Dark Eldar Raven Mk II

Elegant but Deadly Silhouette

So one of my projects that I started as a learning process is coming a little closer to completion.  My Dark Eldar Flyer, which was aiming to be a Raven substitute, but that may change.  The IA Apocalypse 2nd Edition brought the Raven back to the  potential of usability for me.  They were 205 pts for one twin linked dark lance shot, and four Str 4 AP 5 shots, it came down to 125 and changed four bolter shots for ten poison 4+ shots.  It seemed right where it should be compared to the Eldar Nightwing.  As of the Aeronautica book however, it's back up to 205 pts, with the same lance shot, and poison shots and a rule that doesn't seem to exist.  Add the flicker field to it, and it costs as much as the Tantalus?

AV 10 2 Hull Points, 1 lance, 10 poison shot flyer = AV 12 4 HP 16 transport, 12 Str 5 AP 2 shots?

I may just mount another gun in the nose vanes, and run it as a 'counts as' Nightwing with Eldar Allies unless an Errata comes out.  Anyhow enough ranting.

The Sky Asssin itself

I had used it as a Raven from the IA Apocalypse 2nd Edition book during Apocalypticon.  I hadn't quite finished getting a mounting system done, so it was Blu-Tacked to a flying stand, and in a lot of the footage if you see it, it looks like it's crashing.  Surprisingly, for it's last minute priming, it received  quite a bit of attention at the event.  Because of how smooth and stable the wings were, many thought it was a resin product that they hadn't seen.

Side Profile

So since my last update on this project, I constructed and added the top slugh tail.  This is a combination of some plasticard to buffer the gun, and then a Splintercannon body run along the bottom of an inverted and trimmed shuriken cannon from a leftover Wraithlord kit.  The main fuselage was rounded out with Milliput, including building up around the cockpit, and housings were added for the Dark Lances, and further rounded with Milliput.  I found it was a much better medium than Green Stuff, as with a little water it became much more malleable and allowed you to smooth it much more organically.

Oncoming death

My actual canopy ended up getting broken, it is currently sporting a replacement made with the half canopy DE rear, but an Eldar canopy front.  That will be replaced for the DE canopy front with the half canopy reversed and connected to the back of the full canopy.  Then the goal is to try and get a cast of the canopy by itself, and then try the difficult task of getting a cast of the whole plane.

Dark Eldar don't like to fly

So with the decision of a 10 hour drive to Apocalypticon, or a 80 minute flight for slightly more than what I'd have to pay in gas, it was a no brainer to fly.  Of course this was my first time flying with miniatures, and a lot of them, so I wasn't sure what to expect or how securely packed was well enough.

So I ended up packing as much as I could in my ArmyTransport bag, and then got 2 additional Rubbermaid bins that were 12x9x12-ish.  The first bin was primarily for the titan, but after seeing how well other things fit, I grabbed another.  After some indecision, a combination of soft foam and bubble wrap was used to pack the models into the bins.  The flight down was rather rough and very damp, upon arrival.  So I expected to have to do some repairs when I arrived, not nearly to the scale that I encountered though.  Many of the models took quite a beating, luckily it was mostly bad bonds letting go, or breaking at the bond, not many snapped or broken pieces.

Mostly the lower leg and back of the shoulder

One of the other things I noticed as I was pulling models out of the ArmyTransport was that some of my wyches looked like the paint had been removed.  On closer inspection of the faded red, I realized what my problem was.  The wyches seemed to be the only models affected, which I assume was because they were the only models that traveled with me that recieved a gloss coat, followed by a matte coat.  The way the Charadon Granite and grey highlighting looked under the clouding made them look bare.

So my first instinct was to take the heat gun to them, and fix up the finish.  The heat gun worked great, the finish came right back to where it was . . . . the problem was the 'melting' point of the sealer was basically the same as the plastic, so the model I tested it on became very malleable.  I knew I'd end up loosing details, and potentially whole models that way.

Not bad for a frozen wych

So off to the internets.  The clouding is usually caused by trapped moisture (makes sense with the wet arrival and high altitude), a couple places suggested either extreme heat or cold as a solution, or just re-seal them and that will often correct it.  I tried the extreme heat, so I gave a kick at extreme cold next.  I stuck a few of the wyches in the downstairs freezer for a couple days.  Most of them came out looking better, only 2 of them are noticeably gray still.  I'll try and re-seal them some time of the next few days, and hopefully that will bring them back.

* I apologize for the lack of pics, I thought I had some good before pics, but they too ended up being cloudy . . . maybe it's contagious.

Tormentor Titan update 3

So I was hoping to get this posted before I left, but some last minute issues with the assembly, and airbrush problems left me with more to do than I had time.

"Wow, What is it?" - most common phrase to refer to the titan

Still, I managed to get it assembled, and at least a basic colour set put down.  The guns still need alot of colour, but it gives a general idea of the look of the model.  So my logistical problem came when I realized that he was going to be too big for carry on, and too big for any of the containers I had.

19" titan + 15"x12"x9" container = problems.

I get a "We'll be back" roll, right?

So with a little help, I managed to split him right where the torso meets the leg plates, then recessed a 1/2" rare earth magnet in each side.  Double win, he travels a big safer and now he pivots nicely at the waist for improved effect.

Preying Mantis Style

The guns we mounted on pins, that slide down through the tubing of the arm that slides into the torso, so they hold the blades up in place.  The head has a nail with a 1/4" nail recessed into it, with another 1/2" magnet on the neck area of the torso to hold it on.  A couple of the leg blades came off on transport home, but you can still get the idea.

Standing Tall

A very last minute addition, as in throw the bits in and finishing upon arrival, were the eye gems.  I had originally cast these to be glued to the body, but realized they'd look better in the eyes.  They may have to be pulled and re-slotted after a bit of work, but the concept is wonderful.

Here's looking at you.

So that is how the build finally shaped up.  When I got down to Welland, I stopped and had a quick visit with Kris from Riders of the Cosmic Serpent & MiniWarGaming.  After a quick inspection and ensuing titan battle, he convinced me that an Eldar Phantom Titan would be a better choice, and more aesthetically fitting, than being a Chaos Reaver.  Since the model was quite a bit bigger than I expected, equal at the head/shoulder, and not quite as high on the back fins, it wasn't a hard stretch.

So off I went to Apocalypticon with an extra 1000 points because of that decision, bringing me to just over 9500 points, and it was a decision that I would not be displeased with.

Apocalypticon 2012

So my plan was to get a couple updates done last week, but I ran into some building and equipment issues trying to get my army ready for Apocalypticon.  I hope to get some pics up of the mostly complete titan, it got quite a bit of "what is that" attention.  I'll also get a pic of the the scratch built Raven, it was much harder to spot, but got equally as much attention.  Because it was one of the last things to be completed, it was only primed black, and didn't get the mounting done.  But the priming made it look very much like an unprimed resin model, so alot of people thought it may be a Forgeworld piece.

The game was a blast, and should be the content of posts for a little while to come.