Wraith Lord #2
The first Eldar Wraith Lords are gangly looking things. A huge, bulbous head supported on spindly legs and bone thin arms with big clown hands... whilst they hold a certain charm for old blokes like me, most would prefer the newer, my dynamic looking plastic models available today.
I've previously built one 'standard' Wraith Lord last year and he turned out pretty well. I magnetised the weapon rack and he's got a half-dozen shoulder mounted guns that that can be swapped at will. More recently I also included some narrow tubes on his back that allow for the addition of flags and banners - an easy mod that provides some more character to the model.
As it happens, I picked up another two Wraith Lords and a single War Walker (all old school metal) at a swap meet a while back and after stripping them and letting them age some, I finally got around to putting together my second. I wanted to make this second model easily differentiated from my first, so aside from a different paint job, I decided to attempt a different pose. Out came my pliers, dremel and super-glue. After some serious metal abuse, I ended up with the following:
Slight splayed legs, pointing hand and turned head - nothing too dramatic, but it makes a difference. I've subsequently undercoated him and would have commenced painting but for another idea. I lopped off the underslung weapon on his right arm and right now am playing with various magnetised weapons to attach, including some bloody long spindly space cannon thing - hey, I'm liking it. During the process I managed to snap a few elbows etc and have had to drill out and reenforce with copper wire*. More photos in due course.
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| That black arm was snapped and has been subsequently pinned. That weapon, well it's gone and I'm now working on the means to connect those f'ing big cannons in its place. I'd also like to make a close combat weapon, but inspiration and bits have failed me to date... |
*Copper wire, like is used in small electrical motors, is proving to be a great thing for pinning. A single motor has tons of the stuff and it's easy to shape and cut - I'm liking it more than my usual paperclip trick.
Dire Avenger Gunner
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| That banner is still unvarnished - a good dose of matte spray makes a world of difference. |
After a bit of a twist of the left arm (just used a pair of pliers) and the attachment of a gangly looking hand from another bit of Eldar kit, and what do you know, I have a new Eldar in the making. The new hand looks a tad naff - kind of long and too big BUT when you're talking Xenos, really who are we to judge? I used a part of a bicycle inner tube's valve coupled with some ear bud tubes to build a 'space banner pole' - the idea being I can slot the banner in/out or even swap banners in due course, much like I recently did for my previously built Wraithlord.
I'm attempting to paint him up so he ties in with my Dire Avengers AND his Lunchbox brothers i.e. the jacket is the same as the Lunchboxers but the armour is Dire Avenger blues. I did try an alternate helmet earlier on - the following picture gives you a sense of how I'm trying to match him with his two relations...
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| Notice that without the burden of carrying his own lunch, Mr Banner can stand tall and proud... |
Bezpin Probiotic Crane of Doom
Well the title says it all. My mate James is writing a bit more of the Bezpin backstory, originally conceived by Brendan - all in aid of us getting some serious game time in during May at Little Wars.Bezpin is the name of a gas giant which is being mined for precious gases etc. James was asking some of his nerdy friends as to the composition of gas giants and whether you'd pump stuff out of them etc. It occurred to me that if you lowered a jar-like thing on the end of a bloody long and strong rope, you could fill it whilst in the enormous pressure in the lower depths of the giant, pop a cork in it then haul it back up. Presto: compressed gas (or something). Want to run a space craft on the cheap? Just stop by the local Bunningsorium and swap your gas cylinder... you could probably pick up some Emperor approved sausages whilst you're there with onions underneath.
Anyway, a while back I snatched my son Charlie's broken Fire Truck from him and butchered it for parts in my shed. The fire ladder is now a crane's chassis. I've also made a electro-magnet (fake! Mmm... maybe it shouldn't be...) hook and some gas sucker device that connects to the bottom of my probiotic yakult containers - it's a mixture of lego, lids, electrical circuit board parts and some construction set my kids once got. I spent an evening painting the contraption and it's coming together nicely.
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| I should have used one of my red or green yakult models - once I've finished, I'll make sure I get a good shot. |
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| This give you a bit of sense of scale |
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| These are the parts I employed for the 'suction scoop' |
It is contained by/mounted upon one of the many boxes I built this time last year, meaning I can stack it onto the top of buildings etc with ease. Interestingly enough, my sons suggested I should have made it into an awesome cannon - what a good idea.
I'm sure there's another fire truck that's surely can't have too much longer to live somewhere in the backyard...
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| Here's the sucker hooked up to the crane and what's that in the background... |
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| Peek-a-boo - yep, that's a little Eldar you can see and yes, this crane is BIG |
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| With a bit of paint on this baby, maybe some warning stripes etc, it should comet up a treat |
The Kader Machesky
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| Disaster in Preston! At least my paints didn't get knocked over!! |
After some TLC it's back to active duty AND I used the opportunity to make a safety mesh (? Is there such a word in the year 40,000??) - not only does it add some more character to the build, it also means three-times more space in which to place miniatures, which should come in handy for Little Wars.
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| Plenty of room for a party in relative safety |
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| Here you can see it slotted onto the Kader. |
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| This is the latest iteration of the mesh - note the extra bars I've now added. |