Ravenwing: Ravenmaster Complete

Hi folks,

Last night I put the finishing touches on my first Ravenwing bike, a model that I have affectionately named the Ravenmaster. The ravens don't have any effect on the game, but they reflect some of the artwork in the Dark Angels codex which shows flocks of them sweeping into battle with the Ravenwing Attack Squadrons, particularly this one:

My Ravenwing marines all have beaky helmets (Mk6), because, well... ravens be all beaky. In the old days these helmets were hard to come by and I had to cast a wide net over my gaming friends to catch a squads-worth. These days they are everywhere!

The OSL on the lamp has been through a few different iterations. Originally there was too much bouncing off the boltguns and covering most of the front armour of the bike, which I wasn't a big fan of; this effect is more muted. Again, I was trying to capture the style of the artwork, with its baleful orange glow.

Taking photos of this guy is hard because he is always casting a big shadow over himself with the raven! Ah well. I didn't want to do white feathers at the back, in fact, I'm pretty sure I was the only person who was annoyed with these models when GW released them (4th Ed.?). I have painted them in a blend from Caliban Green to Mephiston Red with lighter highlights, which is consistent with the other feathers that I have painted in the force. this makes them look a little more "Bravest of the Plains People" and less angelic.

I contemplated painting a grid on the bike's auspex, but decided I didn't want to spend that much time on it; I have too many bikes to do. I have, however, added a tiny amount of weathering, carbon scoring on the exhaust, just a hint of mud on the tires and two bullet holes (give me a shout if you find both of them).

Here is a picture taken with the Attack Bike I finished earlier, so that you can see te flocking effect of the ravens. Now that I have added weathering and battle damage to the scheme I will have to work on it a bit more to bring it up to scratch. There's me creating a rod for my own back again :-)

I have one more figure, the Veteran Sergeant, to paint before I start batch painting in earnest. I should have him converted by my next post.

See you across the table,

M4cr0