Inquisitorial Storm Raven, Complete!

Now that the lion's share of the Dark Eldar are done, I wanted to switch gears and paint something else for a bit. The closest model to the painting desk at the time was the Storm Raven, so I figured I'd knock it out:

Nothing too special about it really, just your basic black and red scheme with gold details here and there. Some Boltgun metal on the engines and weapons, a quick bit of blue on the Plasma Cannons and cockpit, and white-tipped rockets and I called it good.

Unfortunately I had a bit of an issue with the sealant (for the first time in a long while). No frosting, thank the Emperor, but there was a bit of a 'crinkle' effect here and there on the fuselage. It's not super noticable in the picture, but just above the red flap on the wing you can sort of see it. A friend has suggested that a little wet sanding may be able to remove it, and even if it removes the paint it should be relatively simple to repaint the black area. Ah well.

In any case, my Inquisitors now have a new ride that is much more robust than the Aquila lander they used to use!

Inquisitorial Storm Raven, Part 2

While I was working on the Dark Eldar, I also had the Storm Raven out on the desk and as such it got a little paint slapped on it to start blocking out the colors. I knew I wanted it to be predominantly black, so I started by giving it a quick drybrush of shadow grey along the edges and picked out a few panels in Dark Flesh, which acts as a base color for the intended red.

I also went over the model and picked out most of the decorative bits in Shining Gold followed by an Ogryn Flesh wash. The cockpit glass got a Midnight Blue coat while I was at it.

Some of the gold ended up running a bit (such as the =I= symbol on the back of the Hurricane Bolters) but those sections will be cleaned up with a black touch-up pass later on in the process.

I took a crack at painting the interior of the Storm Raven before I assembled it, mostly a quick Boltgun metal drybrush, some leather seats and green monitor screens. However I've found that once it's assembled, there's not a lot of light that makes it into the interior even with both hatches open and the top turret removed. Ah well, at least I didn't accidentally glue it shut for a change!

There's still quite a long way to go on this model, but thus far I'm pleased with the black and red scheme. It definitely comes off looking pretty menacing!

Inquisitorial Storm Raven, Part 1

Being a huge fan of flyers in 40k, it was only a matter of time before I was seduced by the call of the Storm Raven. While I have no intent of doing a Blood Angel or Grey Knight army, I do plan on picking up the new GK codex to see how the Inquisition is handled. In larger games, I tend to take an Inquisitor and retinue, carried into battle aboard an Aquila Lander. Well, the requisition request for a better landing vessel has been approved!

Like many, I felt that the pictures of the Storm Raven provided by GW didn't really show it in the best possible light, and the top turret assembly, while neat, just seemed a bit unwieldy. After taking a look over the bits on the sprue, I decided that I'd be repurposing the Techmarine pilot and Servitor-crewed turret for some Ad-Mech project, and as such went with a cut-down version of the turret using a Razorback mounting ring as well as just painting over the main cockpit glass.

The intent is to keep it predominantly black with red panels here and there to give it a little splash of color. For all I know the Inquisitor won't be allowed to take a Storm Raven as a transport vessel, but the rules have never stopped me before! If I was to take another crack at building the Storm Raven, I'd leave off the top turret and air scoop entirely, opting instead to go with Predator side sponsons over the side doors, and going with a smooth top. Even with the cut down turret as I've done, it still seems to look a bit top heavy to me. Still, it's an interesting new model, and I'm always glad to see GW stretch the boundaries of what their kits are capable of.