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After seeing the tau Xmas box, i knew i wanted it, so i planned to prepare for it and one thing leading to another, i went full mont'ka.
So, after 3 weeks of daily modeling (not the kind of model you want to see on magazines cover... Or maybe....), they are all ready for prime time. Cleaned up, gaps covered (they need to do something with the tank kit, jean claude van dame could do some split in there) and magnetizing the heck out of all the big chongus.
I am planning on painting them white. But i will shade it with grey blue and use pure white only slightly as a zenithal air brush then edge highlight most edges with either pure white or the lightest grey blue. I will do a test model to decide. The rest will be standard GW color scheme.
I just tried out my formula for the armor. The shadows were not dark enough to my taste, so i modified the formula a bit.
Now, i apply the shadows with charcoal before tinting it with sombre grey. Then spray the rest of the model with glacier blue and zenithal with a white ink to tint glacier blue even lighter.
This is the result. I just painted black things that need to not be white in order to visualise the armor better. I also have only edge highlighted the torso. (it looks like the model's shadows are created by the light above, but no, the light is right behind the camera.)
I edge highlighted the light part with dead white and the darker part with glacier blue.
Overall i'm really happy and if i manage to get the hole army look like that, i will be proud of my work.
I always enjoy seeing the start and progress of a project. I'm looking forward to yours progressing - your test model looks ace.
You've also got me pondering new year, new >something<. Or, more likely, what is my Holiday project going to be? I have plenty of time off... Time to plan now (maybe not a whole army, though!).
After doing some last minute touches on the modeling side (cover the drone stems for example), i managed to finish the commander. It is not perfect but i stick to my plans and i'm pretty pleased with the result. Now i need to hide everything that is unpainted to not lose hope . The pictures are a bit darker otherwise the camera crush the light details.
More food for the great devourer !
JK, i root for the t'au... Maybe.
I thought about my next target being shadowsun. I think because of the way i use the air brush, her sculpt could give me some amazing result. A bit like on this picture, but with colors instead.
Hello everybody,
For the past almost 2 weeks, i've been quite busy, but i didn't stick to one model like for the first one. I have been starting, pausing, resuming a few stuff in the army. That's how i like it when doing armies. I do what i feel like doing for the day and as long as i do something, the whole project advances.
Anyway.
I just finished a batch of drones and the commander shadowsun. I really like how the drones came out, but for shadowsun, i don't know if i really like the miniature. I didn't try hard on the paintjob like i would on a good looking named character. Here are the pictures :
Here are the other stuff i was working on (and off). Yeah, it's been 2 weeks, but some of these are big boys.
I'm a bit disapointed on my putty-job on the tanks. The reactors are not seamless. We can still see that the sculpt is old and jank. The hull of the tanks are pretty good though. People who had to put t'au tanks together know what i mean.
Despite this, i'm pretty pleased with the progress and the looks. I was hoping to finish all of this before i get the Xmas box, but it will be tough.
Anyways, thank you for reading and have a nice day !
I have been 3 weeks and unfortunately no models are ready to go on the pile of completion. And some new arrivals from the Xmas battleforce have been added to the pile of potential.
But it do not mean that i have been lazy. Far from it. Yes, i "wasted" a few days advancing my gold blood angels captain and my 6 sanguinary guard. But most of that time was spend advancing the whole t'au army at once. Everybody have their armour painted and shaded (only edge highlighting remains) and everybody have their base done.
I am in the process of painting the suits heads.
As you can see there's a lot. The first batch of miniatures got into my hands 2 month ago. I am pretty happy with where i am after 60 days and it looks like what i was envisioning when i was planing to start.
Around two weeks were spend modeling. Every big weapon is magnetized apart from the broadside main weapon. It was possible with ball magnets, but i was lazy for this time.
I chose to keep farsight red with a white head because i believe the other suits with red heads will look like they belong together anyway.
They look great en masse. That is a peril of batch painting. You don't get a regular hit of dopamine as you finish models in a few days - it all comes at once when your army gets finished in a short space of time
This is solid productivity for sure. That's a nice white scheme, and its going to look even better en masse! If it was me I would probably end up weathering it but that would be pure madness LOL.
I reckon once the red helmets are done these guys are going to really pop.
That is an impressive amount of Tau, the white armour looks really good and clean. I’ve just started dabbling in Tau, but there is no chance I would have the patience or skill to attempt a colour scheme like that on anything! Can’t wait to see them all finished!
Nice progress! Batch painting this much in one go is impressive to me, The most I can do is 10 at a time. And that is a grind to me already, so kuddos to you!
'The whole art of war consists in getting at what is on the other side of the hill.' -- The Duke of Wellington
Flapjack wrote: Nice progress! Batch painting this much in one go is impressive to me, The most I can do is 10 at a time. And that is a grind to me already, so kuddos to you!
It's because i see the early stages as "prep work" for the real paintjob. Once the main color is done (air brush), the base (rocks, earth, grass and pigments) and the details are covered in black (i paint black everything that is supposed to be either black or another color over the sprayed main color to visualize all the details and to cover up the dark hard to reach parts), the true painting starts. At that stage i do squad by squad or model by model.
It's all psychology. It gives me the impression to advance super fast in the early stages and it also gives me the impression that each model is not taking too long to finish in the end stages.
gobert wrote: Lovely army sunshine. The white looks really good. How’d you line the panels? Was it panel liner or just a steady hand?
Hello, thanks for the compliment ! Yes, i am using tamiya panel liner and i clean up the mess with enamel thinner and a makeup sponge.
Happy new year everybody. I hope you had a fantastic end of 2025. On my side i continued to paint models here and there but only finished a few drones and the devilfish. This week i am in the process of finishing 20 footmen (hoovesmen ?) so i will have the combat patrol ready to play.
This post needs to be renamed into "new year, almost new army"
At the end of december, i got myself some "photoshoot" gear. Here is the video of my latest finished model :
Hopefully, this weekend i will be able to show 20 hoofsoldiers and hopefully they will look good.
Fantastic looking Tau! The white armour looks awesome, makes doing white look easy
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/01/08 13:36:57
"Here lies a toppled God,
His fall was not a small one,
We did but built his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one."
Tleilaxu Epigram (Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert)
I have just finished a pathfinders team. I could have put more efforts into it, but i had 20 foot soldiers on my desk for way too long and i wanted to expedite them to go back to big robots and cool stuff. I was expecting them to be done by the weekend, then during the weekend, and here we are... The 10 breachers have had a bit more efforts put into them and they just need highlighting but knowing me, i will procrastinate
After the breachers i will finish to paint my BA captain and the 6 sanguinary guards from the BA box. I want to play the t'au VS BA in a patrol format.
JordySteve wrote:That’s a nice looking combat patrol (can’t believe how clean you get the white!) - when are they going to be hitting the gaming table?
Looking forward to seeing your sanguinary guard and what you do with them.
Thanks man, i don't know when i'll be playing with them, that's always a dillema between painting more and playing The sanguinary guards are halfway done, but the red paint i use for the cloth and shoulders do not cover at all. I waste so much time on these, it will push the completion by a few more days . For the armor i have invented the "non metallic true metal" TM. I do the armor shading with the air brush in brownish yellow then i add true metallic metal on the lighter parts. Sounds stupid but it looks really cool. Since the gold paints are always trash and covers nothing, it just tint the lighter parts with a bit of glitter.
Hey everybody, thanks for the interrest over my post.
I have greatly advanced the blood angels. The captain is done, one sanguinary guard is done and the 5 remaining are 90% done.
I have deployed every trick and technique i know to paint the captain. I think it is the best miniature i have ever painted. Take a look :
Thank you for reading !
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2026/01/27 03:30:21
You’re right, that captain looks really cool. The colours are superb and the armour looks amazing! I’m not sure how to describe the colour of the armour, but non metallic true metal works for me!! If thats the standard you are doing the rest then I can’t wait to see them all finished!,
This is indeed an amazing work ! You have every right to be proud of that captain.
Your Tau force was already jaw dropping with that crisp white but now, I'm speechless. Can't wait to see more of them .
I really love the aspects of those colours. They feel real. Congratulations this is simply amazing work.
3500pts painted
6230pts WIP
2000pts painted
2000pts WIP
2000pts painted
4845pts WIP 
. The pictures are a bit darker otherwise the camera crush the light details.
. For the armor i have invented the "non metallic true metal" 
