Iapedus wrote:
At the risk of destroying my initial enthusiasm by biting off waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than I can chew, I have decide to dive right into my first big conversion job and am looking for some advice. I have managed to bag three of these new in the box for the handsome sum of 15 quid (god bless HK discount stores)



Firstly, these guys look pretty awesome on their own, but I really want to Tau them up so I can use them on the tabletop. I was initially going to use them as cheap Broadside bodies and just add the spare rail rifles I have left over from the broadside kit. However, having half built one it is immediately obvious that they are too big - in fact, they stand just a bit shorter than a riptide. So , with that in mind - and being the 'Cheese-tastic Sir Spamalot' of Tau forces that I am - I have decided to make Riptides out of them (because, like every good Tau player, the Hexatide list is a dream worth losing friends over)

My initial idea was to use a spare HBC from another riptide kit, and have him holding it in two hands in a pose not unlike the HRR broadside (aka the 'kick ass' pose). To make it more Tau-like, I am going to replace the head with a Tau head, add some Riptide Jetpacks to the back, and generally add some Riptide armour plating wherever appropriate. I may even add a small vessel for collecting my opponents slauy tears.

Any suggestions on how to make it work? Or alternative looks?

Will update with progress and pictures of bleeding fingers!

 BrokenColony wrote:

15 quid is quite expensive for an LBX, if you're buying from some where like Hobby Search or Hobby Link Japan, they're closer to £6 each. Then if you buy a handful of them you will make up the postage costs on the first (about £10 postage and 2 weeks wait), then the rest will all be at 65% off.

Make sure you glue the LBX frames together, they have a nasty habit of falling apart if you touch them too much.

 bossfearless wrote:
Hey, about the Gundam being too small, there are different scales of Gundam models. Looks like you have a 1/100 scale there, but I would suggest something from their 1/60 scale for a knight. The pickings are a little slim in that scale, but you can still find a cheap chassis that you can modify, probably some form of Zaku suit.

BrokenColony wrote:I don't know what scales they come in but Macross kits would be a better place to look overall. Tau are based on the Valkyries style and would be easier to kitbash from them rather than having a mess of designs all over the place. If you are sticking to the Gundam series, then the AGE federation line (or the new Ironblood orphans series just coming out) are where you need to be looking. They're very simple and hard lined kits, so with a small amount of plasticard detailing you could easily turn something like the G-Exes into a Tau style suit.The 00 line wouldn't be bad either, and they have quite a few 1/100s if you're wanting to up the scale.

bossfearless wrote:I can confirm from experience (check my own P and M log, link in my sig) that the Frame Arms series is a really good source for Riptide kits. They have a variety of styles and all the different kits' parts are interchangeable. Alternatively all of the current Armored Core series kits are a bit bigger, and you could easily find a knight in that range (I reccommend the one called Tellus).

Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Cool conversions and lots of pictures. Just the way I like it. Sorry if this has already been asked, but what do you use for basing materials? Those little irregular pieces on the bases, they intrigue me.

StarDrop wrote:Don't listen to him. You don't need the body of the model. Just get guns.

Like this one right here.