Airbrushing Eldar, Iyanden Crimson Hunter Show Case.

I thought it would be nice to show some of my painting projects, some current and some from the past here on Painting Plastic Crack. Ive even managed to get my hands on a better camera, so going forward my pictures should be improved over what I have been currently uploading.

Here is my Crimson Hunter from my Iyanden Eldar. Now I know its not quite as fluffy as the the Hemlock for this style of army but whilst I am not a competitive player,  I just preferred what the Crimson Hunter had to offer gameplay wise. However I wanted it to fit into the rest of my army and it had to be yellow.

This was 95% painted with an airbrush, including the gems and base. In fact the only parts painted by hand were the white dots on those gems and the shading around them. Oh and the red tinted canopy was also hand painted. Some have asked me just how I managed this effect without having any streaks. The paint I used is called "clear red" and its made by humbrol. They also make a blue and a yellow but I have yet to find any other colours. Im not sure if you can use these 3 primaries to mix the other colours as red was what I was looking for at the time. I painted it quite thickly on the inside of the canopy and straight out of the tin. I allowed it to dry completely before picking it up.  half an hour later, job done. The great thing with doing it like this is you still get to see the pilot, but theres no use going to town on painting him or her as the red tints all the variation of colour out anyway. I prefer this than seeing completely painted canopies.  Of course some keep it clear and I have seen some brilliant painting of cockpits etc. This is my way though. One word of warning, don't go using any of your best brushes to do this. Its quite gloopie and it will knacker anything of quality. No kolinsky sable here please.

The hexagon patterns you see on the wings were made using an airbrush stencil I picked off of eBay. Very easy to do and just required a steady hand. I did the same underneath the Hunter, but in reverse. I think its a nice touch.

Obviously I can't paint as straight as some of the crisper panels suggest I have on the model. This is where low tac masking tape comes in, Tamiya is the brand I use and it comes in various widths. As long as you don't lay it down on fresh paint it won't peel anything off. I used it to mask off the surrounding areas of the gems so I could airbrush those, I used it over the canopy glass so I could airbrush the pale blue canopy struts, I used it over the from of the front of the Hunter so I could paint the and black blue panels too. I think as a playing piece it looks ok. The engine glow was achieved using blues and whites and allowing the overspray from the airbrush to create the OSL effect.

I used the airbrush to paint the base too. I hope you like it. All my Iyanden models have a snow base to match my Realm of Battle board. I plan on doing a tutorial on how I made these very soon. So if you like them keep an eye out for them.

Cheers

Joey