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I'm participating in The Independent Characters' Hobby Progress Challenge.

The challenge is to build a fully painted and based 1850 point army with 400+ sideboard in time for Adepticon 2012.

(This is mostly repostings from my thread at the Independent Characters Forum)

For this challenge, I will be modeling a Tau Army. My heart was set on doing Space Marines... specifically an Ultramarines list with Sicarius. The reason I am not doing the Space Marines is because I have a commitment to pay off one of my credit cards before winter. This means I have frozen all leisure type purchases (so no new models). If I were to do the Space Marines list I would still need to buy more then 75% of what I need for it. I didn't want to break my commitment but I also didn't want to miss an opportunity to be part of a modeling challenge like this. The solution I came up with is that I had tons of Tau stuff that I hadn't messed with yet so I'll use that.

Though it isn't the army I wanted to build, I'm trying to look at some of the positive things to this compromise:

1. I'll get to build stuff.

2. I'll get to paint stuff.

3. I'd be challenging myself to really commit to building a 40k army (I had done plenty of Warmachines and Hordes armies but for some reason I could never stick to finishing a 40k army)

4. I'd finally get to experience Tau models/kits.

5. I'll have saved plenty of money since I have all the models/kits that I need for the list and sideboard.

6. I won't feel as bad if I don't finish this army than if I didn't finish an Ultramarines army.

The main 1850 point list that I will build is sort of an infantry spam type of thing. Really what it is is 3 battleboxes worth of models plus some kroot hounds. I'd be using everything... EVERYTHING. The sideboard consists of some other models that were meant for a 'showcase' type of list I was planning to do for the Tau (it would have been a little more complex than 3 battleboxes).

*********************************************
The Tide for the Greater Good - Tau - 1850pts
*********************************************

**HQ**

*Commander Shas'o 248pts
-Shield Generator
-Missile Pod
-Flamer
-Failsafe Detonator
-Stimulant Injector
Bodygaurd x2
-Flamer
-Fusion Blaster
-Target Lock
-Hard-wired Multi-tracker


**Elite**

*Stealthsuits 157pts
Team Leader
-Targeting Array
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 157pts
Team Leader
-Targeting Array
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 157pts
Team Leader
-Targeting Array
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array


**Troop**
*Fire Warriors 200pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 200pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 200pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4


**Fast Attack**
*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4


*********
SIDEBOARD 400pts
*********

*Pirahna Light Skimmer 75pts
Pirahna Light Skimmer
-Fusion Blaster
-Decoy Launchers
-Disruption Pod

*Hammerhead Gunship 170pts
Hammerhead Gunship
-Railgun
-Smart Missile System
-Decoy Launchers
-Disruption Pod

*Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship 155pts
Sky Ray Missile Defence Gunship
-Smart Missile System
-Decoy Launchers
-Disruption Pod

****
Plan
****

June/July
-Build all models
-Prime all models

August
-Paint 12 Firewarriors
-Paint 12 Kroot

September
-Paint 12 Firewarriors
-Paint 12 Kroot

October
-Paint 12 Firewarriors
-Paint 12 Kroot

November
-Paint 9 stealth suits
-Paint 3 Crisis Suits
-Paint 21 Drones

December
-Paint 1 Pirahna
-Paint 1 Sky Ray

January
-Paint 2 Devilfish

February
-Paint 1 Devilfish
-Paint 1 Hammerhead

March
-Base all models

April
-Try my best to get to Adepticon

******
******
******
JUNE/JULY START

My Goal for July (and part of June) is to have all models built and primed.

The following are already built (they were built by the previous owner of the models):

8 Kroot
7 Firewarriors
1 Commander
2 Marker drones
8 Kroot Hounds
4 Stealthsuits

of the above the following are primed white (again... by the previous owner... I plan to reprime some of these)

1 Commander
2 Marker drones
4 Stealthsuits


'Before' Pictures:

Here is what is built. Some of it is primed. I'm thinking I might reprime them black. The Commander suit is going to need to be modified a little bit. I need to take off one of the missile pods.


Here are the kroot hounds that still need to be built(I got part way through two of them before I remembered I needed before pictures).


Here is one battlebox. You'll notice sprues have already been snipped. That was from the previous owner's work on the models mentioned above.


Here is another battlebox. Most everything in here is untouched except for bits for a marker drone, a stealthsuit, and a missile pod.


Here is a battlebox with all sprues untouched. The previous owner never got around to touching these.


Here is a pirahna still on sprue.


Here is a Sky Ray still on sprue. You know what's cool? There is a sprue if you want to make a Hammerhead. I guess for the turret bits.


Here is a Hammerhead still on sprue. Practically the same as the Sky Ray content except there is no sprue with the seeker missile stuff.

This sounds good man, nice and organized. Good luck!

Sounds like a lot of painting. enjoy.

Evaelc wrote:Sounds like a lot of painting. enjoy.

It will be. That has been one of my challenges with big armies. The sheer volume of models to paint seems overwhelming to me. I'm pretty good with stuff for skirmish games because they usually use small groups of models at a time. But large projects I usually lose momentum to paint. I'm hoping with some sort of structure in making this army I'll be able to tackle the job of painting... maybe do a little at a time as if I was doing skirmish groups.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
JUNE/JULY PROGRESS

Started a bit of work last night and did a bit today. Cleaned off the bits of the kroothounds in the blisters. Did my best to take off flash, vents, or whatever all the excess from the molds is called. Did some butchering as well. Remedied a couple representation problems that I had with a couple models. Tomorrow I'll start construction on some Fire warriors and maybe some Kroot.

PICTURES:

Here are some of the Kroot Hound bits filed/cleaned.


I gave the bits a rinse. I usually do this with metal stuff. Haven't done so with plastic yet.


Bits are all dry and ready.


Here are they assembled.



Next up I green stuffed some gaps in the bases so that when I based them the sand wouldn't fall through.



I was over zealous clipping the leg bit to this bugger so I had to sort of fill in the clipped part.


Here are the 8 that were already built.


I thought that I might as well fill in their base gaps as well.


This fellow doesn't belong with my Tide. He has a drone controller. At first I was going to leave him be. But then I got to figuring if I'm going to bother green stuffing the kroot hound trouble spots maybe I can do something about this guy.


At first I thought to pry off the arm. That only ended up in the head falling off. That's a real good bond on the arm.


New plan. And it involves this grenade and some green stuff.


First I cut off the Fire Warrior's hand and drone controller device.


What I ended up doing was green stuffing a hand around the grenade and sticking that on to the arm.


Not too bad I think for my first attempt and free style green stuffing. I've mostly only used green stuff for helping with bonds/joints. I haven't done much sculpting with it.


Next on the chopping block was the Commander. He has one two many missile pods. It looks cool and all but I was afraid it would confuse my opponent into thinking they were twin-linked.


The pod came off easy enough using just my hands.


Now I have a pod that I can use on one of the other Crisis suits.

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 2

Due to some modeling decisions I have changed my list. The Commander now has a fusion blaster instead of the flamer. I added photon grenades to my Fire Warriors. I like the look of them throwing grenades so I thought I'd incorporate it into the list. The stealthsuit leaders are no more. I managed to keep the drone controllers though by sacrificing the targeting array for one suit. I made the change for the stealthsuit units to make room for the photon grenades.

**HQ**

*Commander Shas'o 256pts
-Shield Generator
-Missile Pod
-Fusion Blaster
-Hard-wired Multi-tracker
-Stimulant Injector
Bodygaurd x2
-Flamer
-Fusion Blaster
-Target Lock
-Hard-wired Multi-tracker


**Elite**

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array


**Troop**
*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4


**Fast Attack**
*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

************

Some modeling work.

I did another modification to the commander. I constructed on some Fire Warriors, Kroot, and Gun Drones. It was a very different experience from constructing Space Marines, in my opinion. The work seemed to be more delicate... or it could just be that my technique is changing. Next work that I'll do will be more infantry from one of the other battleboxes. Pretty much more Fire Warriors, more Kroot, and more Gun Drones.

PICTURES:

I decided to go for removing the flamer on the Commander. I sort of forced it onto my list because it was modeled on the suit. But I figured I could take it off.


I then replaced the flamer with a fusion blaster. He now has the same weaponry as his bodyguards.


Before building anything I decided to clean up some of the already built stuff.


Some of the models, like this Fire Warrior, still had some plastic from where its pieces were snipped from the sprue. I shaved the excess off with a hobby knife.


After cleaning the already built models. I broke out the sprues for the remaining Fire Warriors from the battlebox.


One sprue still had all the bits.


Another sprue maybe had enough for one more Fire Warrior.


I had one gun arm but no matching opposite arm to hold it.


I took a look at what I had to work with. The grenade arm is something I'll use.


Again, I revisit one the drone controller arms. It will be the subject of some butchery like its predecessor.


I was going to make use of the pulse rifle that had no arms connected to it.


I made some cuts in the drone controller arm and the pulse rifle.


I put the modified drone controller arm and pulse rifle arm together.



I made use of the drone controller hand from my earlier work. I needed one of the antennae.


I needed the antennae from the drone controller hand because I lost the original one for the helmet. I think it made an adequate replacement.


Haha! Look what I found... a gun arm and opposite arm pair that I could have used. I just needed to check the bottom of the battlebox. Its cool though... I'm still going to use my modifications.


Here is my first Fire Warrior with modifications part way done.


I used the other sprue to build 4 more Fire Warriors. I again utilized the grenade arm. I just think it makes them more dynamic.


Time to work on the remaining Kroot from the battlebox. Here's a complete sprue.


I used a gun arm and opposite arm from this sprue. There was a particular pair on the complete sprue that I wanted to use but it was missing a bit.


After some delicate construction, I had my first Kroot that I've ever built.


To finish up my construction for the evening I broke out the drone sprues from the battlebox.


Here is my first gun drone. I like it. There's simplicity to its construction but it looks like a nice piece I think.


Here is the rest of the drones built. 4 for a unit and 2 for a devilfish.

Looking good!

I like that you've given your self a time frame to get items done by as well.

Subbed

I really like the basing you have done on the drone. have you decided on a colour scheme for your army yet?

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 3

Some Tau from a trade arrived today: 24 Fire Warriors, 12 Kroot, 10 Gun Drones, 3 stealth suits, 1 crisis suit, and 2 devilfish.

I picked 12 out of the 24 Fire Warriors to use. Some had fish heads that I changed out. A bunch had drone controllers. While I didn't use them in the unit I was forming I did use the antennae from the drone controllers. For the Fire Warriors I picked out. They were missing their helmet antennae.

The Kroot were primed green. One was painted a little bit. Three of them had a pose I had wanted to reserve to indicate the Shaper. So I'll probably need some other way to distinguish the Shaper. These kroot didn't have their shoulderpads so I made some.

The Stealth Suits were generally how I needed them with the exception of some of the bits. One had an extra bit on its back. Another, that had a drone controller, needed the antennae repaired. Other than that weaponry was just fine.

The Crisis Suit needed a bit of work. I needed to remove an extra bit on its soldier as well as a shield generator on one of its arms. The weaponry was half correct for what I wanted. It had a missile pod on its shoulder, but for one of its arms it had a plasma rifle.

The Devilfish were in need of a bit of repair. I mostly had to remove extra bits I didn't need like seeker missiles, a set of sensor spines, and a couple Targeting Arrays. One of the Devilfish needed an engine glued back on. Both needed their flying stand holes repaired. Both had pieces of flight stands broken off in the whole. A little repair took care of that.

The Gun Drones and one Marker Drone were generally okay. I had to fix the flight stand for one. Other than that they are pretty much ready for use.

I also put together the last of the Fire Warriors that I would need. This brings the total to 36 (3 teams of 12). Once I got them finished I added another touch to all the Fire Warriors which was putting on grenades.

Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll put together the last of the infantry (kroot, stealth suits, crisis suit).


Pictures:

2 Devilfish modeled with some extras I don't need.


3 Stealth suits mostly done how I need them.


1 Crisis Suit with a bunch of stuff I'll need to change.


This Plasma Rifle will have to go to make room for a fusion blaster.


This sheild generator is unnecessary.


...so is this positional relay.


Drones. They were generally good to go.


There were 24 Fire Warriors total from this lot.


A couple fish heads that would be replaced.



Drone controller Fire warriors that I won't need except maybe for spare parts.


You'll notice a lot of the Fire Warriors are missing antennae.


Here is a damaged small flight stand.


Here is a damaged bigger flight stand.


12 Kroot already primed green. Notice they are lacking shoulder pads over their left shoulder.


These three had the pose I had hoped to reserve for Shapers only.


This one Kroot was painted. It isn't anything that I can't work with.


Using the antennae from the drone controllers I fixed up the Fire Warriors' helmets.



12 Fire Warriors to add to the fray.


Here is the hole to where the flying stand was to go. Its clogged with a broken piece from the stand.


I used a pin vise to drill through and a file to widen the hole so that the broken bigger flight stand could fit in the hole.



The other Devil fish I used only the pin vise since I had a flying stand that still had its peg in place to be able to fit in the hole.


The engine needs to be glued back on.


This seeker missile has to go.


Sensor spines that need to be removed.


Another seeker missile to be removed


A targeting array that'll go away.


Was able to remove off the extra bits.


The drone controller on this stealth suit is missing an antennae.


This stealth suit has this extra bit that I don't need.


Using another Fire Warrior Drone Controller Antennae I was able to repair the Stealth Suit drone controller.


The extra back bit on the other Stealth Suit was no problem to remove.


Here are the extra bits from the stealth suits and devilfish.


This flight stand was easy enough to fix. I clipped the original stand from the base and replaced it with one that still had its top peg.


I managed to remove the positional relay from the shoulder of the Crisis Suit as well as clip part of the plasma rifle.


I was able to pry the shield generator. It left a bit of a mess but I plan to use it sort of as battle damage.


An extra Fusion Blaster bit from a piranha kit.


I clipped part of the Fusion Blaster so it could go in the place where the plasma rifle barrel was.


Presto! Fusion Blaster on this Crisis Suit.


I'm looking to do something about this guy. I'm really going for a non fishhead army.


The Fire warriors and suits repaired and ready for priming.


For the Kroot I decided to green stuff my own shoulder pads.


They aren't perfect but I think I like the kind of random 'hand made' look of them.


Got the assembly line thing going on with the last Fire Warriors I'll need. Legs and Torsos with backpacks.


Heads with antennae.


Part way there. Just need heads and shoulder pads.


12 more Fire warriors to add to the army. All Fire Warriors are done... or are they?


I decided to use these grenades on my Fire Warriors.


I clipped each pair to be able to spread the amount I had across all the Fire Warriors.


NOW all Fire Warriors are done. Ready for priming.

Looking good, nice idea with the spare antanae.

that thing you thought was a positional relay is a multi-tracker. Are you trying for a competive army or just looks because some wargear choices could do with improving.

looking good.

Great update with lots of detail, can't wait to see some paint on this lot

Ledabot wrote:that thing you thought was a positional relay is a multi-tracker. Are you trying for a competive army or just looks because some wargear choices could do with improving.

Mostly just looks. I'm working with what I have without having to spend any money plus I wanted to utilize as much of what I had as I could which meant sacrificing some upgrades to make room for units/models.

But what do you suggest as far as wargear?

Evaelc wrote:I really like the basing you have done on the drone. have you decided on a colour scheme for your army yet?

The basing was done by the previous owner of the models. I hope to emulate what he's done. its pretty neat.

As for a color scheme, the main color for the army will be P3 Sanguine Base. I'm thinking mostly that will be for the Fire Warriors, devilfish, Sky Ray, Hammerhead and gun drones. I'm not sure if I want to use the same color on the suits and marker drones. Each Kroot unit will be a different color sort of to signify different tribes or something.

djphranq wrote:

Ledabot wrote:that thing you thought was a positional relay is a multi-tracker. Are you trying for a competive army or just looks because some wargear choices could do with improving.

Mostly just looks. I'm working with what I have without having to spend any money plus I wanted to utilize as much of what I had as I could which meant sacrificing some upgrades to make room for units/models.

But what do you suggest as far as wargear?

Pritty much, when it comes to suits, you want as much plasma as possable. The things are nuts at killing everything and no 'gets hot!'
Multi tracker let you fire both weapons every turn, you get twice the shooting!

Both great upgrades and the multis only 5 pts!

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 4


I've modified the 1850 list again... just the HQ stuff. I didn't realize how my suits were kitted out. I thought I had given everyone Fusion Blasters and Missile pods. Turns out the Bodyguards had flamers instead of missile pods. I've changed them to where they have the missile pods now. This meant juggling some points. On the Commander, I dropped the Stimulant Injector and replaced it with a bonding knife. I could have opted for a target lock but I doubt I'll be spreading fire with these guys. For the Bodyguards, aside from the weaponry change, I took out the Target Locks. Other than that the list stayed the same. I've gone through the list to make sure I didn't have any other weird things.

**HQ**

*Commander Shas'o 257pts
-Shield Generator
-Missile Pod
-Fusion Blaster
-Hard-wired Multi-tracker
-Bonding Knife
Bodygaurd x2
-Missile Pods
-Fusion Blaster
-Multi-tracker


**Elite**

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array

*Stealthsuits 142pts
Stealthsuit
-Hard-wired Drone Controller
-Marker Drone
Stealthsuit
-Fusion Blaster
-Targeting Array
Stealthsuit
-Targeting Array


**Troop**
*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Fire Warriors 212pts
Fire Warriors x12
-Photon Grenade
-Pulse Rifle
Devilfish

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4

*Kroot Carnivores 129pts
Kroot Carnivores x11
Kroot Shaper
Kroot Hounds x4


**Fast Attack**
*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

*Gun Drone Squadron 48pts
Gun Drones x4

************

Some Modeling Work.

I remedied the fish head that was a tank commander for one of the Devilfish. I had spare Fire Warriors so I took the head off one of those and replaced the fish head with it.

I put together the last of the Kroot I would need. The arms, shoulder pads, and decorative bits were kind of tough to put on. I've abandoned the idea of making the 'knife guy' the Shaper since the other squad of Kroot (the green one) has 3 'knife guys'. I'll play with colorization to distinguish the Shaper.

Next update, I'll work on the Suits. I have 3 to put together (2 Stealth Suits and 1 Crisis Suit) and 2 to retouch (2 built Crisis Suits). Maybe I'll throw in the Gun Drones, too.

Pictures:

I swapped out the fish head for a helmet head on the tank commander.


Time to build some kroot.


Assembly lining it again just like with the Fire Warriors. Here are the legs.


Got the bodies, arms, and heads on.


Here they are with shoulder pads.


Here are some of them with decorative bits.



12 Kroot ready for priming!


All 36 Kroot are now built and ready for priming.

Thanks for sharing!

I love your progress reports on the build.

That is a very interesting list you have there.
It will certainly support a very unique play style (all close range for your anti tank). I personally use a lot more missile pods, but thats just the way I like to play.

Please keep up with the updates...and best of luck!

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 5


A lot of construction today. I had a super early shift today and don't have to be at work tomorrow till a later shift so I spent the half the rest of my day building. First I did some work on two of the built Crisis Suits. I added a multi-tracker to each of them (I had mistakenly clipped it off one thinking it was a positional relay...my bad). After fixing up those suits I built a mostly fresh one. I say mostly because everything but an arm and a plasma rifle were on the sprue. I had to convert another plasma rifle into a fusion blaster. After the Crisis Suit work, I built the last of the Stealth Suits I would need (2 more). After that I worked on the last of the Gun Drones I would need. I had finished building my infantry. At first I was thinking of stopping there for the day but I still had the itch to build something. I built the last of the Devilfish that I would need and a Piranha. So now my 1850 pt list is fully built and part of my sideboard has been started. Tomorrow I'll work on the Sky Ray and the Hammerhead.

Pictures:

I had mistakenly clipped this guy's multi-tracker off.



This is the crisis suit that had two missile pods. I put a fresh multi-tracker on his shoulder where the extra missile pod was



Both of these Crisis Suits are now fully built.


Here is the sprue for another Crisis Suit.


One of the arms was already attached to a plasma rifle.


I was able to convert the plasma rifle into a fusion blaster like I did with one of the previous suits.


Here is the suit built. I should have taken more progress pictures as I built it.


Here is the sprue containing the last two Stealth Suits I would need.


One with a burst cannon and drone controller...


...and another one with a fusion blaster.


Sprues for the last of the Gun Drones I would need.


It was super easy to get these built.


Here they are ready to prime.


Here are the sprues for the Piranha.


It was pretty fun just getting this first part built.


Here are the wings and fusion blaster.


Here are the crew. They weren't as hard as I thought they would be to build. Easier than Land Speeder crew men, I think.


Here is the Piranha and Gun Drones ready to prime.


Here are the sprues to the last Devilfish that I would need.


Here it is built. Again I forgot to take progress pictures.


Here is the 1850 pt list plus Piranha all built. Next Up are the Hammerhead and Sky Ray.


Here is my 'pro' storage system. It holds all my infantry...


...and all my vehicles.

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 6


This evening I built the Sky Ray. It proved a little more challenging than I had expected. Given that it was kind of complicated (to me) to put together, I'm quite content with the result. The Devilfish-y part wasn't hard; business as usual. It was the missile turret that proved to be some real work. What didn't help was that some of the pieces wouldn't fit together; parts were slightly bigger then the slots they were meant for. Filing helped with that. Even with the turret put together, I faced another problem. The turret wouldn't stay up; I had forgotten to use a bit that would have kept it up. I was able to remedy it with some cutting and strategic positioning of the bit. Next up is the Hammerhead. I'll take care of that next session. That will be the last thing I need to build then I should have all 1850 points PLUS 400 Points for the sideboard built.

Pictures:

Sprues for the Sky Ray.


I didn't realize it at first but, this sprue just wasn't extra Hammerhead bits... it contains the smart missile systems I'll need.


This was the easy part; the Devilfish chassis.


Here are the Sky Ray parts built. The turret was definitely a challenge (I probably should have taken progress pics ).


Here is the Sky Ray and Devilfish parts altogether... uh oh... the turret doesn't stay up.


I forgot to use this bit; It would have kept the turret from toppling over.


A diced up the bit a bit and glued it into the turret far enough for what I wanted.


Yay! Now I can sort of tuck the turret into place and it will stay up... plus its removable. If I had used the other bit as intended, I wouldn't be able to remove the turret in case I wanted another Devilfish or something.


There was a bit that was supposed to go here but I couldn't find it on the sprues. I don't remember cutting it off either. But it absence doesn't detract from the model overall so its cool.

Awesome. Good luck. Look forward to seeing your progress.

I'm liking it so far. can't wait to see them painted although may I suggest taking out the gundrones for suits with plasma missile pod multi tracker as that is way more effective than drones will ever be. However if you prefer the drones they have some uses too.

anyway once again, good work

Thank you for all the luck and compliments folks! The encouragement helps.

I love how they're going. Keep at it!

This thread is getting me not just a little bit excited... o_O And just a touch motivated to bust out a few of my models that have been sitting around gathering dust for a while. You've definitely got a great rhythm going. Keep it up, I'm cheering for you.

Thanks Bunny!

I'm really excited as well... If I stick to this hobby challenge, this will be the first 40k army that I will have completed ever. The closest I've gotten was painting 28 Ultramarines with boltguns.


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JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 7


This afternoon I built the last model for my project... the Hammerhead. It was pretty easy to put together. I'd say easier than the Sky Ray definitely. So now all 1850 + 400 pts are built! Yay!

I may have been a little premature when stating in my other entries that things were 'ready to prime'. Now that I think about it, the only models really ready to prime are the Kroothounds. I need to go over the plastic models again and see if I can get them a little 'cleaner' (cut extra bits of plastic... file/sand down some spots... that sort of thing).

Pictures:

Here are the sprues for the Hammerhead.


Got the Devilfish part built. It went pretty quick. I think I like this kit as much as the Space Marine Rhinos.


Here are the Hammerhead parts.


I used the tank commander from one of the Devilfish for the railgun turret. He's pretty much a kind of spotter.


I built another closed hatch part to trade for that tank commander. Now my Devilfish will be sort of uniform.


Here is the finished Hammerhead.


I'm getting the Kroothounds ready for priming.

JUNE/JULY PROGRESS 8 ***GOAL COMPLETED***


This afternoon, I started the priming. This evening, I finished the priming.

I started with the Kroothounds. For them I used a light grey sandable auto primer. I've had a history of 'cracks' appearing on the coat when using this primer sometimes but it was the only light primer I had available. The coverage turned out just fine. I would do one side of the model, let it dry, then turn it over.

In between, drying sessions for the primer coats, I started inspecting my infantry for bits of plastic that I could shave/cut off. Everything was pretty clean.

I originally had intended only to prime the Kroothounds and Kroot Carnivores today. I ended up doing everything. I felt so motivated and the priming didn't take as long for each set of models as I thought it would.

For the Carnivores I used the same grey primer as with the Kroothounds. For the infantry and vehicles I used some Chaos Black, and when that ran out on me I broke out the P3 Black Primer.

I overestimated how long it would take to get everything built and primed. I probably could have done something a little more different, elaborate with my goal. I'm totally going to re-examine my plan for the project. This includes making a personal goal for July itself since this June/July goal was finished about a week before the end of the month.

For the next couple of days I'm going to take a bit of a break... maybe work on some other models.

At the beginning of July I'll start painting.

Pictures:

Everything is primed. Goal Completed!








Three of these bases were already painted up when I received some of the models. I plan to copy what they did.


I kept these Carnivores with their green primer.

Really liking the work, lots of nice pics, really great updates, and your actually getting work done. Less than i can say for my own blog.

lunarghost wrote:Really liking the work, lots of nice pics, really great updates, and your actually getting work done. Less than i can say for my own blog.

We'll see if I can keep it up... this is about as far as I've gotten with other 40k armies I've worked on. I'm hoping this time I stay the course.

JULY PROGRESS START


I have reorganized my plan for the project. I was able to get the June/July goal of building and priming well before July started so I'm giving myself another goal for July separately. I've changed around how I'll be doing the painting now that I have more of a grasp on the colors I'll be using. I'll start off with units in the army that will have the 'main' color (Fire Warriors, Drones, Crisis Suits, and vehicles. Next will be the models that will vary from the main color (Commander suit and Stealth Suits). After that, I'll move into painting the Kroot units. Finally, I'll base everything for the last month/goal.

For my July goal, I plan to paint 24 Fire Warriors before the month is done.

The colors I'll be using: P3 Sanguine Base and Sanguine Highlight for the 'main' color; P3 Bastion Grey for the body/jump suit under the armor; P3 Menoth White Base and Menoth White Highlight for trim; Vallejo Model Color Dark Grey for the weapons/'metallics'; Vallejo Model Color Light Green and Lime Green for helmet scopes/visors/whatever they're called; and Vallejo Model Color Black and White to help with shading and highlights.

****
Plan Ver 2
****

July
-Paint 24 Fire Warriors

August
-Paint 12 Fire Warriors
-Paint 21 Drones

September
-Paint 2 Bodyguard Crisis Suits
-Paint Loose Vehicle parts

October
-Paint 3 Devilfish

November
-Paint 1 Sky Ray
-Paint 1 Hammerhead
-Paint 1 Piranha

December
-Paint 1 Commander Suit
-Paint 9 Stealth Suits

January
-Paint 24 Kroot Carnivores

February
-Paint 12 Kroot Carnivores
-Paint 12 Kroot Hounds

March
-Base everything

April
-Adepticon (maybe... unlikely... :( )

Pictures:

Here are the Fire Warriors I will paint this month.


Here are the paints I'll be using.







Here are the variety of brushes I'll be playing with.


Here is the palette that is going to get a lot of use.

Let the mayhem begin! The painting part's what really gets me buzzing.

EDIT: P.S. Don't feel bad about never finishing an army. I've been doing this for 10 years and I've never finished an army over 500pts.

Nice work so far! I like how your goals for each month are very acheivable and not overwhelming. I have similar problems when it comes to finishing a project ie: never have finished even a single squad let alone an army lol. Keep the train rolling and good luck!

JULY PROGRESS

This past Saturday I gave my army a test run on the battlefield. It was my first time playing in a little more than 2 years. The army didn't do too well but I'm just happy I remembered most of the game's rules and mechanics.

I'm getting a bit worried. It's 6 days into the month and I've only got started on work today.

I'm starting with the jump suits of the Fire Warriors. I changed my mind about the colors and am going for Menoth White Base to be the color of the jump suits while Bastion Grey will be for trim. I didn't work on too many models today. I had tons of laundry that needed to get done and I tried to paint in between loads. Tomorrow, after I get my workout out of the way I'm going to devote my evening to getting more done.

The P3 paint is going to be a little difficult to work with. It seems to dry up faster on my palette than other stuff. Then again I haven't done large volume painting with P3 paints... I'm usually doing one model at a time. I tried adding water but that didn't help too much. I'm wondering if its the color in particular. I might just go directly from the pot tomorrow.

Pictures:

I did some juggling of some models and was able to empty out a Citadel case for use with my Tau infantry. Now I just need something proper for my vehicles... most likely I'll go to Sabol products for that... or maybe I'll check out KR Multicase stuff.




The first model to get paint.


This is all I got done amidst catching up on business transactions, getting laundry done, and working out... too much to do.