Broadside Conversion V2

Thought this was nearly a ruined model until I found some old Dreadnought parts...

Heads or Tails

Ok no tails, but here I am...It's time to choose a head. 

We have the classic, off-the-sprue head here.

It's nothing special but it makes the model looks a lot more like the original models. Might kind of fool the viewer into thinking its not actually a conversion. 

Next we have a Tael pattern head. This is even more classic than the sprue version. It works a lot better in some ways...mainly because the hand and "face" are in proportion. 

Another possibility is a Paulson Games Crisis suit head. 

It's original and looks really nice. This is where I am leaning now...but it is a little, just slightly large looking. 

Which head would you use? 

Crisis Suit Blanchitsu

A little commission work, a little Tau work.

I've been working on this unit on and off for a few years now. Main conversion work was done on the legs and arms. Just making them more dynamic and bulky. The arms are made from a combination of forge world battlesuits, grey knight terminator arms, and standard XV8 suit arms.

The backpack jets have been raised slightly, as have the shoulders. This adjusts the proportions slightly to make them more realistic.

The weapon arms are from Paulson games and represent plasma rifles. I'm trying to figure out how to get fusion blasters on these guys. The left arms are out of the question, as I want them to stay as they are. That leaves jetpack mounted fusion blasters...or adding them to the plasma rifles in some way.

The team lead has missiles on his jetpack mount, but that's just temporary. He/she also has forgeworld legs instead of custom-built ones.

Mecha Front NorAm Force and Paulson Games reopens

Here is just a WIP shot of my assembled NorAm Force for Mecha Front. I am going to be adding another two lights mecha--NorAm Raptors--with different weapons. I wanted at least two of the Alpha versions as this was the configuration that initially really liked.

My goal with these to paint them up this weekend, primarily with an airbrush and very little brushwork, so that I can get another force painted for games with my friends. Of course I have plans for a terrain too, and 15 mm infantry to use in games as cannon fodder and mission objectives.

For the bases and the terrain, we're going with a ruined urban setting.

Yes, I see those mold lines too and I will handle them before painting. ;)

The makers of Mecha Front have also re-opened Paulson Games at www.paulson-games.com.
This is where you can get a lot of really great mecha and battlesuit parts that make great Tau conversions and crisis suit conversions. Here are some of the crisis suit converting that I did in the past. There's also some that my buddy did, like that Riptide.

Tau Commission Update - the Farsight Enclave Crisis Suits

A couple months ago, I was talking to my friend about the need for constructive feedback in my miniature painting. My point was this, blogs are great because you get a lot of positive feedback, but the constructive criticism is rare and this what I actually need and want from the community.

So after he saw this post, he emailed me with some feedback. He felt I had been working too much within my comfort zone of desaturated khakis, grays and greens. After some thought, I felt he was right. Thus spurred my interest in doing something completely different from my norm on these guys.

They are painted with scarlet, black, white and a bright green for the eyes and glowing bits. I used an airbrush to start off and used a trad brush for about 90% of the work on these guys. I hope you like them and if you have any constructive criticism - don't hold back. I can take it.

The missile pods are probably my favorite feature on these models. They come from Paulson Games and are pretty affordable. If you need help affixing them to your models, drop a comment and I will offer any advice to help.

Back to Tau! Commission Update

I have a couple commissions which I am working on simultaneously these days. First is a Warmachine Colossal, Hyperion. I haven't really started on him because he came with a missing piece and Privateer Press is sending that out as I write this. So in the meantime, I started work on a Tau commission. I didn't assemble these, just the painting. This keeps the cost down as I charge for assembly...which is my least favorite part of modelling.

These models are going to loaded with Paulson Games missile launchers. They really make the standard crisis suit model something special. These guys will have them on their shoulders as well as on their forearms. As you can see here:

Last night I put the first lick of paint on with an airbrush. First I primed them black and then did some pre-shading with some white primer. Then I airbrushed on Vallejo Air: Scarlet leaving some of the white to show through on the edges for instant highlighting. I had to be especially careful here as I was spraying about 2 cms from the model. Still Vallejo Air paints are amazing in that, when mixed with satin varnish, they are very difficult to 'spider.' 

Once that was done, I broke out some GW Red Gore* and mixed in a tiny about of GW Warlock Purple.* I then went about shading with the airbrush. Basically this means spraying layers of paint in the cracks and recesses and lower parts of the different panels. The phone on my camera doesn't really pick up the shades as well as you see them in real life, so trust me...the shades are there. 

The next step will be to mix VA:scarlet and GW: Dwarf Flesh* and spray that in certain areas as a highlight. I may also re-touch with VA: Scarlet before doing that though. 

I chose red because these guys will serve as an ally to the client various armies, all of which have some component of red in them. I've also never seen a well painted red Tau force and I really wanted to do something out of my comfort zone this time. 

This commission has a March deadline but I am trying to get it done sooner. Yep, there will be a Riptide which I will save for last... 

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.