[Callhan]

Hey all,

After returning to modelling after (at least) a ten year abscence, I discovered GW's Tau range (wow, I'd been gone a long time)! I thought they were very cool and have started my own little collection. Just wanted to show off some of the items I've been working on and get peoples' opinions/feedback.




















These images are of my 2nd squad, 2nd DF and stealths. The first squad and DF need some improvements before posting. Colors used are scorched brown for undercoat, commando khaki for armor and bleached bone for highlights. Clothing was left black primer with a drybrush of catachan green and a lighter drybrush of 50/50 catachan/white. The stealths are catachan with 3-4 highlights and inked dark green for the* undercoat. This devilfish took forever. I wanted to do a really nice job, so I started by filling in all the seams with 3-4 layers of Testor's Red Putty (handy stuff once you get the hang of it), followed by sanding with ultra fine sandpaper. It takes a while to do this way, but I think it's worth it in the end. The camo pattern is an experiment because I felt plain old kommando khaki over the whole model was a little boring. The blotches are vermin brown and graveyard earth. I'm going to do my pathfinders in the same color scheme to give more overall unity to the army. I may also do my crisis suits the same way. I also wanted to give the DF a grittier look, as the idea behind my force is that it operates as an expeditionary force away from home for long periods, hence the worn look. Basic idea was to make my force mainly outfitted for desert/arid, but could also fit in other environments. Let me know what you think!

[AuinMyrrath]

I actually froze when I saw the detail of the lens on the binoculars - probably the most convincing effect I've seen.

Your work on the models is superb - great scheme, great contrasting, good work all around. I assume that the Pathfinder is infact a Shas'Ui with markerlight? The Fire Warriors and Stealth team leader esspecially grabbed my eye.

[McCoy]

Can't see these either. :'(

Damn firewalls!!! (shakes fist)

[UN17]

Yay! Another capable painter joins the Greater Good! Everything looks pretty good, not too thick, not to dull. Those are negative statements, let me rephrase into positive statements: Your paint quality is smooth, line quality is consistent. Colours are high contrast which is a good thing since they make the models "pop". Your stealth suits look fantastic but your firewarriors less so. Not too fond of the freehand shoulder markings you gave them. Perhaps a taped method like you used on your hammerhead would be sharper. The detailing of bare metal and smoke from the engine exausts looks pretty well done, but your camo pattern is insane I've seen patterns like that in use by current military though, so I suppose that pattern does work. Overall, your painting is in the upper classes and I think you did a great job. I hope you stick around some more and contribute to the Tau effort

[waargh]

The camo is wicked. As far as camo tau go these are the best ive seen.

[MalVeauX]

Callhan:

Beautiful work on the Infantry and the Stealths. Very tight, very clean, the way Tau should be looking. I like your attention to marking details on helmets as well.
Overall, great job - Would love to see the full, competent force on an equally nice battle field table

Cheers!

[Wargamer]

Very impressively painted. My only gripe is that, to me, the Devilfish's camo-scheme does not tie in with the Firewarrior colour scheme.

[Callhan]

Thanks for the compliments and feedback everyone!

Dra: yep, the pathfinder became the squad Shas'ui after one of the firewarriors was accidentally mangled.

UN17: I agree the markings probably need to be redone. I don't like using the tape method too often as it creates a raised paint edge, but I could use tape to stencil an outline and then paint over. I'll give it a try.

Wargamer: You pointed out one of my fears in terms of scheme cohesion. I originally wanted to do a camo scheme on the FWs, but was fearful that if I did so I wouldn't be able to paint good highlights onto them because the model gets too "busy". I was hoping the khaki and the shadow gray markings on the FWs and DF would be enough to unify the two.

[GOD]

I decided that I would defiantly not use that camo scheme on a Hammer Head, on the grounds that it would look crap.

Boy is my face red (see--> :-[ ).

[Wolkenmannn]

Whooo, man.
This is really great work.
Lovely over all.
The hammerhead looks great, the colours used for the firewarriors are just that kind i like very much.
Only the black on the hammerhead's doors just look a bit to plane.
Perhaps you should highlight the edges using some codex grey mixed up with black ?!
Hope there's still more to come :-)

Greetings Wolkenmann