*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 01:12:12 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 1686482
  • Total Topics: 118102
  • Online Today: 857
  • Online Ever: 2235
  • (October 29, 2023, 12:32:45 AM)
Users Online

Recent

Author Topic: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)  (Read 3181 times)

Online Daeothar

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 5745
  • D1-Games: a DWAN Corporate initiative
    • 1999legacy.com
3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« on: March 01, 2021, 10:44:51 PM »
Nearing the end of last year, the move of my hobby gear to the (then) new room was in full swing, and in the process, I had the opportunity (or chore, depending on your angel of attack), to see my entire collection pass through my hands several times, as I had decided that this was also an opportune time to sort everything.

One of the items that floated to the top was my very modest Dark Eldar project, which I had started on somewhere in 2004 or 2005 (probably). At any rate; I had a squad of 10 Warriors, an Archon, a Talos and a squad of 5 converted Scourges (from Warriors and Reaver bike parts).

The Archon and Warriors had a black undercoat, and two or three Warriors had some very dark purple applied to the armour plates, but that's where the project had stalled, and they had been languishing in a box for well over a decade.

So, as an interesting side project, I decided I would finish them. But I could not even remember my original vision for these guys, so I got to think up a completely new paint scheme. And after a while, I did a colour test on two surplus Warriors; one with a light blue, washed with purple, and the other a light blue, washed with green.

It was no contest; the blue-green was the clear winner, and so I set out to paint the entire squad. I opted to use a hot pink as the contrast colour, and this seemed to fit quite well. It's also the reason I have already dubbed this force as my CGA army lol




And obviously, I painted the Archon mini in the same colour scheme:




In the meantime however, I had been asking around the Bazaar for some more 3rd ed. Dark Eldar, as my collection at the time was basically what I laid out before, plus quite some loose Warrior bits (probably enough to build another 20 or 30 or so). Several helpful members came through, and before long, I was the owner of several Raiders still on the sprue, and three built and painted ones, in various states of repair. Also a bucket load of Reaver Jetbikes, Wyches, Mandrakes, Incubi and much more.

So when the squad was finished, and I was pretty pleased with the end result, I decided to tackle their ride. After all, I had most likely built the unit to be a Raider Squad, as they numbered 10, and were accordingly armed.

Interesting side note: no matter how I have tried, I have been completely unsuccesful in capturing the greenish tint of the armour. In all pictures they look positively blue, but in reality, they're a very nicely (I would say that, obviously ;) ) blended turquoise, with dark blue in the recesses, highlighted up to a subtle blueish light green. No matter what camera I used, or what lighting conditions, the green hue has remained elusive. Trust me on this though; they're not at all as blue in real life. The best option was in real sunlight, against a grey background, using my work phone.




Is it just me, or are digital camera's becoming more unforgiving for this kind of work, with their ever advancing colour- and contrastcorrection algorithms? I find that, especialy with colour blends and transitions, modern camera's seem to produce unnecessarily harsh results, completely washing out any subtle blending, or transitions. Case in point these guys; I am almost embarrassed to show these pics, as in some my painting looks downright hamfisted and crude, whilst in reality there are none of the stark layer borders at all!  :(

Anyway; I took one of the previously built Raiders, and looked at what I could do with it. I did not much like the hooked fin with barbed stabilisers that sat over the pilot originally, so I took the saw to it, and started moving bits around until I had a shape that still flowed pretty organically, but was distinctly different from the original layout.




And because I remembered a converted Raider in White Dwarf, I just knew I wanted to have those Eldar solar(?) sails that a lot of the Epic and Battlefleet Gothic vehicles were sporting back in the day. The conversion I remember (but can't find anywhere anymore, obviously ::) ) had such a mast and sail, very much like the new model line now has, and I can't help but thinking that this conversion must have somehow influenced the creation of the new model.

So there I was, creating a sail and mast, plus a way of connecting it to the superstructure. I went with some square tubing, with a portion of the mast construction fitting inside, with a magnet to hold it in place, while making for easy removal (for transport). The crew manned weapon, for which there are two options, I also magnetized.

In the same line, I made my own flight stand, although I ended up refining that when doing up my second Raider.






And then, because I'm apparently just like that, I added a piece of 1mm thick steel sheet on top of both decks, which I then prettified by adding a pattern on top made from some adhesive, metallic decorations normally used for scrapbooking and crafting postcards. They make the decks look almost stock again, and I'm pretty happy with how they ended up looking.



And with some magnets under the squad's bases, they can now actually ride their Raider into battle, instead of pretending to. Well, partly that, as I found out that a Raider will hold 6 miniatures on 25mm bases, not 10... ::)

Here they are, hanging on for dear life. Don't worry; I tilted the Raider a bit for better visibility, and it sits quite sturdily on its magnetized flying stand.

If that will also be the case when 6 metal Wyches are up there, we'll have to wait and see...




The first Raider, I painted up in the same colours as my Warriors, as it's the property of their Cabal, but the second one, I painted up much darker (using the darkest shade used on the Cabal as the base colour), as it is destined to go with the first Wych squad. Wyches have their own Cults, but I wanted to still visually tie them in with the Cabal, so their armour would be the same turquoise tint, but a way darker shade.




This Raider went much faster, because I already had templates for the sail and deck, and I was able to convert and paint one of the other previously built Raiders in just one weekend.




In the queu right now is said squad of Wyches, plus the converted Wych Raider crew (made from Wych torsos and Warrior legs and some ProCreate).






Then I will have to finish converting the squad of Mandrakes I have in the works, a couple of Talos, and, and...

Yeah; this army will keep me busy for the foreseeable future, as I now own at least one of each unit in the codex, plus all the characters. So far, these guys are fun though! :D
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 11:07:22 AM by Daeothar »
Miniatures you say? Well I too, like to live dangerously...
Find a Way, or make one!

Offline Cypher226

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 582
    • Friendly Fire
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (just 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2021, 11:49:55 PM »
Sounds good... But pictures no worky!

Offline ZeroTwentythree

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1033
    • ZeroTwentythree
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (just 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2021, 12:45:59 AM »
Cool color scheme, I like it quite a bit. Nice job with all that magnetization too!

Is it just me, or are digital camera's becoming more unforgiving for this kind of work, with their ever advancing colour- and contrastcorrection algorithms? I find that, especialy with colour blends and transitions, modern camera's seem to produce unnecessarily harsh results, completely washing out any subtle blending, or transitions. Case in point these guys; I am almost embarrassed to show these pics, as in some my painting looks downright hamfisted and crude, whilst in reality there are none of the stark layer borders at all!  :(

I've noticed this as well. It's strange, rather than being more "blurry" as you would expect with a low quality image, they separate into bands giving more definition than is there. Maybe part of the image compression?

Offline pixelgeek

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2026
    • Zac's Gaming Blog
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (just 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2021, 02:44:00 AM »
Very nice work. Looking forward to seeing more

Offline mweaver

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2683
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (just 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2021, 03:36:58 AM »
Nice job with those guys.  I started on mine but never finished them either...

-Michael

Online Daeothar

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 5745
  • D1-Games: a DWAN Corporate initiative
    • 1999legacy.com
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (just 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2021, 09:23:38 AM »
Thanks guys :)

Sounds good... But pictures no worky!
Weird; they are showing up on my PC, phone and work laptop, and apparently others can see them as well?  ???

I've noticed this as well. It's strange, rather than being more "blurry" as you would expect with a low quality image, they separate into bands giving more definition than is there. Maybe part of the image compression?
I think that has to be part of it, yes. But even on my high end private phone, on the highest possible resolution, this happens, while on my old digital cameras (the first one with just 2.1 megapixels :D ) I never had this issue. With those, focus length and exposure time were the main culprits, but at least the colours were not separating.

Maybe I should just dig those out again and see if they still work...

Offline Mark

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 142
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2021, 11:40:32 AM »
I don't know the reason why pictures aren't visible, but could it be browser related? The pictures don't appear on my phone, using Chrome, but are there in all their glory when using Edge on my work computer.

I do like the older dark eldar, even if the more recent ones are probably a bit of an upgrade. I have a bunch of the newer wytches, hellions and a raider in the unpainted pile (which is more a hillock than mountain after a year of on-off lockdowns). Maybe this will give me the impetus to finally paint them!

Offline voltan

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1175
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2021, 11:45:56 AM »
The pictures aren't showing up for me but are there when I open in new tab.
You have been busy with this lot and have got further than I ever did. :P
Yvan eht nioj!

Online Daeothar

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 5745
  • D1-Games: a DWAN Corporate initiative
    • 1999legacy.com
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2021, 02:30:05 PM »
Cheers guys :)

I'm using Firefox on both computers and Duck Duck Go on my phone and there they show up without issue, but using Chrome on my work computer, the pics indeed do not show up.  Sorry, but for the world of me I can't fathom why that happens...  :?

You have been busy with this lot and have got further than I ever did. :P

I have been. And in fact, that first Raider was one of yours  :D

+++EDIT+++ Using Internet Exploder, they show up too...
« Last Edit: March 02, 2021, 02:37:26 PM by Daeothar »

Online Daeothar

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Galactic Brain
  • *
  • Posts: 5745
  • D1-Games: a DWAN Corporate initiative
    • 1999legacy.com
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar: some Wyches join the party
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2024, 11:28:32 AM »
I know it's been three years already, but these guys have been staring at me from the small WIP cabinet on my desk for all this time, and quite frankly, I just had it with all the accusing looks, so I decided to finally finish them. You know; for some peace of mind and all that ;)

In fact, these three are part of a squad of 10, but they were the only ones that had more paint on them than just the basecoats on the skin and armour. See; I had tried before to get them done ::)

So for now, I've finished three out of ten Wyches, but the other seven will have to wait till their time comes (the BSC has just started after all ;) ). Also, I saw some less than stellar conversion work on a couple of them, which I really need to fix before committing to actually painting them. I can't believe I found that acceptable when I assembled, under- and basecoated them...  :?

The models are pretty detailed, even though they're twice as old as the average Fortnight player, and were actually really fun to paint up. they also look good next to their regular colleagues :)

So, here are some (terrible phone-)pictures of them and their Raider...


Offline Belligerentparrot

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 480
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2024, 03:09:47 PM »
Lovely colour scheme! I've never ever managed to like those sculpts - Jes Goodwin's later versions are much more my kind of thing - but I like what you're doing with them.

Offline Storm Wolf

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 892
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2024, 05:02:24 PM »
Nice, I am on a bit of an old 40K kick myself, rescuing old Space Marines from eBay and other places and placing them into my forces.

I decided to collect up some of the things I haven't already got, because with the arrival of Primaris Marines, all the old non-mainstream Marine stuff is disappearing fast  :(

Quite often this requires a lot of paint-stripping and/or delves through the bits box. But quite satisfying getting them table-ready.

20 years to-late, just in time I say  ;)

Glen
Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those who prosper may truly judge what is sane.

Offline voltan

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1175
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2024, 09:04:42 PM »
Excellent work, the pink hair is very third edition.

Offline Iain R

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 505
  • High on life... and thinners. Mainly thinners.
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2024, 10:08:09 AM »
Marvelous work, really looking the part!

Give or take the odd goofy looking model (which was far from unique the Deldar) I really don't get the hate that these guys got on the model front, I always thought they looked pretty sweet. Looking forward to seeing more!
Proudly not painting Wars of The Roses since... ever


Offline Belligerentparrot

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 480
Re: 3rd ed Dark Eldar (a mere 20 years late to the party)
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2024, 06:04:46 PM »
I really don't get the hate that these guys got on the model front

I don't know how far the following generalises, but for old dudes like me who were reading WD when the Eldar first appeared, Eldar look like Jes Goodwin says they look. All I mean is that the JG vision of what the Eldar were and how they looked was so thorough and so effective, it defines the faction. Morley and Fitzpatrick didn't really stick to that vision, or just couldn't pull it off. It doesn't help that Morley has admitted he wasn't trying his hardest with a lot of GW sculpts at the time, as he was getting paid in terms of quantity rather than quality. But that aside, maybe the Morley/Fitzpatrick vision for DE would have worked fine if they hadn't been following in JG's footsteps. As it was, when JG redid the range I was like "That's how they should have looked all along". I'm sure I'm not the only person to have thought that.

Soz for the thread hijack  :)

 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
3 Replies
3400 Views
Last post July 22, 2010, 03:17:03 PM
by ancientsociety
10 Replies
3718 Views
Last post November 23, 2010, 08:30:30 AM
by Argonor
5 Replies
2302 Views
Last post February 18, 2011, 07:44:45 AM
by demi_morgana
5 Replies
2174 Views
Last post September 22, 2015, 09:36:45 PM
by Corporal Chaos
8 Replies
1360 Views
Last post February 19, 2021, 08:23:16 AM
by Daeothar