Eldar Wave Serpent

 Hello again! Last summer, a friend gave me a load of Eldar, including a plastic Wave Serpent (thanks Mark!). Wave Serpents are the basic transport vehicle for the Eldar, built on the same chassis as the Falcon grav-tank. They can carry ten soldiers, and have an automated turret.

I decided to paint mine blue (unsurprisingly). I wanted to add some freehand designs, and I happened to see a picture online that included some blue butterflies. I thought it would be cool to copy the look of their wings on the wings/prongs of my Wave Serpent.

After giving it a couple of thin undercoats, I blocked out the areas in dark blue.

I decided to extend the pattern to the next square "tile" on the wings. By this point I'd added a bit of shading to the design and quite a lot of shading to the hull.

I painted the pilot, too. He got reflective shades.

Some of the shading on the hull was dabbed on with bits of sponge, for a smoother transition than I could do with brushes. Then it needed some details. To keep with the Vyper/Venom/Vitriol fliers, I shaded a couple of panels with purple. One thing I hadn't realised was how asymmetrical the details of the hull are, which makes it tricky to pick out details without making the ship look lopsided.

The Wave Serpent has some kind of field generator to protect it. I didn't have the pylon-type bits that stick on the hull to represent this (and I don't really like them all that much). Instead, I painted some of the bumps on the hull with Turbo Dork Blue Raspberry paint (thanks Ruth!). It reflects rather like insect skin, which goes well with the butterfly design, as well as complimenting the blue hull. I reckon that colour represents "mysterious tech".

The gun barrels got red tips, again to fit with the other heavy weapons on the Vitriols and the other war machines. I decided to leave the cockpit clear, so that the pilot is visible.

And here it is!

I like the idea that, while everyone else is nailing skulls to their lumbering tanks, the Eldar paint fancy designs on their fast and deadly skimmer. Hopefully, in addition to floating like a butterfly, it will sting like a bee.

And here's the whole squadron!

Of all the armies in 40k, Eldar are probably the one that is (are?) most helped by having an airbrush. It's very difficult to get smooth coverage and gentle shading without one. I think it helps to add designs that don't have straight lines and mimic natural colours, like the tiger stripes on the lead Vitriol. I could have shaded the wings of the Wave Serpent a bit more, and I reckon a few more shiny metallic bumps would help, but I don't think I'll risk ruining it now!