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I porefer v1 actually, it looks more in mine with aerodynamics (I know, stormraven, *cough*) and also, it doesn't fit the Tau aesthetic IMO. If you added somethign behind the shoulder pad, would'nt that solve the 'tacked-on' problem?

THE PROTOTYPE
Well after a good week of tinkering and looking for bits the new and improved battle armour is finally assembled.



The new suit has had some changes first was replacing the fabric upper arms with marine arms so that the tau was fully armoured, 2nd was the helmet as not many people liked the blank version so filled off the original lenses and added the bottom of a lasgun clip.

I thought it best to start with one of the supporting commandos who unlike the Farsight team only has 1 missile pod. The missile pod is made from a plastic shaped tube and the grenades from the fire warrior sprue.
At first I tried to improve on the original concept but it was difficult finding something to mount on the opposite side of the jumpback, so I placed the missile pod on the top and added the gun drone bodies on the sides to add bulk.

What do you think?

Also here is a size ref pic as you can see it’s bigger and bulker than a space marine.

Oops! My mistake on the drones!
I really like the chunkiness of everything, it has a real weight about it without looking too clunky.

Lookign good; though I feel the original feet could do with some sturdying up; especially the ankles look a tad weak IMO.

Anyway, nice work!

Looking good, however I think you should GS over the power cables to create a completely smooth torso.

I like that Tau looks very delta force / marine recon/ navy seal like.

I agree with the 'cover the armor cords' statement.

Considering how streamline the tau keep things I would think that those cables would be covered but I wouldnt fill the entire secion.

1-i wrote:Considering how streamline the tau keep things I would think that those cables would be covered but I wouldnt fill the entire secion.

I dunno look at the Tau commander from Dark Crusade...

Point for Proiteus.

To be fair that is from a videogame not GW itself. Jes goodwin aint gonna personally approve every character model from a video game.

It's true Jess may not approve every videogame image... but if the commander from dark crusade is what you are aiming for then i think the cables look fine... I think filling in the cables with greenstuff might make it look like the suit has a gut rather than the lean elite warrior feel that you are going for.
Overall everything looks great so far and i look forward to seeing the rest of your work. I love the tau crisis suit lists, and your improved vision of the suits should be great.

Subscribed.

http://www.advancedtautactica.com/resource/ShasOKais-DoW.pdf For inspiration it's the French conversion guide for the dawn of war commander. Everythings lookin' good so far!

Holy moley that Battlesuit conversion in the link Owns! Still like yours Protieus but....

Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Also, thanks for the link to the Conversion guide, Feyblade. May need to try that someday.

No problem, it's fairly straightforward but the cutting is what got me when I did it, an exacto-knife DEFINITELY wasn't enough, I'd suggest a jewelers' saw or something similar.

BIG DECISION NO.1 - PAINT SCHEME & BASE THEME
Before I can begin painting the suit I need to decide on what paint scheme I'm going to use. So I reinstalled Dark Crusade to use the army painter to try some themes.
First is the ice world theme which involves a lot of different shades of greys for the weapons and parts of the armour, the sept markings will likely be painted on the small areas.
Second is the desert theme which means I’ll likely try and match the tau commander’s original paint scheme with yellow weapons and red markings similar to the Republic Troopers from SWTOR to differentiate each of the elite battlesuits and support squads.

Of course the theme will also effect which base theme I use. I’m leaning towards the ice world theme but would like to hear your opinions and suggestions first?

The desert scheme looks more interesting to me. The ice world scheme looks very robot-like instad of a pilot controlled suit due to the cold blues.

I'd go for iceworld, maybe with some more light blue in the colour scheme? Just an idea.

The battlesuit is awesome, looking forward to more!

I prefer the desert scheme myself, the ice world one just looks... cold. I'm not sure what it is but like CommissarKhaine said, the whites blues and greys make it look more like an automaton, plus I feel like the snow base would end up blending too much with the models.

I prefer the iceworld, but then I much prefer blues and greys to brown.

Well since Ive seen lots of ice schemes Im going for desert.

Leaning towards desert as well, have you thought of any other mock-ups where they're not just weapon and lense changes??

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Leaning towards desert as well, have you thought of any other mock-ups where they're not just weapon and lense changes??

No, when starting a new project I like to get 1 main model done to see how it works before starting work on variants.

BASE THEME & PAINT SCHEME CONTINUED
Anyway I've read all your opinions about the paint schemes and done some thinking. Personally I don’t like the idea of doing yellow weapons as it’s not a very commando colour, but several people have said that the ice world paint scheme looks too ‘cold’ and makes the suit look like a robot. Now I want to do the ice world bases but I’ll be using these bases, painting the rocks a dark bluish grey and then adding snow and more blue crystals.



But the yellow just won’t look right on those bases and lets face it it’s not a very commando like colour. So I went back to Dark Crusade a try using green instead and I think I’ve found my scheme; it won’t clash with the base or the glowing blue details and green is a suitable colour for a commando theme..

Also I would be more than happy to upload a size reference pic so you can see how it compares to Battlesuit but I’ve just taken it apart and started painting it. So you’ll have to wait, if it’s too small I can easily by some bulky resin bases to improve the height.

Improved scheme looks ace!

Love that third colour scheme, especially on the broadside

Consider me subscribed, Torin

ARGH WHITE!
Damn! I’ve not even painted the first model and I’m already tired of painting white, the paint job looks fantastic from a far but the moment you get up close it looks… well crap in places.

The problem is the blending technique features you adding thin and watered down coats of the lighter colour before adding a thin wash over it which blends the layers together. Now with white you can’t do that, which is becoming a problem.
I’ve been painting the body and backpack during this week and I can’t help but question if I can paint a further 16 suits, 20 drones and 12 fire warriors in this paint scheme? True I could easily go back and repaint the poor areas such as the backpack and missile pod, the black missiles are also a problem thou I’m unsure what other colour to paint them.

Some of you may think I’m being fussy but this is after all going to be entered into the ’Armies On Parade’ contest so I’m not too keen to gamble on a paint scheme that only very skilled painters can do. I know I was after a challenge but this maybe a bit out of my league.

So I’m thinking of another paint scheme maybe try blending green instead, of course I will have to drop the snow theme?

How about replacing the whote with a very pale grey? It'll be easier to deal with, surely?

A very wise choice there proiteus, while the white that you have done looks perfectly acceptable and is better than a lot of us could achieve, it makes sense to paint in a colour that you feel comfortable using.

The green blending sounds like a great idea! I have always loved the efect it produces. Maybe yellow 'orbs' on the chest instead of blue? The colour would complement the green very well while standing out at the same time.

The first example of green blending I think of is pyriel's incredible salamanders.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/64281-Salamanders%20assault%20terminator%20squad%20B%3A%20Close%20up.html

GREEN IZ BEST
Didn’t like the white so I went back and repainted it using a green shade this week; orkhide base, blending using snot green and then highlighted with a 50/50 mix of Knarloc green and bleached bone. And dang does it look great, I’m thinking of painting the helmet and knee pads grey and have bleached bone for the squad leader markings (like the broadside in the screenshot). Thou I’m having trouble blending those two colours so I‘m going to consult my friend who is an expert painter on how to do those. At last Progress!

I definitely like the emerald green. Keep going!