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 bossfearless wrote:
I think the cape is from the cadre fireblade but don't hold me to that. I just picked that one because it matched the sense of motion that I was going for.

@Kepora: I am ignorant of these rumors. What's going on in October?

@Anvildude: Don't make me come through the internet and shank you with a broken KFC drumstick.

The Tau codex is supposed to get an update this Fall, according to the more reliable rumormongers. More talk of re-designed battlesuits, new Firewarrior sculpts, and a possible new Riptide variant.

Anvildude wrote:
I mean, I figured with your whole "Order of the Plume" that you were bound to have some badass pretty-boys in your army, you know?

I don't think I've ever outright mentioned it, but the Order of the Plume is everyone who's banged Shas'O Darkblade. Shagnasty issues them a special pimp-feather to commemorate the conquest.


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 Kepora wrote:

 bossfearless wrote:
I think the cape is from the cadre fireblade but don't hold me to that. I just picked that one because it matched the sense of motion that I was going for.

@Kepora: I am ignorant of these rumors. What's going on in October?

@Anvildude: Don't make me come through the internet and shank you with a broken KFC drumstick.

The Tau codex is supposed to get an update this Fall, according to the more reliable rumormongers. More talk of re-designed battlesuits, new Firewarrior sculpts, and a possible new Riptide variant.

If they still don't give any heavy weapon or new equipment options for Fire Warriors imma be pissed off. And you just know that the Nerf is gonna fly hard after all the whining that was done about the last codex. Nerf everywhere.


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I built a second smurf for the random doods squad, just to pass the time. Kinda thought CQC or charge-denial when I was putting this one together, so he's got a bunch of grenades and a defensive posture, ready to hack down the first few guys that close in.

And then this happened:



Or at least it started to happen. I need to de-chaos the Defiler legs and start adding some bits that will make it more Tau-ish. That Riptide torso is a hot mess. I remember now that I had started carving it out, thinking that it would be the basis for the hot tub, but now I don't know if that's gonna work. The torso just isn't all that big, and certainly not enough size or the right angle to build a pool deck out of it. So I think I'm gonna set the hot tub idea aside and focus this build on constructing a really heavy Riptide variant. I got a Skyspear launcher and some other big guns to help with that goal, and I'll rebuild and bulk out the torso to make something unique out of this.

The hot tub will eventually roll out, just not as a part of this particular build. I mean, I've got a Rhino I could use, I think, but honestly there's gotta be some way to turn it into a walker. It just seems much cooler that way. If anyone can find a good model kit that could be turned into a hot tub robot, I'll give you 5 internets.

 Kepora wrote:

 bossfearless wrote:
I think the cape is from the cadre fireblade but don't hold me to that. I just picked that one because it matched the sense of motion that I was going for.

@Kepora: I am ignorant of these rumors. What's going on in October?

@Anvildude: Don't make me come through the internet and shank you with a broken KFC drumstick.

The Tau codex is supposed to get an update this Fall, according to the more reliable rumormongers. More talk of re-designed battlesuits, new Firewarrior sculpts, and a possible new Riptide variant.

Maybe we'll see some actually posable Crisis Suits... In fact, back in 2011, after money (or the lack thereof), whiny opponents, and absolutely no sign of a Codex update, those Crisis Suit sculpts were the biggest reason that I dropped playing Tau. Some updated miniatures might just turn me around, though, and Boss here has given me more than a few ideas for conversions.

Or maybe, maybe I can separate the Riptide from the Defiler legs and focus on finding something that will go on top of the Defiler's quad legs and work as a hot tub. SOmething boxy, on which I can build a pool deck. Helpful ideas are always welcome.

 bossfearless wrote:
If they still don't give any heavy weapon or new equipment options for Fire Warriors imma be pissed off. And you just know that the Nerf is gonna fly hard after all the whining that was done about the last codex. Nerf everywhere.

Well, it doesn't really fit their current way of doing war - but Rail Rifles or Ion Rifles would definitely be welcome! Either way, it SI something that helps set them apart from many other armies. And boohoo, it's a non-Imperial codex that can actually be good if built right; screw them! The Imperials get all the love, it's time for Xenos to be good!

Exactly. A few extra rifles in the squad, or maybe a heavy weapon on a gun drone. A weapon team somewhere in between the Craftworld Eldar weapon platforms and the IG large-based weapon teams.

I can really see the FW being a combined-arms kind of a squad and really kicking ass. They just need some equipment options from GW.

Oooh, that defiler project should be interesting to watch, but yeah, place might be limited depending on the amount of naked alien chicks you intent to put in that hot tub. If you were able to build that tub towards the rear of the robot, like the abdomen of an actual spider might you not get more room and still be able to put a weapon system in front ?

On another hand, if you decide to move the tub to another mech, the dust tactics ones could be of interest. Although I did not get my hands on one myself, they look more bulky and large than the 40k walkers, thus be more appropriate for a hot tub.
Some size comparison I could find, obviously if someone can take actual measurements...


That was my two cents, thanks for the update, and nice to see you go into marines too.

Ooooh...you pointed me in the right direction with Dust Tactics, and I think I have found the perfect hot tub base:



The Axis transport walker. It's roughly Defiler-sized. A little short compared to a Riptide, especially so compared to a Knight, but it has a big footprint that should at least partly make up for that. I think I'd try carving off most of the roof, depending on how the interior is set up. And then it obviously needs some really big guns. On the bright side, if I order it now, it won't get here for at least a month. So I should wind up getting the kit around the time this rumored Tau update is coming out. So once again this idea is back-burnered for a bit, but I'll be coming back to it later on. And this time, I have the perfect candidate.

On a side note, I really love the way a lot of the Dust walkers look. Such a crying shame that I can't actually play the game. Like, ever.


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Maybe where that ball turret is mounted, I could add the torso of another robot lol. So it would be a centaur with a hot tub in its ass. Totally legit.


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Size comparison of the Axis heavy walker chassis (if I got the link right...)






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So that's the heavy assault walker, which is a separate kit. But the leg assembly is the same as the transport, just with a different top. It definitely needs to be taller to avoid people crying and whining that it's "modeling for advantage" for being so short. The nice thing is that the back of the hull is pretty much flat, which means I can add an "expansion" to the back that rears up like a scorpion. That'll make a great place to mount heavy guns, and the whole kit looks pretty simple to light up.

I still haven't unpacked my soldering gear, probably won't until I have an adequate work space. I should actually have a whole apartment to myself for the next few months, which is a big improvement over the usual crappy accommodations. Unfortunately, I still have a bunch of my former roommate's crap in my way until he moves it. So I've got a bunch of stuff staged and ready to go once my space is clear, then I'm totally claiming the living room as my space. Imma piss on it to mark my territory and everything.

You know, every time I click on this thread I see the Metal Gear at the very top of the front page sitting there without any paint. It's bugging me. I don't have a space on which to paint, and that also bugs me. I really need to at least get the thing glued together in one static pose, and then dust it and prime it black. I think I'm gonna go with the black/orange color scheme that's seen on Silvertongue and Darkblade. On something that's as big as the Rex, that will look fierce as hell. And I might as well get the Kobold primed so that it can join my overall force and not just be some oddball outlier. There's really not a lot of space in that one to put any lights in it, but that's cool.

I need to order some new electromagnet wire, something in a heavier gauge so it won't be so damn fragile. That could help with the breakage I've been experiencing when the models travel.

Hell yeah, that Axis transport walker definitely has party pickup hot tub of doom written on it. This thread has a dangerous habit of making me want stuff, as if I did not do that well enough on my own...
"Modeling for advantage" ? Yeah that must be a hateful thing to hear after spending hours on building something awesome. Good luck setting up the painting station then, it will be nice to see your war machines with an unified color scheme.

 KernelTerror wrote:
Hell yeah, that Axis transport walker definitely has party pickup hot tub of doom written on it. This thread has a dangerous habit of making me want stuff, as if I did not do that well enough on my own...
"Modeling for advantage" ? Yeah that must be a hateful thing to hear after spending hours on building something awesome. Good luck setting up the painting station then, it will be nice to see your war machines with an unified color scheme.

You wouldn't believe the crap I've had people cry about. I built a dorsal mount on a Rhino for the Volcano Cannon from the Shadowsword kit to run as a Vindicator; I called it the "compensation cannon". Totally baller. BUT when I ran it in a tournament, some jackass pitched a humongous fit about it and demanded that I knock several inches off the weapon's range at first and then later insisted that I should be disqualified after beating him, screamed at the judges, and eventually turned the whole incident into a massive feud that lasted several months. In other words, creativity is rarely greeted with open arms in the tournament scene. You leave a part off, it's modeling for advantage. Put more parts on, modeling for advantage. The whining is so constant. And that's before you get to the final tables where the top-tier players vie to see who can "forget" the most rules, like the jerk IG player (back when they were the top of the food chain) who kept "forgetting" what types of officers could issue which orders despite having played the same codex for years.

Sometimes this hobby would be great if it wasn't for the other people in it.

Hokay, so with that little rant out of the way, I pulled the legs off the Rex (ball and sockets, meant to be moved) and put some glue into all the articulation points so that the pose of the legs will be largely set in stone. I'm going to leave the legs off while I paint the model, and probably do the same to the (arms? wings? what the hell do I even call the gun mounts?). I should be ready to prime later today.

If you haven't gotten the DUST walkers yet check out miniaturemarket.com, they've still got bunches at really cheap. The thing to watch out for is there are regular and premium kits. The premiums are just prepainted models, not worth double the price in my opinion. Also if you have lots of extra cash laying around there's always the chalterhousestudios.com super heavy Tau walker $310, but it's where your headed with that defiler conversion. I had one at one point, but sold it a year or two back. The missile pod behind the main body is removable, but you could carve it out to make a sweet hot tub in there. Just thinking how the temperature of the tub could be relegated by firing the main guns .


Pic of it assembled with a space hulk terminator on top for scale reference.

I've seen that tau walker around here and there and I've sometimes salivated over it, but at this point I have no idea if it's even worth it. I've never been completely sold on the design, but these things can be modified. They have that super walker coming out soon, and there's a question of what the price will be and what the options are, so there's a bunch of stuff to think about within the superheavy niche.

Also Paulson Games makes some very nice not-tau weapons. He is also talking about releasing a not-battlesuit. I liked the look of it, but the shear weight as most of the parts are solid resin in that chapterhouse walker made it difficult to come up with a good plan.

Honestly now that I think about it, the only reason I would buy that Chapterhouse walker is that the pieces are so simple and plain that I could make a mold and re-cast it with no problem. So one big purchase would equal three or four titans. But why the hell would I ever need that many?


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Unfortunately, miniaturemarket.com did not have the transport walker in stock. I'll have to look on ebay or something.

Got the Rex primed today when the wind wasn't too bad, and cleared out my former roommate's stuff so that I have a place to set up a proper work area in the living room. Well, once I get a chance to go out and buy a cheap desk, something I won't mind ruining with paint and various sharp tools.

In other news, it takes a REALLY long time to ship anything here from Japan. I'm still waiting on Frame Arms kits that I ordered at the very beginning of July. Also, if you want to watch something odd, I recommend Kantai Collection. It's an anime about schoolgirls who are also famous Japanese naval warships. You'll find yourself on Wikipedia looking up the various girls' names to try and understand what the hell their deal is. There are some girls who say everyone's names backwards, for example, because they're a trio of ships built by the British and so they read the wrong way compared to the Japanese. It's a weird show, but it's cute.

Can you imagine if they pulled the same crap using 40k stuff? "I hope Baneblade-senpai notices me~~!"

Dammit Boss, bringing Kantai Collection into this.


So, uh, how long until we see shiptau? I have no idea how it would happen, but if anyone can make it so, it's Boss.

 liquidjoshi wrote:
Dammit Boss, bringing Kantai Collection into this.

Spoiler:

Maya is best shipgirl

So, uh, how long until we see shiptau? I have no idea how it would happen, but if anyone can make it so, it's Boss.

First and foremost, let me just say that Shimakaze-chan is my new waifu. Second, I should probably direct you to Google the Frame Arms Girl models. One of those is already on the way, so yes, there will probably be ship-tau in some sense or another. Actually, I may need to do a set of actual ship-tau girls at an infantry scale, which would be kind of adorable if I could pull it off. I suppose the problem lies in the lack of schoolgirl outfits. Dammit...now I might have to sculpt a tau schoolgirl and then give her a battleship rig or something. And Baneblade-chan might have to become a thing as well.

bossfearless wrote:Got the Rex primed today when the wind wasn't too bad, and cleared out my former roommate's stuff so that I have a place to set up a proper work area in the living room. Well, once I get a chance to go out and buy a cheap desk, something I won't mind ruining with paint and various sharp tools.

In other news, it takes a REALLY long time to ship anything here from Japan. I'm still waiting on Frame Arms kits that I ordered at the very beginning of July. Also, if you want to watch something odd, I recommend Kantai Collection. It's an anime about schoolgirls who are also famous Japanese naval warships. You'll find yourself on Wikipedia looking up the various girls' names to try and understand what the hell their deal is. There are some girls who say everyone's names backwards, for example, because they're a trio of ships built by the British and so they read the wrong way compared to the Japanese. It's a weird show, but it's cute.

Can you imagine if they pulled the same crap using 40k stuff? "I hope Baneblade-senpai notices me~~!"

... Do you know about the Anime thread? KanColle was all over that a bit ago. Also, if those are the Cruisers I'm thinking about, it's a really interesting way that they got there- via the Ottoman Empire, in fact, and some saboteurs.

liquidjoshi wrote:Dammit Boss, bringing Kantai Collection into this.

Spoiler:

Maya is best shipgirl

So, uh, how long until we see shiptau? I have no idea how it would happen, but if anyone can make it so, it's Boss.

I'd love to see more ships in tabletop gaming scale. That seems like a sadly poorly represented form of vehicle, considering how simple it is to model on the tabletop, compared to flyers. You've got things like Dystopian Wars and the various historical ones, and there's the GW fantasy one, but so few sci-fi variants.

Well, ships aren't forgot (at least no by Dark Eldar), but I understand the heading. And it is true, more fractions should have ships available.
However, Tau already have anti-grav engines that could skim your tanks and vehicles across water.

Imagine one of those failing his anti-grav drive.



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 bossfearless wrote:
Ooooh...you pointed me in the right direction with Dust Tactics, and I think I have found the perfect hot tub base:

Also, I think this one will work better for a 'battlefield commander H/Tub'.

The other model is just too big. It looks more like a DJ stage, stomping thru the pit filled with Gue'la'erlo.

Add Faptau (Bullgryn arm on a Fire Warrior).

pls boss

Farsight hiself should be here.

He's swag.

rowboatjellyfanxiii wrote:
Add Faptau (Bullgryn arm on a Fire Warrior).

pls boss

Farsight hiself should be here.

He's swag.

Farsight is on the first page, the one with the giant sword and the wings.

And I think Shas'saal Krom is the closest we'll get to Faptau lol.

Talking about ships, planes, here is something interesting.

lol I love how if you stick one decorative bit on something and put it next to a space marine, it suddenly becomes a "40k" thing. Neat flying train thing though. No idea where it comes from.

 bossfearless wrote:
lol I love how if you stick one decorative bit on something and put it next to a space marine, it suddenly becomes a "40k" thing. Neat flying train thing though. No idea where it comes from.

It reminds me of Final Fantasy.

Finally got one of my japanese orders finally came in. Unfortunately, it's just a single weapon bit. Nice grenade launcher slash cannon of some kind, but still not much of a diversion. I also had a chance to go out and get a desk that will make a great modeling workstation, so pretty soon I can have that set up and start getting my whole area ready to go again. There's enough space and dividers and drawers and such that I can actually stage my paints and put up a lamp to give me light to work with. Kind of a big deal.

Remember how when I built the Kobold, I remarked about how anime robots always had to have some kind of robot penis? Well, when I was priming the Rex, I noticed that it not only had a robo-dick, but that it was also prehensile and had multiple points of articulation. I think in the video game it was a little machinegun? I don't know. I'll probably replace it with a chainsaw for some Strength D action. Also, when priming, the pilot fell out of the mouth-cockpit. I don't know if I ever even glued her in there, but upon closer inspection I decided she wasn't up to snuff. So instead of a pilot in there, I think I'm going to add some kind of cannon in the mouth so that I can open it up for some laser breath action. No idea how to do that in any practical sense, I just know that I feel like it. Maybe the Rex can count for whatever that new super-suit is. I'll tack a few extra small-arms weapons on if I feel it's necessary, so I'll probably refrain from actually painting it for a little while until the rules for that suit are released.

Update: I started trying to build my new desk with my tiny, dinky little screwdriver, and then immediately realized that I should just pay some of the Bengali maintenance guys to come build it for me. At least they have proper tools, if not necessarily proper brains.

Got another Frame Arms kit, but unfortunately this isn't a full model, just an extra set of bits. They sell "extend arms" for the Frame Arms line, which are sort of like expansion packs, additional weapons and alternative limbs and armor. I got the Graifen (the crazy extra arms guy) expansion pack, which is all the missiles in the world and some autocannon-like weapons, as well as different shoulders, legs and head options and some armor plates. Very cool stuff to play with, but I don't know what to do with it until I get my hands on another actual kit. I kinda wish they sold expansion packs that were just a bunch of the arms and legs skeleton parts. Those would be super helpful for doing crazy mods.

I think, when the Architect kit gets here (just a base skeleton), I am going to break it down and turn the arms into another set of legs. Build a quad-bot of some kind. Alternatively, I could break the whole skeleton down, bypassing their snap-fit concept with a little judicious use of knives and glue, and build a four-armed monster out of one of the later kits.

Ugh. Dammit Japan, why you gotta take so long to ship stuff? Now that I think of it, I ordered the Architect at the same time as the Kobold, at the end of June. It's overdue, like so many other packages.

 bossfearless wrote:
Ugh. Dammit Japan, why you gotta take so long to ship stuff? Now that I think of it, I ordered the Architect at the same time as the Kobold, at the end of June. It's overdue, like so many other packages.

How many kits did you actually ordered and still waiting on them?

 StarDrop wrote:

 bossfearless wrote:
Ugh. Dammit Japan, why you gotta take so long to ship stuff? Now that I think of it, I ordered the Architect at the same time as the Kobold, at the end of June. It's overdue, like so many other packages.

How many kits did you actually ordered and still waiting on them?

Too many, I assume.

Let's see, I have four Frame Arms kits that haven't arrived yet (Ryurai, Graifen, Architect, and Gourai Girl), plus an Armored Core kit that also hasn't arrived. All have been over a month in transit. I've managed to get refunds for a couple of them, and I'm fighting with the seller of the AC kit because he's pretending that it's no big deal. Meanwhile I've gotten lots of bits and extras and such, which is like a giant tease since I don't have any of the kits I actually need to use them.


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Okay, so literally like an hour after I posted about how my packages haven't gotten here yet, some packages arrived. Supply drop inbound!



Graifen and my Armored Core are here, and after two years of waiting my Toughest Girls of the Galaxy kickstarter swag arrived. Now I have an all-female IG infantry regiment to put together and convert. You better believe that's gonna be extra slutty.

But this still only brings me to less than half of my recent model kit purchases. I'm still missing three Frame Arms kits. Maybe next week or something, I don't know.

The AC kit is at 1/72 scale compared to the 1/100 scale of the Frame Arms series. It's really hard to say what that means since they're different series, but by the same company. I believe that the AC might end up being the biggest model I have, maybe even larger than the Rex but there's no way to know until I see it assembled. And once I get it more or less assembled, I'm definitely going to brainstorm how to light it up. I can't have too many models without LEDs going off, now can I?