WIP - Dire Avengers' weapons

So, with the INVITATIONAL project I am doing not only the 3 models required for the challenge from the ironsleet-crew, but actually starting an army. A Dire Avenger trooper is one of my model for the challenge but I am actually doing the whole squad now. 

My overall plan for my Eldar army is to have a colour scheme of white wraithbone armour, bold bright red for helmets and decorative areas (sashes, gems) and with black weapons. I have chosen these colour to go bright and light - and at the same time it corresponds nicely with the strong classic colour scheme that I favour. I want these models to really stand out on a gaming table.

However, the colours for the Dire Avengers are reversed having white helmets, bluish black armour and a red/black pattern on the hemlet crest. That leaves the weapons that should be black (according to my colour scheme), but this gets a little tricky because of the dark armour.

Thus, I tried out several ways of painting the shuriken catapult:

Left to right:

1. Exarch - no shuriken catapult.
2. Copper with a chaos black wash. Finish off with a light drybrush of copper.
3. Bone + white for basecolour. Shading using Vallejo Model Color Burnt cad. Red mixed with Army Painter jumpsuit shader (a red wash). Highlights with white.
4. Black base colour. Edge highlights using GW Dwarf flesh with a bit of magenta ink. Followed by a stipple of black (dupped on with a sponge), and final highlights with white.
5. Copper mixed with Army painter orange (Prison jumpsuit). Shading using Vallejo Model Color Burnt cad. Red mixed with Army Painter jumpsuit shader (a red wash). Highlights adding white to the basecolour.

As you can see I also explored different base edge colours but have since this settled for classic black, which might go high gloss black. Not sure yet, but black is decided at least.

Imperial Knight, day 20 - colours are final

Last night I was in doubt about the yellow on the checked areas. However, today - as the first thing to do - I thought I would work on getting most of the copper to a nice finish. I also working on getting the last few small areas that needed som work done - knee-armour plating and the heraldic shield. Then I assembled the model loosely and I think he works now. With the current colours! Yay! So no need to change the planned colours. Now is is about getting that final distance to the goal!

Imperial Knight, day 12 - a moment of doubt...

Tonight I am closing in on that moment of choice for the rims on the armour. So far I have gone for white for the rims, but I had to put the model loosely together to see how it looks.

Quite alright I think. However, I also think the model would work with the rims painted copper. The reason for white is to be able to clearly show a lot of weathering. Going for copper instead would limit the white for the head and the weapons enphasizing these. But then there will be no extreme weathering on white, which I find usually is a great trick!

I think I will spend the weekend working on the heraldic shield, and get a head start on the banner, and possibly add some weathering to the metal sections. Maybe my vision will be clearer when I have all the yellow checks painted in. Oh, and I might work in some colours on the base to get a little contrast to all the orange. That might also help to decide...