Let's go raiding!

And to do that, we need a sweet ride!  We have one right here... sporting the Blood Star icon.

Of all the vehicles, I think I was looking forward to this one the most, as it had some of the best freehand opportunities.  

The large sail was obviously a perfect canvas.

Also, this has been the classic notion of a Dark Eldar army all along.  I could not wait to put my spin on this iconic vehicle!

It's not an easy thing to paint, that's for sure, as I had to paint a number of the parts before I could even think about putting it all together.  Some of them were deep interior pieces.

Getting the crew to be in just the right position was also more difficult than I expected.

There are certainly a number of things that could go horribly wrong with painting pieces first, but there was just no way I was getting my brush into some of those areas!

Front and back.  There are also a number of WIP images here, including all the work on the underside:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-piece-here-and-part-there.html

The next set of images will feature the guys who rode in this.  Kind of a surprise :-)

Cutting through the skies

Before I took the pictures of the Razorwing on the brown/gray backdrop, I wondered if the warm colors would be too close in hue to the reds and orange of the vehicle.

Fortunately, there was a enough cooler gray colors to present a tiny bit of subtle contrast.  The diffused lights and darks also reflected the nature of the freehand, which would brighten and fade across the surface of the Razorwing.

I forgot how much fun I had on the mosaic tile base!  Most of the other ones that I made for the army were very small.  Here's a link to some of those images:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2013/04/miniaturized-version-of-mosaic-tiles.html

More views from above... every time I see this view, I am reminded to just how broad the surface of the wings was!!

One last time... then on to the raider!

The bark is better than the bite

The bases are now fully painted!  I have also added a few strategically placed tufts of grass form Army Painter.

Now they are all set for GenCon and the Demonstration tables/Wild West Exodus booth!

Hopefully I will get a chance to paint some on these guys during that time.  I will also be getting lessons in playing the game.

I have some other unpainted bases that I will be bringing, along with basing materials to make more!

The newest set...

As I painted these, I tried to think about the colors that I would be using on the figures.  These will be a tad bit warmer, with more reddish browns.  That will contrast in a subtle way with the greenish grays and browns of the bases.

I do like how the dried foliage looks once painted!

Just starting to put together a simple costume for the Wild West Exodus booth.  Nothing fancy.

A checkered past...

To make this Castellax a little different from the first one, I thought it would be fun to do some tried and true checker patterns.

Nothing very difficult, but it does take a little bit of planning.  By making the lines the way I have here, it makes it far easier to ensure even spacing!

That was something I learned the hard way a few times :-)  You can see the basic patterns now, which will be highlighted and shaded, as well as weathered, later on.

Highlights done, so time for glazing!

Just like I did with the last piece, a variety of blue/black glazes were applied.

With the glazes finished, I set about working those midtone areas.

I will put the fluorescent glow on the back of this guy just like the first one.

Most of the middle tones in shape.  I still want to do some more tinting there, and then some final highlights.

Something to stand on...

Time to paint the bases!!  But first, let's see what the miniatures look like on them.

The tree bark is such a flexible and multi use material, I was able to make these bases without even looking at the figures!  I did try to keep in mind certain types of 'footprints', such as wide stance, closed and so on.

Nothing complicated on the paint choices.  Some high density pigments, which will be mixed with the Badger primer.

You can see the blob of primer with some of the other colors mixed in.  This will give it the coverage on a surface that is more absorbent than most, and even provide some stability to the structure of the base.

As usual, some warmer colors, and some cooler colors.

You can see that I worked quickly, allowing the paint to mix on the surface.  No drybrushing at all here.  Just make sure that you vary the colors!

The initial layers of paint applied.

This is more of a close up view.  Note the big swirls of color.  I am using one of the beat up craft brushes, which actually makes it more like a filbert brush.

I will now allow these to dry for a bit, and then do some more refined applications of highlights... and then some Glazing!!! Stay tuned.

The Razor's edge

I have been very eager to take pictures of the Razorwing using the giant backdrops, since I have not gotten any kind of decent pictures of this piece before!

I started with the standard blue fade to get the best sense of the colors.

If you go through the Dark Eldar section of the blog, you will see lots of WIP images of how this was built, painted, and so on!

You have seen the pattern emerge on the Venoms.  I enjoyed doing the pattern more and more with the increasing size of the vehicles.  Wait until you see the Raider. :-)

The organic and curved nature of this plane lent itself to the filbert brush technique quite well.  The broad flat surface covered areas so quickly, I was able to wet blend.  Using the curved edges of the filbert, I could really take advantage of this scenario!

It's too bad this thing spent the entire tournament being shot down on the turn it arrived...

Still, it was a lot of fun painting it!

I forgot just how huge this was when I went to use one of the standard size backdrops.  Even there, it was just to freakin' big!

In those WIP posts, you will also see how I magnetized the missiles, since I had planned on changing the type of missiles depending on what sort of list I was going to run.

I never played these guys again after the tournament.  Way too frustrated with the state of 40k.  It's only been more magnified since.

I have not had a chance to process the images of this Razorwing on the other backdrop, so I will probably do that over the weekend!