Hello all, Modellers, painters, gamers, W40k lovers and staff.

A little introduction since this is my first post on ATT. I'm really excited about participating on this site and I can't wait to get to know you all. My name is Daan and I live in Holland, Amsterdam. English is not my first language so excuse me for any miss-spelled words or incorrect sentences. I will do my very best to type as well as I can. Now before I go any further: I must inform you all that I'm a Modeller that builds his concept art in 3D so it may come alive and can be shared with people that appreciate the beauty of Miniatures. Because I'm not a tabletop Warhammer player,I'm not bound by rules on what I can, or can not build. I'm simply a person that likes futuristic armies, to relax, building something that I truly hope people would like.

I'm a person that will plunge in to the deep when trying something new. I have been drawing all my life and always been artistic. I came to realise that Warhammer is not just: buy the box, slap some glue and paint on it and that's that. I realised that it was a true art form.
I started to convert some Tau battlesuits and experimented with GS. Then I thought: why convert, when you can create something brand new? I started a quest that would take me down the rabbit hole. I was looking for something, something that I would want if I was a member of the Tau Empire. And I think, that I have done just that. I proudly present my gift to you all of ATT: The "O Mont'korar"

In a world were there is only War you must kill to survive. You must develop skills in order to became the hunter instead of the hunted. It was this simple concept that sparked my imagination. Although the Tau is a young race, there were pioneers in the art of war. Veterans that would become Icons for the following generations of warriors.

"In a landscape torn by endless battles, an engine sounds rumbling in the distance. Vibrating the surroundings with a roaring low-frequency. And a high pitch tune, screaming trough the valley as a Dark shadow skims over the vast lands. Enemies would run and hide only by hearing it. A long body, build for speed. A glimpse of 2 small wings pointing slightly downwards.
A one-man vehicle only earned by the greatest of hunters: The "O Mont'korar". They are build for only 1 thing: "Search and Destroy". A warrior that earned a "O Mont'korar" will be given the tittle of: "O Y'eldi Mont'yr" and is considerate one of the highest honers a Tau warrior can achieve."







This is the original sketch, updated along with the progress I made in the last few months. A one man Tau combat ship. A long slim body for speed, 2 wings for stabilisation. The ship is powered by an new type of engine that runs on a new mineral. The engineers had 4 things in mind while developing it: Speed; it needs to be able of outrunning almost everything. Hovering; it needs to be able to hover in mid-air and engage all weapon systems. Shield; it needs to sustain heavy fire without a second engine. Stealth: although it doesn't have a cloaking device the ship can go as silent as the crave and kill from the shadow's. The engine is located in the middle of the hall. Air is sucked in trough the belly underneath. This model has 2 heavy burst cannons witch is standard equipment on any "O Mont'Korar". The wings have a build-in SMS rocket system. Tau and technology become 1 because of the build-in Drone that allows for precision movement at high and low speeds. The ship will almost "feel" what his driver wants to do next. The main Drone sensor is located on the top and feeds all battlefield information directly to the control screen of the "O Y'eldi Mont'yr". And there's a second Drone sensor located under the tip of the nose of the craft. This is the real "Search and destroy" aspect of the the Drone computer. This weapons guide system helps his driver to locate and terminate his prey. The 4 shield generators on the side are powered by the same engine and generates a strong forcefield. Also there's room for an EMP and smoke grenade launcher for tactical warfare. This baby is a personal battle cruiser.

I started this Project in march 2009 and its evolved into what you see here now. This treat will follow, if you guys like it, my work in progress from the first cut till the last brush of paint. I'm planning on making a full Diorama for this, complete with terrain and dynamic pose.

dimensions: 5 cm wide by the seat. hall 3 cm wide. full length: 28 cm. Wingspan: 14 cm. (a tau fire warrior fits perfectly within the seat)

I hope that you like my first project
I'm very curious on what you think/like/don't like/tips/ is this a cool mini or not?
Feel free to ask me questions.

Daan
ps: I left out 1 aspect of the design. This I will unveil later when the time is right. If you like this concept, then you are going to love thís.

That looks so mean! I love it! Streamlined and ready to kill! THis WIP is going to be closely watched by me....

If you don't do an extremely detailed log, you should at least cast this. That is awesome looking, only thing I can say is that it looks more like something the Covenant from Halo might have, rather than something the Tau would have. Based on your sketches, of course.

I'll be keeping my eyes on your thread my friend and welcome to ATT. For a second there i thought this thread was a BFG thread The battle cruiser name gave me a different idea, can't wait till i see the first light of the model to come.

Wow Daan,

this is an truly awesome concept and I am both, looking forward to see your progress on it (really looking forward to see the final diorama) and to try it out myself.

*Moderator-hat on*

I did some spellchecking in your post, my advice would be to get a spellcheck program. (I use the one from Firefox since I am not an native English speaker myself).

*Moderator-Hat off*

Keep up this good work.

Gue'vre Che Gue'vesa

edit: you might want to check this thread out.

When i saw "Tau Battlecruiser" i thought This was going to be about Tau BFG but it's Something just as cool.



I have to agree with Kyre on this, It looks very Covenant. Maybe the square engine exhaust would make it seem more Tau?

But anyway you look at it it's very nice and i look forward to reading more about it.

Great concept, look forward to your build! Nice variation on the tau aesthetic indeed Daan

- Tael.

Hello guys,

You make me happy with the kind words. Bin working on it for a few months now and it's nice to hear that the concept it appreciated!

Terminatorinhell: thanks mate. its really streamlined don't you think? I have put a lot of thought in the overall shape. Every aspect of the model has a purpose now and that was what I was going for. It sure is mean don't you think? Imagine flying with this thing over rough terrain at high speed, looking left while making a long turn. The sound of the engine wind in your ears while the screen in front of you is bleeping. Hunting down some Tyranids and being home for dinner

Kyre: thanks Kyre, I'm glad you like it! I will make a full WIP log for this so you can see how I've done it.
yeah I'm really a fan of the 1 man vehicles and Halo has some nice one's.
The sketch is 2D so I hope when you see the actual thing you see more of a Tau like vehicle. Did you see the side and top panels have the "rims" like every tau craft? although I'm building this entirely out of plastic card I'm adding some Tau bits here and there to give it a more Tau feeling. Tell me what you think after some more pictures if you think it has improved. PS: what do you mean by cast it? you mean making a resin of it when its finished?

bluedestiny: Hi there mate. I appreciate it. Sorry for the confusion about the name. I was familiar with BFG but I had no idea what it was called. I have changed the name of this post now. I'm also familiar with your work for quite some time now btw. You got some skills man! My first love were battlesuits and I've done 1 project before my "O mont'korar" witch was a XV-8. (7/8 finished) I"m planning on doing BS again, but my love goes to this project first. thanks for watching and ill post some new pics of my WIP soon. ps: I freakin love your:

http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14871&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60

Che Gue'vesa: Hey man, haha. I was at work and smiled from ear to ear when I saw "Wow Daan" I'm happy that you like my attribute to the Tau Empire. Ill post some WIP next. Yeah, can you imagine this baby coming in at high speed around a big rock? The model is coming along nicely and its for 1/3 finished. Haha, I would love to see a Che Gue'vesa version on it:) PS: yeah I'm familiar with the sniper bike. I think it's one of the best designs out there. Inspirational!

Shi'mont'ka: thanks for the reply mate. glad you like it. yeah I understand what you mean with the square exhaust. In my original plan there was a square one in mind (as you can still see in "Top view"of the sketch. Took me some time to change it too. But something didn't felt right. It needed something more streamlined and came up with this new type of engine. (have you read the back-story on the engine designs?)
I hope it will feel more Tau like when its finished. and trust me, I will because I think its very important!

Next up: Some WIP pics.

Cheers,
Daan

Yes, by casting it I do mean making a mold of it and forming resin in the mold. Sorry for any confusion, it was late.

I remember starting with the Skeleton the same night I drew up the concept. It was early in the morning when I finally went to bed.
The following pictures are from the first steps of the project. I needed a soled base to work on so I came up with a plan to build the structural skeleton. I will be building the ship entirely out of plastic card. This is going to be a challenge for me because this is going to be the first time working with the stuff. And as I said before, I'll jump in the deep when I start something new. Exploring ways and new ways to get the pieces I need to assemble the hole thing is an adventure and I'm learning new skills every day. Also I'll be adding some Original Tau and Warhammer bits, as well as anything that I think is suitable to get the job done.There will be a description with each picture on what and how I did the particular piece. Some of my methods you will do differently, this way just worked for me best. All right, here we go: Skeleton.


I drew a rough outline on plastic card and cut it out with scissors and using a sharp hobby knife. Very tricky business and a lot of work.


I needed 2 of these pieces. I placed the first piece all sanded and finished up on top of another piece of plastic card and glued them together.
This way I could sand down the second piece to match the first. The next step was to drill 2mm holes. I chose the holes location in a way they wouldn't get in the way of further construction. And if they would I could cut out 1 or 2 without damaging the structural integrity.


Next was getting the 2 separated to never to touch each other again. And voilà. 2 identical pieces with perfect aligned holes.Next I got myself 13 pieces of pipe of 1 cm long to put in the holes and hold the 2 together.

Finished product:




With this Skeleton I could get started. Its exactly 1,2cm wide. This way it would be easier to work with pre-cut existing plastics of all shapes and sizes. Next up: top and side panels.

A very good start, I am amazed!

But one question comes to me. looking at that 'skeleton': Is it stable? It surely will become stable when you add the other parts of the bikes, but I am wondering of the current stability at this point.

That is quite an ingenious method Daan.. although I would agree with Che that it doesn't look very stable; maybe you should fill it in with greenstuff before you continue? You can always drill out sections if you need to.

If you keep it all-original parts, you could cast it up without an legal or moral issues.. and if it's good enough, perhaps you could contact a model site like Chapterhouse Studios.

One last thing... have you seen Onmyou's Sniperbike?

Uhhhh ... very nice concept art! I really think that you captured the feeling you described with it. With all the sharp edges and little details, like the air in/outtakes at the end of the bike, I really think that your concept will fit into the Tau optic quite nicely

The skeleton looks very sharp. Did you use plastic glue to glue them temporally together? I tried it once, but the surface of plastic card I used was worn out after it. I can see some glue spots on your piece and now I wonder why your plastic is so smooth.
If I judge the pictures right, you are using 1mm plastic card, aren’t you?

Nice start! I am curious how this might turn out.
The only thing that puzzles me is the length of it. 28 cm are far too long for a vehicle in Warhammer 40k. The hull of a Leman Russ battle tank is around 9 cm (could be 10 cm maybe even 12 cm), but since you said that you are not a player and that you want to make a diorama out of it, I do not see a problem.


With all the support points I think that it should be stable enough, so I do not think that it needs to be filled it with GreenStuff. If it is not stable, the chassis should stabilize it.

So long!
-Shavaun

hey guys,

Thanks Militant.Jester and Che, it amazed me as well that this method really worked. I was quite happy with it because it turned out to be a very good skeleton to work with. It gave me enough room to alter the build schedule as well. Good question, of course you want to have a strong and soled base to start your build on right? Well, after some good measuring (I wanted it to be exactly 1,2 cm wide at all points) and some good extra gluing in the inside (were the pipes meet the plastic) it end up to be quite strong and stable. Of course 2/3 of the "how to build this baby plan" was already in my head when I started on this skeleton. As you will see in the following pictures adding new parts made it more and more strong and stable. Jester, putting greenstuff inside it would of bin a good idea. But with the build good under way and for 2/4 finished its strong as a rock. (I have taken a picture just now, writhing you this reply to show you what I have done to improve the structural integrity. )
I have seen resin models, but haven't given it much though. Could you tell me, If I assemble the hole piece, will I still be able to get a resin cast of it? (I'm putting some real detailed work on it) And yes I have seen the sniper bike concept from roberto cirillo but it seems that Onmyou never finished his build... It is one slick looking thing. very nice dynamic and flow. Has anyone build a good one, because I have seen people try it, but never seen a actual finished product?

you ready for the next part: Top and side panels?

Good to hear that this thing is stable!

I think Onmyou is busy with studying, that's why his project is progressing a little slow.

Great work.

Hey Shas'vre Shavaun, Well thank you my friend. I was hoping you'd like it I'm familiar with your work and you are quite the modeller your self mate. You read my little description on the "O Mont'Korar" veteran one man battleship I see? Its nice of you to say, I put some effort in that so its nice to hear its appreciated Yeah, I wanted to have a ship that not just looks cool, but also a design that considers what a ship needs and I incorporated that in the concept.

For the, what I call the "glue-on-action-explosion-duplicate-twin-effect-technique" it was new for me too. I guess I used just the right amount of plastic glue on the right places. And of course sanded the 2 pieces down, straight, sharp and equal. And yes, you judged right. 1 mm thick plastic card

Funny this is. I had no Idea there was a vehicle length limitation. Haha. Well, to be honest, the reason the combatship is this "big", is because its more in scale with the firewarrior veteran that is operating it. If you take an Eldar yet-bike for example, those look like a little tricycles to me. If I was a warrior with a yet bike, I would want to have something I feel save on, and not afraid every little Ork can shoot me down with a handshoota.. And yeah, I imagine and understand if your a gamer and you bring tanks as big as the board people are not going to be pleased I guess? But since this is going to be a display Diorama it just needs to be bad-ass!

-- -- --

Al right. Side panels time. I wanted them to be not just on a 90 degree angle. No, I wanted a more dynamic flow and curve. So this is what I did:


I took measurements from the left top, all the way to the tip. Since I'm a perfectionist I want to do everything as slick and smooth as possible. Especially with the aesthetic of the Tau I think it's essential to be as accurate as you can. I Took the measurements on to the plasticcard and cut them out with scissors. I didn't want to use the "glue-on-duplicate" technique because I didn't want to have to sand to much. Instead I just did the process twice.


I drew on lines were the 3 ridges needed to come and cut them trough with scissors. Sanded them down with a little curve and placed a piece of plasticcard behind them, leaving a rim of 1mm between one another.


Then cut a space were the side panel would overlap the base of the wing.
(and added the first little detail, quite nice touch aye? they broke off on me, while further working on the engine heat exhaust.. ill fix it later )
The hole for the engine heat exhaust in the middle of the hall was 1 of the hardest parts of the project and it took me quite some time.
First determinant were the hole needed to be and very carefully, trying not to damage the rest of the surrounding plastic, cut it out with a sharp hobby knife. These panels are very important because they'll cover 1/3 of the hole ship. I think they turned out to be pretty nice.




The pieces of plasticcard that holds the 3 pieces together are less wider then upper parts of the panel. This little line of space, about 2mm wide, is the place were the panel is going to be glued to the rest of the model. You'll see what I mean later on.

As you may probably have noticed in the pictures, the side panels have a curve. (the hall will look like this: (""") instead of: [""] if you catch my drift?:P:) I bended the panels horizontally every 1/3 following the top line to the tip. This way the ship will feel more dynamic and streamlined.

little preview?



Top:

So far so good, the side panels are looking like I wanted them to. On to the top. This piece was going to be easy. I really got in to it now and got myself some new supply's. My first cutting mat, and some new tools + material. I discovered a hobby store and I was like a little kid in a candy store. I took a piece of plasticcard (really getting tiered typing "piece" and "plasticcard" ) haha.
Well, I took 2 pieces of plasticcard and cut it 2,2cm wide, this was essential because this way it would all fit perfectly on the skeleton.
The rims on the side panels were going to flow over the "top" creating that familiar Tau feeling. I'll show you.


Of course made sure that the pieces were well sanded, sharp and the measurements were correct.


Glue, glue and glue



Top view:

bottom view:

Rims detail:

As you can see I put pieces of curved plastic on the side to give it the "round flow" im looking for. I think on the "how" its officious right? measured the length from rim to rim and cut curved pieces accordingly.

Alright, thats all for now.
tell me what you think of my progress so far.

Daan

PS: Shas'vre Shavaun

Hope you can see what it is. It shows structural reinforcement between the 2 first layers. Because there is exactly 1cm between them it was fairly easy to put 2 0.5cm pieces together and put it in. its now soled as a kroots skull.

Beautiful work Daan, the multiple progress shots are great for those wanting to learn scratch building techniques. I am terrible for not showing progress shots of my work, it breaks my concentration and flow.

The sections and panel work are coming across strongly in the tau aesthetic, class work. The reinforcement is a good idea certainly, a very delicate model at this point.

- Tael.

Now you got me really surprised,

when I saw the skelleton, I thought "a good start for a new modeller" ... now you show us those pictures and it is the work of a Pro!
You really are gifted with skill! (I know it's training not a gift).

And I have to agree with Tael, that it is really helpful for others that you make so many pictures (step-by-step) something I also have problems with.

Before I forget it, Congratulations to your promotion to 'la.

Very nice, indeed! It looks clean, sharp and professional, so keep rolling!
I am stoked to see how you made the panel lines.


Ohhh no there is a misunderstanding. There is no thing like a length limitation for a fan made vehicle, but from the weaponry you plan to put on the battleship, it sounded more like a medium sized skimmer like the Vyper of the Eldar or the LandSpeeder of the SpaceMarine. On the other hand, the dimension you mentioned indicates it as a super heavy vehicle. In the game a bigger hull would also be a drawback, since you cannot hide it very well. I just wanted to point that out.
Do NOT get distracted by my random mumblings and stick to your plan


Very nice I think that I have to try it again.

Cheers!
-Shavaun

PS: I never doubt the stability of your work

Guys, thanks again for the kind words, you made my day! "Daan dancing"

Thanks teal, I'm trying to make the model as delicate as I can. I couldn't produce something without making it "perfect", you understand what I mean. I have once or twice taped the hall together with see-trough tape and then you really see the potential of the project. I can't wait to show you guys more. I'm making step-by-step pictures along the way and its funny to see the thing come alive. I've seen a few WIP pictures of your work I remember. I totally understand that it breaks concentration and flow! But when I do and see the pictures afterwords I'm always surprised how I've done it. (also really helps when your trying to do something again) And I always take pictures when I'm done with a sub-project. This project is like a self made: "construction box" I've all these pieces laying around that will form the finished product!


"Grin from ear till ear! nice!!
Haha, well thank you Che, glad you like it. I remember reading something: "make your first post count?" That's what I'm going for.
Promotion; YES!

Hey Shavaun, thanks for the encouraging words. Glad you like the Clean and Sharp feeling to it. It's really time consuming, but it's worth it in the end!
Yeah! It turned out to be a very nice technique! This way the rims are 1mm deep and that gives a extra dimension to the looks of the ship. personally I like the way the rims going over the "top", making the Tau _l''''l_ symbol and going down again. And you could aply the "glue-on-duplicate"technique to end up with 2 identical pieces too

Nice! that's a good line. I appreciate the info. Yeah I think a gamer would use it like a medium sized skimmer. I was thinking about the weaponry and I was like: I could slap on 2 big rail guns and 6 burst cannons, but that's not what this ship is I thought. I wanted a light, manoeuvrable, fast skimmer with weaponry that wasn't going to be "overpowered"

Daan

PS: I know ya'didnt't