When ever someone sneezes a Plague Raptor Gets his wings!

[DavicusPrime]

I've been working on adding new units to my all nurgle army. I'm looking for non-traditional Death Guard units but with a definite plague flavor. The idea was to add a winged Daemon Prince calling him the Lord of Flies and his trusty followers the plague of flies (Nurgle Raptors). To fit the fluff the DP and raptors would need sime form of insect like wings. The trick was coming up with a way to make flywings that were sturdy and looked good enough for Papa Nurgle's minions. What is pictured below is my prototype Nurgle Raptor and a couple first attempts and the final design I'm going with.

 

First the wings... I tried greenstuff on plastic card first and it just didn't do it for me. The next was done by making a wire frame and gluing paper to both sides which was much more successful. The final design built off of the wire and paper method but added veins to the wing by adding a wire pattern for the veins between the layers of paper. I rubbed a pencil over them to help make the relief pattern more visible in the picture.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/PlagueRaptorWingPrototype3.jpg

 

The raptor himself was just some Greenstuff compound eyes and a quick reposition of the backpack vents to give the wings more clearance.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/PlagueRaptorPrototypeFront1.jpghttp://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/PlagueRaptorPrototypeRear1.jpg

 

More pictures to come as I attach the wings and get some paint on him.

 

-DavicusPrime

[Rain]

Awesome. Just awesome. Although I personally think that Raptors are overcosted for anything but 5 man 2x melta tank hunting, I've always wanted a unit of insect winged raptors for my DG army just for the flavor, but I am terrible at conversions and scratch-building, so I never did it, you on the other hand seem to be well on your way. Oh and honestly I think I like your card and GS wings better than the paper and wire ones, but that's just me.

[Nikolakhs]

Sorry but I will be shamelessly stealing this idea for my Plague Marines. Too good to pass up, and please, keep us updated, I wanna see just how well this turns out.

 

-Nikolakhs

[rottenlad]

Love it :D Can't wait to see the finished fig.

[d@n]

I like it

[Captain Mick]

Great looking model and wings, this idea off plastic raptors im probally gonna use to. Great job B) . Edited December 18, 2010 by Captain Mick

[Plague Dave]

Nice. I've had this idea for quite a while myself, but I still wanted to stick with the actual Raptor models. I'll likely wait until GW finally gets around to making them plastic, though.

 

I'll be interested to see more of these, and how it all comes together.

[UltimateJake]

Awesome wings. I really love the eyes. Can't wait to see it finished.

[DavicusPrime]

So heres a pic of the first attempt at painting a raptor wing:

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/PaintedRaptorWing.jpg

 

These things feel like they're made of plastic. I'm quite pleased.

 

So a quick step-by-step:

1) bend yourself the outline of the desired wing (I used 20 gauge wire) and make sure both wings match in shape.

2) Coat a piece of paper (I used standard copier paper) with a thin coat of PVA glue (I used Elmer's Carpenter glue). Then press the outline to it.

3) While the glue is still wet, add more wire to the interior of the wing to form the veins (I used 24 gauge wire but you could use the same stuff as the outline if that's what you've got).

4) Add some more glue to the interior of the wing filling in all voids and press a second piece of paper to the top and press it all together with a paper towel or something similar to push the paper down. Do this on both sides to ensure that the vein pattern is impressed on both sides and that excess glue is pressed out of the interior of the wing. Then allow to cure entirely.

5) Using scissors, cut out the periphery along the wire frame.

6) Coat each side and the edges with watered down PVA glue and allow to dry.

 

And that's it. I did both wings at the same time but the glue kept drying out before I was done. So I had to keep adding a little water to extend the time. Its important to keep the glue wet through the completion of step 4 so that the contour of the veins turns out evenly on both sides.

 

Oh, and I added a little Greenstuff to the end to bulk up the join to the raptor's backpack.

 

I wanted to show you all the whole painted raptor but the temps around here got too low for me to prime him. So as soon as things warm up a bit, I'll get him in the works and the completed model will grace this here thread.

 

So there you go.

 

-DavicusPrime

[vannas]

yes ,the eyes,how to describe,umm.....i like it ,the work is greatness :D

[Captain Mick]

Looks great, keep up the good work :) .

[Black Hand]

I am now monitoring this thread, as it has the potential to develop into a raging case of awesome.

Fly Raptors? Seriously cool idea!

[Ju'kosian]

Looking very great so far !! can't wait to see it finished

[DavicusPrime]

Finally figured out how to best attach the wings to the Raptor prototype and here are some pre-paint pictures:

 

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/RaptorWIPFront2.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/RaptorWIPBack2.jpg

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/DavicusPrime/Plague%20Raptors/RaptorWIPSide2.jpg

 

Just finished the second wing for the Daemon Prince and as soon as the temps get above freezing I'll prime and paint them.

 

-DavicusPrime

[Snugsmike]

Insanely cool.

 

As posted above, I agree that Raptors can only be used as 5 man dual melta squads... so why not use these guys for that?

 

Secondly, are those just glued under the back pack?

 

Third, how do you make those eyes? Obviously green stuff, but do you just put a little blob down and poke it a bunch with a sharp thing?

[DavicusPrime]

My rule for units in my army is that I always take 7 as it's Nurgle's sacred Number. As for the load out, I take one Meltagun and one flamer as well as a P-Fist Champ in most of my front line units do they can handle most situations (armor, massed infantry and anything that might need a good solid punch). So far testing the unit out with proxies has been interesting. I'm still trying to learn how to use them well. They don't hit as hard in assault as my regular Plague Marines so trying to take on melee threats, solo isn't were they shine, but adding their attacks to a strategic combat or in tying up a shooty unit to shut down their guns or going after an offending tank with melta and fist are all ways in which they've been useful.

 

The wings have a wire protruding from the end which is inserted into a hole in the back pack with glue. Then I used green stuff around the join to better meld it to the pack in an organic fashion.

 

You got it right for the eyes. A round blob of GS with lines pressed in with the blade of a mini screw driver I have.

 

-DavicusPrime

Edited February 27, 2011 by DavicusPrime

[Warsmith Aznable]

Turning around the exhaust vents on the backpack is a simple, straightforward thing that makes way more difference visually than I would have imagined. I may steal that idea for something in the future. Those wings are ace, as is the whole model. Inspiring stuff you've got there!

[Snugsmike]

And I just noticed the custom Death Guard pads! The skull pad with the two greenstuff skulls added! That's GENIUS!!! Man o man, I might have to steal that too. I'm stuck breaking off all of my old pads that I put on before I had a good idea what I was doing with my army. I spent an arm and a leg on the metal Deathguard pads and have been slowly breaking arms off and gluing on the new ones... what a hassle.

Again, great work!

[Hicks]

Great idea and I love the fly eyes, very nice touch!

[Emperors Immortals]

The dark stench of your genius pervades the whole sector.

 

What a great idea! very well done, just felt i had to tell you lots of people really like your idea!

[Purge]

great job! The eyes pull the whole image together. Can't wait to see it painted.

GW should pay you for this idea and produce these. Awsome raptor idea.