Reinforcements: Farseer and Warlock Jetbikes

After a lot of work and probably one too many breaks, I've finally finished this set of conversions!  I've learned a lot along the way for conversion work.  This is also probably the most converting I've done in a while/ever.

Reinforcements: Eldar Farseer

Another commission model!  A good work up to the trio of jetbikes I have on my plate for the next round of paint and a nice break from all of the Space Marines I usually end up painting!

Unboxed: Plastic Farseer

For my upcoming commission project, my friend wants to do a Farseer and Warlock biker set.  To do that, we decided upon the new plastic Farseer kit from GW!  So, to show off the new kit, I've done a short unboxing.  Hope this helps those of you who have been looking at the kit to see just what you can use it for!

Reinforcements: Shadowseer

After warming up the old painting hands with some space marines, I felt this model come together a little more naturally.  The model is a commission for a friend of mine and is actually a gift for another friend who has just recently gotten into wargaming.  Mutual friends from countless hours of MMO's and FPS's, I have 'known' this friend for some years now and hung out on more than a handful of occasions.  Having a personal relationship with people who will end up owning models I work on makes it a little more special when I do a commission.  While I'm sure every person that commissions me to do a piece appreciates what I do, you get to really know that appreciation more-so when you get to see those models in play against you!

Reinforcements: Eldar

In an effort to get myself to work on more models for the army some day, I thought I'd take today and post some models that haven't graced the pages of TPC, but were posted on the now defunct sister blog Reinforcements.  My Eldar have been put aside for a few different armies and projects over the past year, but they area always on my mind when I'm looking around my hobby room trying to see what sparks my interest. 

Ask the Corps: A Pair of Serpents

A group in Austin is working on an Eldar army in the Yme-Loc paint scheme.  Local Psyberwolfe did the great Autarch above and others have been working as well: Bushido Red Panda completed a Cobra and Crazed Red Pretorian is working on a squad of Banshees.

As you can see the color scheme is orange and a nice blue-grey.  My contribution is a pair of Wave Serpents and I originally wanted to do inverted paint schemes on the two.  But then I laid down the base coat on the first one and it turns out that my love affair with orange is still ongoing. (Engines are Tamiya Hull Red, Orange is GW's Foundation Orange shaded with 50-50 Hull Red and highlighted with Tamiya Orange; all laid down with the airbrush.)

Now I'm thinking that I want to lay down the underside of the Serpent in the grey-blue.  Or perhaps just the turret in the grey and the underside an even darker grey-blue.  Or, looking at the rest of the pieces, maybe I should keep the underside white and use the grey-blue on the Wave Serpent energy projectors, just as a touch of color?

And if that's for one, what do you think about the second Wave Serpent?  Inverted color-scheme of the first?  Or identical scheme with other identifying marks?

Have at it!  Let me know what you think for dealing with this unusual color scheme.

Field Report: Team Tournament Objective Markers

Team Tournaments seem to be popping up all over lately and if you can limit the broken combinations they are a lot of fun.  Big Al over at Hogs of War has come up with some fantastic objective markers for an Eldar and Tyranids team.

Field Report: Eldar Guardian Tutorial

Stahly sent along a link for a fantastic tutorial he's put together for Eldar Guardians of the 'red' persuasion.  I really enjoy the clean colors and sharp highlights.  Odd coming from a grime and grit kind of guy like myself isn't it?  Head over and check it out.

If you've got a tutorial or a tip you've posted or seen recently, we want to know about it.  Send your links to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com

Army Surplus: Eldar Wave Serpent and Dire Avengers

Something a little different today, I'm clearing out some Army Surplus and hoping to find these Dire Avengers and Wave Serpent a new home.  They are up for sale on eBay.

I painted these guys way back when the new Eldar Codex came out, right after I retired from amateur auto racing and started getting back into 40k and painting more seriously.  They have been a staple in my Eldar army for a long time, but now I've got some urban-colored Avengers and really want to start on some "Urban Avengers", so hopefully a missing squad will provide some motivation.

This is also the start of a new weekly feature called Army Surplus.  Have you got some fully-painted models you are looking to sell or already have listed on an auction site?  Send us a link, description and a few pics to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com.  Each week we'll pick a few we receive and post them to the site.  If you write a little description on the colors or techniques used that improves your chances of getting featured.

Field Report: Eldar Pathfinders Explained

President Evil has a great squad of Eldar Pathfinders and bonus accompanying tactica on display over at Special Cases.  I especially love the mud at the bottom of the cloak and the freehand designs.  He also goes in-depth into his technique including his wet palette setup.

Links!  We want em!  Send your links for great articles around the web to ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com!

On The Table: Eldar on the Way

Eldar (Im)Patiently Waiting For Attention

A quick update segment I hope to make a regular occurrence here on TPC.  A quick snapshot of my painting table and its current denizens.  Happy Painting!

Reinforcements: Warp Spider Exarch

My Eldar army grows! A model at a time, I'm trudging along slowly in what little free time I've been afforded by Spring Break. This is a model that I've wanted to paint since I was first introduced to the hobby so many years ago, and it was actually a good amount of fun to paint!

During clean up and assembly, I removed his tab and pinned him to the base. The base is a 25mm Lost Empires resin base from Dragonforge.

To start off I used Krylon White Primer spray, again with the low pressure cap to diffuse the particles better and give a more even coat. Once dried, I went to work with the airbrush. For my base color I used Vallejo German Grey. The airbrush affords such a nice even coat, I can't imagine working without it on armored models, and I'm not even using a high end set up! I'm really excited to upgrade sometime in the future to a more precise airbrush and possibly a better compressor as well.

To give him some variety of tone, I highlighted using a uni-directional spray of the slightly lighter Vallejo Neutral Grey. Using the airbrush in this manner catches all of the raised surfaces and upper quarters with the highlight, giving a smooth, natural highlight.

To help the transition, and to tone the piece back down a bit, I washed over everything with a light Badab Black. This gives me that nice black color without ever using true black paint, which tends to feel too harsh, and something my friend Migsula has railed against in many of my past projects! This method of black without black is testament to it's effectiveness.

Once the black was finished, I went to work on the sections that would end up being bone colored. I used my typical bone method, Bestial Brown > Snakebite Leather > Bleached Bone > Skull White. Most models I do all of the pieces that will be the same or similar colors at one time. Painting all of them at the same time affords me a little saved time from switching pots and a bit of paint conservation as well, as I won't be worried about my paint drying out before I get back to using it.

Metals were done using Chainmail painted solid and washed with Gryphonne Sepia and where necessary to bring out the detail even more I used a bit of Badab Black. You can see my washes on metallic step by step here. I use this method constantly, and to be frank, I use washes constantly throughout the painting process! If you don't have the armor line you want, a little wash can make that stand out! Don't be afraid to play a bit, a clean look (if that's what you're going for!) can still be afforded even with the most painterly style!

The armor was highlighted using Shadow Grey edge highlights followed on by Space Wolves Grey leaving some of the Shadow Grey showing around it. I paid special attention to what direction the majority of the highlights were leaning toward. Pick a single direction for the 'light' to come from and hit the edges that face it. You might find you're leaving a lot of edges un-highlighted by doing this, and that's the point! By doing this you're not over-highlighting areas and will have a cleaner, crisper finish.

Gems were painted using a Black base with Red Gore > Blood Red > Fiery Orange > Skull White in the typical gem painting method. Again, be sure you stick to the direction you picked earlier with the armor highlights, gems on the back should go to the same light source as those on the front!

The tassels (come on, that's what they are!), were done with a Red Gore base followed on by a Blood Red highlight and finally a wash of Badab Black to bring out the details.

For the base I painted the ruin work with Codex Grey, washed it with Badab Black and a drybrush of Fortress Grey. To finish the piece off I painted the rim with Black.

A quick hit of varnish and he's ready for the tabletop! I always use varnish, at the moment I've had good success with Purity Seal from GW, but I know that's not the best stuff out there. For now though, it's doing the job for my tabletop piece and I haven't had any issues.

I hope to do complete write ups with photos for a few things I've mentioned in this Reinforcements for the future. I hope this write up gives you a few new ideas on your next project, and maybe inspires you to try a few things you hadn't thought of before!

Field Report: Eldar Terrain

Col Corbane sent this little number along about using leftover junk to create some great looking Eldar city terrain. Some great ideas you should definitely check out.

Have a great article you've found recently? A piece you just finished posting? Something sitting deep in your backlog that didn't get proper exposure? Send us a link at ThePaintingCorps@gmail.com and get it noticed!