Okay, I have made my first attempt at 3D modeling an Eldar part, with the intention to have it printed out so I can cast it. I have already booked the print run, but I have no idea what quality it will end up being, so nothing is definite.

I decided to make a sonic lance for the current Revenant titan, because I had already started to real-world model one, and I had the parts I'd worked on in front of me while I was laying it out. I basically eye-balled the part from the pictures on the Forgeworld site and based the overall dimensions on the metal pulse laser part that comes with the Revenant. Hopefully I was careful enough that it should just fit right on and look to-scale, but we'll see. I'll post a render once I figure out how to do so.

Anyway, that is the background for the discuss I want to have in this thread. If my trial run goes well, I should be able to do more things. But what eldar parts should I bother with?

Some things I want to do (just for my own desires), which I figure noone else will care about. I plan on doing Jetbike wings, Jetbike banners (pennant and flag), Warwalker wings, Exarch banners (really just stand markers), a support weapon platform, etc.

After those are done, though, what else would be useful? Bear in mind that I'm just talking about craftworld eldar vehicular-type stuff. I don't want to do any Dark eldar stuff, at least until after they get a refresh in 40k.

I'm currently working on a new turret for the metal Night Spinner, so the eldar can have another artillary tank (with a gun similar to the sonic lance). I'm calling it the Rending Hammer, and am hoping to get it included in the Yme-loc list, which leads me to my question for everyone.

What I'd really like to know is, is there anything going into the alt-lists (craftworld, exodite, harlequin) that will need a new part? A conversion part for the current vyper to make a venom (harly transport) would be pretty straight forward. If I get really ambitious, I think I could manage new versions of the exodite knights (the robots, not the dragon riders). Maybe, after evrything else, a new version of the Phantom titan and it's weapons (but that's pretty daunting at this point).

What else? Is there anything that the list-makers would really like to be able to include in the alt-list but haven't because they figured that a new tank turret would be a deal breaker?

First off, I like the weapon.  Nicely done.

As for weapons, let me rummage through the Lugganath army list because really that is where a lot of them would get placed (the Eldar Titan list).

Also, there is a larger Eldar Titan I was going to someday get around to modeling and maybe I can throw those ideas toward you later this week.  

That is a lot of nothing but I didn't want you thinking nobody was interested.

_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Sexy looking gun!

Very nice gun!

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Jetbikes with wings. That is what I'm working on converting for my own army right now. Secondly I would do an up-to-date Wraithlord.

The Wraithlord for Epic has to be one of the poorest sculpts in the range.

Oh and nice Sonic Lance. If the quality is good I'll have to buy a second pair of Revenants to convert them.

Also I'm with you on the Support Platform. I just finished converting three for myself.  

_________________
-Malakai

"You'll never understand how much watching other people's pain gets me off, hearing their screams and knowing that I have the power of a god." -Velvet Acid Christ

That looks great I hope it turns out well.

I would really like to see modernised versions of the eldar nights.

I have spent ages cutting up 40K guardian back antena things (whatever they are) to make wings on my jetbikes so that's definitely a good idea.

_________________
Epic- A version of the game with even smaller models that is often dominated by titans which are vehicles the size of a large building and have the ability to pwn...everything. There is also infantry, whose only function in Epic is to provide valuable traction to Titans walking across snowy paths.

Nice gun indeed, hopefully it'll work out.
Jetbike wings would be rather nice, also perhaps some kit parts to convert the older plastic Falcons to newer stle of even WaveSerpents, I have been pondering this last for a while now!.

_________________
I'm involved in Nunnery Practice
My latest Blog http://www.players.tacticalwargames.net ... p?blogId=8

Why not just use FW Wave Serpents? I have some and they are lovely little models.

_________________
-Malakai

"You'll never understand how much watching other people's pain gets me off, hearing their screams and knowing that I have the power of a god." -Velvet Acid Christ

Fantastic work Semajnollissor! That vibro-cannon is perfect! Any chance you could post pictures from another angle or two?

I could definitely be interested in a couple of pairs of vibro-cannons - I'm converting a couple of large dinosaurs to count as Revenants in my Exodites army and the base for the guns are the ones from the normal Revenants, so I'm now left with an armless pair of Revenants for my other Saim-hann army.

How long and much effort does it take to design and produce a piece? Is it hard to learn how to use the software to a decent standard?

Jetbike wings sound like a good idea, though I've already gone for a different method myself; having used Shining Spears, removing the lances and any inappropriate detail on them and bending the wings forward a bit so they are angled more correctly.

I think a wraithlord would be worth trying. It would give me practice that could go toward a knight or a titan (or anything else roughly man-shaped). Still, that will be after I finish some of the other stuff.

I dunno about the wave serpents. A long time ago I made a wave serpent conversion for 40k that tried to blend the SM/TL era wave serpent with the current style falcon.  I may try that, instead of trying to remake the current one, which I'm not a big fan of.

jetbike wings - done
warwalker wings - done
jetbike banners - done, but may need to be redone
sonic weapon turret (night spinner conversion) - in progress
support weapon - some sketches, but no 3D yet

I'm kind of stuck in a philosophical conundrum with the SWP - should I make it look like the 40k version (which doesn't really match the style of the new plastic HWP for 40k), or should I try to mimic the details of the E:40k HWP? I'm leaning toward trying to match the E:40k model, if only because they'll be right next to each other. I don't think I have the attention span to try to do both the HWP and the SWP.

Anyway, the sonic lance is supposed to ship tomorrow, so with luck it will be here by the weekend (one benefit of living within half a day's drive of FedEx HQ in Memphis). Here's another picture, but it isn't much more revealing than the last one:

Well, once I get really into a piece, it goes rather quickly. My main problem is having to go back and redo parts as the assemblies come together, so as to maintain a sense of scale and continuity. It also helps to have a good ruler with fine tick marks (a micrometer would be even better), and an existing part to start from. The sonic lance arm was designed to be roughly the same size as the pulsar arm, at it helped to have one to measure for reference.

As for the ease of use of the software, I'm not the best person to ask - I've had to pick up how to use the software at work. It's not really a requirement of my job, but knowing how to use it helps to convey information to the drafters/designers that would be hard to fit into words. I dabbled in making 3D models about 10 years ago, but for the last 3 years I've gotten alot better since I've had my current job. It's really just about breaking down a complex part into a bunch of simple parts.

BTW, I made all my stuff in Autocad, of all things. It is definitely not the best at 3D work, but it's available to me and I have lots of people's brains I can pick at work when I get stumped. It doesn't handle free-form shapes very well (at least I have figured out any easy way of pulling them off), but most things can to faked as extrusions or lofts along a path. At least so far.

Will these be resin models and will you be casting them yourself?

I'm interested in the jetbike wings. I have 3 formations of jetbikes (6 stands with 3 to a stand) and have not been looking forward to converting them. Will the wing pieces be available separately or is that too delicate a piece?

As I don't really care to purchase new bikes a conversion kit would be nice. Still, if your do a new model and it comes out looking really fantastic then I might pick some up.

Oh you mentioned the warwalkers. Have you considered adding that pod window case thing to the front of one?

_________________
-Malakai

"You'll never understand how much watching other people's pain gets me off, hearing their screams and knowing that I have the power of a god." -Velvet Acid Christ

New 40k-Style Warwalkers would kick-ass

_________________
We are returned!
http://www.epic-wargaming.de/

Well, here is a list from the Lugganath list of things that I think would be handy to get a hold of:

Titan Weapons
Fusion Lance
Tremor Cannon
Titan D-Cannon
Lucent Scepter (something I made up- it would be great to see this: I have a few ideas I can sketch out and email to you but basically imagine a fancy bid ol' Scepter with a nice head piece and perhaps fit it so it can be grasped by a battle fist.

Venom holofield generator should be relatively easy and will no doubt find itself being used for all manner of conversions.

An alternative Wraithgate.

A medium sized Webway portal.

A large Webway portal.

And this isn't getting into the goodies that can be made for the Dark Eldar (for converting jet bikes into Reavers, Skyboards for Hellions, etc.)

In other words, I think you have a lot you can do.  

_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...

It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.

Well, no lucking getting the part by the weekend, it seems.

As for the the newest suggestions:

yes, a new style war walker would be awesome, but that thing is super complicated and has lots of fiddly bits, so we'll pin that at the end of the list for now.

Wraithgates: I was planning on doing a normal sized one, and a large one like is described in the Swordwind book. The medium sized one might get the lowest priority. As it is, though, a wraithgate should be pretty straight forward.

Alternate Titan weapons: yeah, I was planning on doing these, based on the Cobra D-cannon, sonic lance, etc. I'm even planing on updating the pulsars and P-fist so these don't look so goonie. But, again, I'd like to get the low lying fruit first. I do have a dream, a dream to redo the Phantom entirely, to match the latest concept art that was done when the E:A eldar were sculpted. I'd figure that's when I'd do all the titan stuff. Still a long way off yet, though.

In any case, I have to admit, I'm not much of a conceptualizer (I don't do so well when I have to make things up from scratch). However, I am a damn good copyist and am comfortable matching details across similar models. What that means is, if you guys have any concept sketches, please send them my way. The more the better. Since I'm used to it, try sending some plan/elevation type views, if you can manage it (top/side views, like blue prints).

Finally, I suppose we all should hold off on doing anything until the actual trial part is cast. Until then, these are all just lines on screen.