The 40k campaign that will be kicking off soon has massively reinvigorated my interest in my Eldar. I’ve selected an initial 500 points that includes multiple models I haven’t painted, or in the case of the Wind Rider jetbikes, haven’t even sculpted yet. And one draft of my ruleset has painted models having the special rule Preferred Enemy: Unpainted Models so I really need to get a move on (Preferred Enemy means that you reroll all 1’s to hit or wound, when shooting and in hand to hand combat).
I’ve been collecting and restoring the canopied from old uncared for jetbikes for a while, anticipating the day when I can start churning out my new kits. I need 5 bikes so am mass producing them in sub-assemblies. Well, as much as you can mass produce 5 of anything. A convenient brush handle serves as the perfect mount for the rounded canopies.
What I love about Alaitoc Eldar is how quick and easy it is to get a good finish on large armoured areas. Simply prepare the surface with several layers of thinned enchanted blue, then while the last layer is still wet, start dabbing randomly with a darker blue and an electric blue, letting the colours mingle and bleed into one another. Every canopy comes out different, of course, and watching the pattern develop is one time when watching paint dry is genuinely interesting.
A quick edge highlight, followed by painting the gems in and then a gloss coat prepare these for transfers. I have been using Micro Set for years but never tried Micro Sol as well. Just bought some on eBay so will wait for that to arrive before ploughing on with transfers.
Everything else is painted bone with army painter bone spray. A quick point wash and highlight should complete these to a neat tabletop standard.
As an aside, I need to comment on the quality of the Army Painter sprays. I’ve been led to believe they are hard wearing and generally superior to Games Workshops undercoats but I’ve been less than impressed as the so called “matt” finish is actually very glossy and near impossible to paint on (especially the black spray). I’ve found it necessary to coat the parts in Dull Cote before painting which is most unusual. However, they ARE very hard wearing, so perhaps that’s the price you pay. On balance I’d not use them again.