Eldar Fire Prism rune Eldar Night Spinner rune

eldar fire prism & night spinner turrets

Although it was good to see the venerable old metal Fire Prism updated with a new plastic kit, I had some reservations about the design. Overall I liked the concept, but several (admittedly minor) features seemed flawed to me and collectively they made the new-style turret seem "off" somehow. I decided to convert one of the new turrets to try to address these small annoyances. These minor changes required a disproportionate amount of work to achieve and the end result is only superficially different from the original, but despite this I think that it was worthwhile! I now have two of these converted turrets in my collection, one of which has been painted.

date: 2010 - present (work-in-progress)
components (per turret): 1x Fire Prism/Night Spinner kit, 1x standard Falcon turret, 1x classic metal Fire Prism sensor, 1x Forge World Eldar Hornet pilot, neodymium magnets (various sizes), brass rod, Green Stuff

see also:
1. A close-up photo of the new turret design and my thoughts on some of the design aspects that I wasn't so keen on. Additionally, I decided against using the new components for the main hull (the vectored engines, star engines and alternative access ramp), preferring to use my standard (albeit heavily converted) Falcon chassis instead.
Original artwork © Games Workshop.
Plastic Fire Prism turret conversion concept sketch
2. My concept sketch for the conversion. I wanted to see if I could create a turret that was (subtly) more in keeping with the existing Falcon turrets and that of the Forge World Type II Scorpion superheavy grav tank, whose design was clearly a major reference when the new Fire Prism turret was designed.
3. In order to incorporate a standard Falcon cockpit, I had to hack away a lot of the internal structure of the new turret.
Work-in-progress converted, plastic Fire Prism turret
4. The new turret with the old Falcon cockpit in place. Although the cockpit sits only a few millimetres further forward and is only subtly different in shape, I was satisfied that at this stage the turret already looked more like that of the existing Falcon and Scorpion.
5. The turret continues to take shape and the Fire Prism weapon options have been magnetised.
Magnetised weapon cowlings for plastic Night Spinner
6. A frontal view of the completed weapon cowlings.
Magnetised plastic Night Spinner weapons
7. The magnetised Night Spinner weaponry.
8. A close-up of the completed turret.
The base of the turret has been set further backwards (so that it is more central) and filled in with Green Stuff.
Due to the weight of the turret I used a thicker (4mm) magnet to attach the turret to the Falcon hull.
I filled in these notches with Green Stuff.
Underside of converted plastic Night Spinner turret
9. The underside of the converted turret. Most of the changes made to the bottom of the turret were done so as to make it look more similar to that of the Scorpion turret.
Converted plastic Night Spinner turret
10. With the first turret completed and undercoated, here it is on one of my Type II Falcon hulls. This is the Night Spinner configuration.
Converted plastic Fire Prism turret
11. Fire Prism configuration. The Prism Cannon has not been glued together at this stage, making painting easier.
Converted plastic Fire Prism turrets
13. A side-by-side comparison of the two turrets.
Converted plastic Fire Prism turrets
14. The two completed Fire Prism turrets; undercoated and ready for painting.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
15. A Fire Prism, ready for painting. The transparent components have been tinted purple in the same fashion as the canopies.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
16. The first of my two converted turrets, now fully painted and shown on one of my completed Falcon hulls.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
17. Alternate view of the completed model.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
18. Dorsal view of the painted model.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
19. Top-down view of the painted turret, with Fire Prism armament.
Converted Eldar Fire Prism
20. Underside of the painted turret.
Converted Eldar Night Spinner
21. The painted turret, with Night Spinner armament.
Converted Eldar Night Spinner
22. Alternative view of the Night Spinner.
Converted Eldar Night Spinner
23. Close-up of the painted turret.
Converted Eldar Night Spinner
24. Close-up of the gunner in the turret, with the magnetic canopy removed.
Converted Eldar Night Spinner
25. Dorsal view of the Night Spinner.


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