# For the Greater Weeaboo!



## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

I realised that Heresy lacked a Tau project log (as for as I know anyway) so when I got a bunch of Tau off of my friend I decided to chronical my re-painting and building up of this army. I'm by no means an artist but I hope I can do these awesome looking models justice.

So anyway here is a lil' bit of fluff that I have so far:

The Cadre was formed on Tau'n and sent to fight the Imperium around the time of the 13th Black Crusade. The leader is Shas'el'tau'n'cal'ras (or Cal'ras for short). He is a bit miserable and known for his dry sense of humor and expertly timed sarcasm. He pays lip service to the Greater Good and hates it when the Ethereals run their mouths off about "menifest destiny" or some crap like that (he doesn't realy listen). Dispite being a capable commander his insubordination has stopped him becoming a Shas'O. Although he insists that he has spent so much time "sticking it to the man" that he couldn't bare being "the man".

I know this fluff isn't that good but I'm fed up with goodie goodie characters, so this guy isn't evil, he just can't be arsed.

Here is the man himself, El'cal'ras





































More to come


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## zas240 (Apr 3, 2009)

I like the colour scheem


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanks 

Small update, I finished the shield drones (or "Friggin Kor'vesa!" to Cal'ras). I did a little bit of a camo pattern on the tops in Codex Grey and Shadow Grey but I decided that the two colours just merged into each other from long distances. I added black lines to split up the colours and I'm quite happy with the result. Also I watered the paint down a lil bit to help stop the paint streaking like it did on the Shas'el.

Here are the drones:



















And here is Cal'ras trying to look cool with Drones ruining his flow.


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## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

I quite like it, the scheme seems quite old school (The types of schemes you'd see in 3rd ed books and before (And I know Tau weren't around (And I know there is a bracket inside a bracket inside a bracket (inside a bracket, Im just insane))))

My only comments are more nitpickish than anything. 

While I like your scheme and it's execution. It seems 1) Quite flat, try adding some highlights. and 2) Kind of sull, I think you need to add a little more oclour to it (coloured shoulder pads perhaps?)
3) I think the base needs a little more going on!

Apart from those small things it looks likea good start

Reaper


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## Azwraith (Apr 23, 2009)

i think its real clean.. very nice i like the orange's and your freehand is good... i dont know they just dont "pop" to me try maybe a littl emore contrast or depth of colours?


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## Crimson_Chin (Feb 20, 2009)

more highlighting or shading to made the colors really stand out.

Also, with the drones, the lines aren't very straight in the pic. Try using a micron pen and a ruler, or using tiny strips of blue tape (painter's tape) to form the lines before you paint them. You'll be shocked at how great they look if you do!


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice guys. I agree the commander does look very flat and boring. I will be experimenting with highlights as soon as I can get down to the GW and some more paint. As for the painters tape idea, I think thats great and I'll try on my next batch of drones .

I've not been able to get on the website for the past couple of days for some reason so I'm a bit unprepared, here is the last picture I took, its my WIP Hammerhead:










The model is a lot further on than that and if the light is a bit better later I'll post another update


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

OK, as promised here is the (alomost) finished hull of the Hammerhead. I still have to finish the turret and the Smart Missile System but I should have them finished today. Also I need to tidy up the black lines. The paint I used was very thin so what you are seeing is the old paint job showing through. My friend realy did mess up his painting lol. Also I'm not happy with the yellow, its taking about 6 or 7 coats to get to even a yellowish colour, even the the colour isn't even. Does anyone have any tips on how to make it look smoother and more yellow?

Anyway, the tank:














































Hmmm, that last one didn't turn out very well, it seems my camera doesn't like extreme close ups lol. Basicaly I didn't like all the plain surfaces so I decided to give a bit of detail. The green parts were supposed to be Matrix-esq, I just used Dark Angels Green and Snot green. I have never painted lightning before but I decided to give it a whirl. it took forever on such a small surface but I lovethe result. The colours were Ultramarine Blue, Shadow Grey, Codex Grey and finaly Space Wolves Grey, I would do a Skull White line to finish off but I don't have any knocking around lol. Just be aware that the picture doesn't do the paint justice, it looks awesome in real life lol, I'll play around with the camera some more.

I was struggling to decide wether or not to do a camo scheme like the drones but I thought I wouldn't be able to do it neat enough on such a large srface, this was before I saw the post about painter's tape, I'll try it on the next tank which will look 10x better anyway lol.


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## 7-ZARK-7 (Jan 29, 2009)

Good to see a Tau project going on! Good progress so far - you've given me the final piece of inspiration I needed to get going on my own cadre..
Nice clean job on your lazy Shas'o, and I like the simplicity of the base. You make good use of Citadel greys with splashes of colour which gives a nice 'old skool' mecha feel to them as someone already said. I agree that the colour scheme is good (although I'd loose the metallic (gold?) areas in favor of just yellow. I;m guessing you only have a few paints to work with? I'd try a cooler yellow (Badmoon may show up better than sunburst against those cool greys... It is good to mix cool and warm tones to give contrast but perhaps re-undercoat any areas that will be yellow in white, on top of your black primer to make the yellow shine off... Alternatively just undercoat the models white - I will be doing this with my Tau, so I can let you know how I get on.
Lastly, as imm0rtal reaper and co. already said, try some shading and highlighting to give more depth... Drybrush engines Boltgun metal... Sorry, I'll get on with my own Tau before I critic too much!
Nice work, thanks for showing!


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanks for your input Zark, I'm glad to have motivated you lol. I did actualy try Bad Moon Yellow to begin with but the grey sorta washed it out and made it look like canary yellow, which I detest with a vengance, so I switched to golden and I won't go back lol. Also about the Gold, I wanted these small areas to stand out, I did play around with some colours (blue and green mainly) and decided that they didn't stand out, I avoided yellow because there is already quite a bit of yellow on the models already. I will be doing some highlights, especialy on Cal'ras, I picked up some Fortress Grey today but I've not had a chance to use it yet, I'm going to finish this bloody Hammerhead before I do anything else. Speaking of which:




























I finished the turret and gun! It's not clear in the pictures but the black part of the gun is edged in Shadow Grey just like the worky bits on the Shas'els legs. Tommorrow I'm hoping to get the Smart Missile System done and start playing around with highlights on poor old bland Cal'ras.

Keep the comments coming, its a good motivator lol.


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## Lupercal101 (Jan 26, 2009)

awesome work mate


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## Crimson_Chin (Feb 20, 2009)

hrm. Looking at it again, I think your paint might be a little thick. Are you watering them down?

It looks like you're putting on a black basecoat, then putting those light colors over it. Meaning you need lots of paint to do it. Instead, try using a foundation paint or similar heavily pigmented paint for the first layer, then using smoother, watered down layers of paint after that.


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