Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Voting is in our blood, if not our brains, Dr H.

Didn't see you sneak in there 'boss. Oh, so it's one vote for the blood and one for the brain, is it?

Anyway, I've now fixed #11's dusty grey.


That's the shading done and now for the extreme highlights, then all the other details.

Really nice grey tones going on there. Going to look magical with your highlights.

That's not a knife THIS is a knife! Said Sgt. Dundee of the Celestial Crocodiles

Thanks Cam'. Fingers crossed that you see magic below.

Yeah, see, Theo' gets the pose; this is not a guy to be messing with.

Done!

A warm welcome to tactical marine #11, previously of the Revilers.


I have another re-paint that's been stripped, de-mould-lined, re-glued and ready to paint. He'll be up next.

Somehow I thought this was going to be a wraithknight/shadow sword hybrid. This is way more manageable in scope.

Very pretty Dr H... really like it!

Fantastic work, really brilliant shading on the grey. loving the iconography, really spot on. I like the sword, it adds that "What the?" to the model that marks it as one of the scientists boys. Makes you want to know, where the heck did he get that from. Excellently painted too, and his pose to me looks like he is steadying himself ready to swing at something big charging his way. Great work, and pretty quick for you!

Warboss': Nope, just Ghostsword after the name of the Eldar sword. Even I am not sure how you'd fuse a Wraithknight and a Shadow Sword... and make it look good.
Although, I do have ideas of a similar scope somewhere on my list.

Thanks Gits'. Nice to hear it spoke to you.

Camkierhi wrote:Fantastic work, really brilliant shading on the grey. loving the iconography, really spot on.

Thanks Cam'. Yeah, I've got grey shading down; the paints I use for grey just work well for getting a nice blend. Painting this reminded me of all the comments I got about the grey undercoat I did on the Wave Serpent and that I've not really done anything mostly grey since.
I'm also pleased with how the icon came out, didn't require much fiddling or tidying, which is always a plus in my book.

I like the sword, it adds that "What the?" to the model that marks it as one of the scientists boys. Makes you want to know, where the heck did he get that from.

Yeah, the army needs the full range from "stock" models, through a weapon swap, or an arm swap, all the way up to ... somewhere beyond where I can imagine right now...

I am due a proper crazy addition though. I shall have to consult my list...

Excellently painted too, and his pose to me looks like he is steadying himself ready to swing at something big charging his way. Great work, and pretty quick for you!

Thanks. Yeah, can you imagine the strength behind the sort of swing this chap could do... That's a chopping blade, and (for him) a hand and a half handle, with a powerfist as the off hand...

Had a few quiet days. Only one thing on the desk at the moment and he's going through the slow basecoat stages (see below).
I have, however, been going through my army and updating the rules, stat's and points to the new edition (just using the leaked rules). The army so far has only gone up 15 points. I'm quite surprised at how close that worked out; on the whole things seemed to get better and cheaper. But then, I don't really understand the games rules and there is a sprinkling of entirely made up bits amongst the illegal wargear combinations.

Just so that there is some pictures for you to look at, here's the current re-paint in progress:

Black shaded up to very dark grey,
Highlighted with a couple of blue-greys
Currently working on getting a smooth white on the shoulders...

Until next time...

I see more troops have been inducted into the Mad Scientists' army.

Thanks Shas'. I may not be quick, but the army is always growing.

And speaking of growing, this has nothing to do with it...

Welcome back Tactical marine #4, previously of the Black Templars (but you knew that, didn't you):


Previously:


Don't know what's next, my desk is clear, Dark Imperium won't arrive for a while (these are for my other blog though)... time to consult the list...

Nice job cleaning him up, liking the matt finish to his armour.

Does the scientist have any dreads?

Thanks Cam'. He's a simple one, but so much tidier. Even if the shading on the black is far too subtle (as is common on my models).

The Scientist doesn't have any Dreads. There is a long standing plan to "fix" the legs on one or two (amongst other additions), but I don't have a kit yet. One day...

When he gets one it better have a partner dread so he can have a washer and dryer .

I like the tone you got on the black by working up the greys

Amazing touch up work on #4

Nice updating

Epic touch up squire

Nice shading on both Marines. Really spot on.

Still thinking of what to do next in here. Stay tuned.

Thanks Theo', I do plan to have "at least" one of everything, but some models do have various...variations that make them worth having a few.
He looks so much "blacker" on the shelf now (although that's partly due to dust removal ).

Thanks Shas', CK, Graven', and Solar'. Nice to hear.

I have an AOB dread on the sprue if you want him, not the worst model in the world and you could work some science in him?

Also what about ogryn? Or try a new path, I have a feeling we will see squats back soon, converting up some of the latest AOS dwarfy things is a must surely. Oh and maybe, you could do a hover tank, the scientists hybrid of Imperium and Tau tech?

Thanks Cam'. Too kind. If you really have no use for him I'm sure I can find something to do with it.

I do already have quite a bit of untouched plastic, as you can see in the list back in the OP of this blog; there are many (to be started) tags.
I have no ogryns or things of a dwarven nature... I do have some hovering vehicles; Tau devilfish, DE Raider, and a Necron Ghost ark. I also have an Ork truck while we're on vehicles.
I bought the battleforces for Tau, DE, Necrons, Orks, Tyranids, and Eldar... and I've mostly only built troops.

The Tau have not had much love recently. Also, from a comment in my other blog, I've not got any HQ yet in this army.
Looking over my own list the Crisis suit jumps out at me. There's lots I want to change with that model, so is a good candidate...

I'll pull that out of the box and look over it. Back soon...ish.

Crisis suit needs to have a brain in the belly like the villain from teenage mutant ninja turtles.

You are a silly man, Theo.

But saying that, these are supposed to contain a Tau person... as in a walking, talking, bipedal, smallish person.
The size of the crisis suit body is just not big enough to fit a Tau in if he wants to keep his legs... arms... and probably it's best to just keep the head really, if you want to maintain space for the suit's armour and equipment. So, a brain is not that silly an idea.

However, I'm going the other way.
Current plan is to enlarge the body, length and depth,
Move and/or incorporate the jet-pack into the body, rather than the awkward backpack,
Move the hips,
Maybe bulk-up the legs to accommodate the above changes,
Incorporate the Burst cannon into the body/shoulder,
Give it hands to hold a suitably sized rifle (possibly Eldar lance thing),
and other things...

Will need some more planning before cutting anything.

Marines cant fit into any of their own vehicles, so I think the Tau can get away with a little creativity

Ah well, maybe I think the other way around. Maybe the vehicles should be bigger...

You did see how I added seats to the Wave Serpent interior...

I'll be back here soon. I'm just contemplating how to chop up the Plague marines for my other blog, and while I have the saw out, the crisis suit is ready to go...

Chop chop...!

Stage one of the crisis suit modifications; making the body longer.


Removed the jet pack things. These will be incorporated somewhere / somehow in a more... incorporated way... mostly unplanned as yet.

Cut off the hip section from the two body halves before gluing the body together.

Reattached the hips with some sprue spacers and some plasticard for the front (shape to be refined).

Next job is to fill in the holes and shapes to get back to a solid body...

Bigger tau just seem wrong, but with the growth size of new marines it's needed I guess.

 Theophony wrote:
Bigger tau just seem wrong, but with the growth size of new marines it's needed I guess.

The problem is that the old battlesuits are just...so stunty. Like they're scaled down BIGTIME.

 Kepora wrote:

 Theophony wrote:
Bigger tau just seem wrong, but with the growth size of new marines it's needed I guess.

The problem is that the old battlesuits are just...so stunty. Like they're scaled down BIGTIME.

Totally understand . In fact I have the same feeling about the Ghar suits from BtGoA. So much so that I'm considering making my own right sized suits. After all you can't even fit a Ghar inside one of their suits . It's worse than cramming 10 marines inside a rhino.

Thanks Theo' and Kepora. Yeah, this is just for me to be able to accept that a Tau chap is meant to be inside the body.
The stock body is far too small for one to squeeze in without having his legs amputated first. Had the fluff stated that this is what the Tau did, in a similar fashion to SM's being put in dreadnoughts (and the dreadnought's body is far larger than these... having said that, I've not seen a dreadnought in person...and I'm always surprised at how small GW models are when I do see them... but I have seen a DV Helbrute and assume about the same size,..) then I'd have happily accepted that the small body is fine; but they don't say that they chop their legs off to fit, so I'm chopping this model up to make them look like they can fit.

And now I've filled in the basic shape of the body:
Behind the shoulders were filled in with 2 pieces of thick plasticard, glued to the angled body pieces there to follow the shape of the design.
The gap above the hips was filled with a piece of sprue. Some shaving and filing to fit and allow the ball of the legs to fit.
Behind the shoulders boxed in with thin plasticard.
Piece of sprue added to rear to begin filling that hole.
Boxed in with plasticard again....


With a bit of sanding the body now looks like this:


Which, I think, looks big enough for a chap to fit in without needing any operations (although would have to stick to minimal clothing):


Now to think about these jet packs and the legs...

Stage one of making the jets more incorporated into the suit is to stick the intakes back on in more-or-less the same place they were...

They are different, I'm sure of it, I promise... there's more to do, honest...


There are gaps to fill at least.

The jets will be more difficult to find a home for...