# Tau Manta #86 From start to finish in 1 Week



## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Hello my fellow heretics,

I've posted a few "teaser" pics of this in my DC project log, but since it's such a monster of a project, I felt it needed it's own thread (if mods agree that is). 

I picked this up from a client who has had it sitting away in storage totes for a little over a year now. He felt it was time to grace the battlefield with it's awesome Tau goodness. I am going to have it completed and based by this Saturday, which is my local GW's Apoc event. I'm pulling a couple all nighters within the following days, and felt it was necessary to include you in the madness 

Without further adieu, here are some pics of what has been completed so far. Tonight will be an all nighter. It's currently 3:50am. Let's get the show started. More to come within the next few hours.

I'm starting with a nice simple green bath and following that up with a fine grain sand paper. I've already got the massive resin chunks off and have cleaned them up before the bath. 

For a size comparison I put one of my shoes next to the beast (size 13)

The last pic is of the 48 seated fire warriors that go inside.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

This should be very awesome. Looking forward to your exhaustion.


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## Jolnir (Feb 11, 2014)

Holy mother f. This is gonna be sick. Subscribed.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Fire warriors in rows like that make them look uncannily like the battle droids from the star wars prequels.

Keep us posted !


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## Jolnir (Feb 11, 2014)

If you really think about it, the Tau Hammerheads look like the tanks from episode one as well.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Figured I would put a quick update on here. 

All the piece...including the massive amount of small pieces have been washed, trimmed, and sanded. I've already completed the troop bay and am currently painting/magnetizing the ethereal and the control room, including the crew that goes in it. 

Here's a quick pic of the troop bay. I'm placing the fire warriors in it right now.

Drilling and pinning the fuselages and front portion are next on the chopping block.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Here the troop bay is with all 48 fire warrior goodness. More to come soon


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Incredible start, love the OSL.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Oooooo this has peaked my interest. Best of luck and thanks for keeping us in the loop!!


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

This is a necessary tool when sanding resin pieces, especially ones this size. If it wasn't for my respirator, I'm sure I'd be coughing up resin dust for weeks. 

Safety stuff aside, onto some quick update pics. I haven't gotten around to taking pics of the hull and the progress done there, BUT I do have some pics that I took a few hours ago and I'm going to put them up for your viewing pleasure 

Thanks for the comments and encouragement...time for another cup of coffee and a cigarette, then back to the madness.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Interesting. I look forward to seeing you finish your new end table. 

I kid of course but that model is BIG.


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

Holy mother of Christ.... That's a huge model.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

I thought you were just going to tease us with those casual pictures in your other log.._"oh yeah btw i'm sort of painting a manta"_, so i'm really glad to see this :victory:

Everything looks awesome so far, looking forward to seeing some colour on the outside


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Wauw, just wauw. I didn't know models came that big - Even for a FW model, that is freakkin' huge!


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Haha, yea I thought I'd just casually slip some pics into my other log to get people to double take and say...mother of god...lol

This is the biggest model to date, that I know of anyway other than a full blown titan, that FW makes. It's total wingspan is 3', and it's 2' in length. It weighs in at a whopping 30lbs after paint and build. 

Here are some more quick pics. I'm currently drilling and placing my pins into the hull. I'm using wire hangers for my pins...just a fun little fact. I'll be posting the pics of the drilling and pinning process later tonight once I'm finished assembling the body. 

The interior is completed for the most part, just need to paint the pilots to a specific theme the client has asked for and that will be that for the interior painting! 

Here is the completed tank bay. I've included the progress pics leading up to completion. Hope y'all are enjoying the show  

More to follow within the next few hours.


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

Wow, awesome look to that interior! The Airbrush has served you well there!


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Definitely one of the most ambitious projects we've seen on here, but you seem to be handling it pretty well. I'd love to see some photos of it on the board when this Apoc battle takes place.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Sorry for the lack of pics. I've been working non stop on this beast and have been taking a ton of pics as I go along but haven't taken the time to sit down and post them. I've been up for 3 days straight and it's finally starting to effect my work. I'm going to get some shut eye right now, but will be up at 8am to finish the build and paint of the hull. 

Once again, sorry for no pics at the moment, but be prepared for a ton in the morning. Good night heretics. See you bright and early.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

4thswasi said:


> Sorry for the lack of pics. I've been working non stop on this beast and have been taking a ton of pics as I go along but haven't taken the time to sit down and post them. I've been up for 3 days straight and it's finally starting to effect my work. I'm going to get some shut eye right now, but will be up at 8am to finish the build and paint of the hull.


Slacker. No sleep 'til it's finished 

Can't wait to see the new pics.


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Agrees, sleep is a crutch.

Here are some pics that were taken last night before I fell into a short coma. The fuselages are together, and the bottom section where the control is located.....which was a BEEOTCH to get to sit right. After 85 mantas you would think they would have a fairly solid and imperfection free model, especially the larger pieces. I test fitted the nose, troop bay, and ethereal with his platform. All seemed to sit pretty good except for a few spots that needed to be filled. Pretty quick fix though. 

I've mounted the wings and the heavy rail gun housings on them. The troop bay exit and ramp were pretty straight forward. Majority of the pieces needed to be warmed and formed back to their original intended shapes, but all and all it was a fairly easy build.

The main problem I am having is the Tank bay installation. There is about an 1/8" gap between the tank bay and the bottom of the nose. I'm not sure if it's just because the tank bay is free floating in there due to the fact that it can be pulled out to access the vehicles that are within it and it's just sitting funny where I'm building, or if it's something more serious and requires a little more sanding...which means I have to take things apart if that's the case -.-

Well I'm prepping for paint right now, I'll be back soon with updated pics.


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## Tugger (Jul 22, 2013)

This is wild.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

Looking good! Quite a project you have there. Every time I think I understand how big that thing is I see another image and just end up going "Yup. That's BIG." :laugh:


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Alright guys, update time. 

Here are some pics of the paint process and of the finally overall paint job. There are still a bunch of things I'm doing to it to break up the blue and add more detail to it, but for the apoc game, it was good enough. 

The burst cannons on the nose are just placed on today for the game, they ARE upside down...I know, lol. They're not locked in yet. The ion cannons and the heavy rail guns I have a quick OSL effect.

I added atmosphere/space travel/ flak soot to the top and wings of it, figured it would help break the blue up and give it a nice worn battle hardened appearance. There are still a few things battle damage wise things I'm going to be doing to it, but that can wait till Monday  I'm also going to be free handing some lettering around the cockpit and around the upper deck window. 

For now I'm pretty happy with how it turned out for the game. I'm running on fumes and will be sleeping until Monday morning, when I will continue with the final steps of the painting and weathering. I'll have some more pics up Monday afternoon.


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## Zion (May 31, 2011)

+Rep

Looks very good. That metallic airbrush paint I see there?


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## Nacho libre (Feb 23, 2013)

I think you will need a bar of chromoly steel to keep this thing upright.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

Jeeeesus! I need to get on this airbrush shit!


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Amazing stuff, that looks fantastic not even accounting for the short amount of time you've had to finish it. Really cool to see such an immense model with a great paint job thanks for sharing it :victory:

Get some sleep now soldier :wink:


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## InkedDnA (Jul 8, 2011)

Thanks to everyone for the compliments and positive comments  It was a long week and I'm finally rested up. Slept for about 16 hours straight...it was fantastic. 

Yea the blue was pretty cool, the color is from vallejo model air, arctic blue. I based the whole model in citadel "the fang" then art taped and masked where I was going to be filling with the arctic blue. After I finished with the whole hull paint I moved onto the wing tips. I painted them with a base of Vallejo Gory Red, then highlighted them with vallejo scarlet red. The black "scarred" areas were done with model air black and the airbrush was held at about a 25 degree angle and 3 inches away from the model. I was running at about 10psi so that I didn't get TOO much overspray. The areas that I wanted darker to simulate the impact point were straight shot with the airbrush. 

Overall it came out pretty good. The build was a pain in the ass an some areas need to by corrected, but for the most part I'm happy with it, and more importantly, the client is ecstatic. The response from everyone at the shop was great. We had people who came in just to see the mant and weren't planning on staying, end up staying for hours watching the game and waiting for the manta to be fielded. I picked up a few more clients so all in all, it was a good build and paint and I received all positive feedback on it  I'll post some pics of the base that it's going to sit on in my next post, probably in the next hour or so.

Thanks again everyone, definitely worth the sleep deprivation. I would love to get another one of these bad mamajamas and have about a months time to build and paint it. Anyway, onto the next one. Up next I'm working on a DC dread and the new defense force box that dropped yesterday. I'll post those up in my other project log. I'll keep this one updated with tau goodness though, I've got a ton of tau stuff lined up through a couple clients.


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## Jolnir (Feb 11, 2014)

Badassery. Between the scope and shirt time taken, this has to be one of the best miniature projects I've ever seen. Although, it really isn't even that miniature...


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## Veteran Sergeant (May 17, 2012)

Fantastic final result.

When did the Tau join the UN Spacy?


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## direwolf18 (May 29, 2014)

So I just received #87. I was searching to see who got 86, was kinda pissed cause that is my birth year and I would have gotten a big kick outa getting that one. Anyways thanks for posting these picks it gives me ideas and inspiration for the epic project ahead of me.


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