My friend Max has been doing this really wonderful thing for fellow gamers in our gaming group for their birthdays – rather than buying them a mini, he’s been painting up something to match their army as a gift. He found it as a great way to try new techniques or paint new miniatures.
But just painting a Neurolictor wasn’t enough, I wanted to up the game a bit. I’ve been keen to try repainting a JoyToy Warhammer model for awhile (I still have a Mk4 Marine waiting to be Death Guard-ed), so thought this would be the perfect time to take a crack at one. So I picked up a Tyranid Ripper to give it a go!
Just like the Neurolictor mini, I wanted to see how well I could match his armies paint scheme. Had some issues with spray primer sticking, but stripped it and went with some airbrush primer and all was good. The rest was mostly airbrushed acrylics and oil washes and it worked out quite well. In the future, I’d skip the spray primer and just stick to airbrushing.
To complete the look, I wanted to give it a big base to match. I snagged some gravel from my driveway to aid in the scale of debris on the base. Used the same paints/techniques that I used on the Neurolictor base, just at a larger scale.
One last detail: I had this globe cloche sitting on a shelf waiting for a future diorama but it was the perfect fit to house the Ripper and give Max something he could put on his desk. This was the best surprise when I gave it to him, he had no idea what was in store – couldn’t be happier!
Here’s some look at it all coming to life…
