Monday, January 30, 2006

Eldar, Eldar Everywhere

Epic took a back seat last week as I dove into more 40K Eldar models. First up was finishing the Striking Scorpion test model and the second guardian:
  


Pleased with the paint jobs, I moved to the bases. Here is how I currently do the bases for the Eldar. First I paint the base Goblin Green and glue on patches of gravel and sand. When the glue is dry (usually overnight) I then paint the stone grey, apply a 50-50 water/black ink, and then highlight codex grey.


While that is drying, I prepare long grass by bunching some up and putting a drop of glue in the middle. This is where I will cut it to make two stands of grass.


When the grass is ready (usually an hour or two), I cut it and put it on the base of the model. If the cut is flat enough it will stand up on its own, but sometimes a paint jar can be used as a prop.


When the tall grass glue is dry, I then trim the grass to the desired length and shape. To finish, I put glue on the rest of the exposed base and apply normal static grass. End result:


Next up was a warlock and farseer that I started earlier. After the two coats of Red Gore, I applied some ivory for the rune armour and helms. Then I went back to work on the red robes with an application of Blood Red, and then a final highlight using blazing orange instead of the usual 50-50 Blood Red and White mix. An experiment and I'm not convinced. I'm going to try it on a guardian to see what I like more.
     


That's as far as I got. Next on the painting list is more striking scorpions and guardians.
 


Speaking of guardians, I took out my Eldar force for a review this weekend and decided to show my four different types of guardians I have now. Starting from the left, there is the original cobalt blue with white dryburshing, the dark blue with white drybrushing, the more current cobalt blue with light blue highlighting, and the new red and black.
 


As you can see below, my multi-coloured army in all its glory. I'm basing my repainting scehdule on units that are the farthest from the Red and Black motif. Striking Scoprions (currently green and red) and the guardians are the highest priority, followed by the Howling Banshees. The Jetbikes may never get repainted, the I'm abivalent about the warp spiders who are pretty close already. The old wave serpent needs highlight at the very least although I'm more likely to replace it. I don't think I can strip my swooping hawks, they are so pretty. So they might get sold instead. But we're talking more than a year or two down the road.
     

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Ever Dimishing Pile of Unpainted Epic

I finished the daemons except for basing. Not super happy with them but at least I have some more to use.


What next from the ever dimishing pile of epic models? Hmmm, looks like the Hellblades need to be done.
 


Over in the Eldar side of things, I finished basing the first guardian, made some more progress with the scoprion and second guardian, and got a first coat on a farseer and warlock.
  

Monday, January 23, 2006

Eldar Have Returned

I primed the Eldar models as they so feverently desired, and then found I could not resist the urge to start painting them. I've got to stake my claim on the scheme you know!


I started with black primer and two coats of Red Gore:


Then a light coat of Blood Red mostly on the raised areas:


The guardian on the left didn't work out as well as the guardian on the right. Too much Blood Red I think. I finished the red with a 50-50 Blood Red/Skull White mix on the edges for highlighting. Next I worked on the weapons, giving a base coat or two of wraithbone white as I call it, followed by a brown wash.


I then went lightly over the weapon again in wraithbone, and did the helmet black with grey faceplate. Then I did up some gems to give him that Eldary look.
 


I was so excited with the results that I started in on a test striking scorpion model as I was waiting for the basing glue to dry. And tried to fix up that second guardian.
     


I'm stoked! More Eldar to come.

Epic Progress

A quiet weekend makes for lots of painting fun. Completed stuff first.


Daemon Prince:
 


Chaos Warlord:
 


Sorcerer:


Raptors:


And the Forlorn Hope in various stages:
  


Next up: Daemons!
 

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Super Progress!

Since I was off most of yesterday for errands, I made some good progress. First morning shots of the raptors and character stands:
 


Then the two guardians came out of the cleaning fluid. Got most of the paint off, enough for test scheme purposes:


Back to the Epic stuff, I finished the raptors and characters except for basing which I started last night:
 


Meanwhile... the Eldar models tried to grab the black spray and prime themselves. Silly Eldar!


With the raptors and characters done, I decided I needed a third Forlorn Hope formation (and they were already drybrushed):
 


Corey, I am fondling your wave serpents!


And a family picture just because it looks so pretty.