Saturday, June 1, 2013

Eldar - Wraithknight built

I got a call yesterday afternoon from the local plastic crack dealer that the new Eldar releases had arrived so I swung though and picked up the codex and the sassy new Wraithknight. Since I've been working on the Imperial Knights recently I was quite interested to see how the new model compared, and I was not disappointed! What was slightly surprising was how static the model was designed to be out of the box - I was expecting to be able to pose the legs and torso however I pleased, but the way the upper legs were designed to attach to the pelvis, and the way the knees and feet peg in place it seems as though it was designed such that it's meant to go together in a very specific way. We can't have that now, can we? A fair bit of cutting and filing ensued to remove a number of pegs and tabs that force the particular pose that it's designed with and I was finally able to get a good running pose out of it.


To be fair, there's nothing wrong with the original pose out of the box, and I suppose it was designed such that the novice modeler would be able to get a nice solid build out of it without having too much trouble. A bit of time with the clippers will be required if you wish to have the lower legs in any pose beyond the default though. I altered how both upper thighs attach to the pelvis, straightened the left leg and increased the bend on the right to really get it looking like it's charging forward.


The arms and upper torso went together like a dream, though there were an awful lot of fiddly multi-part bits that I would have thought could have been single pieces rather than assemblies, but they did all fit together beautifully. I went with the twin heavy distortion cannons with underslung scatter lasers, as when the scatter lasers hit any other weapon systems the model may have become twin linked. Not a bad combo I think!


Standing next to the Prometheus I was quite pleased with how they compare scale-wise. A little taller, but nowhere near as massive, just like an Eldar knight ought to be! I'm still in the midst of deciding what craftworld to go with for the army, though I'm leaning towards Alaitoc. I think the mottled blue camouflage with yellow trim could look pretty sharp!

18 comments:

  1. Nice conversion. Drooooool...

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  2. wow that thing is massive. Really dynamic pose!

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  3. Man that looks niiiiccceee. Love the action pose.

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  4. You've mirrored a bit of the FW Revenant Titan pose there. Looks great and matches up well to the Imperial Knight

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  5. Not 'poseable'? What were they thinking? Superb assembly.

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  6. Love what you did with the model. I'll be following these posts.

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  7. Thanks folks!

    @Zab: I think it definitely warranted a more action-y pose!

    @Manus: Indeed, it's definitely big - it's actually canted over pretty good as well, I'd say it's a good inch taller than the Prometheus if it was standing fully upright.

    @The Eye of Error: Thanks mate! Here's hoping I can do it justice when it comes time to paint it. :)

    @Frothing Muppet: Thanks! That's what I was going for - I'm actually interested to see how it scales next to a Revenant, hopefully someone out there will come through for us!

    @Col. Ackland: Totally! I was actually really surprised to see how they designed it. It wasn't the labours of hercules to free it up to be poseable, but it did require the use of clippers, files and greenstuff (especially where the hips attach to the pelvis).

    @a Sent One: I appreciate it!

    Cheers all!

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  8. How do you think the joints will hold up without the pins/sockets used with the weight of the top part - I know its an issue for the FW Revanants where they start deforming in the legs generally (particulalry around inserted pins) under their own weight when placed in action poses.

    Did you need to pin this guy? Wheres the balance of weight rest?

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  9. I ended up going with a little blob of greenstuff inside most of the repositioned joints, but overall the model is surprisingly lightweight. I don't anticipate too much deforming from this like you would from a resin model, but you do raise a good point inasmuch as the entire model's weight is resting on the ankle joint at the moment so that got a reinforcing pin - the center of gravity is more or less out over the center of the base. In general I plan on storing it laying down in a foam tray so the weight isn't constantly on the ankle joint.

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  10. It is a bit of a shame there are not that many pose options, but I can respect that, as if they give you too much freedom (contemptor dreadnought), it can be posed really poorly if one is not careful. I feel about half the contemptors I see get a little too carried away trying to be dynamic and end up looking silly and unnatural. I am glad that for an experienced modeler like yourself, it was relatively easy to create such a dymanic pose for the wraithknight. It looks very natural and fluid, like an Eldar construct should! Good job getting it together so quickly, with so much style!

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  11. That was quick! Great posing as well.

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  12. @Godwyn Fischig: Indeed - To be fair, the way it's 'supposed' to be looks great in my opinion, and if (when) I buy a second one I'll most likely go with the default leg positioning. I tried to keep it looking natural, I agree that pushing the dynanism too far can end up looking a little spastic! :)

    @Phil Morris: Thanks! The kit really went together very smoothly, I'd say it only took a couple hours to build, all told. It's definitely a fun kit!

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  13. JEALOUS!!!

    This is so awesome.

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  14. You've made a very natural running pose sir. Impressive.

    The kit is a very nicely detailed one for sure.

    My scheme vote goes for Ulthwe.

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  15. To come to GW's defence, they have stated recently, I think more for the tau release and the riptide than this time, but in general for these models:
    The tabs/pegs are there to allow easy assembly into a fixed or limited range of poses to assist the young/inexperienced/unconfident modeller. This means that the kit isn't overly complicated if you don't want it to be. For those more confident with their abilities, it should be a simple job to clip the pegs/tabs off with clippers which then allows a full range of posing to create more varied and dynamic poses.

    Either way, that's a lovely pose you've created for the model, and I'm very curious to see how it looks painted. I saw the in-progress model at the Stockholm shop over the weekend and it really is massive, I'm looking forward to seeing more of them up close and may eventually obtain one myself as a bit of a display piece/painting project.

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  16. @agemmanjw: Thanks man - I knew I had to have one as soon as I saw it!

    @Dai: I appreciate it! Ulthwe was the second choice, but I didn't fancy trying to paint all the black on something this scale. With all the wraith contructs they've come out with, I'm sure we'll all see plenty of Ulthwe in the future though!

    @Andy - bG: Indeed, that's what I figured was going on. Nothing wrong with the pose right out of the box, and it wasn't all that difficult to pare off all the extra tabs, I was mostly just surprised to see that was the direction they went with it. Totally makes sense that they make the bigger kits like this as user-friendly as possible.

    Cheers!

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  17. Man, I want both those models so badly, lol. I'm planning to get the Prometheus when it goes back in stock, and I'm planning to pick up the evil Dream Forge titan too, as well as the wraith knight and the riptide. I want all the big models, lol.

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  18. @Ian Logsdon: I really enjoyed building and painting the Prometheus, it's a fantastic kit! I'm definitely in for another one when they become available again as well - Laurent let me know that he's hoping to have them back in stock later this month!

    Cheers!

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