The Status Log below is a quick reference guide to the progress of the current Blog. This way you can skip to the parts you want to see without having to scroll through page after page. The Status Log will show completion status of the units such as percentage bought, WIP percentage and PIP percentage. Also, it gives you quick pictures of the completion of both WIP & PIP along with links to the page of start and completion of the unit.

C&C always welcome. Thanks for looking and reading.

Desert Tau Army Project Status Log:

Unit One: Suicide XV-8 Crisis Battle suit -- COMPLETE 100% Built 100% Painted
Unit Two: First 4 man Pathfinder squad -- COMPLETE 100% Built 100% Painted
Picture of Unit One and Two WIP Completion
Picture of Unit One and Two PIP Completion
Units One and Two WIP start on page one so no link since it is only a few scrolls downward.
Link to Page 3 of Unit One and Unit Two posts of completion:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/434929.page

Unit Three: Second 4 man Pathfinder squad -- 95% Built 0% Painted
Unit Four: First 6 man Fire Warrior squad -- 100% Built 0% Painted
Unit Five: Second 6 man Fire Warrior squad -- 100% Built 0% Painted
Unit Six and Seven: 2 Pathfinder Devilfish -- 0% Built 0% Painted
Unit Eight: FW Tau special character -- 0% Built 0% Painted

FW order: remaining 6 FW Crisis suits and 9 FW XV-88 Broadsides for the army. 7.66% Ordered 0% Built 0% Painted
1st FW XV-88 Broadside Ordered

Bases needed for 1850 army:
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 1 25mm Bevelled -- 20 100% Obtained
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 40mm Bevelled -- 19 26% Obtained
Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 60mm Bevelled -- 2 0% Ordered


Paints used --

Crisis Suits:
Main Armor - P3 Hammerfall Khaki (GW Commando Khaki is pretty close)
Secondary Color (Dark Grey) - P3 Bastion Grey
Army/Rank Color - P3 Meredius Blue (GW Hawk Turquoise is also pretty close) and GW Skull White
Head Lens in order of use - GW Scab Red, GW Red Gore, GW Blood Red, GW Skull White
Plasma/Jet Pack in order of use - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Ice Blue, GW Skull White
Sensor Lens - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Skull White
Green Buttons - GW Snot Green
Red Buttons - GW Blood Red
Antenna Tops - GW Chaos Black
Weathering Powder Jet pack - Bar Mills Soot

For the Pathfinder (and all infantry) uses the same colors over most of the mini. However there are several more colors on the infantry that are used and they are as follows:
Uniform Cloth - P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Leather Equipment and back of boots - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Knife handle, snap buttons and wire - GW Chaos Black
Wrist Pad Screen in order of use - GW Foundation Knarloc Gree, GW Snot Green, GW Scorpion Green

Now for the bases:
Main base color - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Sand and Dry Brush - P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Weathering Powder - MIG Gulf War Sand
Grass - Army Painter Highland Tuft

Link to the Dakka Gallery to this army:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-4337-24398_Desert%20Tau%20Blog.html

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I said a little a bit ago that I was giving up on 40K all together. However, trying to to new things with Warmachine minis was leaving a bit bored. So, to keep my hand into to art of the hobby I made my mind up that I was going to go all out on one army. Thinking long and hard on this I chose to delve back into the Greater Good and collect a Tau Army.

As I have done most type of terrain and themes for armies over the last 20 years I hadn't done a Desert Themed army yet. Looking through Google I have found alot of great desert themed Tau armies hammered the last nail into the coffin. But since I was going to go all out on this army I wasn't going to spare any expense when it came to the minis. This means that I have gotten the green light to buy an air compressor and an air brush along with almost $800.00 USD of FW Broadsides and Crisis Suits. On top of that I have decided that I am going to install LEDs on all the suits and Devilfish transports. I am not going to do the infantry as that would completely pull away from the models. There will even be a few surprises that I plan to add along the way.

Like I said before that this isn't my first go at Tau:



I sold that army off to fund my Orks and Warmachine but I bored with Orks and Warmachine has very few options for good modelling. So it is back to Tau and now in good desert colors. So for all those people that are worried about Gundum colored Tau you will not see anything like that here.

Here is the list that I am going to build. Feel free to comment as I have not ordered the FW Suits yet.

1850 Pts - Tau Empire Roster

HQ: Commander Shas'el (1#, 100 pts)
1 Commander Shas'el, 100 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Multi-tracker; Stimulant Injector; Missile
Pod; Twin Linked Fusion Blaster)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 197 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 197 pts (Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired
Multi-tracker; Missile Pod; Targeting Array; Team Leader)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (4#, 197 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 197 pts (Bonding Knife; Fusion Blaster; Hard-wired Drone Controller; Hard-wired
Multi-tracker; Missile Pod; Targeting Array; Team Leader)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Fusion Blaster; Missile Pod; Multi-Tracker)

Elite: Crisis Battlesuit (2#, 106 pts)
1 Crisis Battlesuit, 106 pts (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster; Targeting Array)
1 Crisis Battlesuit (Twin Linked Fusion Blaster; Targeting Array)

Troops: Fire Warrior (6#, 60 pts)
6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts

Troops: Fire Warrior (6#, 60 pts)
6 Fire Warrior, 60 pts

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (5#, 133 pts)
4 Pathfinder, 133 pts
1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod)

Fast Attack: Pathfinder (5#, 133 pts)
4 Pathfinder, 133 pts
1 Devilfish (Disruption Pod)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

Heavy Support: Broadside Battlesuit (5#, 288 pts)
1 Broadside Battlesuit, 288 pts (Bonding Knife; Hard-wired Blacksun Filter; Hard-wired Drone
Controller; Hard-wired Target Lock; Advanced Stabilisation System; Team Leader)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Broadside Battlesuit (Advanced Stabilisation System)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)
1 Shield Drone (Shield Generator)

If you have any pointers on this list just post. I am most likely going to face a lot a IG transports and Heavy Tanks so this list is what it is designed for.


Now for the first unit that I am building is my Pathfinders. I hate the weedy nature of the metal Pathfinders so I decided to use the Fire Warrior kits. So here is the first one built:







From the start I want my Pathfinders too look like they are equipped to be scouts. An with the same 4+ armor of a Fire Warrior the metal minis don't make any sense that 50% of the armor is missing. So I left all the armor except for the large shoulder armor. Also, added of course is pouches for equipment. All the markerlight is the end of a Gun Drone Antenna and the Antenna from a hand sensor from the Fire Warrior kit. He is not attached to that base as I plan on using Secret Weapon Desert Mesa bases.

Well, that is enough for tonight. C&C is always welcome.


WOOT! This first Blog post is post 1701! You are my hero Capt Kirk!

Those other Tau you did are amazing, I can't wait to see the news ones yer workin' on.

I like the converted pathfinder!

Seeing your previous army, I cant wait too see more! It seems to be a rather hard hitting army, but isn't it a bit week on the troop side? You'll be struggling to get objectives, it seems. But I'll love to see all those Broadsides!

Keep it coming, you're off to a fine with the subtle pathfinder conversion. Can't wait to see all 9 xv-88s lined up.

Thanks for the comments so far and please keep them coming.

On the troops issue of the list I am using them to make last second pushes allowing the Broadsides and Suits take down armor and Heavy Infantry. The suits will also be uses as road blocks if need be. So when I bump the list up more infantry will come into play.

So, last night I started work on my second Pathfinder. The issue is that I need to order a bunch of the pouches. Looks like I am going to clear out at least three bitz sites.

More to come...

Looking at all the sites including EBay I can't find enough pouches and stowage for my Pathfinders and Fire Warriors. So I am going to use Rapid Mold sticks to make the stuff I need. I will post on how I used these to make the stuff I needed.

Tonight I will post my second built Pathfinder. Just waiting for my bases to show up so I can model the rest of the Pathfinders around the shapes of the bases.

Friday and Saturday were nuts for me so I couldn't post. Nothing like getting told at 6 PM Friday that my in-laws along 10 others of her family are coming by for dinner the next day. So, all hobby stuff was put on the back burner as I cleaned and cooked for 14 people. Yes I do all the cooking in the house as my wife admits that she can't cook. Pulled it all off and now time to post like I promised.

Saturday morning my Secret Weapon Desert Mesa 1 bases arrived my my Norman like mailman. Opening up the padded package and they were just what they looked like on the website. Plus they are a great deal since you get 10 in a package and not 5 like Micro-Arts. Here is what they look like:



I know I could do this with some pieces of cork or chunks of plaster under some more plaster or GS but you know for $8.99 my time is better spent elsewhere than making bases. Secret Weapon

Now on to the Pathfinders. As I said I got the second one done. I knew I was going to use a lot of kneeling poses for them but I did want to have them in different types of kneeling poses than the ones in the box. I had to wait for the bases to arrive so I could model them around the bases. Since all but one set of legs are in a stand poses I am going to have to cut into the knee and repose the lower legs. This will give a chance to work on my GS usage.

So here is my two Pathfinders that are built dry fitted onto their bases:






As you might have noticed that I changed their stowage kits a bit. I didn't want them to be completely dress right dress. Second I am starting to run out of stowage bitz since most bitz sites are pretty slim on these bits. To fix this problem I plan on next payday to order a one complete set of bitz I need not only for my Pathfinders bit also for my Fire Warriors. Then I also want to order a set of the Rapid Mold Sticks to make GS copies of the bitz. It would cost me a fortune to order all the stowage bitz if I could ever find enough of them so this way with the Rapid Mold Sticks I can keep on reproducing them as needed. Since I never plan on selling this army and the copies are for my own use I am not running into any IP issues.

With this promised update complete it is on to working on more Pathfinders. I will update again when I have my first reposed Pathfinder finished. See you soon and as always C&C is always welcome.

I have been working all day on my first squad of four Pathfinders built and based. I only have some clean up of mold lines, rough spots and GS work to do but they are almost done.

First is my repose of a standing Fire Warrior legs to a kneeling position. Just need to GS the uniform around the knees to fill in the gaps of where I had to cut. Here he is:






For my second is the Squad Leader/Upload link to the main force. He will become a True Squad leader if and when I go up in points so I modeled him with that in mind. I put a long range data transmitter/receiver on his back and a wrist mounted data pad. Here he is:






And the 1st Pathfinder Squad together:







I will post the miniatures once GS and clean up is finished but I am stopping for the night as I am about to go cross eyed. I welcome all C&C about anything miniature or the way I am doing things. Thanks for looking.

Took today off from work because I didn't feel well for the past couple of days. Instead of laying around watching TV or playing XBox I decided to finish the details on my first squad of Pathfinders. I am very pleased how they turned out. They are simple but the look is very effective.

The key thing I was trying to achieve was an easily reproducible look that I can do for every Pathfinder squad I do next. So little GS work that isn't too complicated or detailed and bitz that can be either easily bought or reproduced. With this in mind I think I pulled off the look quite well. However, the proof is in the pictures and on your comments. So, here is the completed four-man Pathfinder Squad (the GS and detail pictures shown first to show the progress from the previous WIP pictures.) Enjoy!















Well, I honestly think that these Pathfinders are what GW should have done in the first place. They look more like soldiers that skinny kids in an over sized costume. On all the Pulse Carbines I added a small toggle switch on the weapons so they can switch from the Weapon to the Markerlight.

On the Sqd Leader I put large bands on his uniform from the wiring from the data receiver/transmitter to the wrist data pad on his wrist to keep the wires in place as he moves. However, I made them larger so he can grab them in a hurry and remove it if need be while wearing his gloves. Also, added three over sized menu buttons so there is more detail on the data pad.

Looking at them I should be able to pop out another four of them after a bitz order I placed and the rapid mold sticks arrives.

As always I really do want your C&C on this project as it will be able to help me move forward. Thank you for your time.

WOW! Truly awesome work, keep it up!

Over the last five days while I was sick I was thinking about my 1850 Army list as it goes with the fluff in the Tau Codex. Well, I decided to change and have a single Crisis Suit as a suicide unit dedicated in destroying tank squadrons. Fluff-wise this is a Crisis Suit pilot going through his second trial and he has been given a modified XV-8 Battlesuit to complete the mission.

So, I have him as a second HQ Suit with a Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Irdium Armor, Shield Generator and a multi-tracker. My other HQ will have a positional relay so this suit can come in on a 2+ on second turn. As I am going to be fighting an 1850 IG Armor Army, this suit will be dropping in on the rear armor of the IG Armor squadrons so not having melta is not so much of a problem with two strength 7 and two strength 6 shots a turn boosted BS with marker lights.

I am posting this quickly as I am tired, I will go into more detail tomorrow night about the parts used and why. There is some mold lines to clean up but the suit is complete as WYSIWYG So here is my Suicide Crisis Suit:







Suicide Crisis Suit behind my first squad of Pathfinders:



Thank you for looking and as always, C&C always welcome. Please feel free to comment if you like it or if you don't.

That's looking terrific Mike--a Tau suit that actually looks imposing! Can't wait to see your OSL thrown around on those guys.


Desert primer ordered--Tallarn tanks growing anxious...

Very nice, i'll be watching closely. Hopefully i can pilfer some ideas for my Jungle Tau.

A quick update about the Crisis Battlesuit like I promised. I am using this guy as a suicide unit against Armored Squadrons. So he is going to be the only GW XV-8 in the 1850 list. All the others will be FW Crisis Suits.

For the equipment: I decided to put two missile pods on since the way I am going to kit him out he should be able to last at least two turns so I wanted the missile pods to represent that much ammo that he is carrying to be able to fire for three turns. Then the plasma rifle looks larger than the normal one and that is because when I openned the box at least of 1/5 of each sprue was warped. So I had to cut up the plasma rifle and merge it with the fusion blaster rear section so it would look right.

On the other are is his shield generator made out of a shield generation disk and a burst cannon rear section. It is showing that the shield generator is not just a disk but a whole piece of equipment that is normally inside the suit. There is also another shield generator on the rear and that equipment is spread out throughout the suit. So the two shield generators combined now cover 360. I believe that it looks so much better since it balances out both arms.

Well, my lunch is over and got to go. My next post will be the test paint scheme for these minis. See you all soon.

They look great!

Love them path finders. I always found it difficult to convert any tau when i did them. My mind just couldnt think of how to do it.

That suit is cool to considering that lets be honest the gw suits look gak.

The pathfinders look great. Will be following this thread with interest.

Thanks to everyone. I am glad that everyone is liking the stuff so far. Trying to go all out on my stuff so knowing that people like it so far makes me strive to do more.

I have always loved Tau but was getting discouraged by the codex creep. But knowing that the new codex is around the corner I want to be ready.

Well, my next Blog entry with work will be the start of painting. As the FW battlesuits are not completely hollow I think I am going to try my hand at OSL (Object Source Lighting). I am going to keep the lights to a normal brightness and not the super glow that you see on other stuff.

I agree that the Crisis Suits need an update to the FW Marks or to the Hazard suits but I think GW is going to leave them as it. If GW would just fix the molds I would be happy because you would never know that there was almost an 1/4 gap on both sides of that jet pack. Four quick clamps and alot of cussing I was able to get it to what you see without GS.

Thanks for reading and commenting because it keeps me motivated.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So tonight I base coated my first five minis in my normal base color. I am going to get smacked or sneered at by the color. I base coat everything in Camo Flat Brown. I know it seems weird but it works great. It does not darken the colors placed on top very much and it is still dark enough to give you a good bit for shading. Plus those that do a lot of metal it dry brushes great and gives it a bit more dirt feel to the metal.

The base coating spray I use:


This is my other Dakka Blog that has other minis of mine I used this brown base coating:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/310277.page

I didn't do much today but got home late from work so all I got was the base coat. Only one picture of the base coated minis:


What I love is that it is light enough that I can see any mold lines.

Now this isn't related to my army but I found this picture hiding in my camera and thought I would share.

It is my Stepfather's idea of a front yard Christmas lawn decoration:



I will see you guys soon when I start to put down the primary colors of my paint scheme. As always C&C is so very welcome.

Dude, I have been watching your other stuff you did and hope you keep up with this army because it is looking good.

Another quick post to the blog. I stayed up late last night and worked some tonight on my first test paint of my scheme for my infantry. The mini needs some highlights and clean-up but he is almost done. Well here is my first pathfinder:

(The base is not done yet on this set)





(Base is complete on this set)






I like my minis to look dirty like they have been in the field. However, I need to cover some of the wash on the large flat areas by doing some highlights. Plus the lighting in my workshop does not due justice to the mini. Believe that it is at tabletop quality right now but I need to bump it up one more notch.

Hope you enjoy and thank you for looking. As always C&C is always welcome but more now than anything now because the paint is what can make or break an army. See you all soon.

Wow, I have to say thats amazing, but Weathering powders would kick it up

Thanks. I have some weathering powders that I use on my ork vehicles but don't work for this scheme. So I am lurking on the MIG site choosing desert colors. I agree they would make the mini pop.

Ahh, one of the challenges of a good camo scheme. How to make a model blend with the base but not completely disappear?

Have you considered red squad markings? It would be a bit of color without ruining camo effect. Just a thought.

take care

The best part of this project is the extra detail that you've lavished in to the models, like showing the xv8 as having 360 degree shielding. Stuff like that just bro.Gs it all right together

I completely agree with needing a bit of contrast. I was trying to go with a subtle color to the squad markings but I think red would make the minis stand out a bit more. Between the weathering powders and red markings it should pull the look together nicely.

Thanks for the complement about the details on the minis. I always belived that those little touches help make a mini that much better and more believable when on the table. Can't wait to get my hands on all those FW suits so I can see what upgrading can be done.

Love the C&C because it is those comments that help make the project a success. So keep them coming.

Off to bed I go. Have to be to work early. Will post this weekend with another update so see you then.

Wow

Love the pathfinders and painting

I definitely agree on the flatwork. He looks less dirty and more 'dipped' at the moment, but a bit of highlighting will make that snap right back to awesome.

The Tau tend to be the most 'realistic' of the 40K armies in terms of combat. They mimic our modern day tactics of shoot-shoot-shoot, and mobility. So it's nice to see them in a good camo scheme.

Though I think a nice cool turquoise or green could work just as well as a red. The little stripes on the carbine show that pretty well.

Hawk turquoise chevrons!

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:I definitely agree on the flatwork. He looks less dirty and more 'dipped' at the moment, but a bit of highlighting will make that snap right back to awesome.

The Tau tend to be the most 'realistic' of the 40K armies in terms of combat. They mimic our modern day tactics of shoot-shoot-shoot, and mobility. So it's nice to see them in a good camo scheme.

Though I think a nice cool turquoise or green could work just as well as a red. The little stripes on the carbine show that pretty well.

Capitansolstice wrote:Hawk turquoise chevrons!

That was the squad/army marking color I was going to use. I did not want to make the markings large and over the top as they are still suppose to hide. The markings on the carbine are a smaller version on what is on the helmet. I think I might try and paint one section of the left thigh armor the turquoise and a set of markings on the back of the helmet. After that I will do some highlighting and see if those two things are enough to pull the mini out from the base a bit.

Still looking at what weathering powder I want to use since there is so many. I can pick up MIG powders at a local hobby shop here so I think I am going to stick with that company. Going to work on the touch ups and markings tonight so I will post again sometime tonight or tomorrow afternoon with the updates.

Thanks for the C&Cs and keep them coming.

MIG is really good, I think small tribal markings would be cool in turquoise, to break up the camo, but still make them camo

Here is a quick and dirty idea done via MS Paint here at work for the squad markings to be added. I think with will bring it out a bit from the front.

Perfect, If its like that it should look great, but That is a really bright blue

After reading all the comments I went to work on test paint Pathfinder when I got home from work. So I added more color and a few squad/army/rank markings. The color I decided on is the P3 Meredius Blue which is very close to GW Hawk Turquoise. There is five markings and four of them are squad rank markings. There are two on the helmet, one on the chest and the last on the outside of the carbine. Finally I colored in a segment of his left thigh armor for the army color which will go through out the army.

So here is the Pathfinder with new markings and a bit lightened (on white back ground):







I am not crazy about the look of the white back ground pictures as it seems to wash out the mini. So decided to use a the overhead light that more like more gaming rooms and stores to take some pictures of the test Pathfinder. I believe that the miniature looks better under this light. These pictures do show that this paint scheme will look great in a store or game room. Not GD quality but I have never strived for that. If the minis look great on the table that make me feel great. But I am trying new things with this army to make them look that bit better.

Here is the Pathfinder under normal gaming light:







I know there is room for improvement but I think he is turning out better each time. He is 1000% better than my last stab at Tau. Tomorrow after a shift of Overtime at work hopefully I will be heading to a true hobby store (not gaming) to get my weathering powders. If my wife is not up to it (we work for the same agency) I will order them online. If all my minis in this army are going to look like this mini I will be a very happy gamer.

So what do you think?

That looks great Mike. I really like the desert/rough look you got going---looks straight out of the trench! Are you going to add some shrub brush to the base?

The only critique I have right now without seeing it in person would be to highlight the turquoise a bit.

AgeOfEgos wrote:The only critique I have right now without seeing it in person would be to highlight the turquoise a bit.

Seconded!

Have you considered applying a wash to the base? Perhaps orange or yellow? This would give a bit of separation without ruining the camo/rough look. I feel the model and base are to close and you're losing a lot of the details. My free 2 cents


Lastly, I use a piece of light gray felt (that I picked up at a craft store) as a background for photos. It seems to work well.

take care

I have most of the army painter grass tuff packs and they are just too green. Even the highland tuffs. So I am thinking on getting the gw dead grass tuffs as it is all light brown. It will blend well with the weathering powders.

Trying to think what a good highlight is for the turquiose. I might just add 1 part white to the turquiose and highlight from there.

I might try a yellow or an orange wash. That might give it the color I have been lacking in the base. Between that and the weathering powders it should give a good desert look. I never thought of gray felt for photographs. It should mute that glare of my painting lamps. Thanks for the tips because I would have gone many more posts frustrated. If I have time I will hit the store for that felt.

Honestly, I think once they are all painted sitting on a good desert board the look will pull together. While I was in an boring 4 hour training on recovery of Social Security overpayments workload, I was sketching a rough picture of a desert kroot warrior. It got my brain going on how to expand past 1850.

What I see is Kroot with leather banded sun goggles, loose scarf over their mouths and a kind of loose hooded poncho with bandoleers, belts, pouches and knifes hanging of them. The poncho is more for temporary protection from the desert sun and a form of camo. As the kroot are more forest dwellers they would require this type of protection till they can get acclimated to the battlefield. Or more in line with the kroot would be that they need that stuff till they ingest enough dna to force their bodies to evolve to the conditions.

I would use a black background, that would bring it out, It looks perfect!

Hello again. I was surprised that when I started on my Suicide XV-8 Crisis Battlesuit (GW) that it took less time to paint than my first infantry mini. I guess I knew what paints needed and how to be used.

If you are wondering why I didn't finish painting the Pathfinder squad it is because I wanted to have test minis for both infantry and crisis suits to use as an example especially for the suits since they are going to make up over 80% of the model count of my army.

Yesterday I went after working 5 hours of overtime and picked up the MIG Gulf War Sand weathering powder to coat my minis in a light dust. I have used their Dark Mud on my Khador with great effect. So when I finished this suit I went over it with the Gulf Sand weathering powder and then a heavy soot over the back of the jet pack, missile pods and plasma rifle. The between the wash and weathering powders it does give the Suit a well worn combat suit look. Enough talk, more pictures so here we go (there is alot of pics):
















That is alot of pictures to put in but a blog about minis would be nothing without pictures. Looking at the mini in the pictures I have to make the color parts of the lens a bit brighter. Honestly, close up pictures do seem to ruin the weathering effects on the mini. The three foot rule of war gaming the looks really pulls together especially next to other minis.

I hope you guys and gals like the work so far. So keep the C&C coming please.

Thank you for looking. See you guys soon.

Looking good.

Two things:
1. How are the pigments to use? Do you just brush on the pigment or do you mix it with something?

2. Have you considered using a Sakura Micron pen (black or brown) to help give a little separation to the armor plates?


Thanks and take care

For the powders I used it almost right out of the bottle. First I used a dedicated thick dry brush. The brush is dipped into the powder and then rubbed a majority off on a paper towel. Lastly, I lightly dry brushed the remainder on the mini where I wanted. Just remember I little dab will do you.

I am going to use wash directly into armor segments. I keeps the color but it shows the different armor segments.

I never understood weathering powders... do they stick somehow? Or you at risk of the powders coming off during play and handling?

I read about people using them all the time, but never knew the process of the stuff.

The turquoise looks good, it really helps give the model just a touch more going on, and it looks great under the 'gaming' light.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:I never understood weathering powders... do they stick somehow? Or you at risk of the powders coming off during play and handling?

I read about people using them all the time, but never knew the process of the stuff.

The turquoise looks good, it really helps give the model just a touch more going on, and it looks great under the 'gaming' light.

Thanks for the C&C and I like the turquois also.

Now about the weathering powders. While I am no where near a physics expert or even a novice but I believe it has something to do with friction. It is possible that the powders can rub off or fall off over time but you can seal them onto the model. MIG and other companies do make special brush on sealers that will seal the powder onto the mini without losing the look. If you use regular matte spray sealer the propellent can mover the powders or the sealer can change the look of the powder because it becomes a very, very thin paste till it hardens. It isn't too noticable but there is a change. I recommend that anyone that wants to use weathering powders is to pratice on a junk vehicle bought off ebay or the dakka swap for cheap. Now, once you get the hang of them you will never go back because of the effect that it has on your minis.

Great stuff ! Keep up the good work

Just another quick thing about weathing powders. If you are going to try them out I recommend that you go on to EBay and get the 4 pack of rust colors from Bar Mills. They are for train cars but it is what I used on my Ork Vehicles and Bases.

There is four colors, Light, Medium and Dark rust and a soot color. They come in baggies so I recommend putting them in empty and dry screw top paint pots like the type that reaper sells. It's cleaner that way. That four pack is going for around $9.00 USD on EBay plus shipping and it is a huge deal espically if you are just learning how to use them.

The other color I would pick up is a dust or light dirt color because it will give it a nice dusty, out in the field look.

As for a sealer, I havn't bought the MIG Pigment sealer yet and have just sealed the powders along with the rest of my minis using a spray sealant. I don't mind losing a bit of the powdered look because it did not change it much. Here is a view of a looted wagon I sold to the owner of FLGS that was done with the weather powders and sealed with matte sealent:



Hope this helps some that are wondering about or wanting to start out with weathering powders.

Speaking (or showing of) tanks--when will you be doing your first tank?

Should be soon. Just need to break away from overtime at work and house repairs to get to Tabletop or order online. Been working ten hours a day and six hours on Saturday inorder to be able to replace all the gutters on my house and pay for it in cash. So, so in two paychecks my wife and I will have saved over $2500 to replace the gutters that are original to the house amd this house is almost fifty years old.

Plus I am not in a hurry to finish the two fish in my army because it isn't vehicles that kill my motivation. Historically that is the job of infantry units when it is time to paint. I only have twenty infantry in my 1850 l ust so I am going to finish them first to get my biggest road block out of the way.

Honestly, that is what killed me with my Orks. I was stupid enough to build 300 Ork Boyz, 50 Nobz and all those vehicles then put them on the shelf behind me. Every Ork I painted was like every blow from the Joker's crow bar when he killed Robin. Paint, Bam! Paint, Bam! Paint, Bam! Till the passion was gone.

So, when I finish my base on my test XV-8 it is on to finishing my first Pathfinder unit. So, here is the rough time line for the build:

Unit One: Suicide XV-8 Crisis Battle suit
Unit Two: First 4 man Pathfinder squad
First FW order made: 3 XV-88s
Unit Three: Second 4 man Pathfinder squad
Unit Four: First 6 man Fire Warrior squad
Second FW order made: 6 XV-88s
Unit Five: Second 6 man Fire Warrior squad
Unit Six and Seven: Pathfinder Devilfish
Unit Eight: FW Tau special character (which is on it's way here right now)
Third FW order: remaining 6 FW suits for the army
The suits will just be one at a time since I consider them like vehicles, fun to paint.

So following this time line I should get the infantry done first so I am not burnt out. keeping to a strict rule of built snd paint one unit at a time before taking the next one out is the best way of keeping me motivated for the long and expensive haul. So paint on some devilfish will be awhile away, sorry. I am really wanting to see 9 XV-88s Broadsides painted and lined up.

Veyr nice! Sorry if I'm asking a question that's already been answered, but what sealer do you use? I'm form the South too, and most stuff I find at places like Wal-mart just don't come out 100% matte or gome out really "fuzzy", so it'd be a great help!

Nice job.
I hate playing against the tau but it would be an honor to face your army. Nice looking figures.

I love the colour scheme, keep it up!

sennacherib wrote:Nice job.
I hate playing against the tau but it would be an honor to face your army. Nice looking figures.

Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:I love the colour scheme, keep it up!

Thank you. I am glad that you guys like this so far. It has been fun so far and will get more stuff out soon. I have had some ideas on how to change the look of the Fire Warriors around a bit. I will post my ideas soon.

Kepora wrote:Veyr nice! Sorry if I'm asking a question that's already been answered, but what sealer do you use? I'm form the South too, and most stuff I find at places like Wal-mart just don't come out 100% matte or gome out really "fuzzy", so it'd be a great help!

Not a problem. I completly understand about the matte sealant in Southern States. It is the humidity that is causing the fuzzy look. I was stationed in Ft McClellan, AL for several months, Ft Bragg, NC for a year and a half and Ft Belvior, VA for 2 1/2 year and also in Korea for year which has horrible humidity. The funny thing is that Kansas City, MO has almost as bad humidity as all those other places.

So when I bought my house I made sure that I had a nice open and ventilated basement and garage area that was climate controlled so that has greatly reduced the fuzzy look due to humidity. However, some Matte Sealants have work better than others even in the climate control. Right now I am using Testors Flat Sealent since it is working the best but alittle expensive due to the small amount you get.

I have used the matte sealant from Hobby Lobby for a long time but about a year and a half ago it seemed that their matte was becoming more gloss with each new can. As the change was happening it start to get more fuzzy at the same time. So I switched to the Army Painter Matte Sealant. Great Stuff for a long time but I switched to Testors because the Army Painter was super expensive per can. All I can say is that you just need to find a place to control the humditiy the best you can. Now there is some great threads on here that show you step by step on fixing a mini if the fuzzy-ness happens. Hope this helps abit.

Well see you all soon.

Testor's, gotcha!

A quick update for tonight. I have started painting my XV-8 Suicide Crisis Battlesuit's base. Most likely won't get it done tonight since I started pretty late. However, as I was getting some fresh water in my paint cup I had an idea about my Fire Warriors that I need to build.

The Pathfinders and the Fire Warriors both have 4+ saves but the Pathfinders are running around without those power pack looking back packs. Why? The Pathfinders have heavy equipment, carbines with grenade launchers and still have the same save as a Fire Warrior with a power pack. Do Pulse Rifles use that much more energy that they need a Ghostbuster's proton pack. Most likely not. It was most likely someone at GW thought a smaller model would look like a scout so they scrapped the power pack.

My thinking is why should the Fire Warriors have equipment that honestly doesn't make sense when all they do is fly around in their heavy purple heart boxes, jump out to shoot and then clamber back in just to repeat it all over again. And on the off chance that they have to squat on an objective or most likely, knock out of their fish shouldn't they have some basic field equipment. So along those lines I hit my bitz box for stowage equipment for the Fire Warriors. So here is a picture of my idea of replacing the power packs:

(Sorry for the blur)



Ok, the center is the power pack that is on the normal Fire Warrior. The one on the right is the equipment bag/back pack I am using for my Pathfinders. The one on the left is my idea for the replacement of the Fire Warriors power pack. It is roughly the same size of the Pathfinders back pack and it covers all the same space as the Fire Warrior power pack.

So, what do you think? Fire Warrior Power pack or the Replacement Backpack?

Thanks for reading and C&C is always welcome. Your ideas are what make this project better.

These are quite possibly either the best Tau I've seen, or the second best. The other guy had a really cool blue lightning effect for his stealth suits.

The two minis look really go great together and I can't wait for more

Oh, cool, desert Tau! The dirty tan look gives them somewhat of a feel like the models of Heavy Gear. Good stuff mate.

Ratbarf wrote:These are quite possibly either the best Tau I've seen, or the second best. The other guy had a really cool blue lightning effect for his stealth suits.

Capitansolstice wrote:The two minis look really go great together and I can't wait for more

Meph wrote:Oh, cool, desert Tau! The dirty tan look gives them somewhat of a feel like the models of Heavy Gear. Good stuff mate.

Thanks everyone. Hope you like the stuff that is too come down the pipe.

AgeOfEgos wrote:Speaking (or showing of) tanks--when will you be doing your first tank?

Thought you might like to know. Two Devilfish are ordered and on their way to me as of this morning. My only two tanks are bought


So here is the list of my army bought, yet to be bought and completion status:

Commander: Bought and enroute to me
Suicide Crisis Suit: Bought and 95% painted
Fire Warriors 2 x 6 men squads: Bought and in the queue
Pathfinders: Bought, first squad built and 25% painted. Second squad in the queue
Devilfish x 2: Bought and on their way
6 XV-89 FW Crisis Suits: Yet to be bought
9 XV-88 FW Broadsides: Yet to be bought

Army expansions:
12 Kroot and 1 Krootox: Bought and in the queue
1 GW XV-8 Crisis Suit: Bought and in the queue.

I really like the idea of some of the FWs having some "baggage" ... it also lends itself to the army being veteran; some having abandoned their origional packs for alternatives.

Bear LaMorte wrote:I really like the idea of some of the FWs having some "baggage" ... it also lends itself to the army being veteran; some having abandoned their origional packs for alternatives.

I completely agree. I am looking to have a more realistic looking army than what GW produced. So the upgrades to the Crisis Suits, different and more realistic infantry load outs and lots of dirt and dust will make the army look just right for me. The idea of having super brightly colored Crisis Suits and Tanks moving around the battle field is something that SM get to do because they are T4 and 3+ save. Not Tau, they are more about surviving and not getting shot in the first place. So, the idea of uniforms and equipment that blend in more to the terrain and that are useful is what I want to portray with this army.

Should have the Crisis Suit base complete by tonight so I will post pics of it when it is done. Might put together a test FW tonight as putting stuff together is a huge stress relief for me. Been having a really hard week at work and today was the worse so far.

See you guys tonight.

Wow that is a great looking tau army, I think the scheme is great! The models also look very real, like they have been out in combat. The contrast with the bright blue/turquoise is really cool and unique I think. Most people would go with red in this situation I think.
What shade of brown is it that you have your army painted in? Commando Khaki?

darkcloud92 wrote:Wow that is a great looking tau army, I think the scheme is great! The models also look very real, like they have been out in combat. The contrast with the bright blue/turquoise is really cool and unique I think. Most people would go with red in this situation I think.
What shade of brown is it that you have your army painted in? Commando Khaki?

The main brown color is P3 Hammerfall Khaki. It is close to GW's Commando Khaki. I will post the main colors I used so far for the army when I post my next Crisis Suit pictures that way you have them.

Pipboy101 wrote:

darkcloud92 wrote:Wow that is a great looking tau army, I think the scheme is great! The models also look very real, like they have been out in combat. The contrast with the bright blue/turquoise is really cool and unique I think. Most people would go with red in this situation I think.
What shade of brown is it that you have your army painted in? Commando Khaki?

The main brown color is P3 Hammerfall Khaki. It is close to GW's Commando Khaki. I will post the main colors I used so far for the army when I post my next Crisis Suit pictures that way you have them.

Oh ok, excellent thanks for the info! I think it looks especially nice on the suits, so can't wait to see those!

Well, it time to post another update on work that has been done. Tonight I finished the base on my Suicide XV-8 Crisis Suit. Then while that was drying I wanted to put together a test Fire Warrior with my alternate backpack to the normal Fire Warrior power pack that I showed earlier.

I am pretty happy with the new back pack and the equipment layout. It looks like he can jump in and out of his Devilfish into combat and not looking like he is trying to capture ghosts. After the show and tell of tonight's work I will be posting the list of paints that I have been using for this army to date. Here we go:

Completed XV-8 Suicide Crisis Battlesuit:








The lighting and pictures are not the best since I was in a bit of a hurry because my camera batteries were dying. This suit looks F*ing bad a$$ at the three foot tabletop view. Now that I have the paint scheme down it will be a breeze to knock out all the suits that I will be doing.

Next is my test Fire Warrior mini:








I have some clean up to do of some mold lines, softening of the edges and maybe a lower the back pack a little bit. Other than that I think he looks more how a Fire Warrior should look. So what do you think?



OK, I have been asked on what paints I have used so far. Since I knew that GW was coming out with new paints but I did not know that it was a complete replacement. However, if you want to use this color scheme you might want to hit your FLGS and see if they still have some paint pots. But the great thing is that for the main colors on both the infantry, Crisis Suits, vehicles and bases are Privateer Press P3 paints.

Here is the list of paints --

Crisis Suits:
Main Armor - P3 Hammerfall Khaki (GW Commando Khaki is pretty close)
Secondary Color (Dark Grey) - P3 Bastion Grey
Army/Rank Color - P3 Meredius Blue (GW Hawk Turquoise is also pretty close) and GW Skull White
Head Lens in order of use - GW Scab Red, GW Red Gore, GW Blood Red, GW Skull White
Plasma/Jet Pack in order of use - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Ice Blue, GW Skull White
Sensor Lens - GW Regal Blue, GW Enchanted Blue, GW Skull White
Green Buttons - GW Snot Green
Red Buttons - GW Blood Red
Antenna Tops - GW Chaos Black
Weathering Powder Jet pack - Bar Mills Soot

For the Pathfinder (and all infantry) uses the same colors over most of the mini. However there are several more colors on the infantry that are used and they are as follows:
Uniform Cloth - P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Leather Equipment and back of boots - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Knife handle, snap buttons and wire - GW Chaos Black
Wrist Pad Screen in order of use - GW Foundation Knarloc Gree, GW Snot Green, GW Scorpion Green

Now for the bases:
Main base color - P3 Gun Corps Brown
Sand and Dry Brush - P3 Hammerfall Khaki
Weathering Powder - MIG Gulf War Sand
Grass - Army Painter Highland Tuft


I hope this helps for anyone wanting to do this type of desert scheme. It's off to bed for me since I have to be at work early. Thanks for looking and reading.

As always C&C is very welcome. Have a good night.

Thanks for the info, I like the way the suicide suit came out! You say the rest are going to be forgeworld?
An I am not planning on stealing your scheme or anything...yet :p Maybe for my next cadre, but that won't be for a long time. So your awesome style is safe for now

darkcloud92 wrote:Thanks for the info, I like the way the suicide suit came out! You say the rest are going to be forgeworld?
An I am not planning on stealing your scheme or anything...yet :p Maybe for my next cadre, but that won't be for a long time. So your awesome style is safe for now

Your welcome. If there is any more info you want just leave a message on the thread or PM me. While I am answering I figure I might as well make a quick post. I am hoping to get some good time in painting today because the fire systems in the building I work in are being replaced this weekend which means no overtime this weekend. So I can stay up tonight and get some paint onto my first squad of Pathfinders. Except at 10 PM when the wife and I are going to watch the Mega Millions drawing. What I could do with that money. I think Forge World would sh*t sideways when they get my order for five Mantas. Got to dream something good when you are crunching government math all day long.

Hello again. The past two nights I stayed up to finish the infantry of my first Pathfinder Squad and I did it. So here they are:







So, it is time to start building my second squad of Pathfinders along the same lines of the first. It is tempting just to sit down and build all my infantry in one day but that would cause the me to feel over whelmed by having a large group of infantry to paint. As I said before, this is a long term project for me so it is one unit at a time.

On top of completing the work on the minis I will be updating me first blog entry. This will show a Completion schedule so you can see what percent a unit is complete, order status of minis and have links to the start of WIP, start of PIP and the fully completed unit. It's time to give the dogs a bath because they are stinky little fur beasts.

I will see you guys soon and keep the C&C coming. Thanks for looking and reading.

Man, I'm loving this. My first ever army was Tau so I've always had a soft spot for them, but more than that, your paint schele is gorgous! It really fits the Tau well and you've executed it greatly! That suit looks ace, good choice of color placements, and those pathfinders are nice conversions, simple, subtle, and effective! Keep it up! I''ll be watching, and with this amount of quality, I'm sure lots others will too

Looking great Mike!

Motivation to kick into high gear on my Tallarn

Those look absolutely beautiful.

These are very nice models, im not a great fan of the tau, but these are very well painted

Thanks everyone. The possitive C&C keeps me movtivated knowing that I am on the right track with this army. While it does not look like I have done much this army has been the most fun to build so far.

I have found that the Tau gives the widest range of possiblities to realistic looking paint schemes because nothing is trully over top. Plus the best thing is that bitz from other armies need very little work to work well with the minis especially with the Fire Warrior kits.

Yesterday afternoon I start one the first two Pathfinders on my second Pathfinder Squad. I will get the squad posted once I get all four built. It should not take too long.

Quick update. Working on my first page openning to the blog with a status completion log so you can quickly see what is going on. Also, it has links to the page for each unit that is completed. That way you do not have scroll through 20 or more pages trying to find the unit you were looking for.

In the near future the Status Completeion log will also have other information such as paints used, bases used and any other info that seem to get alot of questions about. Again, for the same reason as above. The log is still a WIP but keep checking back for updates. Will be posting on my 2nd Pathfinder Squad soon since it is 45% built.

See you guys soon and hope you enjoy the Blog layout change.

Sounds very structured, I like that, looking forward to it. Keep going!

Oh wow. That's a right good idea!

If I ever break 1 page, I'll have to do that! *chuckles*

Your Tau look excellent, you're driven to get them done, and you already have quite the following, so I imagine it's rather necessary.

Baiyuan wrote:Sounds very structured, I like that, looking forward to it. Keep going!

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Oh wow. That's a right good idea!

If I ever break 1 page, I'll have to do that! *chuckles*

Your Tau look excellent, you're driven to get them done, and you already have quite the following, so I imagine it's rather necessary.

Thanks. I am hoping that the Status Log will help out alot. It is sometimes a chore to find something that people are talking about a few pages back. This should make the blog easier to read and enjoy.

So last night I was pricing out all my FW suits that I need and planning out when to make my purcheses. So, foward progress on the minis physically but planning is about just as important.

It's been a bit since I posted but I have not faultered on my work on my Tau. Last weekend was my birthday so I took a couple days extra off from work. Took that time to work on my Tau by building all my infantry in my 1850 list and work on project for a friend of mine.

So here is what I have done --

Pathfinder Squad Two (95% built. Still have to attach the cable from the receiver backpack to the wrist data pad on the sgt.):






Fire Warrior Squad One:




Fire Warrior Squad Two:



The Infantry is almost complete. The Fire Warriors have the alt backpack. I still have a group of kroot sitting in the bitz box waiting to be put together when I want to push to 2500 pts.

Now, my friend has decided to change from IG to Orks. That is fine with me since that only means I need to change a few weapons on my suits. But since I use to play Orks I still had a Looted Wagon WIP just sitting on my shelf. I decied to finish it and give it to him. So I worked on it for a a couple of days during my long weekend and it is about 80% built. Here is the Looted Wagon I worked on:














Well, I still have some armor repair panels to put on, a bunch of rivets and wiring to glue along with ordering FW Grot Crew and Sponsons for it. Been pretty busy hobby wise so I hope you guy like to see the progress. As always, C&C welcome.

Thanks for looking and reading.

Hopefully this weekend after I come back from the KC Pet Expo I can get some painting done on my infantry. Already burnt out from doing Gov't math all day. Finding myself drifting off into new ideas for minis.

Silly orks, strapping land mines to the inside of their hatches!
On a serious note this looks really good! I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Imperial Monkey wrote:Silly orks, strapping land mines to the inside of their hatches!
On a serious note this looks really good! I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Thanks. There is something always about looting a vehicle that makes the modeller in my feel good. I decided to use the mine since it had a cool switch on it. Plus with the hatch being recessed like it is all you see is the swtich and the top of the mine. Now the Ork Driver can turn on his headlight so he can see where he is going between the Boomgun flashes.

Alot of the interior details at tabletop level might be lost when the top is glued on but when you get close they should all show up well since the vehicle is open on the front, sides and rear. This would let in enough light. So, most likely ten armor repair plates, a couple hundred rivets and a few dozen wires later and the looted wagon will be done minus the FW Grot Sponsons and Grot Crew.

A quick update on the FW ordering:

YEAH! The first FW XV-88 Broadside has been ordered.

Plus a huge bonus, I was able to win a used FW Barracuda on Ebay for $90.00 USD. Friday the 13th has been total win for me.

Sweet!

Very nice looking tau! I'm a big fan of the subdued colors and true camo look. All those crazy color Tau just look funky to me. Keep up the great work, love the bases too, what were they again? Link?

The bases are from Secret Weapon. They are desert mesa 1 and 2 bases.

Oh sweet mother of f'ing sh#t tonight has been a roller coaster. I got home and the used FW barracuda was on my door step. Once inside I opened the box to make sure everything was there and it was. So I closed the box back up and put the box against the wall on my kitchen counter. Later that night I heard a bang. My damm cat knock the box onto the floor.

When the box hit everything came out. I ran into the kitchen and so did my dogs. Before I knew itone of my dogs had the left engine exhust in his mouth chewing on it. Telling him to drop it and he did but not before the damage was done I figure 30% of the exhust was missing. Holy sh#t I was pissed!

Instead of yelling and screaming about it I took everything downstairs and started to make repairs to the exhust. While I am not great with green stuff I was lucky that the exhust was alot of flat rectangle pieces. An hour later I have the exhust 95% repaired with only one slat to replace and some gaps between the damaged slats to fill. There was enough undamaged edges to allow me to recreate the original edges and shape of the exhust. I am glad that the repair is almost done because it would have been a total shame to trash the model over one part.

I will get pictutes once it is cleaned up but it is off to bed for me. Who knew that FW resin was bacon flavored.

Oh noes!

Krikey!

After chewing on your new kit that pet should spend a night in the doghouse but that wouldn't seem like punishment.

Glad to hear the Barracuda is mostly unscathed.

Norn King wrote: Oh noes!

Dark_Gear wrote:Krikey!

After chewing on your new kit that pet should spend a night in the doghouse but that wouldn't seem like punishment.

Glad to hear the Barracuda is mostly unscathed.

I felt the same way when I saw the piece rolling around his maw.

Well about another hour of green stuff work and the damage won't be visible when painted. I am glad I had the supplies and tools to make the repairs because I don't have any bitz that could have been a good replacement.

Oh No! A Noise!

What should I do!?

Run in there and FIND SOMETHING TO CHEW ON!


...I love dogs. But damn they don't make sense sometimes.

It has been a bit since I post new pictures of my stuff but have been busy with work and chores in the yard. But worry not I have still been working on my stuff.

First off is my used FW Barracuda that I picked up on eBay that my dog chewed on. It took a little bit as my previous posts stated but I am about as close as I am going to get to having it 100% repaired. Not only did I repair the engine exhust I filled in some gaps and added a couple of bits to the nose to smooth out the model a bit. And no, that is not my paint job. That was how it came to be so a quick spray with my base coat and it will be ready for paint. Here is the FW Barracuda:






Now for the dog repair section:



As you can see that I got the repair really close to the original condition. Once painted I don't think it will be noticable unless you get really close. Close enough for me.


Now for more infantry. I decided to concentrate on a 2500 point list so I add a group of 10 Kroot and 2 Krootox. I have all the Kroot built but didn't take a picture of the second Krootox because I wanted to some feed back on the first one. All I have to say is I love the Kroot models. I still need to clean up mold lines and drill out the barrels.

On the Kroot I am thinking about giving them all goggles because of the sun glare and dust. I did this with the Krootox and rider along with giving the rider a poncho that will be pained in the Tau Desert colors. This test is on the Krootox because the GS is easier to remove on the metal model if it doesn't look good. So here is my Kroot:










So there is what I have been working on this week. I hope you guys like it so far. Especially on the Krootox because it is works out then I will do more on the other Kroot. So, please leave some C&C. It is so very needed and welcome.

I love the goggles! An glad to see the barracuda got repaired, can't even tell it was damaged

I think you should strip the barracuda, it looks like that paint is thick


Automatically Appended Next Post:
YEAH! new page

I agree regarding stripping the Barracuda, just make sure you don't use break fluid. While the stuff works like a charm on plastic minis, it fully dissolves resin miniatures.

A friend of mine found out the hard when his Remora drones were lumps of slag at the bottom of a pan. Not a happy day.

whoa! That's some awesome work, I love the Desert paint-scheme on the Tau

Thanks for the C&C. I will start working on more GS work on the Kroot this weekend.

I agree that it would be best to strip the Barracuda. He did put the paint on kind of think in places. However, I tried to soak a small part in Simple Green for a couple of days and the paint laughed it off. Now it does flake off with a little bit of pressure from my hobby knife but that would take forever. I know know what kind of paint he used but it almost has a house paint kind of feel to it.

I am afraid to try anything stronger than Simple Green on FW resin as I too have made my own lumps of FW resin before from once good looking minis. So, I have to make the choice on hoping that a good base coat of camo Krylon will cover the paint already on it or try and soak it for a few days in an attempt to strip the paint.

Now a plus to base coating over the paint that is already there I have done it before with my urban Tau using the Krylon Camo paints. They lay a good coat over thick paint like that and if I want to strip the paint the Krylon bonds with the undercoat. This will make it so much easier to strip as the camo basecoat and the paint below become bonded chemically thus pretty much once layer of paint. I know Simple Green works on the Krylon so if the basecoat doesn't look good it will be much easier to strip.

Well, yesterday I also put together the FW Crisis Battlesuit Commander. Didn't take a picture as the glue was still drying. Will get some pictures of it if I like the pose. FW suits look cool but their legs and feel are a super pain in the butt to glue in place.

It's been awhile since I have posted in the blog but fixing my gutters on my house has taken a lot of my time. During the few free hours I finished the FW Tau Barracuda I picked up used from eBay. You can see the pre-painted of the mini near the end of the 3rd page of this blog.

I didn't strip the mini as I was worried on what Simple Green would have done on my GS work on the engine repairs. I was very happy with the my choice since I was able to cover the the base coat really well. The spray paint gave a super flat coat and evened out the old paint. The underside was hard to figure what I wanted to do. I found a picture of a color WWII BF-109 in North Africa. It was perfect for my mini so the paint was 5:1 GW Ice Blue to P3 Exile Blue. All the colors are the same one that were used on the Pathfinders and Crisis Suits. You can't really see the Desert weathering powders in the pictures but it removed 95% of the shine on the mini.

This is what I learned by using this pricy mini as a test vehicle for my paint scheme. The darkened camo tan only works on minis up to crisis suit size. Any vehicles will have to be a lighter tan and must use weatheting powders on the large surfaces. How the darker tan is created is by exploiting the pooling effect of GW devlin mud wash and the new GW color equivalent. When you get to this much flat surface area the wash streaks badly even when thinned down. That streaking is not noticable on infantry or crisis suits so the wash darkens the tan well.

So while the vehicles will be lighter it will make sense because as skimmers they will be higher in the terrain and closer to the skyline hince the blending in to the terrain. The infantry and suits will be darker as to blend with the ground cover.

Here is pictures of the the Fighter:







Hope you enjoy the mini and C&C is very, very welcome.

That looks great Mike! The way you talked on the phone, I was expecting the top to blotchy--but that looks smooth. Looks great.

I Like it, but I think the Underside could do with a bit more powder, and the exhaust vents would look cool with some soot. Also, Its really clean, I know your army isn't chipped, but I think a big model like this could benefit from a small chip here and there

Da Boss demandz updatz!

That's great. Havn't posted in several days but I have spent all my free time at work and did got my first test repair complete on my house gutters. Big storms today and the repair worked great. Hopefully will be able to post more soon. Did get one devilfish together and some drones.

awesome!

I have hit my downward slide with 40k. Just with all the price hikes and my group getting more competitve just wanting to do tournies to the point that it wasn't any fun anymore. I made the choice to sell off all my 40k stuff. So this blog is closed as I just sold this army to another Dakka user.

Well, this is one less project over my head and I can concentrate 100% on the game I am producing with a friend that owns an company that produces products for the D&D and Pathfinder.

That's sad! Overcompetitive gamers who forget there can be other aspects to the game are a curse. Pity you decided to drop the army instead of finding more sensible guys to play with.
Good luck with the game development!

Thread necromancy!

But with a good reason - I bought Pipboy101's guys, and just finished them up.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Redbeard%27s_Bork%27an_Sept_Tau