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Yeah, is the Catachan Infantry Squad Sprue good?
from the GW pics, they look like cr@p

It's one of the more dated GW sets. The options are fairly limited and the detail isn't great. I dig the aesthetic so I paint em anyway. The other Catachan sprues are very good though.

...Good for what? Detail, choices....?

Yup its a bit dated, though the models aren't that terrible *cough*. You don't get many options, its lasguns or bust, oh and there's a flamer and a vox caster if you want one, but that's about it. It was one of GW's first proper plastic guard kits, what's to be expected?

It's tough to get the giant arms to match up to the shoulders all the time, and you are lmited in options. The musculature was... unfortunately "heroic."

Compard to the earlier metals, they were a travesty. Compared to the plastic cadians (themselves not exactly GW's finest), they're dated and goofy.

Used well, and painted to minimize the flaws? They can look pretty nice. Keep in mind that catachan metals are cheap and readily available on ebay (or under my bed).

Can't stand the catchan plastics, except for when I was making up all of my Eye of Terror mutants. Only then was I happy with the goofy oversized muscle arms. Definitely need a do over. I agree that the metal catchans are not as bad by a long shot...

Skriker

Ok, so the command squad is good...
And so is the heavy weapon squad...
but NOT the infantry sprue?

Ok, well has anyone got a way to make it better?
(i.e. greenstuffing arms, heads; switching with cadian parts; e.t.c.)

They ain't great but I like them more than Cadians.

I like that the lasguns are 100% seperate from the arms so you can easily swap them for special weapons and such.

I like that you can make workers and civilians with the t-shirt and jacket bodies.

I hate the running legs, you have to sand them down and pin them at an angle to get anything like a real running pose.

But I've bought a lot of Cats over the years so yeah, they can be made to work.

Ok.
Does anyone have a tut that shows how to make them good?

Well I won't call these good but here's a project I started back in 2006 but never really got back to.



Catachans with their flesh painted as tight shirts. Green stuff face masks.

Dragon 1/35 scale MP5s replacing their lasguns.

Some special weapon troopers



WIP



And the gallery.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-518-1040_Swat.html

Matt.Kingsley wrote:Ok, so the command squad is good...
And so is the heavy weapon squad...
but NOT the infantry sprue?

Ok, well has anyone got a way to make it better?
(i.e. greenstuffing arms, heads; switching with cadian parts; e.t.c.)

The heavy weapon and command sets are far more recent, and benefit from more recent sculpting techniques.

Greenstuffing arms and heads takes a lot of skill and effort, not worth it. Cadians have sleeves and shoulderpads and don't match up well whatsoever. They look okay as is, just not great. You can use some parts from the Catachan command squad on them, such as heads and such.

Wyrmalla wrote:Yup its a bit dated, though the models aren't that terrible *cough*.

No, they really are... And being an 'early' kit doesn't excuse it, since the Rogue Trader-era Guard plastics are just as good if not better.


The Heavy Weapon teams and Command Sprue are good. The Infantry sprue... the best way to make it good is to find someone who'll swap it for a Cadian sprue instead...

The funny thing is the Catachan infantry sprue is credited to Michael Perry, Alan Perry, AND Jes Goodwin. Those are some of the heaviest hitters Citdael has. I like the set just fine, although I acknowledge its shortcomings.

I think the faults with the catachans weren't so much down to lack of sculpting prowess as to some poor design decisions, frankly.

I have a vague memory of at least one of that trio (I'm wanting to say Jes) publicly saying as much in the past.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Well I won't call these good but here's a project I started back in 2006 but never really got back to.



Catachans with their flesh painted as tight shirts. Green stuff face masks.

Dragon 1/35 scale MP5s replacing their lasguns.

Some special weapon troopers



WIP



And the gallery.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-518-1040_Swat.html

Dude I am digging the use of the Dragon Mp5s


That said I'll put it to ya as blunt as possible, if you don't want the cats, I'll take them off your hands, thier actually one of my favorites (they do need more weapons I'll concede that point right now.). I like the big goofy arms, and more importantly the huge knives they have.

I dont like the Catachan models at all. I think they look like a bunch of Arnold Schwartznegars running around a 40k battlefield.

That's kinda sorta why I like them, they look like they belong in an action movie.

I think that was the point, they were created during the days of Hero Hammer and GW was afraid no one would want to play puny humans. So they made a whole army of Rambos.

You say that like it's a bad thing though.