eldar eagle

farseer command vehicle

I designed this vehicle myself and based it on the versatile Falcon chassis. I envisaged it as a dedicated transport and mobile command vehicle for a Farseer, crewed by Warlocks and able to amplify psychic powers. Its role on the battlefield is to provide support to the Eldar forces and to transport the Farseer to the front lines in relative safety. I decided to complete the turret separately and use that as a standalone option for a standard Falcon hull. Placing the turret on my kit-bashed Panther hull is now a much closer match to the original concept that I had in mind when I first started this project.

date: 2009-2012 (abandoned)
components: 1x Falcon, 1x Forge World Type II Falcon conversion kit, 1x Wave Serpent, 1x Forge World Revenant Titan head, plasticard (various thicknesses), brass rod, styrene rod (various diameters), Green Stuff, flying base, 6mm diameter clear acrylic rod, neodymium rare earth magnets (various sizes), Eldar Warlock, Eldar Vyper console, Dire Avenger Exarch direswords, metal Farseer head, High Elf Archer arm, Dire Avenger shuriken catapult, Dire Avenger Exarch shimmershield arm
Epic 40,000 Farseer Falcon
1. I used the design of this old Epic 40,000 "Farseer Falcon" miniature as a starting point for my own, newer design of vehicle.
Original image © Games Workshop.
Eldar Eagle design sketches
2. These sketches outlined my various ideas for the vehicle. The Eagle is meant to be larger than a standard Falcon but smaller than the Eldar's superheavy grav tanks.
3. This piece is one of a pair and is part of the turret. It is meant to resemble the antenna-like "wings" on the original Epic 40,000 miniature and represent "psycho-conductive vanes" through which the embarked Farseer and Warlock crew can channel their psychic powers.
4. The turret, partway through construction. I decided to move the turret and vehicle cockpits so that they were aligned centrally, rather than offset (as they are on the standard Falcon chassis).
5. The underside of the Eagle's hull, with plasticard extensions added to the front "wings" to elongate the vehicle and make it appear more distinctive.
6. A mock-up of the vehicle, giving an impression of the end result that I was aiming for. I was pleased with how closely it resembled my concept sketches at this early stage.
7. The underside of the Eagle, with the elongated sections of fins added.
8. The turret, after the cockpit was repositioned centrally.
9. The Eagle continues to take shape.
10. The underside of the upper hull - this can still be detached from the rest of the vehicle, despite the large number of bits that have been added and removed.
Eldar Eagle extended wings
11. A close-up picture of the extended wings, now complete. As with the turret, a combination of Green Stuff and lots of careful filing and sanding produced a smooth transition between the different component parts of the wings.
12. A dorsal view of the Eagle's hull. I wanted to make the vehicle more streamlined and less cluttered than the normal Falcon to highlight the fact that it serves a very different function, so several minor changes were made.
13. A detailed view of the cockpit and the cowling that sits behind it.
14. Another view of the underside of the vehicle.
15. The extended sections of fins, nearing completion.
16. The underside of the upper hull continues to take shape. Normally most of this wouldn't be seen, however since it is removable on the Eagle I wanted to make it look neat and disguise the conversion work as much as possible.
17. A close-up view of the Revenant Titan pilot and cockpit that I used in the Eagle's construction.
18. The inside of the Revenant Titan mask has some great detail - one of the reasons that I didn't want to just glue this piece onto the front of the vehicle.
Eldar Eagle interior concept sketches
19. I drew some more concept sketches for the Eagle's interior. The room is dominated by the Farseer's "scrying globe" - a futuristic crystal ball that is used to try and predict the outcome of battles.
20. The hold begins to take shape. Basically all of the existing interior was removed to provide a blank slate. My main goal was to create the illusion of more space so that once all of the detail and fixtures were added it wouldn't seem too cramped inside.
21. The Warlock crewman takes shape. Since Eldar psykers use runes to channel their powers I modelled him holding one and extending his other hand to cast a power.
22. The turret, now nearly complete.
23. The underside of the turret.
The Eldar Eagle
24. An updated work-in-progress mock-up of the Eagle.
Two small round magnets were glued to the turret and concealed with Green Stuff.
One edge of the transparent canopy was cut away and three 1mm cubic neodymium magnets were glued in place and masked with Green Stuff.
Eldar Eagle turret cockpit close-up
25. The canopy covering the cockpit of the Eagle's turret has been magnetised so that it can be completely removed to see the crewman inside more clearly.
Eldar Eagle interior work-in-progress
26. A mock-up of the interior.
Eldar Eagle completed interior
27. The completed interior.
Eldar Eagle interior close-up
28. A close-up of the left-hand side of the interior.
Eldar Eagle interior close-up
29. The right-hand side of the Eagle interior.
Eldar Eagle with upper hull removed
30. The front of the Eagle, with the upper hull removed.
Eldar Eagle conversion with new cockpit
31. I eventually made the difficult decision to replace the Titan mask with a more standard cockpit front, wanting the Eagle to look more streamlined. The Titan mask, whilst an interesting feature, was too bulbous and made the Eagle look too much like a Cylon Raider (from Battlestar Galactica) for my liking. The Revenant Titan pilot remains and is clearly visible through the transparent canopy.
Eldar Eagle cockpit
32. The new cockpit with the Revenant Titan pilot visible.
Eldar Eagle dorsal view
33. A dorsal view of the Eagle with the new cockpit.


comments powered by Disqus