The Hornet's Nest

Greetings one and all, a trio of Eldar light vehicles today:

My familiar blue background fade has to go for these unfortunately as it is almost impossible to cut the weapons from the white backdrop! Let me just say, right off the bat, that I love these models. Despite all the trials and tribulations, the design is just peachy. I honestly don't know why they called them Hornets as the shape is so reminiscent of a shrimp. Surely there is another badass shrimp other than the mantis (already used see) they could have been named after, am I right? They're one of those models that you fly around making zoom noises when they're finished. You all know you do it too.

Following the same painting scheme as the Warp Hunters; these three are part of what will be a fair sized Void Dragon Corsair army. I'm starting to get a feel for how to work with Eldar vehicles, they often have asymmetric paint schemes to match the sculpting. The trick is to find only one thing to be different or asymmetric on the models. In this case it is the red hex/scale sections. The weapons, the black and the turquoise gems are the same on each and help the models hang together as a unit and prevent the scheme being too confused. We human types like symmetry and repeat patterns so it's important not to go too nuts with the alien asymmetry.

While we're talking hexes, I thought I'd share how I do it. The first step is to get a really clean, flat basecoat as there is no possibility of fixing this later! Next, start from a vertical line of darker colour to start the shapes. This pretty much defines how large the hexes will be so think it through! I tend to use smaller for smaller models, larger for larger. At the end of the line paint some V-shapes, then connect another one to the first and carry on until completely covered. Once you've got your hexes layed out, run a line of highlight colour all the way around each scale - this, this stage right here, takes some time - giving it the start of a 3D feel. Finally, make a lighter highlight mix (in this case the shade is adding Warplock Bronze to the "metallic red" I mentioned in the Warp Hunters and the highlight is just adding more Hashut Copper) and paint the top two edges and one of the sides. Make sure not to change which side is highlighted! It'll look pleasantly 3D and define the shapes involved.

Well, that's all for now, more Eldar fun soon!

TTFN