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Right so Im hoping to start a Tau-human army because I'm getting a bit bored painting guardsman, but i do like shootey army's! So the idea is to convert fire warriors and other tau models into human looking models, so replacing the feet and heads mostly as well as a few other bits and bobs.

I know what your thinking..

"But spanner, the Tau Empire don't really trust humans with Tau technology, even if they did join the greater good by choice!"

Well dear reader I found a sweet bit of fluff some award winning painter (unfortunately I can't find the link but when I do I will post it up) has written to go with his army,

'A distant planet on the edge of imperial/Tau controlled space (often ignored by imperial forces) is always asking for help against xenos raiders and pirates, then the Tau come along and ask them to join the Tau empire. The do and are safe at last and industry flourishes blah, blah, blah. Then the imperium launches the Damocles Crusade if I remember rightly, to retake imperial planets under enemy rule, but the inhabitants of this planet decide to stay on the side of the greater good and eventually defeat the imperial forces. This pleases the Tau and the inhabitants are trusted with Tau technology and are fully indoctrinated into the greater good of the Tau empire.'

I will have some Pictures of what I've done so far and they will be up in 12 hours-ish of this post, so I look forward to your expert verdict, dear Dakka readers.

And also if anyone knows of any sites were I could get human feet/boots in a plentiful supply i would appreciate it, I do have some but only enough to do about 8 - 10 fire warriors, and i don' want to have to buy a load of guardsman legs just to cut them up for the feet/boots.

By the way I have loads of heads but if anyone knows any cool sites that do heads that would be great too.

cheers dakka people,
spanner4000 - 012.M3 -

Personally I'd replace the whole lower torso - otherwise your models will all have weak ankles due to the glue joint. Hmm, you could maybe pin them up into the calves, but that sounds like an awful lot of work.

You've seen the WD from a few years ago with a reader's army with Tau human auxilaries? 'Twas very nice. As I recall, the modeller kept pretty much just the torsoes, adding Cadian trou (with some Tau body armour stuck on), arms and heads (including a few nifty helmet conversions).

Fluffwise your idea sounds fine, at least for lowly Fire Warriors. Don't know whether the Tau would trust mere humans with anything more dangerous though...

It may not be the cheapest, but wouldn't it be easier to just use the whole cadian/catachan legs pieces? I'm not sure which one would fit better, probably the cadian legs though. I remember doing some gue'vessa conversions a few years back and I think I mixed tau torsos with cadian legs.

Well after cutting the whole boot off I've found that sticking it just below the knee looks pretty good and it doesn't look too much out of proportion to the tau legs, and there is'ant an obvious glue line.

It may not be the cheapest, but wouldn't it be easier to just use the whole cadian/catachan legs pieces?

well I have just come into a load of useful tau models that a mate is getting rid of, about 20-25 fire warriors, 3-5 battlesuits, 2 grav tanks and 4 stealth suits.
And I don't mind doing the conversions because I guess I will only have/need 30-50 infantry models on the ground.

You've seen the WD from a few years ago with a reader's army with Tau human auxilaries? 'Twas very nice.

No I haven't seen that issue, what issue number is it so i could buy it off eBay or something!


Right so anyway here are my converted models so far, please tell us what you think of the color scheme and the overall layout of the models. By the way the second guy hasn't had any washes done.

I used Tau legs on my Stormtroopers to get the funky leg armour. I also found that Cadian boots go quite well, provided that you extend the lower leg a bit with a short length of pin:



In terms of getting boots, I don't think I've ever seena nyone selling individual boots. thats a bit specialist, even for Gamers Either buy lots of Guard legs, or cast your own?

Flinty, do you greenstuff the rest of the leg?

And could someone give me some ideas for basing these models?

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=spiral+zone&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=560&tbm=isch&tbnid=wbbcirkuyOFt8M:&imgrefurl=http://www.thrivesocialmedia.com/halrayleII/%3Fpage_id%3D18&docid=oWEIUa7loiyk-M&imgurl=http://www.thrivesocialmedia.com/halrayleII/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Max-1-Spiral-Zone1.jpg&w=1393&h=939&ei=-BUgUIq5KOOCiwKfhYDoCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=543&vpy=271&dur=270&hovh=163&hovw=228&tx=195&ty=209&sig=106903019135206047217&page=3&tbnh=163&tbnw=228&start=26&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:26,i:213
ever seen this cartoon lol?
the resemblance is uncanny

Check the link in my sig. I haven't updated the thread in a while, but the basic conversions I did should work pretty well for you.

Cadian boots are FW legs works GREAT.

@Spanner - Yes, I've slotted GS into the gaps between the boot and the leg. I just haven't got pictures of the finished product. Its a pretty simple fill as any fabric is likely to be quite rucked and uneven anyway. Just don't make it too smooth

@maceria those look pretty good! Im hoping to make mine look at bit more battle hardened and rugged like yours when i get a bit more used to modeling with tau fire warriors.

@Flinty I've never used green stuff before so Im a bit clueless, when it came to me putting boots onto the firewarrior legs I just used glue and some bits of spruce that had melted a bit, thinking about it now that sounds really stupid

I will upload some more pictures of these guys as they progress. Do any of you guys have any good army lists i could have a look at?

And if anyone does find any sites that sell 28mm boots please let me be the first on to know

Greenstuff is pretty easy to use, it just needs a bit of practice to get used to, so don't start on your favourite model

If you're just filling gaps you don't even need much in the way of tools but I can recommend picking up rubber tipped Colour Shapers. Mix the GS properly, stuff it in the gap, let it cure properly and everything shuold be fine.

Well, I specifically used Cadian boots, best fit I've found so far.

For the most part, Tau hands are hard to tell from human hands on all but the closest inspection, if you paint them human flesh tone.

Good luck with your project, I look forward to seeing you models.

great, thanks flinty i will look into maybe some little green stuff projects to start with,

I will put up the pictures of the first finished squad when i have modeled them, 6 so far just waiting on some guard legs.