Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

For a moment I thought I was an Ork, until I realized the green skin was from envy.

Good god man, keep up the good work.

I'm eagerly awaiting an army shot that shows them altogether (or at least what you have done so far), they look absolutely stunning.

Keep the excellent work its supurb.

Cheers for the compliments+comments guys.

The Naga is almost finished. The scales are now black, hightlighted w. codex grey.
Will post new pics of him + a group shot of all wip so far in the next few days.




In the meanwhile, here is the army list i am working towards;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/226853.page

bloody brilliant, im loving wat im seeing here, keep it up, more pics please.

This is the Naga finished.

these look great man, they blend pretty seamlessly together

awesome.
I think you have the right amount of savage warrior and high-tech devices blended together. Im also liking the way you replicated the tau colors on the high tech stuff, while the warrior himself looks totally different. It should look great together with the rest of your army.

Im guessing the base will get some of those leaves as well?

I really like the black scales, they tie it together excellently, I shudder to think what new Tau program involves implanting communication devices into humanoid reptilians skull and those tubes seem even more worrying.

Taco_bat wrote:these look great man, they blend pretty seamlessly together

Cheers, I am really happy with how the colours came out in the finished product.

Flachzange wrote:awesome.
I think you have the right amount of savage warrior and high-tech devices blended together. Im also liking the way you replicated the tau colors on the high tech stuff, while the warrior himself looks totally different. It should look great together with the rest of your army.

Im guessing the base will get some of those leaves as well?

Appreciate the Kudos :-)

The balance was tricky, as the Naga are 'counts-as' Kroot they really couldn't have any armour. So the plan was to make them techy but not too techy.

The base will be the same jungle base as the Fire Warriors.

Drunkspleen wrote:I really like the black scales, they tie it together excellently, I shudder to think what new Tau program involves implanting communication devices into humanoid reptilians skull and those tubes seem even more worrying.

I have to give kudos to all those who suggested colours for the scales. I tried blue but it looked too cartoony. So went with the suggestion of 'cool colour'
Black and Grey are pretty neutral so bind the vibrant Orange.

In a galaxy full of war, genocide and unspeakable horror... what is a little mind control and drugging of your soldiers?

how do you plan to paint your tau Shas'Ui? I presume a light blue-grey skin?

@ironKing - Yep, Traditional fishy blue...

Been following the Cricket? Go the Proteas!

Looks good, as has been said the black scales work well with the orange-red.

Wow, overall very nice painting and clever modeling. This has got to be a great looking army when all assembled.

Hey All,

Quick update, WiP of the Broadsides;

I'm redoing the heads, they didnt work quite right.





The Advanced Stablisation System - Gyroscope

Clean work on that I love the Gyroscope. Very interesting. It also makes the broadside beefier than it is already, which I think is very fitting.

Dam you Sirath! You've got me thinking about starting a tau army when my Eldar arn't even finished yet. I've even started thinking of colour schemes (well stolen yours but with red markings instead of tan).

Sirath wrote:

Apone wrote:Fantastic Job! A pleasure to look at.
I second the weathering comment. A few streaks of oil and soot on the engines/ exhausts will add realism.
But not to worry if it's not your bag. They look great as is.

Hrmm, does anyone know of a how-to weather article? I haven't done much of this.

A great way to get some VERY soft soot and oil stains without really doing anything heavy duty is to use crushed pastels. This technique is great for understated shading and 'dirtying'. But it doesn't come off looking like paint. Give it a try on something safe first before you go after these models.

The technique is simple. Go to an art store and buy a set of hard pastels. I bought a set of 'earth tone' pastels about 3 years ago, and I'm still going strong on them. Take a hobby knife and scrape the blade across the corner of the pastel. It will create tiny shavings. Do this over your pallete or just something that will contain the shavings. Next take an old brush. (this brush is going to be dried out and ruined after you are done) and pick up some of the pastel. Then rub the brush on the area you want affected. It will be very subtle, which is probably what you are looking for. If you want less subtle, just go get a little bit more of the shavings and reapply.

The pastel will wear off if it is on an area that will be touched quite often. It might be advisable to lock it in with a spray sealer. I would advise against painting anything on over it. The crushed pastel never really dries. Applying water to it or a brush stroke over it can smear it and ruin the effect.

I thought I had already posted on how much I like this project. I guess I haven't so I'll say that its a great project!

The specific things that are really working for me are...

Excellent color scheme, I loved how shadowsun looked, and making an army out of her scheme is just great.

Rectangular back banners. YES japanese style banners are definitely appealing on tau!

Basing. do NOT paint those leaves. They look excellent as is. Save the time. The oversized aquarium leaf being used as some sort of alien flora is great. I hadn't seen that used in a non-competition paint scheme. Please let me know if that was a pain in the ass to do, or if its fragile for a tabletop model.

Reposed battlesuits/fire warriors. Rest assured that the extra time you spent reposing will be noticed and appreciated.


Now go and continue to be productive!!!

@Flachzange - Thanks.
Yep, the Gyro does add that little bit extra.

@Hammerziet - Go the Tau!
I take it you are looking at doing the colour scheme from Cities of Death/Medusa Campaign? Its a nifty scheme.


@Shep - Hey Shep, Really appreciate the effort you went into, some really good stuff i will take away from you post.


Im keen to try the weathering technique, I will keep it on the back burner and pull it out once if finish a few more units [Im trying to get the army to a stage i can start playing small games]

Shadowsun's colour scheme is one of the best GW has done, it almost is a reverse of the traditional Tau scheme. It uses much the same colours - Ochre, Black and White.

I did not want to go overboard with the Japanese symbols and style. But touches of it are gold.

No way am i painting the plants. A few people have said that the plastic plants need to be painted. In all honesty, i cannot be bothered and actually like the colours the GW plants come with.

The plants are somewhat tricky, long story short - i pin them in to the bases.

Lol, i liek to do conversions, most times they are too subtle for the gaming public! ;-)

...and you keep productive with yre Vostroyans!

Broadside now with Head + Stabilisers

cool, an update!!!

Great to see a finished broadside... seeing all of the parts separate definitely piqued my interest.

It looks great all together like that. The extra armor works. And that head is great!

Wicked nice, Sirath.

Clean deadly looking tau Love the Broadside.

Your painting skill far exceeds many, I do love the work you've done with the Naga/Tarellian auxiliary.

And the Broadside, nice job with the spinning globe circlets on it.

I feel like I have seen these before...
Did you have some Tau in the cabinet at GW Sylvia park?
Although your probably sick of the 'wow' comments, your work is truly fantastic, that broadside with the gyro is inspired.
Only one little nitpick, I see abit of flash or sprue edge leftover near the neck of the broadside.
What else can we be expecting to see in this army?

Fantastic work Sirath, I love the interior detailing on that gunship. Really nice use of magnets as well, if there's one thing I love it's detial!

Really like your battlesuits as well!

Love your work, well done. I don't care for your head choice but it was well executed.

I love everything here, and wish I could paint my Tau to even 5% of this standard :( I do think the Lizardman looks too obviously like a WFB model with Tau gubbins stuck to it, if I were nit-picking.

Looks great, though I personally don't like the head. It looks way too thin, like the shockwaves from the guns compressed it or something!

Shep wrote:cool, an update!!!

Great to see a finished broadside... seeing all of the parts separate definitely piqued my interest.

It looks great all together like that. The extra armor works. And that head is great!

Cheers, they were sitting there gathering dust for too long.

Shortbus wrote:Wicked nice, Sirath.

viney wrote:Clean deadly looking tau Love the Broadside.

Gundam-Mecha wrote:Fantastic work Sirath, I love the interior detailing on that gunship. Really nice use of magnets as well, if there's one thing I love it's detial!

Really like your battlesuits as well!

Thanks fellas!

!? wrote:Your painting skill far exceeds many, I do love the work you've done with the Naga/Tarellian auxiliary.

And the Broadside, nice job with the spinning globe circlets on it.

I had to work at the painting skills, they really kicked off when was working for GW. Mastering any skill is about passion and hard work.

Krieger wrote:I feel like I have seen these before...
Did you have some Tau in the cabinet at GW Sylvia park?
Although your probably sick of the 'wow' comments, your work is truly fantastic, that broadside with the gyro is inspired.
Only one little nitpick, I see abit of flash or sprue edge leftover near the neck of the broadside.
What else can we be expecting to see in this army?

Lol, never sick of compliments!

You probably saw the FW squad i put in for Golden Demon. They got to the finals but that was it.
The gyro is stolen from the GW website, however i did upgrade their design!
Ha! You are observant, the flash is from a mistake, has been fixed. Cheers.

Well for Feb the plan is to finish;

2 Broadsides + 2 Shield Drones
Fix + Finish the Prototype Naga
1 More Fireknife Crisis Suit
6 Pathfinders

chaplaingrabthar wrote:I love everything here, and wish I could paint my Tau to even 5% of this standard :( I do think the Lizardman looks too obviously like a WFB model with Tau gubbins stuck to it, if I were nit-picking.

No worries, Hopefully the fix will help with this. Any suggestions on how to improve him?

SPARKEYG wrote:Love your work, well done. I don't care for your head choice but it was well executed.

tzeentchling wrote:Looks great, though I personally don't like the head. It looks way too thin, like the shockwaves from the guns compressed it or something!

Well the original heads just did not fit! The 'beards' got in the way of the extra neck armour.

I wanted a head that was almost 'no-frills' - that you get the impression all the $ has gone into the firing of the railguns. What i mean to say; there is no peripheral vision, no added sensors, everything is straight ahead with no added ornamentation.

Got bored with Painting white again, so knocked together the prototype for my Human [Gue'vesa] Auxiliaries.
Enjoy!