ZergSmasher's Stormsurge Blog: It's all done! Final pics are here!

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**ZergSmasher**

Well, seeing as how some people here on Dakka do special blogs for big projects separate from their main blogs, here is mine, dedicated to my brand-new KV128 Stormsurge. This model, when completed, will be the centerpiece of my Tau Empire army, and my first superheavy/gargantuan model for 40k. I will document the process of building and painting this monstrosity, although the painting may end up delayed due to the onset of winter here in mid-Missouri (although we have been having some unseasonably warm temperatures of late). I will be building and painting this model in sub-assemblies (like how I did my Soul Grinder for my Khorne Daemonkin army), as I don't think I could possibly paint it well if it was all built already. So anyway, here we go!

To start off, here is a picture of the box:

And here is a picture of the contents of that box:

Holy crap, that is a LOT of parts!

I reckon I've got my work cut out for me. I'm hoping to have the model completed by February at the latest, but I don't know if that will happen (winters around here often don't fool around, so we'll see if I get a chance to spray everything). I do have other painting projects going on as well, so we'll just have to see. Wish me luck!

**xantangummi**

Thats really alot of parts

I will follow this and see how it goes, best of luck

**evildrcheese**

Subbed. Will be keeping an eye on this.

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

Not too much to show just yet, but I did get the legs and groin/waist assembled:

I had other things going on today, so I wasn't able to accomplish much more. I'll probably put the feet together tomorrow, and if the weather cooperates tomorrow I might get these pieces primed before I have to go to work.

**evildrcheese**

Are you planning on doing partial assembly and painting the individual bits?

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

@EDC: Yes, that is exactly how I will do this model. It's just too big and complex to do any other way. I might save some of the freehand markings (like the little yellow marks I put on my Commander) for after I assemble it, but the bulk of the painting will be on the individual pieces.

**Thraxas Of Turai**

Good luck with this, I know the Stormsurge has had its detractors but I think it is a great model. The parts count does look a little daunting though.

Hope you get some spare time for some progress soon.

**ZergSmasher**

@Thraxas: Thanks, I agree that the Stormsurge is an awesome model. I got the chance to see two of them in a team tournament last Saturday, but alas they were only primed, not painted. I was impressed with the size of them, they are definitely bigger than other Tau models.

As far as progress goes, nothing particularly photogenic happened today, although I did get the left side missile pod put together, as well as the defensive turret that goes below it. I discovered that I will be able to swap out the defensive weapons (Twin flamer, burst cannon, or airbursting frag projector) without even needing magnets. The main gun, unfortunately, appears as if it will not be possible to switch between the pulse driver and blastcannon, as they share a core assembly. I will build it as the pulse driver as that is what I will use far more than the blastcannon. I might shoot a pic when I get more subassemblies finished.

**ZergSmasher**

I've done the other missile pod as well as getting started on the main body today, here's a pic of the latest stuff that has been assembled:

Still haven't had a chance to prime anything as it has been far too windy lately. More updates to come!

**evildrcheese**

Good progress Zerg.

Trying to prime this time of year is a nightmare.

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

@EDC: Priming in winter here is indeed a nightmare. Last week we had very balmy temperatures (very un-December), but it was too windy to spray anything.

I've now got everything assembled except for the crewmen and the extra defensive weapons. I assembled the main gun as the Pulse Driver (I checked and found that it is indeed impossible or at least highly impractical to make it possible to swap guns). When I get the last of it assembled I will shoot a pic or two. Hopefully I get a window to prime sometime soon (I can take measures against the cold temperatures, but I can't do anything about high winds...).

**ZergSmasher**

Well, all the subassemblies are now complete, as seen in the following pic:

Now I have to find a time to prime all these pieces. I can do the smaller ones with my Vallejo brush primer, but the bigger ones are going wait for good weather to be sprayed unless I get REALLY impatient. At least I can get the smaller pieces done so I will have some progress to show. As for the base, I will probably wait until I have the legs of the model all done. I am figuring on adding some stuff to make the base look cool, but I want to be sure on the final position of the feet first.

**LeCacty**

This thing looks like an absolute bitch to assemble!

**evildrcheese**

Excellent stuff. You'll be envious to learn I managed to get some priming done today, in England of all places!

Sub assemblies are looking good. Thoughts on colour scheme?

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

@LeCacty: Actually I don't think it will be that hard, although at first glance it would appear to be. I will go ahead and use the stock pose so the legs will be pretty easy thanks to the little locator tabs. Most of the other stuff should slot in okay as well. I've done a Ghostkeel and it was easier than I thought it would be. These new Tau models are great in that respect!

@EDC: I will probably go with a similar scheme to my Commander that I already did, just on a larger scale. Basically Caledor Sky overall, with some details in Eshin Grey and Yriel Yellow. Very much a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) scheme, but as we saw on my Commander it looks pretty good (but I'm biased!). Maybe we'll get another good warm spell over on this side of the pond, only this time with less wind so I can spray!

**evildrcheese**

Ah yes. The dark blue with yellow highlights.

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

Well, I managed to get the smaller parts primed with Vallejo brush-on primer, as seen in this picture:

I did the weapons and crew with black, and the two sensor "heads" with white. Not too impressed with the Vallejo white primer really, as the coverage was not too great even with two coats, but once I cover it with yellow it'll look okay I hope.

**evildrcheese**

I've never used anything other than spray primer, the idea of using an airbrush for priming really doesn't appeal to be as it means an extra sessions of cleaning the airbrush.

Still at least you've got it done.

EDC

**Vineheart01**

Mine took me 3 solid days to paint, though i dont own an airbrush and my scheme kinda bit me in the ass on a model that large (lots of color shifts around the armor. What started as an attempt to add some variation to crisis suits spawned a nightmare on larger suits lol). When i say 3 solid days im not exaggerating lol, i got it in the mail Thursday, assembled it as far as you have posted, primed it, then starting Friday through midday Sunday i was busy lol (internet dying makes you keep going)

And i agree, this thing would be a nightmare to paint assembled.

The only advantage to using paint-on or airbrush primer over a can is a can tends to be a bit spitty sometimes. Usually i can combat it but alot of the time when i try to coat the inner pieces of a model, i get more primer on the outside than intended.

**ZergSmasher**

Been a while since I had anything to report here, but I finally got some minor stuff done on this project. Unfortunately, we've been in the thick of winter here (it even snowed this week), so still no chance to prime the big pieces of the suit, but I did get some work done on the crew:

They're not done, but I've made some progress at least. Hope to have more done soon. Looking more like March before I can finish this, and that's only if we get a break in the weather.

**ZergSmasher**

Well, as some of you know by now if you are following the monthly painting challenges, I am doing the big boy here as my entry for February. I managed to get the parts primed thanks to a rare mild January week, here they are ready for some paint:

After that pic was taken, the challenge started and I went to work on the model. I'm going to paint it in sections, starting with the leg pieces, which I will assemble when they are done being painted. The body will be next, and it will take longer due to having more fiddly details like the cockpit control panels and the crew. The missile pods will be next, and the main gun will probably be last of all. Meanwhile I'll need to figure out what I'm going to do for decorating the base. Probably will keep it real simple, although I do have a dead Space Marine that I got in the Badlands Basing kit that will spice it up a little! Wish me luck as far as getting it all done! I've already made some progress on that front, though, as the leg assemblies are completely basecoated now:

Well, not completely perhaps, as there are some little buttons or something on a couple of panels that need a little color, but that will be easy and I may wait until after I apply some shading to do them. My job has kept me pretty busy lately, so not as much progress as there might have been (got called in on my day off), but I feel like I am off to a decent start! More to come, so keep watching this blog!

**evildrcheese**

Looking good Zerg. Good thing it's primed now, nothing more frustrating than waiting for a window in the weather.

EDC

**Warboss_Waaazag**

Making good progress. Looking forward to seeing more get done, Zerg.

**ZergSmasher**

@EDC: Thanks! It is nice to finally have this project off the ground; that break in the weather saved the day! Now I need another one for some of my other recently assembled Tau models!

@Waaazag: Thanks for the encouragement, I assure you more is coming, just getting the shading done on these pieces, then there will be some highlights!

**ZergSmasher**

The legs on this beast are done other than some minor touchups. Here's a pic:

I put it on the base to show how it will look, but I will finish the base before I glue this thing down. As for the base itself, I'm keeping it pretty simple with just some rocks and a dead Space Marine (not sure what Chapter it will be from yet...). There will be texture paint over most of it, and some of those wonderful little grass tufts as well. I'm currently working on the body, and it's turning out to be pretty fiddly, mainly due to the cockpit details. I expected the cockpit to be the hardest part, and it hasn't disappointed. Not gonna try to do any fancy OSL or anything in there, as I'd be more likely to goof it up rather than improve how the model looks. More progress to follow (soon I hope)!

**evildrcheese**

Man those legs are big. That sucka never misses leg day.

Looking good. I think simple basing is a sound idea, with a model that big and impressive you don't want people to be too distracted by the base.

EDC

**ZergSmasher**

@EDC: Yeah the legs are pretty big, but the whole model is actually a bit smaller than an Imperial Knight, I think (having seen a couple of them assembled in person).

Time for a couple of WIP shots, I think. The body of the machine is coming a little more slowly, although I've been doing the front plate and it is mostly done:

This part is almost done, needs a little bit of shading and the little knobby thing near the bottom needs to be painted gold, but otherwise its done. The main part of the torso is going to take a bit longer as there is much more fiddly detail, but I've made a lot of progress on the cockpit instruments. Here's a pic with the front plate put on the main body piece (not glued yet):

I still need to hit the screens with appropriate glaze (need to pick up some green glaze at my FLGS), that way they won't look so...painted. I'm keeping it real simple and not doing any fancy OSL or anything from the lights, although I did try to make a few of the buttons different shades to show some of them being lit and others dim. It doesn't really show in the photo, though. Another thing I need to do for the cockpit is a bit of edge highlighting on the consoles themselves, it looks a bit flat without that (should be easy to drybrush). I'm going to try to prime the base today if the weather lets up. More progress will follow, so stay tuned!

**ZergSmasher**

Well, time for a quick update! I've glued everything to the base that is going on it (with the exception of the Stormsurge's legs, of course), and also gotten it basecoated. Here's a pic of where it's at right now:

Next thing to do will be add (lots of) texture paint!
I've also finished up the cockpit on this behemoth including gluing the pilots into place:

Only thing I don't like about this is that once the pilots are in you can't see as much of the cockpit detail, but oh well.

Last thing to show is the missile pods; basecoating is mostly done other than some cleanup of the missiles themselves (surprisingly hard to do a good job getting the nose cones painted evenly):

I don't think I'll ever get them perfect, so I'm just going to get them "close enough" and leave it at that rather than frustrate myself unnecessarily.

More to come soon, I've only got 9 more days to get this done, so wish me luck!

**ZergSmasher**

Here's some more progress: I've gotten the main gun completely basecoated. Here's a pic:

I still need to shade and highlight the gun, but otherwise it is done. That was the last piece needing basecoating, so I'm almost done with this behemoth!

Here's a shot of some components that are, in fact, done:

Sorry for the blurry pic, I was in a hurry. This is the shield generator and the two sensor heads that go on the top of the machine.

More progress to come, I've only got like 4 days left to finish this thing, so expect more updates sooner rather than later.

**ZergSmasher**

Here's the model's base, all done except for the edge:

Since I took this photo, I did paint the edge of it with Zandri Dust, and I glued the legs of the Stormsurge on it. It took an ENTIRE POT of Blackfire Earth texture paint to do this base. Shame they discontinued that particular texture paint, eventually I'll have to think of a replacement (not soon, I bought about seven pots from my FLGS in the Discontinued bin). I've gotten all the shading done on the model, now I just need to do the highlights on everything and assemble it. I'm keeping it pretty simple and unspectacular, and the paintjob will make it look relatively factory fresh, but I don't have time to do any weathering (I don't think I would weather it much even if I did have time!).