Monday, December 7, 2009

Secrets of the Fio'La: Tau XV8 Conversions Part 2

Sidestriker is the newest member of Old Shatter's Cadre of Warriors. He's been added to my army because he is a cheap Shas'El (89 points) that can deep-strike down to pop vehicles and transports with his Fusion Gun and Missile Pod, alternatively, I can attach him to the Deathrain squad to bolster their firepower and courage.

Fluff-wise, this Tau noble is known for his reckless heroics and daring assaults on enemy tanks. Old Shatter Hand's has brought him in to replace the late Centurion who fell in an intense battle on Thoth. Tau Commanders tend to draw their command structure from family members and Old Shatter is no different. One of his brothers has recently sworn to protect him in battle as a Shas'Vre Bodyguard and Sidestriker is second cousin to Old Shatter, younger and more flamboyant. He gets that from his mother's side.

Looking at this conversion, I would give it a difficultly level of 3 on a scale of 1-5, due to the work that was done on the jetpack. I've sawed the two jets off the back-pack and glued them together. This leaves the XV8 Torso with a huge hole in the back, so I used plastic card to fill that in and glued the jets to that. This leaves a gap in the side of the jets and I filled that in by saw off the intake on a Space Marine backpack and fiddling with it until it fit in the holes on the side. This also adds some more detail to the jets. The two fuel tanks on the upper-side of jetpacks are the ammo-feed for vehicle mounted burst cannons, not the XV8 burst cannon.

The chest was bulked a bit with the fuel canister from a Tau XV8 flamer that I sawed in half. Doing so made the piece become more like a panel rather than a box sticking off his chest. The cod-peice is from a Tau Piranha pilot's shoulder pad. I don't put those shoulder pads on my pilots as thye just look cumbersome in that small cockpit.



The helmet
is much like Old Shatter's, using a target-lock and a normal XV8 helm, but the cheeks were filled out with pieces from two Fusion Guns. I cut off the ammo canister and sawed in half to make a nice rivet or disc for the side of the helmet. It helps bulk out the helm without making it look just like Old Shatter Hands. After all, this XV8 suit is a different model.












The knee pads
are super easy. They are XV8 shoulders. You simply cut them off and then file them down until they fit right. If you get some Broadsides or forge world suits, you'll end up with extra arms like for conversions like this.















The gun-mounts
look cool, don't they? Now where did I get those armor casings. Obviously they are Space Marine bits. In fact, they are now kind of hard to find. These casings came from the Apocalypse Armor upgrade sprue. The piece is used to cover some Space Marine sensory bits. I cut it in half and used both pieces to give Sidestriker's weapon some protection.











Next time I review some conversions I am going to look at our Shas'la, the infantry and pilots of the Cadre. There are lots of little conversions here and there you can do to make your army unique. As an update, this weekend was a productive one for me. I've finished my third Tau Piranha and Sidestriker is nearing completion already.

11 comments:

Dhinanta Aloke said...

I was really hoping when you remembered where the weapon armour came from I'd be able to dig through my friends space marine bits and find it :(

He really an awesome conversion. Very unique. When you say he's almost done, do you mean painting? I'm really eager to see him. You're paint jobs really do seem to be a cut above the rest.

Pete W said...

He was mostly painted when I last saw him (wednesday night last week) so I imagine he will be all done very soon, if he's not already finished.

Tim said...

He is 90% percent done, painting wise. I'm really happy with how Sidestriker came out. Only two more battlesuits to paint before Saturday morning! An XV8 Shas'Vre Bodyguard and an XV88...

Tim said...

Dhinanta Aloke, I think you could also use the armor casings from a Imperial Guard Sentinel power-plant.

Dhinanta Aloke said...

Yeah, those do look about perfect. Thanks :)

Pete W said...

Well if you want to hear about sidestriker's exploits in his last game then please head on over to http://ghostnebulae.blogspot.com/ where I've done a report on the game we had last wednesday.

Pete

Pearlygates said...

Just the model I needed to see for my XV9 conversion!

OSH (or anyone with info to offer) do you where I can get hold of some Boadside feet? or extra stealth-suit burst cannons?

The knees are a good addition, but I think I might use the stealth-suit's shoulder pads on mine. I just need to extend the shins a bit more for the legs.

Can't wait to see Sidestriker painted.

Counting down the sleepless days to the tourney yet??

Tim said...

Yes, I am counting them down alright. Mostly because I have two more suits to paint in so little time!

Tim said...

Pearly, check out this link:
http://www.thewarstore.com/TauStealthSuitBits.html

Pearlygates said...

Just checked out that sight; unfortunately no broadside feet!

I did however, notice that it's only $4.99 for a complete stealth suit, but it's $5.99 for six fire worrior upper bodies and $8.99 for their shoulder pads????

You can get an entire Devilfish for $13.99 or 12 F/W shoulder pads for $17.98! how did they come up with that??

will prob pick up the stealthsuits though!! cheers for the site.

Sholto said...

I love the armoured weapon protectors. Really gives it that Iridium look without being too bulky.

I have to say I prefer the OSH helmet to this one, but both are an improvement on the standard design. Good job, and some very smooth GS work on the backpack.