Saturday, April 27, 2013

3D Sketch of New Tau XV8


Although the retention of the old XV8 Crisis Suits was a disappointment for many, it was beneficial in that the Forge World suits weren't made obsolete. I still have a significant amount of remnant parts from previous conversions. These leftover forge world parts and some various bits scrounged from space marine kits come together for this 3d sketch I did above.

The main design motivation was to make the Crisis Suits bulkier, heavier and more detailed.

I began by first using modified fusion blasters for the lower leg. The upper leg was given the armor casings from a space marine dreadnought power plant. You can get these on Warstore for a limited time. Once I had the legs right, the rest fell into place.

The left arm is slightly longer than I would like so it will be trimmed down. Its hand comes from a Grey Knight Terminator. I acquired a set of these from ebay for less than 2 dollars.

At this point I'm not sure what to do with the hard points on the jet pack. I may leave them blank. However, I have a riptide kit that I may raid for hard point parts.

I'm also considering making a heavy plasma/fusion hybrid weapon for the right arm. I want this unit to hold the center of a battleline, utilizing the supporting fire rule, markerlights and kroot to push the center of the board when needed. 

Edit:
Thius I'd an alternative set up using some Paulson Games parts. I prefer this version as the pose is more dynamic and the weapon is being aimed to fire.

The Paulson Games head is also a lot better than my conversion and extends the silhouette higher, making the crisis suit appear taller.


The left arm has also been shortened so that the model has less of a monkey-boy look. I believe my camera makes the legs look shorter than they are though. In reality the legs look more aapropriately proportioned. 



4 comments:

Unknown said...

Can't help but feel legs need to be longer . . .

Pete W said...

I like how the suit looks really dense and massive now. I think it'll be a great looking centrepiece model.

Shas'el Mike said...

good looking model! quick semi-related question: have you found a good way to mimic the FW XV-89 legs?

The head has been reproduced: http://advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?t=3430 and i totally dig it, but I cannot find a way to not hate the crisis legs.

I like the thigh casings you've done, but it makes them seem a bit too bulky compared to the torso and legs for my taste.

i've seen suggestions about stealth suit legs to augment the lower legs, flamers to augment them, or use necron warrior shoulder pads to shield them. any better ideas?

Tim said...

@Mike, That is a pretty sweet looking head!

About legs - IMO stealth suit legs do not help the crisis suit ones because they are too small.
Necron warrior shoulder pads help immensely - unfortunately I've run out of those.
Flamers don't really help - too skinny and long. Looks weird.
I've used fusion blaster parts on mine and I like it enough. Though if you have the cash - forge world is the best.
Sadly, they epically failed on the XV9 legs.