Eldrad, I Hate To See You Leave

But I like the freehand on your back.

This group is boxed, sealed and ready to go out the door.
Thanks again!

Swooping Hawks test model

I went for a dark Ulthwe centered color scheme.  I think they are fairly menacing like this.  Does this look like how you would like them?  There are 8 total in the big box.

Bonesingers from various craftworlds (complete)

Ulthwe, Saim Hann, Lugganath, Biel Tan, Alaitoc.  Taste the Rainbow.

Seer Council of Ulthwe (complete)

What's black and white and red all over?

Dark Reapers (complete)

6 Dark Reapers.  Two of them would be exarchs from the weapon load-out.

HQ Models (complete)

Prince Yriel, Eldrad, and Maugan Ra

A Bonesinger of Alaitoc

I see a couple spots that need cleaning up, but he's essentially done.

Okay, sleep time.  I spent way too much time painting tonight.

Warlocks, Bonesinger and Fire Prism... done!

A Bonesinger of Lugganath and four warlocks of Ulthwe.  The high gloss polyurethane I have on them for protection and the high contrast color scheme really makes them photograph poorly.  Wow.

Fire Prism is done.  It looks pretty sweet too.

All that's left in this batch, btw, is the Bonesinger of Alaitoc.  Come to think of it, the Big Box is getting pretty empty too.  There are 3 war walkers, 2 vypers, a bag of miscellaneous dire avenger/guardians, 7 or 8 jetbikes, a falcon, a wraithlord and a wave serpent.  Then there's a foam tray that has 5 or 6 swooping hawks, some weapon platforms with various guardian weapon crew and a couple more farseers and warlocks.

Fire Prism ... almost.

I just remembered why most of my own vehicles remain unpainted.  They are time consuming!  That said, they are very rewarding to have done.  This guy is nearly there.  I forgot the metal doodad in the front, so it's a recent addition.

I took the liberty of adding a shuriken cannon in place of the tl shuriken catapult.  This way it has a bit of threat even after a weapon destroyed result.  You could still zip around to pen a predator in the side armor.

Yeah, I've been reading a lot of Eldar tactica lately.  I'm committed to improving my record of ZERO wins.

Friday Update

This week was considerably less productive than I had hoped it would be.  I hate it when life gets in the way of play.


So here's the to-do list for this phase.  I'll keep on posting result pics as I get them.

• Ultwe Fire prism (hull nearly done... should I try and convert the tl shuriken catapult to a shuriken cannon?  It would certainly give the fire prism some more threat if it gets a weapon destroyed.)
• 4 Ulthwe warlocks (about 50% done each)
• details on Lugganath Bonesinger
• details on Alaitoc Bonesinger

Lightning Pattern on Grav Tanks

I painted these intertwining lighting bolts on a some grav tanks done at the beginning of the big box, based on pg 74 of the Eldar codex.  They are far easier to paint than I had originally assumed.

Start with a thick white line, and just do a single "bolt" originating at the front and terminating near the engine intake.  It should a fairly distribution of acute and obtuse angles and try to leave some room for the other bolts.  Continue with the other bolts, painting right over the first one.  As long as you can see the intersection between the lines you are fine.  If all you see is a big white blob then you'll have a harder time "knotting" them.

After the lines are painted (and optionally smoothed.  You can do that before or after this step) you need to determine which lines are going to be "on top" at each intersection.  I recommend going to the first intersection past the nose and defining that one first. Paint two thin black lines parallel to the "on top" line to show that the other line is passing under it.  Then follow the "on top" line to the next junction it makes and paint it as the "on bottom" line.  Continue with this pattern as much as possible and your lines will be nicely knotted together rather than just overlayed.

I used that technique here, then used black to outline each bolt for clarity.  I really need to do some smoothing and clean-up work but the pattern is in place.  Doesn't the hull there look tiny compared to the pin vise?

Heavy Metal Eldar

Dear GW,

Please product a single plastic sprue for the Fire Prism cannon.  The cannon assembly (both sides and the plastic axle) weigh 62g.  Everything else, including the other metal parts that come with the kit, only add up to 74g.  That is one hefty cannon.

Ulthwe Duo

Bonesinger and Warlock of Ulthwe.  The bonesingers face looks like I painted it with a chisel.... what's up with that?  I'll have to sit down and see if he looks like that in person or if it's just a function of the single light I used and a lack of good focus.

Two Bonesingers, four warlocks and a Fire Prism to go in this batch.

Saim Hann Bonesinger and Ulthwe Warlock

The march toward the next shipment continues!  Saim Hann Bonesinger (nearly done) and an improvement of one of the Ulthwe Warlocks WIP.

I'm getting a lot done!  I must be fleet!

Flashback to Harlequins (Dec 07)

Going over the old photobucket album that contains a lot of the Eldar I've done for "The Big Box" I came across the many Harlequins I painted for that army. My painting has definitely improved in the past 2 years (as I hope it noticeably does every 2 years) but I was pleasantly surprised at how fun these clowns look. They don't all have the standard Harlequin diamond checker pattern, but I really liked the more unique things like the tiger striped boots, the spooky red death jester and blue face troupe leader and the pink/blue one (who, if I recall correctly, has a heart on her butt to match the one on her chest.)










My own Harlequins will likely get more precise paint jobs given my added experience, but I hope they maintain that sense of whimsy that these have.

Ulthwe Seer Council WIP 1

Five different warlock models make a cool looking council.  The only colors used so far are black, dark grey mixed with ultramarines blue (for black highlight), skull white, mechrite red and (for the spear shaft) astronomicon grey.

They are really flat right now.  I'm hoping the next few WIP shots you'll see the depth start to emerge.

At this rate I should have them done by the weekend.  Then on to the Fire Prism and they belong to USPS after that. 

Biel Tan Bonesinger

Snice I finished all the little details on one of the Bonesingers I figured I'd post him.  The others (Saim Hann, Ulthwe, Lugganoth, Alaitoc) have an embarrassing lack of gems and other fiddly bits.

I love this sculpt.