Wednesday 29 December 2010

Eldar Revenant Titan - Glueing

Now's the time of glueing the parts with the pins. For transportation purpose, the Fin and the Pulsars are not glued. The shields will be glued later on as I want to darken the inside before attaching them for good. The head is an entire project altogether, I will see later on about it.
I chickened out on the first Titan (the one on the left in the picture above), I lowered the left leg and pinned it down to the base... Thing is I want to field those without having to worry. That's what I already said when I decided to use thicker brass rod, that was very true then and it's still here. However I was not entirely convinced altogether it would be enough, nor was that Necron friend of mine while talking about it last weekend.

A note about the shoulder: The rings are not glued yet. Will adjust depending on shield position first.

Apart from that I cleaned my airbrush, even though I'm very careful with the tool, traces of paint accumulate on the needle itself, slightly clogging the airflow, loosing some control in the process. Another reason not to start the painting per se, my way of procrastinating I suppose...

Next, mix of Black and red in the airbrush for some shading...

[I have an Apocalypse game at the end of January... Seems I might make it on time...]

Titans on the field here

Projects starts here: Eldar Revenant Titan - Part I

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Eldar Revenant Titan - Basing

Basing can be fun, and a mini is not finished if the base is not... well, based.

From all the different methods, my chosen recipe here:

Glue the elements
PVA glue the surface
Add bits and sand
Let Dry
Immerse in a PVA Glue/Hot Water mix
Let Dry overnight
(Undercoat/Basecoat/Paint later on)

I decided not to charge the base with too many elements.. Too simple? Possibly... We'll see.

Bases are 100mm resin from Fenris Games - see Eldar Revenant Titan - Part III for more details. The one on the left has already been undercoated, never mind, let's do that again.

In the mean time (yesterday in fact) the Eldar Revenant Titans received their basecoat.


It went quite well, it's a good base for shading and highlights, hence the medium red, will go easily to red-dark / black in one direction and to orange, white on the other side, allowing some hopefully nice effects.

Friday 17 December 2010

Eldar Vampire Hunter - Part I

Yesterday I finished priming the Second Eldar Revenant Titan, part of the project Eldar Revenant Titan. Quick note about priming inside a room, open the window and get yourself a decent mask, no, really...

Anyway, I didn't want to start the actual painting today so I started that other project, the Eldar Vampire Hunter, my first flyer, and a super heavy too, I'm all excited. I intend to let it fly with 2 interceptors, but that's an other story altogether.

First thing first, that's what it looks like straight out of the box:
Quality of that Forgeworld model was somehow a big disappointment, not my first forgeworld but so far the very worst, giant mold lines, resin missing in some places, big chunk of resin all over the model, most parts kinda twisted - not the wings though, that's a relief... And both canopies missing.. I though about sending it back frankly, but Hell this is 40k and this is hard core.

With the amount of resin to remove I started with the filing, I'll clean the parts later. Don't even think about using a file alone, you need the power of a dremel or equivalent and a good dust mask - no, really, resin definitely is toxic, not only it can provoke asthma but it can also induce problems with your Endocrine system, in short you don't want any of that.  Also, get some safety glasses, I had a few bits and pieces flying around...

... Two solid hours later, all mold lines, extra bits and imperfection corrected.
Next step, removing the grease in warm water and straightening the parts. I would qualify this as a good start, and most importantly it was a lot of fun.

Monday 6 December 2010

Eldar Revenant Titan - Part III

Some progress on the second Titan. I assembled the legs together and pinned the whole thing to the base. I must say I'm quite pleased with the result. The pose is quite similar to the first one, with a dynamic toward the front but still different in the intention.

The pinning was much more simple than the first time. Not necessarily a surprise, when you know where to drill it makes things easier. I also directly double pinned everything with some 2mm brass rods... This guy won't wobble, common problem reported countless time with Eldar Titans. Again, don't go cheap on the Drill/Rods, thick and doubled is the only way.

One word about the size of the base... This is one problem for which I could not find a proper answer on the Net. So I tried... 3.5" 4.0" and 4.5". No question asked here, 3.5 is way too small, 4.5 too big and 4.0" just perfect - Ok might sounds like Goldie Locks and the 3 bears but that really is the story.

Then about the material, wood is just too light, you don't (well I don't) want your great model being flipped over at the slightest tremor of the board. Those guys at  Fenris Games are selling a 100mm Resin base I found adequate. They're selling through ebay and even though I really try to avoid ebay as much as I can, I must admit they have a very good product/delivery/service. Anyway check my supplies section on the side for the address. Now this base is heavy enough - the thick one, not the flat, thin one mind you - And here again I tried both. Heavy enough so it holds the model very well that is. Still I'm not adventurous enough to displace the gravity center of the model off the base, That again because I want to be able to field those Titans without having to worry every time someone dare breathing is that direction.


Eldar Revenant Titan - Part I