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Looking for some opinions on changes to what I have done. With the exception of the legs/body, everything else can be changes with relative ease.













The following three images are the possible 'rifle locations' of this model in its present state.






Thanks ahead of time,
Waffles

Not a big fan of that position. The gun looks like it is just sitting on his hands and not being held.

You need something to bring the gun and the hands together.

For the most part it looks sound, you'll need to smooth out the green stuff a little more. It is very blobby and I can see fingerprints on the bit on the left shoulder. Secondly, I'd recommend getting hold of some hands (preferably SM ones or Terminators ones). It seems you were going for an effect like this guy did in this thread (scroll down) as ATM it just looks awkward with no hands, as if it is just balanced precariously on the suit's arms.

FWIW I'd also change the gun to be underslung a'la Necron Immortals, SM Heavy Bolters etc.

I like the look of that last one, firing over his sholder looks like something out of an action flick or an anime.

As for the overall pose, I have no problem with it, you are sacrificing a small amount of LoS for a cool looking mini. get this guy painted!!

I saw a photo in a magazine a while back where the guy had mounted a single rail gun to the broadside's forearm. He places the top of a shield dronn over it (at the forearm area as well) and placed a decal on it. The other arm was used to 'hold' it up. It looked really cool, however this honestly just does not look too practical. As stated above it looks like it is just sitting on his hands without being held. If this is the look you 'must' go with I think a single rail gun might be easier to pull off rather than the doubled up one you are currently using.

Jstncloud wrote:I saw a photo in a magazine a while back where the guy had mounted a single rail gun to the broadside's forearm. He places the top of a shield dronn over it (at the forearm area as well) and placed a decal on it. The other arm was used to 'hold' it up. It looked really cool, however this honestly just does not look too practical. As stated above it looks like it is just sitting on his hands without being held. If this is the look you 'must' go with I think a single rail gun might be easier to pull off rather than the doubled up one you are currently using.

You mean this gentleman?
http://www.coolminiornot.com/201308?browseid=1151287

I'm really not fond of this conversion in the least.

That said, it's YOUR army, whatever you want to do to it is your thing, so i'm taking my opinion out of it.

As mentioned already, the GS needs fixing. Smooth it out, and clean it up so that your fingerprints are not visible. As to the plastic.... Get into the habit of cleaning off all of the flash with a knife and or file, and in fact, go in to the arms you cut up, and smooth them out with a file as well. You need to find some sort of better hand. The last dude holding his weapons over-head looks terrible, and the only way i see to fix it is to add some sort of a rack slung across the powerplant that holds the weapon, and have it look like it's being picked up. With the current set up, I would encourage you to add some sort of a belt-feed from the weapons leading to a drum on slong off the suit's powerplant.

EditL
it bears mentioning that I've done other things that others've found unpalatable.

Just a heads up to everyone, This model is not set. The green stuff that is there is just there to keep it upright for pictures.

So, I guess I am gonna have to find some powerfists (god help me on that one) and go from there.

I liked the one idea of under-slinging the rifle. I think I may try and do that,.

As for the last poses, they were just concepts.

I know i asked for criticism, but just realize that this is not anywhere near finished.

Thank you again guys. I will do a few changes and go from there.

jazzpaintball wrote:
So, I guess I am gonna have to find some powerfists (god help me on that one) and go from there.

Not powerfists, Terminator hands. Have a look at the battlesuits in the thread I linked in my first post in this thread, Powerfists would be waaayyy too big, but Termi hands are perfect. You'll find tons of spares in the GK Termi kit, find a local player and see if you can blag some. Also remember to cut off the last finger, as Tau have 4 digits.

Grimtuff wrote:

jazzpaintball wrote:
So, I guess I am gonna have to find some powerfists (god help me on that one) and go from there.

Not powerfists, Terminator hands. Have a look at the battlesuits in the thread I linked in my first post in this thread, Powerfists would be waaayyy too big, but Termi hands are perfect. You'll find tons of spares in the GK Termi kit, find a local player and see if you can blag some. Also remember to cut off the last finger, as Tau have 4 digits.

Well I had a couple space marines laying around that were given to me to cut up and use as props. I decided to cut a hand out of a bolter to use. the hand was set up exactly the way i needed it to be and fit well. the fingers are a bit thin, but I will let others decide.

Here is what the last hour has gotten me.










What do you guys think now?

Waffles

I would have then holding the gun from the top rather then the bottom. Look at some of the stuff from the gundam ranges might be a good idea. Also you could likely get away just using one of the two guns and then just calling it twin linked because right now it looks really lop sided for weight distribution. Or staking them as an over under rather then a side by side might also work out looking nicer although then the bottom barrel might drag.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ha adding a central connection half way down the barrels and having the other arm grabbing onto a handle above the guns might make the mod look less improved.

Better, but you definitely need a handle / firing assembly above it.

pretre wrote:Better, but you definitely need a handle / firing assembly above it.

I am guessing you are talking about the top mounted arm?

Or are you talking about a handle for the front arm to come up?

Top mounted arm. The bottom one is holding the gun, but the top one is just sitting on top.

White Ninja wrote:I would have then holding the gun from the top rather then the bottom. Look at some of the stuff from the gundam ranges might be a good idea. Also you could likely get away just using one of the two guns and then just calling it twin linked because right now it looks really lop sided for weight distribution. Or staking them as an over under rather then a side by side might also work out looking nicer although then the bottom barrel might drag.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ha adding a central connection half way down the barrels and having the other arm grabbing onto a handle above the guns might make the mod look less improved.

I was thinking about going to one barrel, but I have another broadside that only has one barrel (due to a kid thinking it was an action figure) and you would be amazed how many people make the comment: "ohhh... good! Your broadside has only one railgun so you are not twin-linked!" most of them trying to be funny, some actually being honest and trying to get the model removed from a tourney.

Regardless, I am thinking about going to one gun. The only thing: if i do this I will have to name this model "Heavy" due to the similar pose and look to the TF2 character. Still not a bad idea.....


Automatically Appended Next Post:

pretre wrote:Top mounted arm. The bottom one is holding the gun, but the top one is just sitting on top.

Let me see what I can come up with.

I've seen people use power-fists with their crisis suits. Just look at Old Shatter hands here.
More images here:
http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/search/label/Old%20Shatter%20Hands

I would just use 1 of the cannons and add a rifle scope on top if you were going to use the Sniper look. If you got for the TF2 Heavy look you should definitely add control grips and handles.

I prefer the underslung look, having the gun sat ontop of the arm looked a little wierd.

pretre wrote:Top mounted arm. The bottom one is holding the gun, but the top one is just sitting on top.

Something like this I am guessing:





does this make it look a bit more realistic and tie in the other gun?

These pictures dont have it, but I also put a 'scope' on the rail system.

pretre wrote:Not a big fan of that position. The gun looks like it is just sitting on his hands and not being held.

You need something to bring the gun and the hands together.

Agreed. It reminds me more of a toy/action figure pose than a mini or model.

Here are some of the changes:

Mad4Minis wrote:

pretre wrote:Not a big fan of that position. The gun looks like it is just sitting on his hands and not being held.

You need something to bring the gun and the hands together.

Agreed. It reminds me more of a toy/action figure pose than a mini or model.

What would you suggest changing?

for me, the gun looks too big and boxy. It stands out from the model too much and doesn't look like there is any possible way for the model to actual support the weight of the gun as it is significantly larger than the model and thicker.

I would almost like the model more if the gun was coming out of the suits crotch and he was flipping a double bird... but thats silly

I would cut the gun down, which you may not want to do. I would clip the barrel off, then cut off the metal beams after the support, then reattach the barrel which would shorten it.

Honestly I always hated the broadside models tho... so its hard for me to offer anything constructive., I just feel the size and density of trying to make it into a gun looks too extremely out of proportion to the rest of the model.

well the recoil on a broadside should be negligable plus the lightweight construction should make the gun light enough to be usable, According to memory it's a magnetic accelorator right? a projectile accelerated through this means should not produce recoil as it's a tugging motion rather than a pushing motion... conventional projectiles are pushed out of barrels (usualy using an explosive of some sort to produce a large volume of gas)

I like it but I'm an ork player so I like big oversized guns

Well the size of the rifle is the whole idea behind the model.

I tried to model it so that the suit had to "fight" with the rifle.

The leg is propped up and is supporting its weight.
The body is leaning back to support the rifle.
the head is crooked back to simulate someone trying to hold something heavy.

The notion that a base crisis suit was given the post powerful gun in the army, then added another for making sure that the shot gets placed properly. Then more armor was added...
This would make the suit extremely heavy and bulky. I am trying to portray the notion of what a suit has to do get a shot lined up.

I can still go to a single gun, but people will complain.
I can cut the guns down, but it doesn't make sense already that what needs an entire tank and 9 inches of gun is replicated in this metal bit. Cutting it down any more than GW already did would just not look right in my opinion.

In either case though, I appreciate all the suggestions. It definitely looks a lot better than when i started and it isnt finished yet,
Waffles

It's still looks like it's too easy for the suit to hold the rifle :S

Maybe glue a drone to the underside of the back of the rifle; like it's providing some kind of Anti-Gravity support?

J.Black wrote:It's still looks like it's too easy for the suit to hold the rifle :S

Maybe glue a drone to the underside of the back of the rifle; like it's providing some kind of Anti-Gravity support?

Something like this?

No other suggestions?

I am also not a huge fan of crisis suits holding weapons like this, but that being said, I don't like the configuration of the GW Broadside either, my XV88's are posed just like the ones done by Forgeworld (XV88-2) and you'd be surprised how little conversion work is actually needed to pull off the look and still make it look like it is suppose to be like that...

PR03 wrote:I am also not a huge fan of crisis suits holding weapons like this, but that being said, I don't like the configuration of the GW Broadside either, my XV88's are posed just like the ones done by Forgeworld (XV88-2) and you'd be surprised how little conversion work is actually needed to pull off the look and still make it look like it is suppose to be like that...

Yea, I agree with you part way. The broadside as GW makes it is just a bit bland and the FW one is good looking.

This is my 4th broadside and I don't want any of them to look the same. I have one stereotypical one, one like the XV88-2, one with a gun over its head (rescue project) and now this one.

It is now cut, carved, and primed black. I will post up new pictures later.

Not a big fan of side by side railguns. They look a bit big in his hands. Paulson games makes resin railgun in 3 different sizes(underslug and shoulder mounted), they might be a better choice. Other than that some of the green stuff needs to be smoothed out with a little water, but overall I like the pose. Best of luck!!

So far, I adjusted and pegged a few more limbs and cut/carved the green stuff. I am now starting to paint. If anyone notices something 'wrong,' please let me know for I plan on continuing later tonight.









Thank all of you again for your input,
Waffles