Dire Avengers Pictures

Sweet tears of Isha these guys took forever to paint. I started painting them sometime in February and finally finished today. Of course, as I uploaded the pictures I realized I missed some of the basing on the Exarch near his right foot...back to work!

Anyway, my craftworld's aspect warriors use a variation of the traditional colors. I was inspired to do this after reading a post from a veteran Eldar player with an army fully painted up to fluff. He frequently noted that even though it was fully fluffy, nothing looked like it belonged together. There's no unifying color scheme. To prevent that with my army, I've been using black and the traditional color together (no idea what I'm going to do with the Reapers, give me time). Hopefully, this will help the army look like it all belongs together.



On the Exarch, this is my first attempt at doing a freehand with pen. The Avengers symbol is painted on, while the writing in the corners was done with a Micron pen. It took me a bit to get it right, and I'm still not satisfied with it, but these guys are 12 point troops and I think I already spent enough time with them. I learned a lot about painting with these guys. By the way, make sure you glue the guns on last, that would have saved a lot of trouble.

The Exarch is fully magnetized. This was my first attempt at magnetic figures. I didn't bother painting his other options out of sheer laziness. I should have...now I'm never going to get around to it. Tomorrow I begin work on a commissioned Dark Angels Whirlwind.

What's On My Painting Table?

More like, what's not on it. Over at BOLS they had an open thread about what's on your table. I'm proud to say that my Dire Avengers are no longer on my painting table. I just put the flock on them and will photograph them tomorrow.

Next up is either a wave serpent that I've started, my Forgeworld stuff, and a commission. I will likely do the commissioned Whirlwind first, followed by the Wave Serpent. While I'm anxious to start on my Cobra I do need to set myself on a scheme before I start. I have to body figured out but I'm still struggling on ideas for the gun.

Coming soon: pictures of the Dire Avengers.

Minor Broodlord Conversion

*Edit: See the finished product here.



Forgive the terrible picture quality! I wanted to model the biomorphs that I usually take on my Broodlord, so I took pieces from a couple of different Tyranid kits and added them. While the Extended Carapace and the Toxin Sacs aren't very noticeable, I think the Flesh Hooks look great. I tried doing Feeder Tendrils but that didn't work out so well. I decided that his tongue would have to represent those. He's still got the "hug me" pose, but the flesh hooks really do make a difference to it. He has now been basecoated and anxiously awaits my brush...as does almost everything else I own.

In other news, the Dire Avengers are almost finished! Just a little bit of highlights and touch ups, plus basing and they will be finished.

Forgeworld Update

So I have all my Forgeworld models cleaned and assembled (except for the Nightspinner, for which I will need a Falcon chassis). For the Cobra, I have not glued on the engines, the cannon, the cannon housing or the pilots. I intend to paint those separately as painting them together would make certain spots inaccessible. Also for the Cobra, I had to shave off the little bump where the gun meets the chassis as it was crooked.

For the Hierodule, I glued his body all together except the arms and the lower jaw (it would be very difficult to get the teeth with the jaw in place). I also did not glue the legs to the base. I set up pins in all the arm joints for painting purposes and to help glue them later on.

The Malanthrope is entirely glued together (with the exception of the base). None of the pieces will really interfere with painting. I probably need to magnetize it to the base so it's easier for transportation.

I am currently finishing up painting a Dire Avenger squad, when they're done I am going to either finish up another Wave Serpent or start on the Cobra. I'll at least get the basecoat done and will decide later what to do.

Forgeworld Goodies!

Technically, this post is a bit late seeing as this actually arrived last week (I've been working on putting them together, that's why I didn't post this sooner). Thought I'd post what came in the mail.



I agonized for weeks on what to get and finally settled on it. I considered getting a Nightwing or Trygon, but did not because rumors have been floating around about those models coming out in plastic. Also, I could easily convert a Trygon out of a Carnifex. I considered getting a Tyranid Assault Brood with my funds but seeing as the pound was at a record low, I figured this would be the best chance to get some Forgeworld models at a great price.

I debated most heavily on the Malanthrope. While it's little more than a glorified Hive Tyrant, I love the look of the model. It's the most Lovecraftian Tyranid beast and as a fan of Lovecraft, looks won over rules.

There's a Whirlwind in there which a friend ordered and tacked it along my order. Oddly enough, it was cheaper from Forgeworld than a regular one would be at the GW store.

I also got the Night Spinner conversion kit. My original plan was to get a Firestorm+Night Spinner and magnetize the turret, but they don't give you enough parts to do that. I don't actually have a Falcon chassis for it right now, but I'm getting a Cloudstrike squadron once I get a bit caught up on my painting backlog. I am instead going to do a Firestorm conversion. Yet another project on the back burner...

Then there's the Cobra. It's a massive model, and they kindly didn't include any parts list so I hope I got everything. It's probably not the most effective unit for its cost, and it only has one gun, but said gun's power level is over 9,000. I can't wait to have one turn of ultimate destruction, followed by nothing but weapon shaken results. But, that one turn will be worth it.

Tutorial: Magnetic Eldar Weapons

If you're like me, I hate closing off my options. I don't like gluing optional pieces on like weapon choices when my mind could change later. To solve this pretty much everything I own that has optional weapons is magnetic. Here's my most recent one, a magnetic wave serpent (though this also works on Falcons).



What you'll need is a ton of magnets. I usually buy from K&J Magnetics. The size I use for my wave serpents is the 1/8 by 1/32.

The first step is to get all the magnets facing the same direction. In the following diagram, the polarity facing outside is the one indicated. This way, weapons don't have to be left side or right side, they're universal.



Here's the parts all laid out.



What I do is set the magnets in a stack, then with a permanent marker, mark the top surface of the magnet. For arbitrary purposes, we'll call it positive. I then glue it with the positive side (the marked side) facing out on the central axis (after cutting off the thinner axis that you were supposed to slide the weapon on normally). I mark the next magnet, then glue it with the marked side facing the same way, but on the other side of the central axis (so the marked side is covered). Now it's just a matter of marking the top magnet and making sure they're all facing the same way.

Do the same to the weapons. Make sure that the positive magnet is facing the same way as the magnet on the central axis. If you did it right, when you glue the second magnet on the weapon it should naturally fall in its proper alignment. After the glue dries (and not before, I've learned from hard experience) it should be able to fit together just fine like this. (Edit: See my update at the bottom of this article)



For the housing on either side, you will have to drill in a little bit or else it sits way too far off the weapon. Make sure not to go too deep, you want the surface of the magnet flush with the housing.

Now you should be able to swap weapons out with ease! I haven't painted my weapons yet, but I'm working on it. I also adapted this for Vypers, so I can use these weapons on my Vypers. Furthermore, I have adapted my Falcon to this as well.

As you can see below, it's the same Wave Serpent but with bright lances now. Later on I'll have a tutorial on how to magnetize your Vypers. I also have magnetic Carnifexes, Warriors and Hive Tyrant.



Post Update: After experimentation I have popped all the magnets off the weapons and am in the process of drilling them out. I have decided to drill into the round part, the base of the weapons and glue the magnets in so they're flush with the surface. I did this for several reasons. First, it helps it not look so separate, everything becomes closer together. Secondly, it makes fitting the same weapons into the Vyper housing so much easier. While I already widened my Vyper housings, I would have to do the same for my future War Walkers which would not be so easy. Fixing the Vypers would be easier than widening the War Walkers.

Eldar Fire Prism

I've had this project done for a while, but thought I'd post it now. This took me a full day of painting to do. Looking back I think I should have done a bit more highlighting but I'm not going to touch it. It has a magnetized base so I can easily transport it and use it on the battlefield. The standard GW bases simply don't hold up the weight and snap too easily. If you glue it they're stronger, but if they break you're screwed. If you don't glue it, the flying bases constantly fall out and can still break. So I settled with magnets. I'll put up a tutorial on magnetizing flying bases later.

Next post will be about how to fully magnetize a wave serpent's weapons.