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I liked those a lot. You should post pics.

La'Kase is done. She'd make a great fireblade, though they are not in the Codex I'm using for Taros.









Paint job suffers a little when you look at it this close. Also, what is up with the head sculpt from this angle?

That's a long necked Tau chick. I'll also bet some camera chip magic made her ear disappear, or maybe she doesn't have one to begin with. I imagine a skull pile like that has a hefty cost.

Hmmm, good point. Maybe I should paint scar tissue on one side of the head. Might redo the eyes too.

All looking great Kestrel! T'ros is a good little setting to play with.

Thanks! I worry that I'm drifting away from the hard sci fi, down to "earth", minimalist nature of the original book that made it so cool, but so it goes.

I've decided that April is Airpower month, and My goal will be get as many fliers and my X -wing to 40K rules set done.

Working a bit on some Tau stuff, but here is a Map I made for the Taros Campaing.



Gotta figure out how to enlarge it.


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Lets see how this looks:




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The Tau had not been idle on Taros. Though the planet remained mostly a desert dotted by a few mining operations, they had increased the population by more than 50% and engaged in numerous development projects. They had added a rail system, though this would be of little help to the Imperium unless Tau rail vehicles could be captured. They had deliberately avoided road development to facilitate control and defense of Taros. Imperial Tactitica Studies identified the following key locations:

Tarokeen - the original capital, Tarokeen remained the heart of Taros, home to much of the population, little changed from its imperial days.

Dawnwater's edge - the Beanstalk and the Tau's primary means on and off the planet.

Rinn'Vos or sometimes Ta'Rinn - the new capital and adminstrative center, located on a highly defensible penninsula.

Hydro Processing plants - adapted and updated by the Tau, these remained critical to the viability of the planet, located primarily on the opposit side of the Ithmus from Tarokeen.

Downfall - site of the original landing and evacuation, this represented a secondary landing field and was symbolically important.

Manufactorums - the Tau, no strangers to the brutality of interstellar war by this time had placed their industry in cave networks in the mountanous south, well shielded from orbital bombardment. This manufacuring ability would provide them with a key advantage in the coming conflict unless the Imperium could neutralize it. On the other hand, it was distant from their core population centers, which might prove an issue.

Painted an e-bay rescue Pirhanna. I had planned to have only one, but I got a second as a gift, so it looks like this excellent tau vehicle will see more action on Taros than expected!

Hard pressed in the face of Imperial air superority, the Tau desperately turned to the versatile Pirhanna for reconnaissance, tank hunting, and even attempting to intercept Valkyrie flights. The Pirhanna crews answered the call with supreme gallantry, and many paid the ultimate price. No speciality had a higher casualty rate. The Pirhanna remained in production on Taros throughout most of the war and was a staple of the Tau defense.





I'll add some waterslide transfers when the other one is done.

That piranha is looking great, just like the rest of it. How did you achieve the white?

Thanks! The white is... ...interesting. I tried painting the panel lines in black on the bare plastic and then spraying it with a very light grey spray paint - on the theory that the spray paint wouldn't penetrate and they would still be black after coating. That didn't work. So I did my usual flowing Nuln oil into the cracks and wiping away the excess. Then I did a pretty crappy white edge highlight. I'll do better on the one I'm building up myself. I did like the overall effect though - a bit dirty and worn. It would also be a nice Marble effect if you used that light grey spray over black with a white dry brush I think.

Idea to save:

Simple Tau monorail - pvc with windows hanging from an overhead rail system made from plastic. I think I could build the whole thing using my clip together plastic system, use paper printiouts for the limited detailing on the cars. Very functional, simple, durable. Each car has its own power supply.

The tools with which I'll be doing the next Tau Conversion:



And the Drone Carts WIP. Red is doing his best to avoid trouble by showing both loyalist Blue and insurrection Crimson.

Nice dual color scheme. For then the side you chose is your own.

Air Power April has mostly been grounded - but here are some drone carts!

_Love_ the drone carts- really imaginative and well executed!

All credit to I-Walker, really.

Meanwhile, the Tau War industry ramps up!




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May is too busy, but in June I'm going to get on the Tau Buildings hopefully.

Looks like another great use of everyday objects as bits. I'm looking forward to seeing these as they progress

There isn't much I love more than scratch building an army up to strength in preparation for some great games.

Incidentally, in the background can be seen the Hairbrush my space marine army color scheme is based on. No lie.

It's a good color scheme! I got a color scheme once from a travel mug

Just like I keep an eye out for scratch building bits, I'm always on the look out for color combos.

Imperial Air Power in Progress:

Cool stuff, I like the highlighting. A vulture I believe?

Nice looking to vulture (?). The Tau flossing (that is what they’re made from right?) drones are shaping nicely too. Looks like you guys have an epic campaign in the making

Yup, Vulture and Flossing Thingies.

Here's a WIP on the cockpit - the pilots are not fully painted yet. I'm trying to figure out how to the flying tiger shark teeth on the nose.





I'm determined to make it work, but I'm not sure about the fit.

Karnadon! Or Carchadon? There is probably a 40K waterslide transfer that says that.



I was anxious about how the nose art would come out, but I'm very happy with that. Could use a little touch up, and of course I have to paint the other side.

Very nice freehand there. I especially like the eye.

Really great stuff you have going here. I’m also a fan of Taros and have my own drop troopers army that I’m starting. I use the Taros book rules for my guys in our Horus Heresy campaign. And we have played a few of the missions in our campaigns with other armies because neither my brother nor I have any Tau. That book has so much flavor. I love what you are doing with it so far. Keep it up.

Thanks - The eye didn't come out quite as well on the other side, but I do like it.

I loved the portrayal of the drop troops part of the war in the Taros book - although I always thought it was a little odd that the Tau could simply destroy the pumping station with heavy firepower - I suppose they weren't really too concerned about the civilian water supply.

Sadly, disaster has struck. I got up early Sunday, thinking I would finish the Vulture. I discovered that the cat had sat on the box, breaking the rear landing gear. I repaired those, but in the process one of the punishers snapped in half - the middle was basically one big bubble. Plowing through that I admired the product and thought I would try to clean up some superglue I had gotten on the canopy. After a bit of internet research, I tried to remove it with... nail polish remover.

Terrible mistake. It fogged all the windows. I had been reading on a Model airplane site - and their canopies are GLASS.

Suck.

I'm going to redo the whole stupid thing because I happen to have another set of clear canopy pieces.

Hopefully the next flyer, an Arvus, will go better!

Oh man, that is too bad about the unlucky streak. I have heard a lot of stories of canopy glass fails so you are definitely not alone and luck you have a replacement. Bad things come in threes so hopefully you are done with the bad mojo for a while.

I am definitely excited to see the Arvus come together. I'd love to get one for myself eventually, but I paint at a glacial speed and I have a long list to get to before that. So I will just have to live through yours for now! Looking forward to it.

-Rids

Well, I seem to have made it through. The "Ill Omen" (or maybe "Misfortune") is on in a box, in a closed case, awaiting return to its army.

Here is what I was trying to fix:



Here's what I did:



Here it is with the canopy ripped off and replaced:



I tried to apply the wisdom of Briancj and looked at it from 20 feet away to see if I could still see the gaps around the canopy, but I could from across the room. Stupid keen eyesight.

Greenstuffed it, and the Dragon of Taros, temperamental evil tempered beast that it is, is ready to hammer the unfortunate Tau.