Hello ATT!

Edited the title, might be better to collate this together so it's not in the way of all the Tau goodness going up.

I worked on and with the Tau army for many years and made a great deal of progress. Starting Mechanized Tau Tactic, the Mech Tau site which then gave way to this new and more all encompassing version. On the modelling side, I have quite a few minis around this site in galleries and so on but after doing well enough with the GW style of painting I was looking for some new inspiration and challenges. Armor modelling was one and in doing so, I stumbled across this little known SF Universe called Maschinen Krieger. That's it's second incarnation's name, the first being SF3D for those that perhaps saw it 20+ years ago.

It has a very unique and different feel to it, not like anything I had ever come across within 40k. It's relatively simple, there are 2 human "sides" and they field a number of armored suits and unmanned craft. The universe has a distinct WWII color palette and is particularly gritty and grungy.

After attending the first exhibition here during Summer 2008 Wonder Festival, I was very fortunate to meet with Kow Yokoyama-san, the Creator, Illustrator and Modeler of the series. We've since become friends and he has invited me into his team and I am currently working for and collaborating with him. This will lead to English language versions of his books and materials and hopefully make the universe more accessible to those of us in the West.

Here's a small sample of some of the models I've completed which is still only a small sample of the many designs and models available within the Maschinen Krieger Universe. Work is also underway for an online Gallery to show both this and updates and for SF work in general. Of course, Tau models fit within this well enough and I would like to get back and paint up some more.

Please note that these models are all from on side and based on just 2 designs and different variants of them. This is largely based on what is being sold now and to help drive sales of current products, pure and simple. New releases for the Snake Eye, the top of the line Space Capable suit and the Gans, the other sides large AI unit are scheduled for late this year.

All models are in 1/20 scale unless otherwise noted.

Sgt. Beckett in a "Polar Bear", more shots here; viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10654



Cpt. Matthew Fujii in a Fireball SG, more shots here http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index ... 2#msg22122



Cpl. Jay Weston is a Raccoon Reconnaissance suit; more shots here http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index ... pic=2077.0



unidentified Member of "Snowman" Squad in late AFS Mk.II, more shots here http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index ... pic=2100.0



AFS MK1 featuring Private Steve Wiggles, more shots here http://maschinenkrueger.com/forum/index ... pic=2157.0



More to come, please stay in touch and of course feel free to visit Maschinen Krueger (#1 English site) if you manage to get a hold of some of these models and want to share.

Cheers,

Linc

Hiya Linc! Another one of your excellent models, eh?

I am interested to know how you go about the weathering on these models, as shown for example on the shoulder pad of the Fireball. Fancy doing a bit of a "how-I-does-it" for us? You probably think it's old hat and dead easy, but I don't seem to be able to get the idea right. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

E.

This one looks really cool as well. I'm sorry, I can't really comment on the model, I don't know anything about weathering (I'm interrested in a "how-I-does-it" too ). I can only say it looks really well done, just like your other models.

Beautiful as always, Kai. The weathering looks amazing. Did the caution-and-warning texts come with the kit, or sourced seperately?

Can you tell me the scale and manufacturer? I just picked up a couple of these in 1/35 by Yellow Submarine. I think I'm going to paint them up for a couple of non-GW projects I have going on.

Hi guys and thanks for the comments, no worries on it not being usual GW stuff with the usual comments

EP - this one is more for you as the weathering is durable. Oil paints and lacquer, brushed on. The oil paints need sealing with a clear coat, the lacquer paints would be fine as is.

Fio'El On'myou - thanks!

Cyberwolf - the caution/warning texts usually come with the kits but this one was a present/donor that came without the decal sheet so I picked up some separately. Wave Hobby does some of these kits and they release very similar decals, easy enough.

The 1/35 ones are cool too, did you get them from the HLJ sale? I got some for dio's and the like too. Manufacturer is Wave and scale is 1/20.

Wave are releasing 3 more come end of the year too, re-releases of Gans and Super Jerry and a new tooling of the Snakeye, the super version of this one.

Gotcha on that one, Linc, thanks.

E.

Yeah, picked them up off Hobby Link. Ordered with a couple of guys I know from work so we saved on shipping too. I also picked up one of their, ahem, "Gradiator" walkers. Looks so cool now that I've got it out of the box I'm wishing I bought two

Spider tanks forever!

that's a laugh, younger brother just got one of them today too, the Gladiator "Spider Tanks". They had some 1/20 scale kits at Wonder Festival but were sold out by the time we could find the table...

Have finished another one of these but think I will spare the poor ATT lads this time, seems too far off to be of mainstream interest.

I just came across some Hyper Dorvack Document suit pictures, they're pretty cool. I spot some Tau design too . They look like Ma.K suits, here's the link.
http://aswars.tripod.com/id92.html
Looks like there are kits of them too.

ahh yes, I think I saw some of these at WF too. They had a new version that would be a nifty crisis suit stand in.

Wait a sec, this is the collected works of Makoto Kobayashi right? I get linked to this every second week! You should chat with another guy signed up here, "DarkGear". He loves this fellows work.

It is close to Ma.K, Kobayashi-san was influenced by Yokoyama-san, in fact almost all the modern SF people in Japan were.

And I am going to his house this Saturday. Really!

I would love to see some other angles. The detail is amazing. Is it airbrushed at all?

Hi D6, long time no chat, hope all is well.

This is 100% hand painted and yes, I have some other angles and a bunch of other models in this range. I'm also collaborating/working for the creator of Maschinen Krieger, Kow Yokoyama-san as well. Big honor but also very busy.

Will dig up some more photos and can post together in this thread but also working on having an online gallery to collate and make it all easier to share.

Do have one handy, a painting I did last week of this model. After feedback from Yokoyama-san it needs to be turned a little bit but he seems most happy with it and it's scheduled to sell on t-shirts here in Japan.

Working for the creator of Maschinen Krieger? That's quite something!
Very nice painting, is it watercolor on paper?
Is there a place where I can see your work altogether?
I wish you best of luck

thanks On'myou. Yes, it's both a big thrill and honor.

It's an "e-painting" as called here, done after a quick tutorial from Yokoyama-san and with the aid of my brother whom is a talented artist. It's done using Corel Painter X on a very cheap and borrowed Bamboo Wacom.

Much as I would prefer to work on paper, for work to be both shared and reproduced digital is the only way to go. All of the great artists here, Kow Yokoyama, Makoto Kobayashi and so on are all 100% "e-painters" now.

You are very right about the style and it's based on old style Japanese watercolors on paper.

I tried Corel Painter X once with my Wacom, it's really hard to learn. You have my respect for making something like that with just a quick tutorial. I also think a tablet is hard to draw on, I use it for coloring and it's going pretty well, but drawing is a whole other thing. Your hand - pc coördination is very good, do you have a usb-plug in your head by any chance?

These are fascinating models and paint jobs. I've never seen anything like them. They really get my imagination going.

How tall are they?

Also, it would be great if these were on Flickr so we could add notes and comments to each one. There's a growing modelling community on Flickr.

thanks again Onmyou. Well, to be honest, I don't have much to compare it with. I've used Photoshop for preparing photos for online and still do. Had never used it for art which I have been told is a good thing because it has such a recognizable signature to it and many folks make a great (over!?!) use of filters. I found Corel Painter to be very intuitive to use because it's made by painters, for painters! It's just paint, in a very accessible and handy e-form. Anyway, I will either beg/borrow/steal younger brothers board or purchase my own shortly and hopefully can make some more progress with it!

D6 - cheers for that and exactly how I felt once I stumbled into these. It was exactly what I was looking for without know it and likely you fit the target profile. Most fans have been around and seen a bit of SF but also have some historical interest and background and so have a good understanding of the subjects. They are figures, armor and SF all rolled into one so quite a bit of leeway on the finish, by that I mean that they quite forgiving and flexible which is quite a nice change from the inflexibility of the GW way.

My way of doing them is more the Japanese way, hand painted and with an artistic slant. It's been largely inaccessible due to the language barrier but I have been helping to change that. The very well established and respected look in the west has been developed by the very talented Bryan Krueger and he has an extensive gallery here http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/ . Just click on models, some great stuff there and his methods are very good.

Flickr- yes, I have seen more and more of my friends using it and perhaps it's time? One of the industry guys supporting me, Mike Rinaldi has been suggesting Fototime as well. Will look into both but also a specific site would be good as I have news releases and so on.

Cheers,

Linc

Just dropped by to have a look, the Galleries are a little quiet... get to work Fio Caste!

The Maschinen Krieger Expo 2008 was held on the weekend and here's my little exhibit;



Thanks for looking!

Hi Linc!

That's a sweet piece of work there.

E.