Crisis Suit Modelling Log - Sunstrike Pattern

Hey guys, it's been a long while since I posted any original content here, and the fruition of this concept is well overdue:
The aim of this project is to construct a suit specifically designed for the Sunforge Suicide Squad. (you know the ones; deepstriking, 3+ to hit, re-rolling MELTAS, invariably to some squishy rear armour...)

WARNING: FLUFFWhilst the idea of a crisis pilot taking on this role can be justified as For the Greater Good (I'm thinking; last alive of their bonded group and willing to die an honourable death, cf. divine wind, etc.), I like to think there would be at least some consideration towards survival of the pilot --> more armour to protect suit and pilot (y'know, saving an experienced shas is always useful, and let's not get into recycling crisis suits. Have you seen the state some of those things come back in? Sometimes I swear they were piloted by children bashing rocks against their faces)...
FLUFF OVER, IT IS SAFE TO LOOK

To this end, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you; Sunstrike.


What I'm going for here is a crisis suit optimised for deep striking into highly hostile territory with the sole aim of popping your opponents (vehicular) pride and joy. I rationalise it therefore needs to be lightweight and have appropriate thruster modifications to deal with the stresses of (hopefully multiple...) atmospheric drops, yet armoured enough to withstand the torrent of firepower that such a priority target will attract.

This, to me, means to strip out any non-essential or modular systems (such as those that would let you operate multiple weapon variants from an interchangeable hardpoint, decorative flashy lights, etc.) and to bulk up the resulting chassis in a fashion economic to the weight of the suit (i.e. lightweight deflective armour & only where absolutely necessary).

I've made a start on this project already and all the parts are probably about half done each. I don't have any pictures as yet as the model is elsewhere.

Any comments on your views of how you think such a model would look would be greatly appreciated.


The Invoker

Hrmm, maybe some ablative armor plates sticking up and out of the front armor a bit, some shoulder armor too.

I would love to see this suit done. I think if it is dropping in, it would probably have two or three extra thrusters for manuverability

If you plan on painting it, make sure you give it blast "burns" on the paint! Can't wait to see the final product!

Hmmmmm, I'm a huge fan of the elite deepstrikers....dropping in...blowing that up and jumping away into the night sky....

As for a model...well let me introduce my creative juices

I believe that the pose should be in some form of flight to illusrate his JSJ form of tactics, as such the Jet pack should be emphasised ( In my humble opinion) If I was to suggest a form of look, I can see something along the lines of an elysian drop troopers grav chute. You could also possibly emphasise the thrusters on the legs of the suit.

In my minds eye I can picture one arm being more armoured than the other ( sort of like a gladiator) could be represented by a light shield of some sort?

As for the head, I think it should be multi-sensory to show that the deepstrikers have full awareness of the battlefield ( or the enemy terroritory. )

BUT that is all just my opionion...which I may need to try out in the future
Carry on the good work Shas'O!

Devil Out!

Sounds sweet, When I think of a suit deepstriking, I think of a meteor like shell smashing into the earth leaving a suit sized crater or just a suit dropped from a few miles up, thrusting to slow down and hammering into the planet.

What I would do, is make it on a term base. Take a rock and crack it in the middle so it looks like the rock was pressured in from the suit landing. then adjust the outer rock edges up a little so it makes the impact look harder.

I agree with the burn marks it could look outstanding.

Hi The Invoker,

I love thinking about this kind of stuff, how about a set of ablative plates that incorporate braking rockets/jets on the lower half that blow apart on landing, rather like a disposeable drop pod, fired into the ground at extreme speeds from orbit and only braking at the last second to avoid interception. The suit itself could retain the upper plates as armour on the arms something like a Khador warjack I have seen:

http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiDevastator

Except that instead of a bunch of grenade launchers, you have a pair of fusion blasters behind the plates.

Alternatively, you could have the disposeable part unfold and act like a forgeworld sensor tower, guiding further units in.

From a modelling point of view I think something to suggest a rocket ejection system for the pilot on the back between the shoulders would be cool and fluffy. If the battlesuit is about to be destroyed, The cockpit rockets away and makes a high altitude escape, preserving the valuable Shas'ui. Either that or have a remote operator.

Just my 2p. I might even build something like this myself now.

Mu'kau.

I was home again over the weekend, putting the finishing touches to some parts and completely re-imagining others. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of the project as I forgot my camera, but another few hours work on it (it won't be until Easter break now :/ ) and it should be finished.

@Devilfish12: I have indeed made some little thrusters to go on the lower half of the legs, along with some armour plating so the legs have a bit more weight to justify them.
I'm not sure about the jetpack I've done, it's basically an enlarged stealth suit variant, my thinking being that it looks like it provides a lot of downward thrust but has a smaller target area, we'll see how it looks at the dry fit.
I have also made a custom twin-linked fusion blaster for one arm and I'm experimenting with shield designs for the other. The main problem is I want it to have the look of ablative armour, but also like it provides a repulsive force field. My recent attempts actually turned out to be blatant copying of some of Legacy40k's work, and I'm trying to go some for something original.
As far as the head goes, I've tried a lot of designs, but one that seems to stick with the setup so far is a plain armoured variant, again, pictures are sorely needed I'm afraid.

@Adderfist: That's an awesome idea for when it comes to basing this beast, but I'm afraid that bridge is a few miles away yet. I've also never done anything like that and it would be really fun to give it a go, thanks for the idea

@Mu'Kau: Now that is a really interesting way of interpreting this concept. When I've finished this incarnation of the model I may just have to make a completely new, alternate, design along those lines. I'm really liking the idea of a shell of sacrificial plating and removing thrusters, as un-Tau as it may seem to me (I'm not sure why it seems un-Tau). I'd love to see someone else making custom suits too, GW failed so hard designing the standard version in my opinion, you should give it a go


Thanks for the input guys, you will be rewarded (hopefully, not punished ) with some pictures in a few weeks when I'm home again of my efforts on the model. Also, if anyone else has any contributions to make, fire away, it seems I'm far from the only one who has thought about this kind of model


The Invoker

I remember seeing somewhere a concept for a shield drone. It was essentially a shield drone turned on its side with a blast template glued to the underside of the drone and then the drone was glued to a base, heres a link if it works http://www.trevyspaintingtable.com/apps ... =131617549 . I thought it was ingenious in my opinion you could possibly draw on some inspiration fromthat for your shield

As for the jet pack, I like the idea but I can't really picture it in my minds eye sorry, I just think that in order to maintain stability and also directional thrust it would have to cover a larger area, hence the elysian drop troop reference, but hey, at the end of the day it's your conversion and after seeing the other concepts I must say I'm sure you'll do a mighty fine job!

Devil, off to try out some conversions of his own

How about with a O'Rmyr or O'Ralai style shield - then have the two twin linked fusion blasters on the other hand rather than as separate weapons (again, a bit like Rmyr)?

The idea of using the shield to represent the iridium armor is an interesting one.

I pictured the suit in my head as you were describing it in a pose showing it had just landed, (low squat, very bent knees)