And I'm back...

Exams have hit me hard and I'm afraid to say that painting has become a luxury and so progress for the Ksi'm'yen sept has been slow
However, I have found the time to finish off my Fireforge-8 and O'Ka'Cova himself.
after having a long think about my painting adequecy and preferred styles I decided that what I wanted to go for with my battlesuits is a more realistic approach than some schemes. This isn't to say I don't love those crisp clean, perhaps more Tau like schemes with x number of highlights and blending, if anything I envy them, but I realise that my abilities are a fair way of such magnificent paint jobs and have therefore chosen to take a different tack.
My favourite thing when it comes down to movies and the like is realism. I love the way, for example, that in the Lord of the Rings, Aragorn and Co. stay mucky and battle worn throughout the series, because that's how it would be...they can't just magically bath between scenes!
And so I decided that this is how I would model my suits as, with the growing necron threat on Ksi'm'yen, a battlesuit pilot most probably wouldn't find much time in his busy schedule melting metal to clean up his suit. A further fluff point is the fact that as the planet's old imperial foundries have been adapted to produce the suits, they may not be up to normal Tau standards. Quantity over quality when facing the unfaltering tide of the dead.

Anyway...on to the suits...

Vre'Suam'ka









O'Ka'Cova
(Just have to base him)









What does anyone think?

As always Im open to as much C&C as you can throw at me

ST

Hmm.... I'm not used to seeing 'Vanilla' Crisis suits... And I think you should try reposing legs and arms on your next suits, I like the poses you've tried to achieve though, and I think that, with a little reposing, you should remake these poses on your next suits! Also, try gluing the weapons under the arms, makes a really good effect! And I like your battle damage! Keep up the good work!

-T'Owel

Yeh, sorry about that the first crisis suit I must have gotten around 3 years ago...which would have made me around 13. Plus I was new to the hobby and so I wasn't really up to slicing and dicing up my newest tau piece

However i do fully intend to start posing my suits in future after seeing the amazing results that can be achieved from members here

Thanks about the weathering I'm really pleased with the results

ST

The first suit you pose, I suggest you only do one arm and one leg. That's what I did. put it in a mid-jump position, less awkward to pose that way.

-T'Owel

I'm back

But only briefly, I have a full week of seven exams next week I think it is so this is just a brief post for what will hopefully become a very nice project log.

Don't think I'm posting without content though, I've spent the better part of this morning in photoshop working out what I wish to do so I can hopefully get some opinions before tearing my shiney new models up

So, here's what got me thinking:

I recently bought a skyray (though I haven't glued the turret down so I can switch between both Skyray and Hammerhead turrets depending on the game as this is my first tank) and I was admiring the model, the sleek body, the aerodynamicness (is that a word? ) of it



Then I placed the skyray turret on (which is painted, the rest of the tank isn't). Bye-bye sleek skimmer



I am really not happy with how this turret looks, especially from the side view, so here's what I plan to do with a lot of chopping and changing:

Going from this



To this



I think this will retain the sleek feel of the tank though I'm not sure if this would be deemed too impractical by the Tau. What does anyone think?

ST

Hey Commander Sharktooth!

I really like the idea you've posted up here, and think it will make your Skyrays very unique, but I just have a few things for you to think about before you begin. In game, will you be taking Gun Drones that you want to be able to remove, as you would no longer be able to do this. Secondly, do you have a spare Devilfish cupola to fill the gap where the Skyray turret would normally be? These aren't major issues, and I'm near certain that you will have already addressed them anyway, but still, it was worth a mention.

The only other thing will be storing the model. It has a very wide profile with the proposed modifications, so it might be worth making the 'wings' detatchable, so it can fit into standard sized cases for transport. Also you might have issues with it not fitting between gaps in terrain to easily, but that isn't exactly a huge problem.

On the whole though, I think the end result looks very cool, and it would be worth any of the minor hiccups I just mentioned. Also, you mentioned that the Tau might deem it too impractical... I doubt this would be the case as it's entire purpose is to sit in the back-field firing missiles from behind cover.

Go for it!

Fi'rios Shi'ur

PS. I'd like to draw your attention to this part of the Member Primers:


You already have a brilliant thread detailing your Ksi'm'yen Cadre here, so it makes sense to put your tanks in it as well. Not to worry, I have markerlighted this thread to be merged with the other one for you.

I like the idea! The 'how-to' will be a bit harder tough. Have you ever seen this one yet?
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15891&p=198303&hilit=skyray+conversion#p198303
Your conversion looks very cool, but maybe a little 'choppy' if you get me. It looks a little to stretched to me. Maybe place the drones somewhere else?
ofcourse, don't try something too hard
Kern

That's good thankyou

Fi'rios Shi'ur

In relation to both the gun drone and storage problems, I plan to attach the exta long 'fin' parts to the drones and not the actual body part meaning they can be removed with the drones.
Yeh, my bad about that, having them merged sounds ideal, sorry and cheers

Kern

Yeh, it was that model that inspired me to convert, though in my opinion that particular conversion looks a tad too 'imperial' that might just be me though.
I think the enlonged issue is mainly down to my photoshop skills, in person it looks fine I think, an alternative to attaching the fins to drones it to make circular extensions to them that will fit in the drone holders, this may be hard though

The main question is, do I cut a part of a circle int othe fins to allow the drones to fit into them, or cut the drones down to fit onto the fins?

ST

Topics have been merged.

As for the vehicle itself, I like the idea, but I feel that simply extending the "fins" in the front leaves much to be desired in the 'fish itself. For one, it is so wide and thin that it looks a little too front heavy and ungainly. Also, by taking everything off the back you leave the vehicle looking even more plain in the back!

Here are my thoughts. What if you cut off the standard fins of the Devilfish all the way to the body, so that it has completely flat sides. Then try attaching the Skyray Wings to now open sides. That will keep the wings closer to the body. Then, why not try attaching the engines to a lower part of the body? All you have to do is cut off the nubs and glue them lower down. Then to replace those nubs you can attach something for the drones/secondary weapons. You could use the nubs you've cut off, or you could find some other way of mounting them.

Yes, this would require more work and it might not be interchangeable for a Devilfish, but I think it would look pretty cool!

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm not a vey patient person, and so it took me little under five minutes of my last post to throw all caution out the window and just begin converting!

Unfortunately I don't have any 'in progress' pictures as I was took busy with a saw but I do have some pictures of the, almost, completed model (I just have some painting left and I still havent put the missiles of the left turret)

I am very happy with the results so far though

Here we are:





Here's the turret (the almost finished one, just need to finish painting the burst cannon)





I modelled it to look as if it's banking to the left and I think it has worked well



Wolfs16
Unfortunately I read your post after the 'fish had gone under the knife and so by that time it was too late However your ideas are very similar to those I have for my Ksi'm'yen varient Stingray gunship, more to come on this when I've raised £35 though I will let on however that it's going to be a titan hunter

Also, thank you for merging

What does anyone think then?

ST

I like the progress, looking good! I also very much like the color scheme, but that's not to the point.
The main problem you are facing here is, as mentioned by Fi'Rios Shi'ur, you can't detach the drones.
Maybe lower the drone spot a bit (with plasticard or something alike, you won't see it if it's underslung anyway) so they can be taken out?
Then again, the model might come out less sleek. I'd personally try to change places: The drones on the outside and the markerlight drones on the inside?
Just blowing suggestions, ofcourse... Always do what seems fit to you!
Kern

Cheers and thanks about the colourscheme too
Yeh, while the drones do detatch from the vehicle, they don't from the fins and at first I thought this would be a problem, however, I find it unlikely at the moment that I will need to detatch the burst cannons from the main vehicle in a game due to them being a defence mechanism for the skyray if anything gets too close for comfort.
I will look into this when constructing the next one though!

I'm glad you like it though
I'll be sure to post more pictures when it's all finished, and if anyone wnats a step by step of how I made it let me know and I can add that too

ST

I am definitely liking this, did you magnetize the wings or do the drone turrets hold them in?

Like it the model of the sky ray.
can those wing fold away like the trnado jet fighter?

Yeah, once the creative juices start flowing it's pretty hard to wait. I do like what you've done though! However, I feel like it now it has kind of defeated the very purpose you built it for. You mentioned you wanted it to look sleek, which the front certainly does (very nice and even cut on those fins, I must add). But now the back looks rather boxy by comparison.

What if you did the engines in a style like the Tau flyers. Take the Tigershark for example. See how the engines are pretty much sideways versions of the standard 'Fish engines? Well what if you tried something like that? It wouldn't be to hard. By doing that you keep the profiles pretty even and retain a much smoother shape.

Thoughts?

Terminatorinhell
Luckily the drones are a tight fit and so they hold the fins on just fine...for now Glad you like it

Nowiz
I'm afraid not, they do pivot up, down, left and right slightly though, again, glad you like the outcome so far

Wolfs16
Now that you mention it, that is a point, the front is nice and sleek now but the back is a tad boxey I've tried several poses for the engines and found a nice low slung slightly angled one that I think works well I will then most likely use the original engine nubs to mount some kind of sensor arrays these nubs are essential for my Stingray Titan hunter when I can afford to make it however as they will be where I mount twin linked rainguns if you get what I'm saying How does that sound?

ST

Sounds good man! I'm really looking forward to what you come up with. This is giving me some good inspiration for my own projects!

And because of your fine posting quality, you have been promoted to La and this has been moved to the Project Logs forum. Keep up the good work!