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Mid-life's T'au Infantry Cadre [XV89 Commander complete and needs a name 9th December]...  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in gb
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





Bristol!

We live in hope (re the anti-kids vaccine).

The frisbees of death look great.

Yes I'm finishing off my Inceptors before I fiddle about with his Dread.

It's really nice to see you approaching the finish line with the Crusade force, maybe we'll actually get a chance to play with our toys soon.

My combined Macragge PDF Imperial Guard and Ultramarine 3rd Co. Blog Clicky

My WAB Hundred Years War English Clicky


AlexHolker wrote:At this stage, I'm starting to think GW's CEO was just getting ready for the Rapture
 
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

 RandyMcStab wrote:
We live in hope (re the anti-kids vaccine).

The frisbees of death look great.

Yes I'm finishing off my Inceptors before I fiddle about with his Dread.

It's really nice to see you approaching the finish line with the Crusade force, maybe we'll actually get a chance to play with our toys soon.


Thanks.

I know, right? Almost there! I'm looking forward to doing a group shot/showcase.

Here's another unit done:

Terrible framing here. This is Infantry that goes with one of the ds8 turrets I made a little while ago. I actually based and base coated these guys a good year ago for a batrep. I've just done the details to finish them off.


Little bit of squad markings etc.

There's a mix of both old and current kits, and it looks like some space marine pouches even snuck in there
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

Howdy doody.

I just noticed that for some reason a load of words and photos are missing off my last post. Very queer.

I've now finished the second and final Firewarrior team for the crusade. These guys are all in advancing-type poses and once again were built and base coated yonks ago...






I think this group does a good job of highlighting the difference in quality of the old versus current Firewarrior kits. Just look at the detail on the leg armour and fingers etc. It's amazing how good gw's more recent multi part kits are.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've also been messing around with some Woodland Scenics DIY trees which I bought on a whim a couple of years ago.

My little boy is quite into these kinds of tasks so doing rough terrain building is a good way of scratching my hobby itch when creeping off to my painting pit isn't an option. Especially as he's been off school thanks to a supply teacher selfishly getting coronavirus last week

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/11/26 22:32:36


 
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

Hmmm, half my post disappeared again.

So back to those trees - I had a stab at using these old defunct media storage units I had lying around called 'compact discs' for tree bases. I glued between one and three tree bases on each and then used my standard basing process of sand, bark chips, scatter flock and tufts.

Some time ago I inherited the world's supply of pre made model trees, and I chopped bits off the more interesting ones to make little bushes and shrubs (e.g. the stuff with red blobs on)...

Using CDs for bases works quite well as they can be moved and stored easily. They're also v flat so blend onto a textured table well.

The trees themselves arrive flat-packed and need to be bent and twisted before having clumps of stuff glued to them. This was a test, and I definitely need to use strong stinky glue to get proper coverage. I'll need am opportunity to work outside before I can finish all eight trees.

Scale wise they're a bit small/short so I was thinking to extend the trunks of the next set. Quite a quick and simple process (even with a 4 year old doing their best to sabotage) and will add some variety to games.
   
Made in gb
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





Bristol!

These look great. I love the riflemen, looking really sharp. It's pretty disappointing that after all this prep it looks like a bunch of our games will be on TTS anyway. Should have spent the time 3D modelling instead.

The tree are great and will be a handy addition to our terrain pile, good stuff. I look forward to seeing more.

Is it just your commander to do now (for the Crusade list)?

My combined Macragge PDF Imperial Guard and Ultramarine 3rd Co. Blog Clicky

My WAB Hundred Years War English Clicky


AlexHolker wrote:At this stage, I'm starting to think GW's CEO was just getting ready for the Rapture
 
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

 RandyMcStab wrote:
These look great. I love the riflemen, looking really sharp. It's pretty disappointing that after all this prep it looks like a bunch of our games will be on TTS anyway. Should have spent the time 3D modelling instead.

The tree are great and will be a handy addition to our terrain pile, good stuff. I look forward to seeing more.

Is it just your commander to do now (for the Crusade list)?


Thanks Randy. The CRUSADE build up has definitely helped to motivate me so it certainly an arse that most of us aren't going to be able to play with our toys.

It is actually just my old/new Commander left to do as I've only gone and finished that bloody Fireblade...




I've just checked and this guy was base coated in August 2018, which means he would have been built a good few months before that. Astute viewers might remember him from the handful of Killteam games Randy McStab and I batrepped way back in the beforetimes.

I still don't know how to approach Tau heads - I think I must have painted three over the last five years. I might go back over this at some point. What colour are Tau eyes and teeth? Do they even have eyes or teeth?

The bionic leg. I'm sure somewhere I have a photo of the components/build, but it's basically just lots of little bits of plastic rod (i.e. model train/architecture stuff) and some green stuff for the hoofs etc. Using the pointed arm/cradled rifle combo is a bit of a cliché these days but in my opinion it's still a marked improvement over GW's weired Marlon Brando Fireblade.
   
Made in be
Nimble Pistolier





Antwerp

Cool little dude! The bionic leg looks awesome. I had the same idea to fiddle around with bionics on my breacher team. I haven't dry fitted anything but I think mechanicum bits will look the part, with some tweeking.

The tau have a great line of miniatures imo, but seeing conversions like you've shown here really add some oomf to their look.


'The whole art of war consists in getting at what is on the other side of the hill.' -- The Duke of Wellington

My hobby log: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/770007.page 
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

 Flapjack wrote:
...I haven't dry fitted anything but I think mechanicum bits will look the part, with some tweeking.

The tau have a great line of miniatures imo, but seeing conversions like you've shown here really add some oomf to their look.



Thanks Flapjack. Yep there's certainly some potential for bionics etc. within the admech line. My only reservation is that, like Tyranids, Tau are so exclusively alien in their design that human/imperium kit is really easy to recognise and can damage the 'narrative' of a conversion. That's why I have found Kroot to be fun to work with, as you can chuck on kit from almost any 40k range or scale modelling era and it still fits the mercenaries theme.

Here's a little update on the final Crusade unit - a vintage Forge world Xv89 which is currently having its third repaint.

I think I've had this for at least 15 years, and about 5 years ago it looked like this:

After a very slow process involving many layers of very thin Zandri Dust, I've got reasonable coverage:

The missing arm is lying around somewhere. It'll never have a super crisp finish due to the repaint and repairs but it'll fit in with the crusade force better than my huge broadside-based commander and in respect to wysiwyg, I wanted a missile pod commander. Made a start on the base also (It's a 50mm like the current crisis suits, and just needs a bit more static grass).

More updates sooner rather than later I hope.
   
Made in gb
Sneaky Sniper Drone





Bristol, UK

XV89 commander, and thus the entire 60pl CRUSADE starter is now finished!

Read on for pics of, and a few comments about, said Commander...





I'm pretty pleased with how it came out to be honest considering it's his third repaint, has had multiple repairs (being mostly resin and all), and barring the conveniently broken arm, I had to paint it as a single, awkward thing.
Some extra details...


The writing on the back is part of a transfer; it looks like it says 'Log' or something. Maybe that's the Commander's name? I really wanted the little holes on the head and arms to look like blue lights (for seeing in the dark) and need to learn about OSL and clearly diffferentiating between lenses and light sources.

Here's a comparison photo alongside his more imposing Brother - Shas'O Bese:


Does he need a similarly innapropriate name? I'm open to suggestions.

The CRUSADE force is now complete, and while painting a few matching units here and there is nothing for most hobbyists out there, this lot probably represents my single biggest army collecting achievement so I'm feeling pretty warm and fuzzy .

Next up I'll be aiming to photograph the whole lot on parade, and painting wise I'll focus on making terrain for a while. I even finished a few of those CD trees things (trees not glued to bases yet):


Thanks for watching x
   
Made in gb
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot





Bristol!

I'm always watching.



That's some very tight sponge work (that's what she said). He looks really great. Very impressive detailing, especially with the gems/lights.

The trees look really good too, very realistic and it's always nice to have more terrain.

Maybe Shas'O Bol-lox?

*ducks*

My combined Macragge PDF Imperial Guard and Ultramarine 3rd Co. Blog Clicky

My WAB Hundred Years War English Clicky


AlexHolker wrote:At this stage, I'm starting to think GW's CEO was just getting ready for the Rapture
 
   
Made in gb
Liberated Grot Land Raida






Northern Ireland

Been thinking of starting a Tau rescue shelter for sad and pitiable eBay rescues. But not knowing anything about Tau beyond how I think they're kinda cool, it's been very interesting going through your blog and seeing what you've been doing. Lots to learn and plenty of cool minis out there to find and restore.

This fella could be Shas'O Nu'tzak.

   
 
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