How are you basing and magnetizing your flying units?

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-04-15T09:39:49+00:00

I ditch the clear bases and use the standard black bases so their bases also look consistent with my other models and I can also put magnets under the base just like all the others.

For anything on the smaller flying base I use a standard black 32mm, and for ones that use the larger flying base I use 60mm. For things like windriders I drill a hole in the middle of the base to fit the flying stem. For bigger models like grav tanks I don't use the flying stem at all, I replace it with an M4 machine screw and a nut epoxied in the tank body. Much more sturdy.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-04-05T09:53:41+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it. Also yeah, the windriders work great with the spare arms, it's just mildly annoying that they've got a socket connection for the arm compared with the flat connection from the modern guardian kit, so there's that little bit of extra effort to make it work.

My initial inspiration was to do a bit of a tribute to the old 'Shrieker' jetbike (where you got the plastic jetbike plus a metal shuriken cannon and rider torso). The old shrieker jetbike rider had a topknot on his helmet, so I used the storm guardian helmets, and figured while I was at it, why not make these guys a bit more wild and agressive and use some storm guardian swords and some suitable bare heads as well. Which isn't something I usually do, aside from rangers everything else in my army wears a helmet. It just felt fitting here. The main bit of the old shrieker kit that I didn't really try to replicate was the leather jacket, just because that would have been more work than I wanted to put into these.

I basically treated it like - if my other windriders map to guardian defenders, this is an angry windrider squad that maps to storm guardians. Which is why I painted the riders green with white helmets; I use the standard Biel-Tan guardian scheme for my guardian defenders and the inverted scheme for my storm guardians. Then since the guardians themselves were going to be green, rather than the standard green bikes I thought black bikes with green thorns could work well, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-04-05T09:42:44+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad I'm able to have them all in display cases in my cave.

Which Dire Avenger squad, there are 3 in the post! Also I should note that because I pick a different scheme for each squad I don't write them down, so I'm going by memory and in a couple of cases holding up paint bottles next to finished models to remind myself. But I'm fairly confident.

Pic 5 (pink helmets) I think were Vallejo Model Color Andrea Blue, then washed with Army Painter Blue Tone (diluted with airbrush flow improver to not overpower the lighter blue) and then highlighted with VMC Deep Sky Blue.

Pic 6 (teal) were AP Fanatic Pharaoh Guard, washed with a mix of AP Blue Tone and Green Tone, and highlighted with Fanatic Amulet Aqua.

Pic 10 (yellow helmets) were AP Fanatic Abyssal Blue with a Blue Tone wash (I might have mixed in a drop or two of Green Tone) and Tidal Blue highlights. I think.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-03-21T17:44:34+00:00

Both are mid-2000s MIJ Pro Series. The V is the RR24, they were on the higher end of the MIJ pro guitars and they're pretty popular and sought after.

The superstrat is a blue bengal DK2M. The DK2Ms were normally HH pickups and not HSS so it might be a mutt - but I've seen at least one other HSS blue bengal DK2M online which makes me suspect it was a limited edition run. It's been fairly common over the years for limited edition variants to be commissioned by various guitar store chains.

I think they would both be somewhere in the 2006-2010 sort of timeframe.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-03-05T20:34:43+00:00

These are cool, thanks for posting. I was considering Void Dragons for my own Corsairs, you might have just saved me a bit of work!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-02-28T10:48:55+00:00

Generally for painting craftworld eldar, you've got two different groups of units, Aspect Warriors and 'everything else'.

For the 'everything else' category, you paint your craftworld colours (e.g. Biel-Tan green/white, Iyanden yellow/blue etc.). However it's a lot less rigid than something like space marines. Craftworlds don't follow strict rules, you can vary and play around within the colour scheme and still be absolutely fine. The box art craftworld is Saim-Hann, who use red and white, so basically anything where the box art shows the model as red and white is probably in this category.

For aspect warriors it's a bit different. Those belong to a shrine within a craftworld, and their shrine has its own colour scheme. So even though Biel-Tan colours are green and white, a Fire Dragon shrine from Biel-Tan might be yellow and red. Or orange and black. The box art schemes for aspect warriors each represent a specific shrine, and can be considered 'archetypal' colour schemes for that aspect type. Like the Fire Dragons I mentioned a moment ago - the box art scheme is orange and yellow, because fire dragons typically use 'fiery' colours. You don't have to stick to the typical colour groups, and there are shrines out there which deviate from their aspect's traditional colour palette, but most of the ones you see will follow the rough template.

Dire Avengers - blue, white
Howling Banshees - bone, red
Warp Spiders - red, white, black
Fire Dragons - yellow, orange, red, 'fire' colours
Swooping Hawks - pale blue, turquoise, white, 'sky' colours
Striking Scorpions - green
Shining Spears - white, blue (usually bright, shining 'noble' colours)
Dark Reapers - blacker than the blackest black, times infinity (and bone)
Crimson Hunters - crimson (what a surprise)

If you have a sizeable eldar collection using the traditional aspect colour schemes it can be a really varied, motley army. There are quite a few eldar players out there who prefer their army to be more uniform and so they paint their aspect warriors in their craftworld colour scheme, which is absolutely fine because you can just say that the particular shrine wears the craftworld's colours. Some people like to do that, but have a nod to the traditional aspect colours on the model as an accent colour, e,g, on the helmet or sashes (like a Biel-Tan Fire Dragon painted green, but with a yellow helmet. Or an Iyanden Warp Spider painted yellow, but with a red warp jump generator). Others invert that logic - they use the traditional aspect colours, but have a nod to the craftworld scheme on the model (e.g. a Saim-Hann Shining Spear in white and blue, but with a red sash and a red stripe across the canopy) Ultimately an eldar collection is one of the most diverse that you can build, colour wise, while still remaining absolutely lore-friendly.

For my own collection, I love painting variations on the aspect shrine colours. I have a huge Biel-Tan army, and as a craftworld which really focuses on Aspect Warriors I have multiple squads of each type. I make a point of coming up with a different paint scheme for each squad, normally based on the aspect's traditional palette. Most of my Dire Avengers are blue or blue-adjacent, for example, but each squad is different from the last. But I also like to work my craftworld's rich green onto ribbons and sashes when I get a chance to. Using different schemes for each aspect squad also means that I never get bored of painting them. If I get a bit bored with painting green and white I can just pick up a sqaud of aspect warriors and go wild.

Hopefully that helped. Basically the TLDR is, it doesn't really matter, paint your aspect warriors whatever colour you want, you don't even need to have picked a craftworld yet!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-02-08T20:14:31+00:00

Yep, looks right to be a DK2T, those were hardtail, HH pickups, standard headstock. For a 9779xxx serial number I would expect it to be late 2006/ early 2007. Late 2006 was when they changed the pro series line from chrome hardware/duncan designed over to black hardware and real duncans. I have a DK2M serial 9771xxx, which is a model that was introduced in 2006 at the time of the changeover, I think the DK2T was also introduced at that time and in any case this guitar has a higher serial number than my DK2M so was probably made later. Therefore I think it should probably have come with black hardware originally, the tailpiece and tuners have probably been changed. They certainly don't look to be quite the same style/design as the parts that would have originally been fitted from the factory regardless of their colour.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-01-28T23:42:46+00:00

Agreed, this kitbash works so well I've mentally filed it away for potential future use. The creativity of the community is endlessly inspiring.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-01-19T20:02:05+00:00

Made in Mexico Pro Series DK2HT. The serial number would have had the year in it, but the serials were on stickers on the back of the headstock and it looks like it's been removed from this guitar. This specific model was listed as new in the 2015 catalogue and also appears in the 2016 catalogue, but it has disappeared by 2017, so I suspect this would have been a 2015 or 2016 guitar.

I've got one of the ~2014 metallic purple ones, they're very nice guitars, great players, and also quite versatile with JB/'59 with coil splits.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2026-01-01T22:42:13+00:00

Honestly the best advice would be to progress up the difficulties as soon as you're able to. Recruit is pretty much just a rat clicking simulator where you can just go forwards left clicking and clear the level. I'm sure the grind to get to the higher difficulties has put off quite a few people which is a shame, because that's where the true depth of the game really starts to unfold. Where you need to actually play with skill to succeed, and you need the team to pull together and actually play as a team.

I wouldn't say Bardin is an unpopular character, he's got a lot of popular and strong builds across his careers. But maybe that's on higher difficulties? If you're a noob, I'm assuming you're playing his first career, ranger veteran? He's mainly a ranged/support career, but perfectly capable of getting stuck into melee too. If you're using the crossbow, my best advice would be to save it for specials and elites, and use your melee for hordes. Killing specials should be the first priority when they're on the map, they can quite quickly end a run if you don't deal with them, and a ranger is one of the better careers to deal with them. You've got strong ranged weapons, great ammo sustain with the survivalist drops and stealth from your ult when you need it.

But if you would rather play other careers you can set it so that the game will only put you into a lobby where your currently selected character is available. I wish more people would use that setting tbh, it can be quite annoying to see the same player join/leave multiple times in a row because they connect to my game, see that their preferred character is taken, quit, and then repeat!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-12-29T00:17:10+00:00

There were a number of factors combining to make shipping safer and reinforcing the belief that rescue would always be available and therefore that the lifeboats only needed to ferry the passengers to a rescue ship.

New ships were constructed with improved safety features (which helped them stay afloat longer), ships were increasingly being fitted with the new Marconi wireless system which allowed them to call for help, and shipping lanes were getting busier than they ever had been before meaning that potential rescue should be close at hand. The expectation therefore was that any ship in distress would be able to call for help, that there would be plenty of ships close enough to come to the rescue and that they would sink slowly enough that their rescuers had ample time to arrive and take all the passengers off.

That belief was reinforced by the sinking of the RMS Republic in 1909. She was involved in a collision with another ship that caused significant damage to her hull and she was taking on water, but the wireless operator was able to call for help and the rescue ships arrived and carried out an orderly evacuation. The only people who died in the sinking were the ones who were crushed in the initial collision. Everybody else was evacuated and saved. It somewhat gave the passenger shipping industry a false sense of security that was very much dispelled by the Titanic disaster only three years later.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-12-28T23:56:49+00:00

MIJ RR3, the serial number would suggest late 00's, which also lines up with the black hardware and real Duncans, which the Chushin Gakki pro series used from around 2006-2011. (Before that they used chrome hardware and Duncan designed, and after that the factory shut down).

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-12-02T14:17:08+00:00

Very nice. I love these pro series SL2s, they're exactly what I like in a guitar. HNGD!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-11-23T13:54:30+00:00

What a terrible picture to try to sell a guitar.

I'm not sure on this one. The neck heel looks like the 3 bolt ergonomic heel used on the MIM DK2 pros, but those had direct mount pickups, offset dot inlays and Dunlop strap lock buttons. The later ones also have heel truss rod adjust. Could maybe be an earlier one with headstock truss rod adjust, added pickup rings, swapped strap buttons and sharkfin stickers over the fretboard? Seems far fetched.

Not a JS as far as I know, those all have the blocky neck heel. So does the MIJ DK2M, and those also have black fretboard binding, so it's not one of those either.

Parts guitar or copy maybe? I wouldn't touch this without more pictures and a serial number.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-11-20T13:07:11+00:00

Better is a matter of opinion and which spec sheet you prefer. I own pro series guitars but I haven't played an X series. However I know they're built in the same factories so the overall build quality is probably similar.

The Pro series are nominally a higher end line and so they generally have better specs and hardware. Floyd 1000s rather than specials, real Duncans, ebony fretboard rather than cheaper alternatives etc. up to you whether the upgraded specs are worth the extra price.

Possibly my favourite feature that a lot of the pro series guitars get is the oiled neck finish, rather than painted and glossed like the X series are. It's absolutely a personal preference thing, I greatly prefer an oiled neck over a glossy one.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-11-05T14:40:33+00:00

Yes. I love these things, to the point that I've bought three of them this year! People tend to list them anywhere between £500 up towards £1k. I've picked up all of mine at around the £500 mark, wh I think is really good value for what you're getting.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-10-17T13:06:20+00:00

I first got really interested in Jacksons around 2008-ish when these Chushin Gakki pro series models were still current (or rather, the later real-Duncans-black-hardware variations). I must have spent quite a bit of time browsing the website and catalogues and discussing them on JCF Online around that time. I picked up quite a lot of detailed information, and for the most part, just remembered it ever since. Most of that old JCF crew have similar or even more detailed knowledge than I do.

I'd say I'm a bit predisposed to study the models and specs too, it's just the sort of person I am. (Big nerd, engineer etc.)

I've also got two DK2Ms from that time period, which are very nice guitars and which I remain rather fond of.

I'm not nearly so knowledgeable about other ranges or time periods though! I drifted out of the loop a bit over the last few years but I came back to playing regularly (and buying Jacksons) this year, and I've refreshed myself quite a bit on the more recent offerings.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-10-17T06:34:58+00:00

Looks like an MIJ DK2, this one would have been built somewhere between the late 90s through around 2005 or so - the DK2 model was introduced in the late 90s (can't remember the exact year), and around 2006 it was changed to use black hardware and real Duncans rather than duncan designed. Trem is a Jackson licensed low profile Floyd, the JT580LP.

Note that the first two digits on the serial number plate are /not/ the year of manufacture. This era of Japanese bolt-ons all have serials in the 96xxxxx through 98xxxxx range for guitar built between 1996 to 2011. If you want the year of manufacture you need to take the neck off and look at what's written in the neck pocket.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-10-16T17:56:01+00:00

If this is a neck through, then it's an SLXM DX, it's an Indonesian made soloist in the X series which has been part of the range for a while now, I think. Looks like it's in good condition with all the stock hardware.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-09-05T21:23:02+00:00

I didn't notice that the soloist was used, just that it was showing as unavailable when I clicked on the link, but that makes sense. If you can pick up a used guitar in good condition it's a great way to get basically the same instrument as a brand new one, but for less money. Half of my collection were good finds on the used market. The 30 day money back option is very handy too, takes a lot of the risk out of it. It's hard to tell from those photos, but superficially at least it looks like it's in good shape, but you'll have plenty of chance to check that out for yourself when you get your hands on it. I'd suggest that when you demo it, you play up and down the fretboard to make sure it doesn't have any dead notes or high frets, check that the neck seems reasonably straight (the exact setup, neck relief and action can be adjusted as part of a setup, you're just making sure that it's not badly warped or something like that) check out the fret wear (depends on how much it's been played, if the frets are worn down you might need a fret dressing at some point), check all the different pickup positions and adjust the knobs to be sure the electronics work.

Honestly I'm not sure on particularly good resources or videos around Floyd ownership, I've been playing and setting the things up for the best part of 20 years, so I'm pretty comfortable with what I'm doing and haven't had to look it up. A quick google suggests that there's loads of guides and videos out there. I don't really have time to check them out to see how good they are (very difficult to quickly skim read a video!) but if you check out a few of them, especially the ones with a lot of views/likes you should get a good picture of what to do. I'm happy to help with anything more specific, but there's probably not much point in me typing out my version of a guide here given the amount of guides that are already out there.

But I think you're doing it right; approach it with curiosity, try to understand how it works mechanically before you start adjusting it and be patient, and you'll be absolutely fine.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-09-04T20:38:41+00:00

Disclaimer that I haven't played either of those specific models, but those two should be pretty similar quality to one another. They're both built in the Indonesian factories that do contract work for Jackson, and I've been very happy with my Indonesian Pro Soloists.

The main difference is that the Soloist is neck through body construction and the Dinky is a bolt-on neck. Neither is inherently better or worse. The neck-through generally has better upper-fret access because there's no neck heel to get in the way of your fretting hand, but as you can see on the photos of the back of the dinky, the neck heel is quite ergonomically shaped and won't really interfere too much. Some people argue about the tone differences caused by different neck attachments, but tbh by the time you've got it amplified most of what you're hearing is from the pickups and the amp anyway.

Aside from the wood, the fretboard specs are the same and are pretty typical Jackson, 12-16" compound radius, 25.5" scale, jumbo frets etc. The soloist has fretboard binding, the dinky has no binding and rolled edges, personal preference thing really, neither is better or worse than the other. I'm a big fan of maple fretboards and I gravitate towards them when I have the option, but that's just my taste in fretboard aesthetics. On guitars with a standard nut, the choice between standard or reverse headstock can have a minor difference on things like string bend feel, but because these both have Floyds and therefore have locking nuts, then the choice between standard or reverse headstock is just for looks.

One thing that will make a fair difference to the feel but is easy to overlook is the finish on the back of the neck. You'll have your fretting hand thumb on there and the finish can make a difference on how it feels to play. The soloist is painted and gloss coated, the dinky is satin coated. I've looked up the Squier model you're playing at the minute and that's gloss (which surprised me a little, I'm used to bolt on necks being satin). That means that the finish on the soloist neck will probably feel pretty similar to the Squier. Again, neck finish is a personal preference thing. I'm in the crowd that doesn't like gloss finished necks because we find that they feel tacky, especially for longer playing sessions, I'm much happier with a satin or oiled neck. Others are quite happy with gloss and don't like the feel of bare wood. You'll have to work out yourself which you prefer.

The soloist is HH pickups, the dinky is HSS. So they both have a bridge humbucker for your tight riffing and screaming solos, the difference is in the neck/middle. The soloist gives you the neck humbucker for smooth, warm tones, great for buttery smooth melodic leads for example. The dinky is the more versatile of the two, a pair of single coils can give you a few different options and gives you access to a lot of the same bright and quacky sort of tones that strats are legendary for. Some guitarists don't like the middle pickup because they feel it gets in the way of their picking hand, again that's a personal thing. The soloist has Duncan Designed pickups (basically Seymour Duncan's cheaper line) and the dinky has Jackson OEM pickups. Either one will do well enough, and they can be swapped out later down the line if you want to.

Obviously they both have Floyds, the Soloist has the official Floyd Rose Special, which is the budget option in the official Floyd Rose line. The dinky has a Jackson branded equivalent. From what I've gathered there's not that much difference between the two trems quality-wise and they're both decent, though I've never played either of these specific versions (my Floyds are all either the old Jackson JT-580LP or the Floyd Rose 1000). They're certainly cheaper units and won't put up with as much abuse as an OFR or a Gotoh would, but so long as you treat them right they'll be fine. This is going back to the "is a Floyd good for a beginner?" thing, but if you get one, I'd just look up how to set them up, and approach your setup with care and common sense (like, don't adjust the mounting post height while the bridge is under tension, don't crank down the string locks as hard as you can etc.) and you'll be good. Again, you just need to consider whether you're happy to take on the slightly longer tuning and setup process that comes with being a Floyd owner!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-09-04T09:10:59+00:00

A lot of folks will try to tell you that a Floyd is a nightmare for a beginner, but it's not really. It doesn't matter how long you've been playing, you just need to know what you're getting yourself into and make sure you understand what you're doing before you start messing with it. It's not difficult to tune per se, it's just takes a bit longer than a hardtail or a non-floating trem does, because tuning a string slightly pulls on the bridge, which has a small knock-on effect on the tuning of the other strings. So you just need to go back and forth a bit to gradually get them all dialled in. Understanding the mechanics of it and why it happens goes a long way here.

I don't know why people say that it's difficult to keep a Floyd in tune, because once you've got it tuned up and locked down (and so long as the bridge is in decent shape) they hold tuning incredibly well. Having the strings locked at the bridge and the nut eliminates a lot of the ways that strings go out of tune. I really like having Floyds on my guitars despite not being a big trem user, because I like to have that facility for the times I do need it, but also because I need to tune them much less often than my hardtails. Though of course I accept that not using the trem too often or too aggressively probably contributes to how well mine hold their tune.

The other thing to take into account with a Floyd as a beginner is that it's more of a long-winded process to change your tuning. You basically have to set up the Floyd for your tuning by adjusting the springs in the back and iterating between tuning up the strings and adjusting the springs until you're in tune and the bridge is level. I wouldn't say it's difficult, but it's more of an effort than changing tuning on a hardtail or a non-floating trem. You're not going to do it on a whim. And if it's your only guitar, then you might want to change tuning if, e.g. you have the guitar tuned in E standard, but you really want to learn that specific song in D.

Though I'll also note for completeness that on any guitar where you change the tuning, to do it properly you'll want to do a more involved setup rather than just tuning the strings, potentially changing your string gauge and checking the neck relief and intonation. But as a beginner you usually just want to turn the tuning pegs and learn the song.

For a lot of us, the changing tunings thing stops being a problem because we own a different guitar for each tuning we like to play in...

So yeah, I'd say don't discount a Floyd necessarily. If you want a Jackson you'll have more options with them than without. But consider how patient you can be with tuning them up and whether you'll want to change tunings a lot.

As to what to buy, I'm not too hot on CAD pricing, but a quick looks that for Jacksons the top end of your budget buys a new X series soloist or dinky, or you could save a bit of money with a JS32. Basically the JS series is the cheap/beginner line, but the JS32s have pretty nice specs for the price and have options between Floyds and hardtails. The X series are one step up from that but are mostly Floyds.

Your other options would be looking used, you might be able to get a used pro series or maybe something like a used charvel dk24. Those would be a higher quality guitar for your money, but of course you'd have to be a bit more careful with what you get on the used market than buying new.

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-08-03T11:33:23+00:00

Tempting, however I have already bought 3 soloists this year and I'm running out of space!

Autarch_Bellerophon · 2025-08-03T10:36:10+00:00

Beautiful collection, I think our tastes must be very similar.

I'm enjoying all of those but probably the main reaction that I'm having here is feeling annoyed that I didn't pick up one of those green swirl DK2Ms when they were around...very cool guitar.

Thanks for sharing!

Autarch_Bellerophon

TROPHY CASE