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 Flyer Project

So with school winding down, and extra time while I'm job hunting I thought I'd spend some extra time on various projects that I've been wanting to do for a while.  The bigger ones will be posted later, but the first thing I wanted to start with was a flyer.

I've always looked at the Forgeworld Raven and though I could probably make that out of a Raider body, just change the wings because I didn't like the look of them.  The problem was it would cost a Raider body, which I didn't have any extras of.  I had always kept a look out for spares on the cheap, but never saw any.  But with the new codex and new models the old ones, which were pretty beat up, went into a closet.  I pulled a couple out recently, and took the most battered one to be re-built, better, faster, more in line with the new styles.  Early on I decided to make the wings resemble the swept back Skyboard wings.  Then design the body to have a Jetbike look.

With some leftover 1/8" plastic sheeting from a recent bathroom reno I started by cutting them out with the jigsaw, then smoothing them down and shaping them with the sander.  The Raider got the platforms and driver wings clipped off and the front was chopped about where the scoop underneath began.  From there the wings were added, and a front nose piece added.  At this point I need to add some thin cardstock or plasticard to add some flow to the tops and bottom of the model and fill out the front cowl, but it's definitely taking the shape I want.

The plan is to use it as a Raven in the end, with the splintercannon underslung.  But  I may hold off adding that and use it as a Voidraven bomber until an actual model is released.

Once it's a little further along with some better contrast pictures I'll post more shots.