[The Deleter]

Note to mods - if this is in the wrong place, feel free to move it. I wasn't sure if this should go into the Project Blog board or not.

Click on the images to see bigger versions.


Oh my, a package! Is this what I think it is? And no, it's not been tampered with. I got impatient and opened it up some before.


Can you guess?


Yes, folks, it's the Forge World Tau XV89 battlesuit! At only a bit more than a regular Tau Battlesuit, (:P) it's good not only as a centerpiece, but for regular teams as well if you can afford it. This guy's going to be my Shas'O, btw.

So, I'm going to walk you through your possible first time building an XV89. It's my first time as well (cue That's What She Said joke), but after looking at it, it seems relatively easy and I think I could easily walk you through building such a model. I'll provide tips for working with the kit, and show you my painting it and stuff as well.

First, a quick inventory.


The kit is typical of most Forge World Tau Battlesuit kits, and a lot of their kits in general. It's also, IMO, pretty good for beginners - there aren't a lot of parts, and I certaintly don't feel daunted by it! ;D The kit contains:

• Standard Crisis Battlesuit sprue
• Three Forge World sprues for converting the suit
• Large base (don't know the measurements, but it's bigger than the standard Crisis Suit base)
• Flying stands and base

The kit also comes with an inventory list and a quick picture to show you what it looks like, but I didn't put this on for legal reasons.


These are the Forge World sprues. The first sprue has the head, thighs and forearms, the second sprues has the shins, upper arms and pegs to connect them to the forearms, and the third sprue has the arm weapons, which are too cool to pass up. It's pretty obvious what these replace on a normal suit.

Next time, I'll go through preparing the model, getting stuff off the sprue and cleaning it up. I wouldn't do this normally, but I want this guy to stand out and look awesome. Stay tuned!

[The Deleter]

Okay, time for part 2! Here we deal with getting stuff off the sprue, cleaning mold lines and other bits, and some dryfitting. Click the images for bigger pictures.


First of all, grab some scissors/clippers/whatever, and get what you need off the standard Battlesuit sprue. You will need:

• The 3 body sections.
• The feet.
• The large antenna.

That's it! Now go over them with a hobby knife and shave down any mould lines, and them smooth them with a file. It's tricky, but you'll get the hang of it.


Dry-fitting the body. The parts were surprisingly snug together and stayed stuck under their own power (snap-fit battlesuits, anyone?), but there were one or two bits I had to shave down, and there were the classic lines you get between the sections. :P


Taking the resin bits off. Before you do this, wash them in warm soapy water to get rid of any oil they used to remove the parts from the mould. This will make the parts stick better and take primer better as well.


You probably won't notice the difference, but I've cleaned up the resin parts as well. It's a little easier as resin is slightly softer, but the same rule applies.


All the parts needed, minus the weapons. Do a quick check and make sure nothing is missing!



Many people reccomend dry-fitting the parts to get the poses you want. I used blue tack here, which was a little tricky, but it got the results. I suggest you do the same, as you could stick it together in a awkward pose and not be able to change it back. I want a particuarly action-packed pose here, as my other suits are relatively static. I won't use the flying stand - that's just for support.

Tune in next time, where we actually glue the thing together. Heh.

[The Deleter]

Part 3 is going to be short and self-explanatory, and done from the safety of my garage. Building an XV89 is not to dissilimar from building a normal suit, with the exception of the knee and arms joints to consider. So, there will be fewer photos here, but more explaination.


Using superglue for resin parts and plastic glue for the normal parts, build the torso and head to start with. I've also added some flint to the base to add interest, and I'll add more stones later. Because the base is so big, it's best if you do add something, rather than leave it blank. I've also made one of his arms - make them seperately, then glue them onto the body. You may need to file the pegs on the elbow to fit better.

If you add flint to a base, get some good glue to do it - it was hard to glue on with mine, and I had to do it twice. Oh, well.


Here's the model with one leg. He's going to stand with one foot on the flint, so I've made the leg as straight as I can. He'll have to balance on that until I sort the other leg. :P, Also, the other arm is made, with my weapon choice added. You may need a bit of filing for the weapons to sit flush against the arm.


Glue him to the base, then leave him to hop whilst you work on the other arm/leg. ;D Also, I've added the burst cannon to his other arm.


Do a bit of dry-fitting to get the leg pose right, then glue together the last leg. I've also added the other arm.


I'm done - and to make up for the blurry photos, I've photographed this in lovely outdoors-o-vision! You can see al the detail, and the other stones I've added.

Next time, basing and a quick blast of black spraypaint, before we take on the challenge of painting.

[jimmy_mymail]

Clockwork- Why have you triple posted because there's an edit button?
Looks good but the pictures look a little hazey so you can't see the details.
The last picture is pretty clear but the battlesuit seems entirley blue with no highlights or other colours.

[forrestfire]

Originally Posted by Colonel Sorck (jimmy_mymail)

The last picture is pretty clear but the battlesuit seems entirley blue with no highlights or other colours.

It's probably just unpainted.

[lolzoar]

Originally Posted by Colonel Sorck (jimmy_mymail)

Clockwork- Why have you triple posted because there's an edit button?

obviously i can't speak for him, but its a step-by-step guide, it works well being broken up, even just by the gaps inbetween posts. people may even want to do one post's worth of work at a time.

[Nightmare]

Originally Posted by Colonel Sorck (jimmy_mymail)

Clockwork- Why have you triple posted because there's an edit button?

Why have you decided to take it onto yourself to do my job? When I don't see a problem, although a single post would have been preferred a triple post on a tutorial is excusable.

Looks good but the pictures look a little hazey so you can't see the details.

Looks fine to me.

The last picture is pretty clear but the battlesuit seems entirley blue with no highlights or other colours.

Thats because it's called grey plastic and resin.

[hr]

Sorry about that Clockwork - keep up the good work.

[The Deleter]

• Originally Posted by SILK

  When I don't see a problem, although a single post would have been preferred a triple post on a tutorial is excusable.

  Noted for future reference. Also, loving the new avatar. ;D
  
  

  Sorry about that Clockwork - keep up the good work.

  Sure thing.
  
  [hr]
  
  Right - a quick word about basing. I didn't take a step-by-step thing of this, because basing is self-explanatory, but here's some tips.
  • With such a big base, you will need to water down the PVA/wood glue/whatever in order to get decent coverage. Forge World, your models are awesome, but do the bases have to be so big?
  • You will get sand/grit/whatever on the suit's feet. Try and get rid of as much as you can with an old fine detail brush.
  • Use an old brush, or a finger. Glue will mess up your brushes something fierce.
  • Don't worry about sand on the edges of the base - wipe it off with a finger. Likewise, ignore grit/sand on the rocks, and it'll look better anyway.
  • Let it dry, then tap the base to remove excess sand. Not too much though, as all the sand may come off.
  
  Here's my dude so far, in pseudo outdoors-o-vision (it's been raining :P). I'll get onto painting when I get some new spray, which will probably be Wednesday.
  
  
  
  Spraying and painting next.

[Unholy Harbinger]

it looks pretty good and i am getting some ideas for my one i am getting for my shas'o (he is in a normal xv8 battlesuit at the moment), i also plan on getting the broadsides too. :P

Just one question which of the weapons does it actually come with?
[hr]

Ha! I did it! I dragged my self out of the enclaves after gaining acess a week ago! >

[The Deleter]

Originally Posted by Unholy Harbinger

Just one question which of the weapons does it actually come with?

My loadout, or the entire kit? To cover both, the kit has the standard Crisis Suit Weapons on the Sprue, and Missile Pod, Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Burst Cannon and Flamer weapons for the arms. My loadout is nased on some Mathhammer from Kenton Kilgore's site, which says a Burst Cannon and Missile Pod are best against MEQ's. But that''s for the Tau board, really. :P