Sproket's Dark Eldar diorama

[Sproket]

It’s been ages since I had anything new to post on cool mini and as I’m in the middle of a fairly complex project it looks like it’ll be a while yet before I get to show anything finished. So I thought I’d have a go at starting a work in progress log.

The release of the Dark Eldar minis from Games workshop caught my imagination. I’ve always had a soft spot for GWs Elves in all their variants. The minis that really got my attention were the Hellions and I began to work upon the notion of building a diorama around an aerial conflict between rival gangs.

I wanted the setting to have a sense of history something that would reflect the fall of a great civilisation and the resultant rise of something cruel and barbaric in its place. Aggressive Dark Eldar monoliths looming over the ruined remains of a colossal Eldar statue. Everything is in a state degeneration and all about are the ghastly trophies and totems of the Dark Eldar.

Here is my first attempt at a base for the diorama.

More pics on my Blog http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-current-project-dark-eldar-diorama.html

 

[Sproket]

Here are a few shot of the work I've done on the Dark Eldar so far.

 

[10 ball]

WOW! some great work. - nice start for your diorama.

edit - also great NMM and just some superb painting.

 

[ischa]

sold! jokes aside, this makes me like dark eldar=) great base, great painting!

 

[Spoontoes]

Beautiful work!

 

[freakinacage]

great work there

 

[Aesu]

This is really amazing! The depth effect on the veins on the wing are gorgeous! How long did it take for you to do those?

 

[webmax]

Great visual impact!!!

Where did you get the base elements ?

 

[Sproket]

Thanks for the comments guys.

This is really amazing! The depth effect on the veins on the wing are gorgeous! How long did it take for you to do those?

What you can see in the picture took about five hour - the one thing I'm not is fast!

Great visual impact!!!

Where did you get the base elements ?

The trees come from Games Workshop's plastic wood kit. They're not very realistic but I rather like the fairy tale quality they can bring to a model.
The monoliths in the background were sculpted with super sculpey firm.
The ruined colossal head is a plaster cast of an Egyptian statue. I re-carved it to make it look more like an Eldar artefact.

 

[Sproket]

Rethinking the design!

Although I’m very pleased with the base for my diorama I’ve had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right with it. Coming back from my summer holiday and looking at it with fresh eyes I became certain that I needed to have a rethink.

There are several things that I wanted to address.
• The overall size of the base/diorama is too big. I want a much smaller/tighter composition.
• The tone of the piece is wrong. I’m pleased with all the individual elements but at the moment the diorama has too much of a woodland/fantasy feel to it. I want something that has more of a sinister Dark Eldar/SciFi feel
• The largest of the monolith I’d sculpted has started to warp and developed a silly looking bend.

I’ve put a lot of work into the base and wanted to salvage as much as possible but at the same time it’s no use persevering with a design if it isn’t working for you. It was time for a little brute force and a lot of nerve!

The Old base is now stripped of all the dark Eldar elements and I have to say I prefer it that way. With just a little repair work I think I will have a rather nice forest/ruins themed base for a fantasy subject but that will be a job for another day.

 

[noneedforaname]

Well I already follow your blog but thought I'd say hi now your here aswell. Good job so far.

 

[dogfacedboy uk1]

great to see you posting stuff in here, I remember the great Dr who stuff you did a while back and i look forward to following this and your other projects , really great painting and sculpting mate.

dfb

 

[jahminis]

wow, i just checked this WIP for the first time...
very nice!!!

i really liked the first DE mini you painted when the new sets were released...
it'll be great to see a dio...

i have to say i thought that the base was way too fantasy, or even just more fitting the Eldar, when i saw it...
the monolith is great for a DE feel, but the battle between rival gangs of Commorragh would be better served set in their dark city...

lovely painting so far...
i'll be watching this one with interest...
keep up the good work...

cheers
jah

 

[kathrynloch]

Beautiful! It's too bad the base didn't work out but it is a very nice Woodlands type base. I was reading through your thread and where you said you wanted it more Dark Eldar, I was like, wait...he just took out the Dark Eldar stuff! lol! Glad I read through the rest of the post.

I can't wait to see what you do for the Dark Eldar.

 

[marjedi]

Dear lord those dark eldar are gorgeous.

Off all games workshops miniature lines, the deldarone is my favorite by far. I went utterly bezerk on release day and i have stacks of them at home that im painting up slowly, about a unit a month or so

 

[Meph]

Pfffff! Dude! Gorgeous!

 

[greensamurai]

Just picking my jaw up off the floor. The new Dark Eldar have caught me as well, but I don't dare touch them at the moment as I now I would never be able to paint them how I imagine them. You have done a fantastic job. Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[Sproket]

The new Dark Eldar Monolith

Thanks for all the comment. The new Dark Eldar minis have really inspired me to try and raise my game. So it wasn’t too hard a decision to re work the base but I’m glad that the deconstruction work is now over. I’m much happier when I’m building things!

The proportion/balance of the element will be very different. I want the new composition to have a vertical orientation. It will also have a definite front, back and sides as opposed to the old one which was low and circular.

My first task was to sort out the monoliths. As I’d sculpted these out of Super Scullpey Firm fixing the warped monolith was a simple matter. I heated it up with a hair dryer (not my own, alas I have no need) and allowed it to cool while held flat under a weight. To prevent the problem happening all over again I needed to find something to fix onto the big monolith as a reinforcement/brace.
It took me a while to realise that the best solution was to use the two smaller monoliths to reinforce the large one. I’ve now pined and glued the three monoliths together into a single structure and I’m really pleased with the result! This new single monolith will be the main element of the diorama base and will provide support for a couple of the ‘flying’ models.

On seeing a picture of the new monolith a friend at work thought that it looked like a bone, that wasn’t my intention but it strikes me as a really good reaction to it.

 

[me_in_japan]

eee, there's lovely. In fact, it looked lovely before you took it apart, and now you have two lovelies The vertical nature of the new piece is very effective, and already gives the impression of spire-ossity. A few hellions and scourges flitting around it and you'll be laughing all the way to a Golden Daemon

How on earth did you do the stone effect? You said you used sculpey, but it's the weathering and general paint job that's impressing me the most. Was it airbrushed, or did you use pigments, or a general mish mash of techniques or what? I'd love to know (in fact, I'd love a tutorial, but since it's already made that may be a bit tricksy, I'd imagine.) Like yourself, I'm a big fan of the new dark eldar (and all things eldar, to be honest) and would love to make something of this nature, either as part of a diorama or (depending on time) as a tabletop terrain feature.

 

[Aesu]

Ah that new design looks great, looks like a giant sword to me All that those hours spent definalty look liek they were worth it. CAn't wait to see the reworked base in full!