AT-43 Misc Firetoad patterns

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**Gundammecha**

Well since the last thread was sadly locked theres some more stuff that I'd like to know about the AT 43 firetoads and misc mecha.

So here we are, volume 2.

Lets not get into cat fighting again please. Whilst I'm not keen on the AT 43 concept or execution theres no denying the quality of the original sculpts and some of the imagery, and I for one am geniunely interested in these minis and their potential for wargamming and painting etc.

Since Duncan is probably the only person whos worked with these alot perhaps you'd like to answer some of my questions on them mate? As I really don't want to have to fork out the cash and find out myself the hard way (after all is this not what our forum is for?).

Okay heres the questions.

The firetoads and the Tac arms (this is the correct name? not sure) what kind of plastic are they made from?

I love the human sized mechs (tac arms?) and would really like to use them in my Tau army as human ally stealth suits. Are they really bendy plastic? Do the saw nicely? Do they work okay with modelling knives and files, and what kind of glue will bond them?

Also how hard is it to remove them from the bases? Are they glued onto them or are the one peice?

The same things go for the firetoads really. I'd be really interested to know if these transfers/decals come off? I had heard that they are fused into the mini? That would be a real issue for me. If so can they be filed down or sliced away with a scalpel blade?

I think these are great bases for other things and have huge potential but i'm worried about the qualities and nature of the prepainted layers. What kind of paint is it anyway?

I think it would be great if you or anyone else posted their experiences of painting and converting AT 43 minis in the Modelling section.

Cheers

**Duncan_Idaho**

They are made of styrene, very close to the one GW uses, but a bit softer on the infantry. The infantries plastic is hard if it is thicker and softer the thinner it gets. Hard to describe, but imagine it like this, parts prone to break of on a DE are prone to just bend with these minis. And yes. the small units are called TacArms.

The plastic can be worked on best with normal needle files and the stuff you usual use for metal minis. Paint does not peel of. They saw nicely, very good for convertions. For gluing I would use cyano-glue.

They are glued to the base and have little pegs on the bottom. Simple drilling out of the peg an inserting a small round plastcard piece will do the job of placing them back on the base. Minis are normally 3-6 Parts if infantry. Fire Toad consists of roughly 30+ parts.

There are no transfers on the mini, all paintjobs are 1/10mm thick baked on and printed one the mini with stamps/templates. Higlighting by brushing/spraying. Simple use of GW spraycoat will do the job of giving them a proper base coat. No details are lost.

See the following link for some examples http://www.gw-fanworld.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=66866&st=20

Bases are quite good and just brushed.

Paint is similar to the Rackham Colors, i.e. acrylic-latex, needs more water than pure acrylic to work with, rubs off harder. But it is baked on.

**tanker**

You also might want to see

http://viewfromtheturret.com/2007/04/07/at-43-%e2%80%93-the-second-wave/

and

http://viewfromtheturret.com/2007/03/24/at-43-how-to-straighten-out-your-figures/

and

http://viewfromtheturret.com/2007/02/16/at-43-%e2%80%93-the-first-expansions/

**tanker**

Some folks really like the AT-43 stuff and some don't. That's fine; that's why there are many games out there. But what is nice about the AT-43 stuff is that if the paint quality is good enough for you then you are ready to play. If not, repainting them is less of a task than painting the comparable WH40K mini. Many folks who do not like the paint jobs can quickly retouch them without a total repaint to bring them up to snuff. I've seen a number of folks get very nice results with just touch-ups.

**Azazelx**

That's pretty much what I've been considering myself - a quick cleanup then a "paint-over", basically using the existing paintjob as a basecoat. Though the only figure I've seen that I really like so far is the "Snake" from the other, locked thread. The others, in the Damocles kit are all decent, but not outstanding. I might pick it up next week depending on it's local price. Just a shame the White Stars don't come in a group of 10, since I like ot make sure that figures I pick up for other games can also easily be used in friendly 40k games. (usually, as IG).

edit - are the Damocles figures unique? Or are there multiples of the same figure? And is it AT-43 I'm thinking of with alternate/removable heads?

thanks,

**Duncan_Idaho**

Yep, alternate parts is AT-43. The Damocles minis are the same as in the following boxes, but additional poses have been added with the later releases.

**Gundammecha**

Thanks Duncan thats a really indepth description of the nature of the minis and their qualities.

Definately very useful, and its made me think about purcahsing some TacArms to chop up and mess with.

And cheers Tanker those extra links were also really good.

I had images of really bad prepainted kids toy stuff i.e micro machines and the like.

But form the sound of it they will be alright to work with. I'll have to give it a shot on one. Does anyone know if Rackham offer a mail order bits service so i can order say 1 TacArm or trooper to test first?

**Duncan_Idaho**

you can use their mail-order which is in France www.rackham-store.com, but you need a credit card, delivery is quite fast.

The TacArms are easily disassambled, the arms ar just pushed in via pegs.

**Gundammecha**

Will this be prepainted too? The resin preproduction mini i saw was awesome... and I hear special editions and characters will be unpainted?

**Azazelx**

Posted By Duncan_Idaho on 04/12/2007 12:50 AM
Yep, alternate parts is AT-43. The Damocles minis are the same as in the following boxes, but additional poses have been added with the later releases.

Um.. to clarify, you mean later revisions of the Damocles boxes have additional poses of the pack-in figures that the initial run(s) didn't have?

Or that standalone boxes of the Human Troopers/Alien dudes/etc (released after the Damocles set) have extra poses?

Also, the image shown in the second post in this thread of the mecha

http://www.dakkadakka.com/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/6/postid/155377/view/topic/Default.aspx

..that's the nicely-painted-up Rackham webpage version shown, right, not the production version?

thanks,

**Duncan_Idaho**

The Tiamat in the picture will be prepainted to, only Special Minis handed out only on Coventions will be unpainted and metall.

I do mean the additional boxes, OD box stays the same.

@picture
Hard to tell since the original Fire Toad already has a high standard... this could be a slightly touched up production modell, but alse the final one.