# Night Lords Raptor Project



## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

So, I got the idea to do some Night Lords Raptors. I love the idea of the raptors have grown wings as opposed to just having a jump pack. Feels more in line with the soldier of chaos. 
So, I'm feeling okay as to how the first one is turning out. I, kind of, wanted to get some feed back on him.
Night Lord Raptor front by Roganzar, on Flickr
Night Lord Raptor side by Roganzar, on Flickr
(Not the greatest pic.)
Night Lord Raptor back by Roganzar, on Flickr
Doing the lightning design is a pain in the Golden Throne. Its the first time I've challenged myself with this style of design on a mini. 
So, bring on the comments.


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## fatmantis (Jun 26, 2009)

looking good..keep it up


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Has anyone on here ever tried the old static modeller's trick of painting white or light blue base, varnishing, painting over in the armour's colour and then scratching lightning patterns out of it with a toothpick or (carefully) with a knife?

I feel your pain with the lightning patterns, I did my chaos ones huge back in the day and they didn't look too great. My GK force weapons have lightning done on them using a very fine detail brush (using the very tip) and a not-quite-dry white paint.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I think the lightning is generally working, especially for a prototype. The lightning bolts seem a bit too thick in some places. And by that I mean the top highlight seems to thick. 

Two other thoughts. 

Add some sort of chestnut, flesh, or earth wash over the bone then do quick dry brush to re-highlight. Right now it's pretty flat compared to the lightning bolt armour. 

The red interiors of the wings are way too bright and saturated. The wings are the first thing my eyes go to. You have high contrast and high colour contrast going on there. And of course bright red grabs the attention anyway. Especially since you don't have any major colour contrasts on the body of the model. The value contrast of the dark blue and the white just isn't as strong as the red.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

So I've cleaned up, smoothed out, the red on the wings and added some bone colored talons to the wings. Additionally, added some Agrax Earthshade, lightly, to the crevasses of the helmet and skull icons to improve the appearance of depth. Especially noticeable on the bone coloring of the helmet. 
Night Lord Raptor Project by Roganzar, on Flickr
Night Lord Raptor Project by Roganzar, on Flickr
Practicing further with the lightning bolt pattern, I think I'm getting better at it. Or at least they look like their coming out better. The plasma pistol, which I like doing a sickly green for Chaos, came out pretty good with a bit of a glow effect that I tried.
Night Lord Raptor Project Lightning by Roganzar, on Flickr


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I think the bone talons definitely helps. The bone on the mask also looks better too. 

I think the red is still really strong. Yes, I know it's part of the night lots iconography, but at this scale the wings are larger than the marine and the red just keeps grabbing my eye/attention.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

Kreuger said:


> I think the bone talons definitely helps. The bone on the mask also looks better too.
> 
> I think the red is still really strong. Yes, I know it's part of the night lots iconography, but at this scale the wings are larger than the marine and the red just keeps grabbing my eye/attention.


Not entirely sure what I can do to bring that down. It may just end up being unavoidable due to design. Not giving up trying to improve, mind you, but it just might be a factor of these wings. I do have a couple of the raptors using wings from the Possessed kit. So there is more to break-up the red.
One, other thing I just now noticed in the pictures is I was trying to to a veiny/lightning design in the wings with a mix of Agrax and Lamian Mediun. Wasn't noticing it when I look at the wings normally but it's shows up faintly in the pictures. I'm going to see if I can, maybe, strengthen that effect slightly.
Now, that I can tell it's showing up.
If that works, Yay. If not, the effect is faint, paint over and I'm back to the solid red.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

So here is a comparison of the Wings on the Night Lords Raptor. 
Top one is before putting the lightning pattern/veins on the wings.








Bottom is after.
Its a faint effect, but I'm pleased with how its turning out.


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## Tha Tall One (Aug 16, 2008)

That pattern is very subtle, I like it a lot! Good job man!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

@Roganzar it's a definite improvement. It darkens the wings and helps break up the flat red. The second photo also benefits from less intense lighting hotspots.


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## venomlust (Feb 9, 2010)

Wow, very cool! I may have missed this if you mentioned it before, but are those gargoyle wings?


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

venomlust said:


> Wow, very cool! I may have missed this if you mentioned it before, but are those gargoyle wings?


Yup, those are gargoyle wings. 
Saw a tutorial for doing that conversion somewhere a year or so ago. So I've had the wings built and lying around for a while now.


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## venomlust (Feb 9, 2010)

Roganzar said:


> Yup, those are gargoyle wings.
> Saw a tutorial for doing that conversion somewhere a year or so ago. So I've had the wings built and lying around for a while now.


I'm not a big fan of most of the jump packs in the game, especially our Chaos versions. Your version is waaay better.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

Completed a couple of my converted raptors.
First, the one I've been using as the primary experimental target for my painting.
Night Lords Raptor Project by Roganzar, on Flickr
Next up, is one where I used the wings from the Possessed kit. It doesn't look to bad in among all the other wing-packs on these Raptors. The wings come with a way to break up the red painted on them with all those cracks and breaks.
Night Lords Raptor Project by Roganzar, on Flickr
Finally, the one that is meant to be the Raptor Champion. Complete with plasma pistol and axe, which I was going for a demon-weapon look to it. I feel it turned out rather good. Though, I tried for a glow effect to the plasma pistol, which is faint and not sure how I feel about how it turned out. I kind of like the effect.
Night Lords Raptor Project by Roganzar, on Flickr
So, only thing left on these is to wash the Agrellan Earth with some Agrax Earthshade, clean up the sides of the base, and add just a little bit of grass to make the ground look like it's dying. Which is my usual method of basing Chaos Marines.
And then finish the rest of the raptors.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

*And Done!!*

Finally finished the squad of these winged terrors.
Night Lords Raptor Squad by Roganzar, on Flickr
Though, I use a satin clear coat, the sun was just right that day to make them shine.
Close ups, first, of the Champion with plasma pistol and deamon ax.
Night Lords Raptors by Roganzar, on Flickr
Another swooping in with dual chainswords.
Night Lords Raptors by Roganzar, on Flickr
On the ground we've got one with a deamonically infused flamer. You know, since flames of the damned is scarier than regular fire, (which causes terror on its own.)
Night Lords Raptors by Roganzar, on Flickr
Also, on the ground, the one that I've used as the basis for all these.
Night Lords Raptors by Roganzar, on Flickr
Doing nine of these flying terrors really helped with my lightning design work. It definatly got easier as I did nine models with the pattern, so I think I'll be setting up most power weapons from here out with some lightning designs.


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