Back to Painting

I finally got back to painting last night and decided to start finishing up the crisis suit.  I was trying to think of different ways to add distinction to the jetpacks on the crisis suit.  While running ideas through my head, two major points came to mind:

1.) I was imagining this force as using experimental digital camouflage, since such a camo scheme is not typical Tau design.

2.) The weapons and jetpacks for the Crisis suits are made as removable and interchangeable.

That's when it hit me... 

While the Cat is Away....

I've had some trouble with my computer at home the last few weeks.  It's needing some new memory.  :P  I'm back now and wanted to share something that has occurred during the period of incommunicado.

About a year ago, I created a 3D CAD model of a Tau Fire Warrior's pulse rifle:

In the Bunker at Memphis

I took a break from it all and went with my wife and daughter on a vacation.  After getting back in the swing of things this week, its time to show you some pictures!!!

We went to Memphis Tennessee to meet friends and family and try to enjoy ourselves.  Of course we did the normal things like visit the zoo and go to a baseball game, but the real treat (for me anyway) was getting to run by Games Workshop's North American Headquarters!!!!

Awesome, right?! Well, I didn't get to stay too long as my little girl was tired (She is already rubbing her eyes in the picture.), but I did get to check it out.

I went into the Battle Bunker, which is the store and game center.  It was pretty awesome.  They had a mini-shrine of sorts to their productions through the years, everything from Mordheim minis to current releases.  On another wall, they had several armies painted from different races for Fantasy, 40K, and Lord of The Rings.  But the thing that interested me the most is where it all goes down...

 That's a lot of playing space!  Me likey! One table in particular caught my eye...

 Surprise!!! It's a cityscape!  My army would love to hide here!!!

I have some some close-ups!  I apologize in advance for the poor image quality.  I was frustrated with my normally ace camera on my phone (most of the pictures I load on here are taken on it) only to find out after I left I must have touched the photo lens when grabbing it from my pocket as there was a fingerprint on the lens itself. :P

Fortunately for my wife and daughter, they had a zone for breaks and relaxation with recliners, couches and tables. My wife noticed the banners on the wall above the seating arrangement and took a picture.

Here's a close-up of one of them...

Pretty Schweet, huh?!  Come to think of it, Elvis would be an awesome Ork!!!!  Rockboss Elvis... has a nice ring to it!

I went through the store section, but no picks there. Sorry.

I tried to pry some super secret information from the Games Workshop employees as well, but they were well trained.... too well trained for my Tau Water Caste buddies to sweet talk it out of them.  I'll bring my 'A'-game next time I''m there.

It was a fun time and I'd like to spend more time in the Bunker.  I will return.  Definitely the best experience I have had at a GW store.

Now it's back to the normal routine and painting my army when I got a moment to spare.  More to come, my friends... more to come!!!!

Happy Tau Day!!!

Today, June 28, is Tau Day!  How fitting!!!

In case you don't know the reference, here's an >>article<< on it.

Tau'va, my friends!!!

Downtime

Sorry for the lack of updates.  Had a lot of shennanigans going on.  Anyway, I've scrubbed 6 more Fire warriors clean as well as a Broadside and prepped them for painting.  Didn't really have a whole lot of time to sit and concentrate on painting camo patterns, so I thought I would do something a little less mind numbing.

I'll finish the Crisis 'suit, start these other models, and update.  It might be another week or so before I give a truly meaningful post... but I sure hope not!  I need to paint!!!! 

Life beckons.  Be safe and keep the loved ones close.

Crisis: Continued

Well, I've been taking it easy this past week, so I haven't done much.  Spending time with my wife and daughter has given me a nice break.

What I have done is map out my color scheme on the crisis suit I started.

It gives a good idea of where I am headed with it.  The most notable thing I want to point out is that I blacked-out the outer portions of the torso.  I think it takes away the boxy look and makes it look more agile and threatening.

Again.  I'll add more pics as I finish the camouflage.

Starting the First Crisis Suit

Well, I felt it time to start on a one of the Crisis Battlesuits to change things up and finally see what one would look like under my paint scheme.

The first thing that I've done differently than the other models from my friend's army, is that I didn't strip the paint off this model.  It was mostly still black, so I decided to just go along with it as if that were my base coat.

I decided to go with a cross between the Fire Warrior and vehicle paint schemes I had already outlined.  The overall look of the Fire warrior is the primary aspect I want to go for... black base, with dark "boots," digital camouflage armor, yellow markings, and red lenses/lights/etc.  But, the battlesuits are a median of sorts between the infantry and the vehicles, so I wanted to carry over something from what I had outlined on the devilfish as well.  As you can see in earlier pictures on this blog, the plates down the center of the vehicle forgo the digi-camo treatment for a solid color.  I decided this would be the perfect element to bring over for the Crisis 'suits.  I also decided to use the color surrounding the Devilfish's engine intake on the 'suits as well.

Time for some visual conformation of what I am doing.  Here is a picture of what I started last night. 

As you can see, I am working my way up the battlesuit from its feet.  I styled it just like the Fire Warrior. You can also see where I outlined the chest with the solid color application down the center. Once the digital pattern surrounds it, I believe it will be a good transition between the Fire Warriors and the Tau vehicles in my cadre.

I will report back when I've finished the Battlesuit and upload some pics as well!

Five for Fighting

I’m now up to five Fire Warriors. 

If you are wondering why it’s taking me so long to get through these guys, it is because it takes me a few hours to do each of them.  That may seem crazy, but I like to take my time with such things.  Patience IS a virtue you know!

As you can see, the new guy is walking through the mud past a broken wall.

I think it might be time to add some guys with pulse carbines.  What say you?

3rd Base

Here are pics of the next base I made.  I added some rusted rebar in a broken wall and mud on the ground to make it different from the others.

 

So, do you like it? Is it too different from the rest? A welcome differentiation? Let me know.

The Fourth Horseman

I finished the fourth Fire Warrior.  Here he is:

He found a slab to perch on, apparently.

The Three Amigos

So, I went ahead and added the antennas to the helmets and have the three Fire Warriors I have completed thus far ready for combat.Take a look!

As you can also tell, I updated the bases on the first two to match the third.

Like always, comments and questions are welcome!

Three's Company...

Well, I mentioned that I put a Fire Warrior on that first base I made. Well, here's the first baseman (Ha! A baseball joke! ...And I don't even like baseball. :\ ).

A dynamic fellow indeed.  He's weighted on his back foot, looking up the top's of the surrounding buildings... or what's left of them.  His gun may be in a non-active position, but that left hand is definitely reaching to meet it or at the very least is ready to support it if the need to return fire arises.

If you're wondering where the antenna normally on the right-hand side of his helmet is... well, its not on yet as I need to add it.  I want to get everything else finished on each fire warrior before I pull the antenna off the sprue, as they are easily lost otherwise.

****

This guy is going to hold a special significance for me.  Why?  Well, he is the first 40K model that is entirely my own.  I bought the box, cut him from the sprue, carved the materials for his base, glued him together, and painted it all.  It's original me. 

I am forever grateful to my friend for sending me his Tau models to get me started (and I have many more of them yet to paint).  Those models hold a different meaning for me.  One that exemplifies friendship and comradery.

But, this model is the first in something unique. The first of my personal creations.  When it is all said and done, I can say this is where I stood on my own and started the journey.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!!!

So, I wanted to start working with some of my own stuff now that I've gotten started.  I bought a box of Fire Warriors and promptly opened them to start planning out what poses I wanted to assemble them in.  Upon lifting the side of the box, the first thing there were the round bases. Then, it hit me...  I knew at once that the first thing I could do to make these guys completely my own would be to make unique bases. 

I went to the hobby store and immediately bought some foam board and other hobby supplies and tools.  I came back and started cutting the foam board with my hobby knife and whittling it down.  I glued the pieces down and added ballast from the two kinds I had.  Once dried, I coated the whoe thing with Adeptus Battlegrey foundation paint from Games Workshop. I then added a Badab Black wash.  After it set in I then dry brushed a layer of Codex Grey, followed by highlighting layers of Fortress Grey and Skull White.

What came about was this:

Pretty good for my first base, wouldn't you say?  I think so.  I was so proud of it, that I didn't even want to add a figure to it at first.  I eventually added a Fire Warrior, but that's for another post.

I was so pleased with this base, that I made another to test my rubble skills.  Here is the second base (*needs a baseball joke here*)

A nice slab if I do say so myself. 

One thing is for certain, I will be expanding on these ideas for my Urban Cadre as they provide good bases thematically.  Plan to see more types of urban ruins in my bases in the future.

That's Not A Knife...

Well, the other Fire Warrior from my friend's collection that still remained intact with all of its gear was screaming at me to be painted.  So, to take a break from the painstaking monotony that is the digi-camo on the 'fish, I obliged.

The Fire Warrior in question was obviously what my friend had intended as the leader of the Fire Warrior team - what with his Bonding Knife and all.  So I thought it would be neat to bring his experience to the table (pun definitely intended).  He definitely fits the part, braving battle without a helmet!!!

The thing I really wanted to do with a team leader was make it distinct from the rest of its kin.  Fortunately, my friend already beat me to the punch.  He had built this guy with the helmet-less visage of a Tau warrior, which, to be honest, is nothing spectacular in an of itself... I mean... it is an option provided straight out of the box.  But, what was unique was that he had taken a helmet and placed it underneath the warrior's backpack as if it was hanging there ready to be grabbed and slid on his head.  I love this little added detail my amigo placed. and wanted to add to the figure's uniqueness.

I added to the models distinction by adding colored areas to its armor to give the illusion of pulling rank.  This guy is a leader and everyone should see it, right?  Since this army'sdistinctive color is yellow, I added yellow to the shield on the left shoulder, and on the visor on the helmet.

I also went ahead and based this guy and his unit buddy I painted back a year ago.

To base them, I used Fine Cinders ballast from Woodland Scenics for the dark, bare ground and Course Gray ballast for the rocks/rubble.  I am definitely going to expand on the basing techniques, but these guys were already o bases and I didn't want to remove them.  I bought a box of fire warriors recently, and I'll have some more detailed bases with what looks like city rubble... afterall, this is an urban Tau cadre.

Well, that's it for now.  Questions? Comments?  Leave them below!!!

Devilfish, Part Tertius, -a, -um

AS you can see from the previous post, I did some work on the 'fish this past weekend.  I've almost entirely finished one side of the transport.

Here are some details:

 I finished the work on theingine nacelles and even added the operational wear and weathering.

An overview of the body and one of the drones.

Now you can see the details and weathering up-close and personal.

So, what do you guys think?  Leave comments. More updates to come!!!!

I Return!!!!

So.... yeah.  It's been a YEAR since the last post.  Well, I was kind of off the 40K radar.  The devilfish was left in its previously pictured state.  NO MORE!!!

BEHOLD!!!!

MORE DEVILFISH!!!!!!!