Squidmasters Kabal of the Eternal Night

I have finally finished building a SEER COUNCIL!

I had a bit of trouble when it turned out I'd misread the rules, and was missing two members (I only added three Warlocks) but now I've got the full seven guys and started work painting them.
Because of the poses they're a tiny bit awkward to take pictures of, as every angle I could find missed some nice detail I'd have preferred to show. So I did an experiment, and until they're finished, I think you'll have to do with this:


Slight focus issues......

Yes, the whole seven man unit is based on the Council being held captive by Kabalites.

Cool concept and a fun modeling challenge. The rotating image is a good idea.

New mystery project!




(I resally should learn to finish one before starting another.......)

Dis gon be gud

Shall probably pinch some ideas from this I've been looking to try and make a counts-as Venom from a Raider kit for my exodites. The Venom itself looks too technological...

Oh, this is going to be much larger than a Venom.....

Sigh, I was going to wait a while, but I'm too much of a fan of explaining exactly what I'm doing.....



So of the two images below, the top shows the start of bulking out and armouring the engine section at the rear of the craft.
The long black tube is the main engine, with the standard Raider ones above it as secondary engines.
More armour plates will be added to bulk it out, along with wires, components and more engines/thrusters.

The second image shows the cavity again, and the new prow rams.
The cavity is where VISIBLE CREW will be standing, holding on for dear life whilst wielding weapons. At least one of them will be manning a very special weapon.
The prow rams were decided on partly to be all rammy, but also because of what they seem to resemble.

A beak.

Yep.




Tremble at the majesty of the Squidmaster VOIDRAVEN!

Finally, a design I'm happy with, and have started to build!
The wings will be LARGE, and mechanical looking, likely to painted in black for lovely razors. In terms of overall design, picture X-Men's Archangel, with ONE large exception.
The two circular units will be on both wings, with a semi-translucent gel in the centre. I;ve started wqorking out how to texture these so that they appear sort of warpy/portaly.

My next step is preparing these portals and measuring out the exact size of the wings (which will be posed far more dramatically than shown above), whilst I meanwhile work on the lower hull as it exists now and add the slots for the Flyer base.

In terms of plans, at some point I'll be adding a large fin/spoiler/spike to the back of the upper section. I toyed with the diea of a tail, but thought it a bit too goofy.
Two gun emplacements will also be added to either side of the beak, where the hell still sort of faces forward but at an angle, as the Voidraven's primary weapons.
The Void Mine will be in the cavity itself, held by a crew member. I decided small was better, and I may make it a Haemonculus with a devilish contraption......

I am speachless. Cant wait to see how this turns out. I will be going back through your logs to see what else you got here.

Dude! Can't wait to see this gonna be kickass

This is gonna be awesome. I hope you don't mind but you've given me an idea for the Zombie Dragon Kit now xD

Anyway wonderful idea for the Voidraven, I eagerly await your next update man!

Thanks guys.

I did some work on the underside today, adding some mechanics, energy conduits, etc.

The hooks at the rear of the underside work quite nicely is slotting onto a FLyer Base too.

This is the design I'm currently planning for the wings:




The large portals are a key feature I really want, so it turned out a metal-feather look wouldn't quite work without being directly attached to the portal rings (which looked weird in sketches).
I'm now planning to attach therm to the hull by a ball joint so I can twist and turn them into somewhat more dynamic positions.

Looking good. I'm expecting only the best when it comes to your creations

Yet more progress!

I am really grinding through this one......


I did a mockup/prototype of the wings to work out any issues with the desgin, and right away found a structural issue with the plan. The three-feathred rear section design started to have weight issues once any additional layering was applied, resulting in those rear sections starting to droop. Gravity foils me yet again.

So I had to go for a redesign using a more stable template, and that turned out to be the one shown below, on the right.

Also in the below image, on the left, are two new additions to the inner cavity, a low down console and a high up set of monitor screens. Presumably for use by the pilot, who at this stage I'm figuring will have to be kneeling down by the terminal atnthe front. As is they may get in the way of where I planned to put the gunners, but I can always pull the guns back a little towards the central pillar.



So with the final design for the wings, I started to get them on a decent template grid and worked out the appropriate dimensions.




And this resulted in WINGS!





I'm quite happy with how they've turned out, and very happy woith how the portal holes have worked overall. Once they have the wibbly portals in, they'll look amazeballs.

By my thumb in the top right you can just about make out a small raised area in the wing. This is present on both sides. To give the whole thing strength because I use pretty much paper-thing plasticard, I glued a couple of layers together after cutting them out, slightly skewed to give a ridge on the final wing. The raised bit here is a vent, or one of those things on wings to help with air flow. Whatever the hell they're called.

Also in the image you can see the new rear-upper-hull fin/tsail/spoiler.

There are four primary areas to do before this thing is finished:

1/ Engine section - a large hole here needs filling (poly-cement order and enroute). ANd then the rest of the engines can be added once there is better structural support.

2/ Crew - need to be built and added. Which means some Dark Eldar Warriors need to be orderecd too. I need to find some sort of crouching figure or legs to work for the pilot so that someone can be kneeling in front of the terminal at the front. I've looked at Reaver riders, and their legs aren;t quite right.

3/ Wings - need more details. They need some plats, raised designs, or something so that they're not just bland plain surfaces.

4/ Underhull - The underside still needs so plastic rods stuck to it. I've ordered some more squared off rods so that I can pattern the unverside of the craft in the same ribbed (?) design as the upper hul.

I may add a fifth item to the list at some point - a magnet on the uunderside. The spikes/hook where the Flyer Base went isn't the strongest hold in the universe, and with wings the whole thing started to tip. So a decent strong magent under here will probably be added to fold the ship on.

Awesome work! Looking forward following this

You'll like this one.


So a vital component for the Voidraven arrived today.



Thats right, its LEGO! More than that, its a pair of ball sockets, which are going to hold the wings on in interesting ways!

The sockets have been secured in place on the main hull...



.....which by the way I;ve also started decorating to match the other side.



The ball part was attached to the wings, which have also started on the texturising....



......and they fit together quite nicely.



THough they are going to need the strongest glue on Earth or Commoragh to hold together when in final place.

Because.


OH.

MY.

She's beautiful.





Still to come:

• Finish the grid design on the lower hull, and finish adding decoarive textures to the wings.
  
• Get final component for the main vehicle and sort out those Webway Gates in the wings.
  
• Build the crew.
  

________________________________________________________________________

And in other news, whilst looking for parts on eBay, I came across one of these....



.....going for stupid cheap, and still on sprue. So I decided to start yet another "Just for fun, and it'll probably end up on eBay" project. Which seems to be becoming a regular thing.

For fun, I decided it was time to stop thinking it would be a good idea, stop turning aro0und and saying "No, its a terrible idea", and just go ahead and build one of these:



Yes, its Doomrider. I'm going to make him large and impressive enough to be a Daemon Prince.

When the Bike arrives and make a start, progress on that will probably end up on my Non-Imperial Randomness Distractions thread.

Wow that's cool! The white background hides a bit of the shape of the wings, but still it's awesome. Can't wait to see it finished.

What's your plan on the doomrider/daemon prince? Bulky bike or daemonify it and the rider?

Thanks! (Yea, you're right about the white.....)

I'm planning to extend the front forks for a more Chopper look, make the rider look impressive but not too large, and have the whole thing trailing a massive flaming nimbus.
Simplicity is best I think, and I'm not a subscriber to the idea that all Daemon Princes have to be massive monsters. I'll let the rest of the Bike and flaming nimbus add to his bulk.

Neat both of these are going to be kickass!

Thanks!

Here's a better picture for the wings:

Crew!



Two guys with Lances, and one pilot. With a pistol, for some reason. Because I had no other arm which suited.

Eh, it works.

Wing portal things basically done!

Thanks to the careful application of wool, thread, wire and coats of PVA glue, I;ve gone for an electric web design, as seen here:



I still plan to add another layer of PVA for support, but once painted these will be in a light blue with white as lightning.

Looking good man! Much easier to see the overall look of the thing against a black background, and love the crewmembers as well

A couple of updates today.

To start, over in one of my Distractions threads, I have finally finished DOOMRIDER. Really pleased with the final build, so check it out.

Thats one third of my monthly vow down, with only the VOIDRAVEN and RELIC FIGURES to go. I've only four of the RELIC guys left to do and think I'll get them done, but although the VOIDRAVEN has fully built I doubt I'll get it painted in time.

I have undercoated it today though, and while it dried I reached into my Bits Box and slapped together a new completely random guy to join my Court Of The Archon.
I think I'll let myself off my resolution of no new projects till the current ones are done seeing as its just one model....

Anyway, it is somewhat surprising just how many Drazhars I had in that box....

WINGS!



Getting along quite nicely.

Its a bit of a full schedule for the enxt few weeks, but if I get to it, I think the VOIDRAVEN can be finished in a fortnight? Maybe?

Before I lose it in the mists of time, I gad to make a list of my current unfinished projects, alongside a new years resolution - no new projects (except commissions) until I complete the list.

Total unfinished are:
> Voidraven
> Relic Figurines
> Doomrider
> Finish LEDing and building Corvus Blackstar
> Paint entire Deathwatch Army
> Seer Council
> Aspect Host (3x 5 man Warp Spiders units)
> Repair broken Dark Eldar models
> Vengeance Weapons Batteries
> Ravager

The top three are done, and I'm using the Monthly Vow to work on the others.
My next batch should be the Aspect Host, and two Deathwatch Razorbacks,

And yes, that means the Voidraven is DONE, and winfs are gluing in my hand right this second! Expect pictures soon!