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I can't believe this might end up being one of my last conversions of this generation before the redesigned models arrive (SUPPOSEDLY) in April. I haven't really had any time over the past few months to really work on any conversions or even paint. I started a new job last year, soon after we released ME3 in Helsinki, Finland. I was living there for a few months and then just recently got to move back to the Bay Area and start opening up a US office for my company. The best part is that I can finally start working on my Tau again! This is the first conversion I have done in something like 8-9 months!

I really wanted to do a killer Crisis Suit Commander so I took my basic conversion and started figuring out how I could make it look a little more "authoritative." I already have a ton of fluff for my army and I am working on a write up of it to share here at ATT. Let me know what you guys thing, and any suggestions you guys might have would be really welcome.

Helldiver II Custom:

Front:


All of the weapons are temporary, they are just held on with sticky-tac until I decided what to arm him with. Right now I am thinking just the standard Plasma and Missile pod. Whenever we get new suits I will probably just end up making a whole new commander so I don't mind making him have a set kit right now.

Side:


Back:


The back is my favorite part of this model. The addition of the rocket nozzles really make the engines stand out to me, very Gundam. Check out the rest of my suit conversions on my Dakka Dakka gallery page http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?u=54543! Again, all suggestions are welcome!

Holy cow that is some amazing stuff right there. I agree that the back of the model is the best. It looks so much more *techey* than the normal XV8s. If you were looking for a killer crisis suit then you certainly got it. The helmet is also very nicely done.

The only thing that looks a bit odd are those shin guards, I think they stick out too much if you get what I mean, I think if they were curved they would be better and add to the Tau Tech look.

but it is still an awesome model keep it up!

Very, very nice.

The one thing I might have done differently (were I actually capable of anything approaching this level of work) is to have used a Firewarrior or Stealth Suit shoulder pad for the lower leg armour. The big block is just too much of a big block for my tastes.

If you haven't decided what to equip him with yet, you could always go that extra mile and magnetise the weapons.

Ill be 100% honest and say that EVERY time I have tried to magnetize any of my models I have messed it up.

Nice conversion. Very Appleseed looking.

Wow nice man. Love the pose work ,read neat stuff.

 Snrub wrote:
Nice conversion. Very Appleseed looking.

Yes indeed. It "felt" familiar but now that you mention it makes sense.

 fleet of claw wrote:

The only thing that looks a bit odd are those shin guards, I think they stick out too much if you get what I mean, I think if they were curved they would be better and add to the Tau Tech look.

I think the shin guards are more a factor of trying to use as many bits of Crisis suit as possible, being the trimmed off bits of jetpack

@Flinty: That is part of the reason I used them as thin guards, they also have the lovely bit at the top that sort of looks like it might be a knee pad of some sort that fits perfectly over the joint. You are correct though that I try to use as many pieces off of the original model whenever possible. I hope the new models have twice as many "fiddly bits" as the current Crisis Suit.

More details == more fun to play with, definately... also your 'suits are still the best I've seen

 Flinty wrote:


More details == more fun to play with, definately... also your 'suits are still the best I've seen

That just made my day right there! Though I can't wait for the new Tau, I will be sad to lose the the model I have been converting from.

@Snrub&Erik:
I read the Appleseed comic like 15 years ago but I don't really remember it very well (I was more into Ghost in the Shell). If my designs look similar I will totally check it out, maybe that is a place I can draw some inspiration from. I look mostly at old Gundam cartoons (though Gundam Unicorn is blowing my mind right now) for design cues. The shoulder armor and head designs on my previous suits as well as the plasma carbines all came from watching old episodes of 08th MS Team and UC Gundam.

If you can recommend any other cool mecha designs i would love to see them!

Very, very cool stuff. I love UC mobile suits though yours have a distinct Front Line look as well. Just great conversions.

I like the pose, very dynamic.

Very nice conversion. No need to mess it up with magnets.
I really hope they don't change the kit, as they will only mess it up like the chimera and Leman Russ kits.

pose is great, head vulcan idea is cool. back nozzles look boss. Only crit is that very square knee plate. Anything that can be done to make it fit more with the model would be cool.

edit: what parts did you use on the head\helmet?

 Snrub wrote:
Nice conversion. Very Appleseed looking.

You took the words right of my mouth!

Oh it must have been wh-...

 Orinoco wrote:
pose is great, head vulcan idea is cool. back nozzles look boss. Only crit is that very square knee plate. Anything that can be done to make it fit more with the model would be cool.

edit: what parts did you use on the head\helmet?

I agree that the shin pads are not quite right, but I still like aspects of them. As for the head, that is probably my favorite part of every conversion I have made so far. It is made out of a Target Lock, the Pulse Carbines from a Gun Drone, and the end of a Stealth Suit shoulder pad. The shoulder pad that became a visor part was a complete fluke. I wanted to add something like a gorgot to my models and I have this left over bit that just happend to fit perfectly onto the head of one of my models (after a little fitting that is). The heads really sell the models to me and I spent a LONG time building different versions before I found one I liked.

I still have lots of cleaning up to do on him before I would declare him finished but here is my WIP pait job on my Crisis Commander in his Helldiver II Custom suit.





Don't hold back on your comments and any tips you might have are more than welcome!

I hope this doesn't go against the rules of DakkaDakka but I took the advice of a friend and re-shot the model with a better camera. I think it gives a WAY better idea of what my paint job actually looks like. Also, I wanted to show off the shield drones.





I don't know if that helps, but I hope it might.

Looks good painted up.

Will you be converting the rest of your battle suits now?

Yep! http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?u=54543

Oh I've stumbled across i few of them while browsing the gallery though i didn't realise they were yours.

Some killer looking conversions there.

Oh lord thats pretty.

yeah, that rocks.

You will be pleased to know that it looks like the crisis suits aren't changing. They are just getting repackaged into a box of 3.

That's one of the best looking crisis suits I've seen, great work

BTW, in your original post you mentioned something about releasing ME3. Do you mean Mass Effect 3?

Do you work for Bioware?

I didn't work for Bioware but I did work for EA. I did a lot of the marketing design and video trailers for ME3.

As for the Crisis Suits not changing, I'm happy about it as I can keep my design as it currently is since I have 9 of them completed so far but part of me is a little disappointed that were not going to get new and exciting models. With any luck though the "new" crisis suits will be made with a new mold, which will mean better detail and smaller flash lines. Over the past year most of the Suits I have encountered have been various molding issues.

Incase anyone is interested I just finished Part 1-2 of a tutorial on how to create my conversion over on ATT. Part 3 will go up soon.
http://advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18414&p=244932#p244932

Awesome conversion, man. The pose and the base look extremely natural, and the red paint job makes it look sharp.

Dude, im so happy i have found this thread. Iv been stacking parts to try and recreate your suits for a while (if i can make them look half as good ill be a happy camper).

Iv got the typhoon sponsons, the dreadnought leg plates and im trying to get my hands on some stealth suit shoulders for the head (which is my favorite part) I was wondering, where did you get the plate for the back of the pelvis? I really cant figure out what part of a dreadnought its from and cant find the bits anywhere. Do you know of any alternative bits i could use for the back of the pelvis?

Any advice you got to help me try and mimic (if badly) your work would be great!