Undead Warpfire Dragon

[GundamMecha]

So after a break from fantasy subjects (having focused recently on aircraft and AFV Scale Models) I decided to go back to my roots and try a project a little more fun and dramatic!

I found myself browsing through forgeworld's website (as I fancied something resin), and thought that the warpfire dragon was an excellent sculpt. I think it has real character! I know a lot of people on different forums gave it quite a chilly reception, which really suprised me because I love it! It's a little different from Citadel's other Dragons, and the name really intrigued me as well... Warpfire Dragon. Something even more magical and ethereal than regular dragons.

I remember from many years ago when I first started modelling, I got the very old Citadel Zombie Dragon that had a wight as a rider. I always loved the idea of that, and remember lots of great artwork from various fantasy universes and novels that featured undead lords on daemonic or magically mounts. The idea of a Wight king leading an undead army always appealed to me much more so than a Vampire.

So since this was a project just to build and paint, and to do just for fun, I decided to model my warpfire dragon with a Wight rider. Since the Warpfire dragon already looks very exotic, and freakish with its four eyes, and becuase I imagined mine as more of an ethereal being, I decided to leave the Dragon as it was (rather than zombify it with bits of bone and peeling flesh).


The Dragon took some work, clean up and repair work took a great deal of time, and the fit of the parts was pretty bad too. I also had to remodel it to accept a rider. Making the Sadle for the rider was actually really fun.

The Wight himself is converted from Forgeworld's excellent Wight Standard Bearer. Which is just equiste!

Here are some pictures of the work in progress (apologies for the poor camera):

[GundamMecha]

[GundamMecha]

[GundamMecha]

Next up I added some cloth to the saddle with green stuff:







I then continued working on the rider, working on the sash with some green stuff:

[Kronos]

Ethereal dragon sounds great, the rider looks good, though think it should have some leg armour in some places.

And definitely agree with you about the warpfire dragon, I myself quite like it simply for being one of the more gribbly non-nurgle sculpts they've made, though I don't have use for it so it's at the end of a long wishlist. Shame to hear the pieces didn't fit without some remodelling, came out well though.

[GundamMecha]

Hi Kronos! Thanks for posting!

I'm considering a few things for the wight at the moment. Extra armour is one of them, but I'm keen to keep him subtle. I'm going to play around with a few things.

I've built a lot of companies resin kits in a lot of modelling areas (sci fi, fantasy, historical, scale models) and I have to say Forgeworld's is probably some of the worst I've worked with. Their casting and the resin they use, really lets down the amazing quality of their sculpts. It took A LOT of work repairing and cleaning this kit up. The wight was better, but not without it's problems too.

[GundamMecha]

I did some more work on the rider, mostly experiments with chainmail.

I used some fine link chain to try to actually make the chain mail instead of sculpting it from green stuff.

I'm not entirely sure to be honest. It gives a nice natural effect, and hangs and sits well on the model, however the chain links are slightly too large. I'm not sure if I can pull it off in it's current form. I am considering trying to source some smaller and finer chain, and try to match the link size more closely to the chainmail in the resin. This is just an experiement and can be easily removed.

I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts and opinions on this.

[mrtn]

Nice project, looks like you're off to a good start.
I'm not convince by the chains, I think you'd be better off sculpting chainmail.

[GundamMecha]

They are quite large... thats the problem.

I think I'll throw around a few alternatives with finer link chain if I can find it, and see how that goes too.

Thanks for posting! And nice to see you again Mrtn! I can't beleive it's been so long since I lasted posted on Warseer! Where does the time go?

[Deaf Paradox]

Have you considered using the lower half of a Black Knight Rider or Blood Knight from Terrorgheist kit, Just an idea to give you lass hassle to work with.

Your project is coming nicely and looks great so far, also agree about the chain mail looking out of place though.

[GundamMecha]

I've got the Zombie Dragon kit too, but plan to use the mounted vampire on that one. Also the legs are very chunky and large, and quite out of scale for this forgeworld wight. Detail is a bit crude too.

Don't have any black knights!

Actually these undead legs are from Rackham, from their now out of production mounted undead. I'm really happy with the legs myself, and wanted something bony and rotting!

Thanks for the input, it's always great to other modellers ideas and feedback

[Imp of High Noon]

His legs do look a tad scrawny, other than that it looks awesome and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

[GundamMecha]

His legs do look a tad scrawny, other than that it looks awesome and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Difficult not to be scrawny when you are a skeleton!

[Loki73]

Looks pretty good! I cant wait to see it painted.

[pointyteeth]

Looks amazing! Love the wight bsb conversion, please don't change anything with the legs. They give the perfect impression of a cadaver. I do like the chain links, even though they are a bit large.

[Imp of High Noon]

Difficult not to be scrawny when you are a skeleton!

Fair point, I walked into that one.

[warpsucker]

really cool project! really interested to see how it wil turn out

[glenning]

Very nice so far! Very did you get that shield? I'm looking for some Celtic/Ancient looking shields for my Undead..

[GundamMecha]

Loki - Thanks! I'm also really excited about getting paint onto this beast!

pointyteeth - thanks for the encouragement and the feedback. I also really like the legs. I'm really thinking that chain could give a lovely effect... I just have to source myself some smaller finer chain with smaller links. I guess I will hit the markets and jewellery stores!

Imp - It's the way you tell them! But thank you very much for your feedback and your thoughts. It always helps to get feedback and always makes me think of things I missed myself.

Warpsucker - Thanks for joining the ride! I'll try not to disapoint!

Glenning - the Shield is also from Rackham. From the same Confrontation box set as the mounted undead. I will post a picture later. These things are near impossible to find now though since Rackham sadly went bust.

[GundamMecha]

Glenning, here is the box: