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Hi Everyone,

Decided to start up a Tau army (Not sure if that's wise from what I have read but I enjoy long range combat so....)

Anyway, obviously I had to start painting some units so I grabbed some off eBay, tidied them up and decided on a colour scheme, just wondering what you guys think so far...any pointers, places I need touch on etc.

And yes, I know it has an arm missing, that's being worked on separately

It's a bit messy, though I like the choice of colors. I suggest you block in the blue, lightly highlight it (maybe even drybrush it on), then use a blue wash. It will look cleaner and more like cloth. If you have the right blue wash (this is where you experiment), you could wash right over the grey - less work, and more natural shading in one go.

I'm guessing you're layering the grey? I pretty much use the exact same grey for my Tau, so all you need to do is basecoat, put Nuln Oil in the crevices (don't wash the whole mini!), then some edge highlights.



You could also simply thin down the blue paint you use for highlights to make it a wash, then follow it with a proper blue wash. That's how I did my Tau skin tone. It's over the same grey as the chest armor.

I think the camera shows up blemishes that are not quite visible when viewed without a bright light, but your images give me some idea of where to better put the highlights.

The chest piece is going to be a lighter grey compared to the rest of the outfit with the centre piece being a different colour to denote rank...at least that's the idea.

Bear in mind though, I haven't painted for a really long time so so techniques have gone a bit rusty. The model is going to be weathered though (scuffed knee pads etc) as i'm not a big fan of "clean" models.

Thank you for the advice though, the blue could be toned down a bit, better look through my paint collection to see if I have a blue wash anywhere for the fatigues.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and yes I am layering the grey, Slate grey first for all the crevices and then Steel Grey on top with Cool Grey to highlight. I was going to use a watered down version of the slate grey and steel grey in a 50/50 mix to shade the lower armour portions.

 Supershandy wrote:

Oh and yes I am layering the grey, Slate grey first for all the crevices and then Steel Grey on top with Cool Grey to highlight. I was going to use a watered down version of the slate grey and steel grey in a 50/50 mix to shade the lower armour portions.

Okay. I try to keep Tau infantry relatively simple - technique wise - because of all those separate plates. You're using a white primer? If anything, I'd recommend grey primer, given your palette of colors.

Makes sense, I put the colours on top of Black primer, trying to keep the colours darkened

I prime black as well. GW Dawnstone becomes a different grey depending on the undercoat. Black undercoat darkens it just enough to match my old stuff (done with GW Codex Grey). But I basecoat the whole model in Dawnstone and then go back with a black paint wash for the cloth, then a tiny bit of drybrushing with Dawnstone before anything else - which has no effect on the grey plates because it's the same color. You don't have that luxury, but if you're overpainting the darker grey anyways, cleaning up the blue after the fact might be easy.

When you get to Crisis Suits and the like, I suggest you reverse the paint scheme - blue on plates, grey on mechanicals.

I'll have to try that technique on the next set, I purposely did the slate grey first on the armour plates then put steel grey on top mostly because I have trouble applying paid t into the crevices afterwards even though I have a really fine brush. Figured it would save a lot of time and effort and save me from messing it up

I do have a couple of crisis suits to do so will have to experiment with them

I actually really like the color scheme you've chosen. The paint looks a bit glossy, though, which if it's the look you are going for is good. The posters above here have already given most of the advice I would give. I definitely think you are off to a pretty good start, so don't give up!

Thanks ZergSmasher, originally it was going to be red armour panels, but after I'd applied it I couldn't help by think of optimus prime

Since I'm going for grizzled, weathered, no resupply since the start type of look, I thought a dark colour scheme would work well.

First time painting Tau too so plenty to learn

The paint looks more glossy thanks to the flash on the camera with no diffuser, it's better looking in normal conditions.