Another Eldar Venom (or maybe Viper)

While a lot of this blog is "thing of the week", I do have some models that I gradually chip away at, painting a bit here and there, until they clutter up my desk. One of these is the second Eldar venom conversion. I originally got two venoms from Ebay, and decided to make them into "nice Eldar" versions, largely by taking off the skulls and spikey bits (which might well have snapped off anyhow - how anyone stores a Dark Eldar army is beyond me).

I gave the second venom the same conversion as the first: I cut off a headlight-type thing between the two prongs at the front and put the barrel of a shuriken cannon in its place, to create a nose-mounted gun. This took some fiddly lining up, but other than cutting a hooked blade off the underside, it's the only converting I did.

I painted the second venom in much the same way as the first. The main body was blue, which I shaded up and down with lighter blues (this was quite tricky). In places, I blended in purple as a spot colour.

The model came with its canopy glued down and slightly misted up, so I decided to paint over the "glass". I attempted the same mirrored lens effect that I did with the pilot of the first venom. As with last time, I quickly felt that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, but I persisted and the result isn't bad.

 

I'm pleased with both of these. Shading isn't my strong point, and I'm glad that it's come out ok. I spent quite a long time on this ship, which probably helps, and did most of the blending in single sittings, so I wouldn't forget where I'd got to.