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Hi all,

Here's my latest finished project, a Tau Devilfish. As ever, I wanted something that looked like it had seen action during a long campaign so I weathered her up to reflect that.

I kind of like this kit even though it's getting on a bit. The design still holds up really well and it ticks all the boxes for me with the rotating engines and chin turret. Very cool.

Fairly pleased with the finish, especially getting rid of the join lines on the hull but I'd appreciate your thoughts and any questions you have.

Hope you like the pics!

A flying space-tank has no right to look this realistic. Fantastic job!

Wow, it looks awesome!

Fantastic, yet again, Sir.

Thanks gents, very kind : )

Hi guys, I've just finished writing up a tutorial on the techniques I used to paint the Devilfish.

http://www.theunrealisticartist.com/devilfish-tutorial

It should give a nice broad guide to those that are interested in the techniques I used.

Essentially it's how I got from this:



to this:



Let me know what you think!

Have an exalt good sir! I hope you've put this in the Dakka gallery so you can get some nice high rankings...

 Jadenim wrote:
Have an exalt good sir! I hope you've put this in the Dakka gallery so you can get some nice high rankings...

Thanks Jadenim! Jolly decent of you!

Thanks also for the gallery reminder. Just done it.

I really love this model, and your riptide as well.

I generally don't like tau models, mostly because they look too clean and tidy. They're the helvetica army in a chancery world, and it's easy to fall into the trap of supporting the over the top "we're just better than you" motif with the models themselves.

For me, tau work much better as being the violent, gritty revolutionaries, almost more of a paramilitary group than a pennants snapping in the breeze army, and I think you've done an excellent job pulling this off. You've got to go to crazy levels to make it not look somewhat cartoonish, but it definitely pays off. Much more battletech and less iPad.

Thanks for the tutorial as well. The only thing left is to see how you do smaller stuff. Any chance we'll see some nice and weathered firewarriors?

Love it!

Also, how did you do the decals? You know, without seeing the obvious ridges, the obvious glossy sheen, or the crinkling effect you get when applying a sealant?

 Ailaros wrote:
I really love this model, and your riptide as well.

I generally don't like tau models, mostly because they look too clean and tidy. They're the helvetica army in a chancery world, and it's easy to fall into the trap of supporting the over the top "we're just better than you" motif with the models themselves.

For me, tau work much better as being the violent, gritty revolutionaries, almost more of a paramilitary group than a pennants snapping in the breeze army, and I think you've done an excellent job pulling this off. You've got to go to crazy levels to make it not look somewhat cartoonish, but it definitely pays off. Much more battletech and less iPad.

Thanks for the tutorial as well. The only thing left is to see how you do smaller stuff. Any chance we'll see some nice and weathered firewarriors?

Thanks for your comments and very kind words Ailaros : ) That Battletech comparison is a good one but I'm definitely aiming for a gritty cinematic look in all my stuff.

My default mode, certainly for now and the foreseeable future, is "weather everything" : ) This especially applies to vehicles from the grim dark future where there is only war…

So even if it was another faction I'd probably find some way of dirtying it up, even Eldar, which, come to think of it, might upset some people and start some 'is it ok to have chipped paint on something made of wraithbone' conversations which could be fun.

In the meantime I'm having great fun with vehicles and probably won't do any infantry yet, though you have got me thinking about what Fire Warriors would look like next to this thing. Hmmmm.

Damn! I'm going to have to do them now!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Cave_Dweller wrote:
Love it!

Cheers Cave_Dweller!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ailaros wrote:
Also, how did you do the decals? You know, without seeing the obvious ridges, the obvious glossy sheen, or the crinkling effect you get when applying a sealant?

I hate doing decals but I've had success recently with the Vallejo Decal Medium and Decal Fix. Haven't had any crinkling that I've noticed when varnishing. Might be because it's Satin varnish maybe?

The Decal Fix does appear to soften the edges of the decals quite nicely and, once they're on, I rip them up a bit with a needle file (nothing escapes being weathered) which might help?

Ah, it must be that decal fix, whatever it is. The problem with warping and clouding with decals usually has to do with the fact that it's impossible to spray seal a model without a mix of both the stuff that hardens into the sealing coat and a solvent to keep it from flying out as a bunch of flakes rather than a fine mist. The customary problem is that the solvent from the spray escapes the solution with the sealant and in the process some of it attacks the plastic of the decal.

But whatever that stuff is must stop that reaction, because you can't usually spray-seal decals. I'll have to look into it some.

And I'd very much like to see a weathered-up eldar vehicle. Yes, yes, falcons allow you to make stunning works of art and eldar painters are the best painters and blah, blah. I'd like to see your particular take on the elegant yet afflicted by wear and tear. Eldar vehicles that look like they're actually used.

The best I could find is this:



But that's not right. That's rusting and ancient, not well-made but hard-worn. It looks to imperial guard or... dare I say it... orks.

Otherwise, all I found was this:



Which is sort of going with your style, but you've got better execution skills, I think.

Anyways, I like you work, and I'd really like to see even just a single infantry model or two.

Ooh nice references thanks Ailaros.

That blue one is nicely done but I agree it's probably a little 'over-done'.

The 3rd eye nuke piece just doesn't look quite finished, although I'm sure it probably looks good lined up on the tabletop.

Both of them need more depth and contrast in the panel lines.

Re: decals, I believe Vallejo varnish is water based too so there's no reaction…? It's guess work on my part and I'm showing my in-experience a l little : )

Anyway, an Eldar vehicle would certainly make for an interesting project so I'll need to make that happen soon!

Infantry is definitely worth a go to see if i can match them up to the vehicles. They most likely won't win any figure painting contests but it'll be interesting to see if I can apply the same principles.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Yea theres a defined line between weathered and rusted/irregular maintenance. Nobody except Orks really fit the heavily rusted look imo, but your style of burnt edges and light chipping is very realistic and likely for any race.

 Vineheart01 wrote:
Yea theres a defined line between weathered and rusted/irregular maintenance. Nobody except Orks really fit the heavily rusted look imo, but your style of burnt edges and light chipping is very realistic and likely for any race.

I would tend to agree Vineheart, thats why the Orky stuff is so much fun!

Hopefully I can make it work with a bit of elegant, tasteful weathering, for those style conscious Eldar… better get that airbrush fired up : )

Well, guard can pull it off as well:



But eldar... Well, I guess I could sort of almost see it in very limited circumstances. Exodites recovering lost equipment, or if you were playing a campaign on a lost craftworld. Regular eldar, though, yeah... less so.

Exodites WIP

 Ailaros wrote:
Well, guard can pull it off as well:



But eldar... Well, I guess I could sort of almost see it in very limited circumstances. Exodites recovering lost equipment, or if you were playing a campaign on a lost craftworld. Regular eldar, though, yeah... less so.

They definitely can, those look awesome!
Though I thought guard were religious about maintenance and tech upkeep? Wouldn't they have had to of been cut off from imperium for some time to be so rusty? :O

Sasa0mg wrote:Though I thought guard were religious about maintenance and tech upkeep? Wouldn't they have had to of been cut off from imperium for some time to be so rusty? :O

It's kind of funny. I paint my own guard vehicles somewhat grimy. A few tiny rust spots, some general streaking from the rivets, and the black-paint-on-sponge stipple method around the edges, but not much more. A similar, if inferiorly executed version of what you're doing. My standpoint is that the imperial guard is always fighting an endless grinding battle of attrition. That means that they don't stop fighting long enough to exactly give the old leman russ a wash and a wax. On the other hand, they need to be kept in good fighting shape (so no obvious problems), and if they're constantly fighting, well, they're just not going to survive long enough to get rusty. That would imply disuse, which isn't very guard.

On the other hand, a friend of mine runs an inquisition army, and his chimeras are spotless. His rationale is that the one thing that the imperium has, the one resource in over-abundance is manpower. That means that any time the chimera isn't actively transporting dudes to the front, it's being kept in immaculate appearance by teams of slaves polishing the knicks and buffing the upholstery. Hell, there should be enough guardsmen nearby to just keep shooting at it with lasguns all day, burning away any encrusted filth.

Either way, of course. The latter may be good, fluffwise, for grimdark, but unless you knew the story, you'd just assume that it was clean, or worse, unused. Knights in shining armor are those whose metal hasn't been tested, as they say.

In any case, guard vehicles can look grimy. Getting sleek, elegant vehicles to look both superbly crafted and at the same time heavily used, well, that's the trick, I suppose.

...

Now you are making me want to go back to my Tau army. After having fun weathering my IG stuff I've wanted to see how it would look on some Tau, and that Devilfish is just amazing. Now to go rob a bank so I can afford a second army...

 Sasa0mg wrote:
Though I thought guard were religious about maintenance and tech upkeep? Wouldn't they have had to of been cut off from imperium for some time to be so rusty? :O

As the owner of the tanks in that picture: they're DKoK, which means WWI trench warfare in space, probably on some nightmare hellworld full of corrosive gas, acid rain, etc. And TBH I just like the over-weathered look for them, it does a lot to compensate for my pretty limited painting skills!

Great stuff! You call yourself 'the unrealistic artist' and then produce some of the most realistic Tau I've seen.

I'd second the call for some weathered Eldar, it would definitely be a more satisfying take on Elves in Space than 'we're shinier than you!'.

 Ailaros wrote:

Sasa0mg wrote:Though I thought guard were religious about maintenance and tech upkeep? Wouldn't they have had to of been cut off from imperium for some time to be so rusty? :O

…In any case, guard vehicles can look grimy. Getting sleek, elegant vehicles to look both superbly crafted and at the same time heavily used, well, that's the trick, I suppose.

Thanks for the the reference pics again Ailaros. I think there's room for all interpretations in the, lets face it, mythical universe, we're all invested into. I have to say those Imperial Guard tanks look amazing, they really appeal to me and look a lot more authentic than something factory fresh.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Peregrine wrote:
...

Now you are making me want to go back to my Tau army. After having fun weathering my IG stuff I've wanted to see how it would look on some Tau, and that Devilfish is just amazing. Now to go rob a bank so I can afford a second army...

 Sasa0mg wrote:
Though I thought guard were religious about maintenance and tech upkeep? Wouldn't they have had to of been cut off from imperium for some time to be so rusty? :O

As the owner of the tanks in that picture: they're DKoK, which means WWI trench warfare in space, probably on some nightmare hellworld full of corrosive gas, acid rain, etc. And TBH I just like the over-weathered look for them, it does a lot to compensate for my pretty limited painting skills!

Thanks Peregrine, I have to say those DKoK tanks are superb! You're painting skills look fine to me! Just great and make me want to paint up some IG (or should that be AM?) vehicles… <adds to long list>


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Paradigm wrote:
Great stuff! You call yourself 'the unrealistic artist' and then produce some of the most realistic Tau I've seen.

I'd second the call for some weathered Eldar, it would definitely be a more satisfying take on Elves in Space than 'we're shinier than you!'.

Thanks for the kind words Paradigm : )
Yeah, 'the unrealistic artist' comes from a time when I was trying to break into illustration. It carried over into my model painting blog and I just stuck with it when i realised I could make models somewhat realistic. Oh, the irony : )

Eldar is definitely high up my list of models to paint next…

In the meantime, going back to the subject of weathering IG/AM etc, I thought I'd show a Valk I painted up last year:





More pics of that beast on my blog. Gonna post a little step-by step for that one too.

Very nice job. This looks allot more menecing and imposeing than the gw paint job.

Thanks reizingsun!

If you're interested I posted my Valk tutorial on my website:

http://www.theunrealisticartist.com/valkyrie-tutorial

Amazing stuff. I must say this is the best Tau paint job (for me personally) I have ever seen. It actually looks real.

On a side note I just started an Eldar army and am also struggling with how to go about putting some where and tear on them.
Coming from a very war torn CSM army I am really struggling as most of the Eldar technology is made of wraithbone and thus doesn't really have paint to chip or metal to rust.

bladeiai wrote:
Amazing stuff. I must say this is the best Tau paint job (for me personally) I have ever seen. It actually looks real.

On a side note I just started an Eldar army and am also struggling with how to go about putting some where and tear on them.
Coming from a very war torn CSM army I am really struggling as most of the Eldar technology is made of wraithbone and thus doesn't really have paint to chip or metal to rust.

Thanks bladeiai! I plan to do more soon including infantry too.

Yeah the wraith bone thing is a potentially contentious issue I suppose depending on how much of a hardliner people are to the source material. I'm thinking, try weathering without any chipping on a crimson hunter and see how it comes out…

That chipping sponge is very, very difficult to give up when you get used to it though…

fantastic job!

 ProfessionalAmateur wrote:
A flying space-tank has no right to look this realistic. Fantastic job!

Well, sir, you officially made my favorite statement on dakkadakka
congrats.
Plus, as a Tau player, I am most pleased by this tank

Thanks guys!