# Wraithknight: First thoughts on the model



## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Well I picked up a Wraithknight on release day and started putting it together, first time I have touched a model in a looong time, guess i needed a new release to get the resin in my veins really pumping again. First thoughts as I pulled it from the box: Holy shit those sprues are huge and you get three of them, and damn a lot of parts. Here are some thoughts, advice, and warnings.

The instructions: They are done of a CAD rendering of the Wraithknight, really well done, very specific and only one mess up I saw in the numbering on page 20. It is also pretty damned long but I do recommend reading the entire thing once before you start to put it together.

Sprues: Packed full of stuff, you get three in the box but do not be fooled by the 115 parts. Almost everything in this kit is in half pieces but it allows for an insane amount of details on the parts. The chest is at least six desperate pieces alone.

Base: Large Oval

Decals: Large sheet with tons of stuff on it with a majority of the codex craftworlds with some type of markings on it. I was impressed

Putting it together: 

Required and Optional Tools:

Sprue Cutter
Medium or Thick Glue
Thin Glue
Razor Knife
Liquid Green Stuff or modeling putty (highly recommended)
Very Fine Sand paper or sanding pads (highly recommended)
Magnets (optional for switching weapon loads)
Brass or plastic Rod (optional for changing pose)
Greenstuff or Modeling Epoxy (optional, needed for magnets)
Blutac

Have sprue cutters, this will save you a ton of clean up time and cutting time compared to try doing it with a razor knife. I worked on this bad boy for two days and still have more work to do next week to fully assemble it. You can magnetize it but it will not be an easy task, rough guess it will take about 20 decent strength magnets to do it right. Small magnets will not work nor weak ones, I recommend N52 magnets at least 3mm in size for most, though the shoulder guns could be done with smaller ones. You will need greenstuff or some type of epoxy for some of the magnets to give them a base to sit in. I would have two types of super glue handy, medium or thick for glueing the model and some thin for filling gaps. Liquid green stuff would work really well one this model as well. Fine sandpaper if you want this model looking good is almost required as well, there are a fair number of mold lines as well as seems that need to be filled and sanded down to get a good smooth painting surface. Lastly a good sharp razorknife

First thing you will need to decide is if you want it to look like it does on the box or do you want it custom. I originally was going to do it like the box for the first one but messed mine up and had to pin the legs slightly since I messed up on two of the leg pieces. This kit has a tab a slot pin basically built into it which is nice if you only want one or done mine the legs all looking the same, if you want to make them custom you simply have to cut the little tab off but this does increase the difficulty on putting it together a bit. If you do decide you want it to look like it does on the box simply build it step by step as it is listed in the instruction book and you are good to go. WARNING: if you want it like it is on the box, glue the legs as you cut them from the sprue, after cleaning them since some of the parts look damn near the same until you go to put them on the base.

If you decide you want to go custom I highly recommend you use blutac to test fit the model as some of the parts are very tight on this model and you want to make sure all the plates can go on once you position the knees and feet. If you have experience on FW models then this should be pretty easy, though pinning hollow plastic can be a pain in the ass, but I do recommend it. Plastic rods would be better suited instead of brass rods, though either would work.

Honestly there is nothing I really can add to the step by step instructions to make assembling the kit easier, only advice I can give is for either magnetizing it or making it easier to paint.

Magnetizing: As I mentioned above you will need a variety of magnets, if you can get them, grab N52 strength. Since you get 2 left and 2 right arms you can fully assemble both of the models left arms kitting one with the shield and one with the cannon. You will need three (3) 3mm magnets for this, one for the shoulder and one for each arm.

The right arm is where is gets a bit tricky and tight. The sword arm can just be fully kitted and forgotten about. The same gun chassis is used for both so that can be glued to the arm but before you glue it down you will need to put three magnets in it. Two (2) 2 or 3mm magnets, one each at the front and read and two (2) 1mm magnets for the gun mount and ammo supply. This will allow you to swap the ammo, counter weight, and barrel as well as the extra gun that goes on the large cannon. Each barrel, ammo, and weight will have to have a magnet seated in it as well.

You do have the option of putting the smaller guns either on the shoulder or mounted to the gun, either way you will need eight (8) 1mm magnets to attach them, though you may have issues with them pointing at the ground with only a single magnet if mounted on the arms due to gravity, but if you are careful and keep enough of the slot intact you should be ok, if not a magnet and pin system would work as well as putting 2 magnets. If you go with two magnets this will bump the number up to 16. I highly recommend drilling the hole slightly larger then needed, filling it with green stuff and then pressing the magnet into it, then waiting for it to dry, easier to get the magnet pretty much flush.

Ease of painting: I recommend skipping glueing the knees pads down, the jump pack fins, the shoulder pads, the head, the torso to hips, and the last cover over the guns until you have finished painting it. Cover small parts with blutac to keep paint off the contact points and paints them seperate as this will make it a lot easier to paint in the long run. You can glue all of these down and still paint it pretty easy but some parts would be tight getting to.

Final Thoughts: I was suprised at how well everything in the kit lined up once you started putting it together, all the little numbs and seals and parts lined up perfectly except the arms, on all 4 arms the upper rear part left a small seem, but that was easily solved with some gap filler and light sanding. This kit defiantly shows the power of using CAD to build our current kits. This was a really enjoyable kit to work on and I can imagine a blast to paint. The kit is huge, but so is the price tag. I am not sure if I would 100% say its worth the $115 but I paid full price and did not feel like I was ripped off. The amount of detail on this kit is mind blowing and pictures do not do it justice. The instructions are the best I have seen in a kit yet, though some of the pictures could have used multiple angles for ease of assembly. While having the all the different parts in halves does allow for more detail it also means a lot of seems that will have to be filled and sanded down but this is a small tradeoff for some of the really cool things the kit allows for. Overall I am very happy about this model, you can tell hundreds of hours went into the design of this beast.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

More coming I accidently hit submit on Tap A Talk, editing it now

edit: It's done now, ask any questions on parts I seem unclear about if you like, I am sure I forgot something and messed up the wording.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

How viable do you think it is to get a very low crouched Wraithknight - in a fencing or sniping stance perhaps?


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Maybe 6.5 to 7 inches with out modification. Much more would take cutting the legs. Then you deal with modeling for advantage. 

Adding LED lights would be easy though.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Oh I don't mean to make it more competitive - I've cut the hell out of my three Wraithlords to give them dynamic poses and the static pictures of the Wraithknight is the main thing turning me off it. I don't want to spend £70 just to find out I can't have it looking sexy!


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## Chaosftw (Oct 20, 2008)

My only complaint really is its size. I really wish GW would have gone a different route rather then build up. Maybe additional armor, make it look bulkier but still maintaining the elder sleek feel.

As for game play after looking over its stats and abilities the wraithknight is meh to me. Yes its got a great stat line but it can't hide, its guns are decent but cant split fire so it can only hit one target a turn. Its not that great in CC so if the right units get up and personal with it I think it will just crumble. Not to mention its cost $ wise. I would much rather buy 2-3 squads of models over spending 150$ for that thing.

I have not played with/ahainst it so my comment is all speculation soely off what I have read in the codex so my opinion could very well change as more appear and I see them in action.

I personally will not be buying one any time soon but that's just because I hate the fact its just too damn big. This is a miniatures game after all. 

Chaosftw


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Ok let me describe the legs. 

You have the feet which are on a ball and socket to the ankle. It has a pin that can be cut to offer free positioning. 

The ankle is directly attached to shin. The shin attaches to the knee, it has a pin to offer more range, you do have a knee plate that goes over that you have to worry about the but unless you bird leg it you should be ok. 

The knee then attaches to the upper leg. It also has a pin the you might be able to cut but I don't recommend it. 

The hip is a ball and socket with a pin that can be cut for positioning. 

Hope that helps. 

Bonus to having a very large Eldar army vs starting new is I can now just buy models I want to put together instead of what I need. If I were to play him I would use him with a shield and the big gun with pulse laser, no smaller weapons.


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## Ddraig Cymry (Dec 30, 2012)

After reading a (particularly heated/occasionaly stupid) DakkaDakka thread, I've come to the conclusion that it won't be run alone, will mostly be used to draw fire off of the rest of the army (which Eldar sort of need), requires a semi-rediculous amount of firepower to take down if not given cover or invulns (which you can equip/enchant it with an invuln, and apparently sticking this son of a bitch's base into some trees is enough to give it a 5+ cover save, sounds screwy to me but oh well), and is too expensive to be run with upgrades or without some support units.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Well I am in the process of putting the magnets in and have discovered a N52 3mm magnet is not strong enough to hold the barrel of the larger gun on. Will have pictures up soon to show how to magnetize a Wraithknight. It was not all that hard but I need to order some new magnets, running low on some smaller ones and larger ones.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks Djinn, would love to see more pics. I magnetise everything as well (currently doing every Wraithguard/Blade option, snore) so it's all very helpful to me


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## Bubblematrix (Jun 4, 2009)

Sethis said:


> Thanks Djinn, would love to see more pics. I magnetise everything as well (currently doing every Wraithguard/Blade option, snore) so it's all very helpful to me


I considered doing the same to wraithguard but decided that the loss in strength was not worth it and that I would be better off just buying another unit for the weapon options - they are useful for apocalypse in whatever form I am sure.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Its not done, I need more magnets before I can and both my car tags came due so it's going to be a few weeks. But I can post up what I have so far.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Here is the starting of magnetizing. I still have 7 or so to put in for it to be done. I did figure out the barrel and I am working on the 2nd right arm.


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