple cheap resin minis from Reaper Miniatures, primed them, and speed painted them in a couple hours using contrast paint.




From left to right:

Viktor the Witch Hunter, Karl the Priest of Sigmar, and Aeseric the Aelf

Primed with flat gray primer.

Viktor's cloak is Gryph-charger Gray with a touch of Cygor Brown. His tunic is Aggaros Dunes. Skin is Fyreslayer Flesh, boots are Cygor Brown. My store didn't have any metallic contrast paint on hand, so I did the metal parts the old way. The studded leather is Aggaros Dunes with Ironbreaker Gray (watered down) layered on top, blades are Administratum Gray with Ironbreaker Gray layered on top, then washed with Nuln Oil

Karl's cloak is Aggaros Dunes with the upper parts layered with Nazdreg yellow for the faded look. Flesh is Fyreslayer Flesh. Tunic is Cygor Brown, boots are Cygor Brown with Ork Flesh on top. Karl's Dagger is Administratum Gray with Ironbreaker on top and Nuln Oil wash.

Aeseric's Cloak is Cygor Brown. His hair is Nazdreg Yellow and his flesh is Fyreslayer flesh with a small amount of Cygor Brown mixed in. His tunic, armor, personal effects, etc, are Militarum Green, and his staff is Leviadon Blue.

Overall, I still need to get a feel for how these paints work, and try them when I have more time to appreciate them. For cranking out a few models in 2 hours, though, they were quite nice and easy to use. My players who aren't into the hobby were pleased that they had minis to match the other players who also play wh40k, so there's a happy ending to this story.

[Myen'Tal]

Keep experimenting, Blaze! I've wrote down some tips about contrast paints somewhat recently on my blog, feel free to give them a look. A bright under coat like white, off white, and light grey is good for contrast. Also when you thin, don't use it like water and dip the tip of your brush in it. Grab an old brush and thin by the brush load. Sometimes I have to use two brush loads to make it smooth enough to coat a light area, depending on the paint, so that it won't splotch and build up too much.

Also, thin coats are necessary if you thin it down quite as bit like I do.

[Dread]

You are right to be proud of them, 2 hours and you did what most people do in 4 hours or more on one mini, great stuff. Charge them to paint theirs for them, I know they would happily pay you for that kinda quality.