# Start Collecting! Tau Empire



## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

After a long hiatus from the hobby I've yet again been seduced by 40k. Picked myself a box of Tau up the other day and whenever I've taken on a project like this I find it best to post it on Heresy so that you can all shame me into completing it.

A bit of assembly so far!

The Ethereal proved a tad tricky simply because I found that the two pieces of his robe simply didn't fit very well. Amazingly, the 2 year old GS I had in my tool box was still fresh and so I had a go at filling the gap. It doesn't look too good on the pics but I reckon with a primer on it it'll be fine.






















The DS8 next! I had no idea what the two weapon options were just that I probably wanted to have the choice. Coupled with the fact that I know I want magnetised loadouts for the incoming Crisis Suits meant it was time to nervously break out the magnets I had ambitiously bought a few years ago but never had the balls to try...































The Fire Warriors were easy but a little onerous with regards to mould lines. Perhaps it's just me out of practise, I dunno!













Finally, excited by my moderate success with magnets on the DS8 I went mental with them for drone options...








































The Crisis Suits are up next and I'm looking forward to more magnetic fun! The paint scheme I have in mind at the moment is similar to the box art with the difference of using a bright orange instead of the red, which I guess would make them Sa'cea? All in all, it's pretty sweet being back into 40k and even better to check out everyone's awesome modelling and painting on Heresy.


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## Tyriks (Dec 9, 2015)

I'm in a similar boat, but with Skitarii instead of Tau and have yet to actually try the magnets. Yours look good, though, I'm excited to see the models painted!


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Welcome back as you said a hiatus now returning. Interesting tactics with the posting to shame yourself into motivation for painting and modeling, to be honnest didn't think anyone else did that. 

As to the work not really much to see, apart from a good job on the magnetizing of the drones and turret thingy (have no idea what that actually is haven't read the new tau book). 

Well. Keep going i wish to see a paintjob on these minis continue on!!!


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

@Tyriks best thing you can do is break them out and have a go. If you're really unsure test on a model/bits you don't need.

@Battman I'm hopefully going to assemble the Crisis Team tomorrow then get painting, updates to follow. I'm glad someone else uses PLogs the same way haha!


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Digg40k said:


> @Battman I'm hopefully going to assemble the Crisis Team tomorrow then get painting, updates to follow. I'm glad someone else uses PLogs the same way haha!




Most certainly do, to various degrees of success my models are still mainly unpainted.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

So in retrospect deciding to magnetise all of the weapon options for my Crisis Suit took considerably longer than I thought it would! Anyway I'm all done with assembly. I've kept some parts of the XV8's separate from the main model to make my life easier painting (heads and jump packs) but I'll be priming them all next. Unfortunately, I've neglected to take any pics so this one of my puppy having eaten some ice cream will have to do!


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Even better love how realist that paintjob is almost looks to be alive amazing work there


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## Tyriks (Dec 9, 2015)

Is the sweater magnetized for easy removal?


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Battman said:


> Even better love how realist that paintjob is almost looks to be alive amazing work there


Definitely a dry brush job!



Tyriks said:


> Is the sweater magnetized for easy removal?


Absolutely! Magnetise all the things!


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

Tyriks said:


> I'm in a similar boat, but with Skitarii instead of Tau and have yet to actually try the magnets. Yours look good, though, I'm excited to see the models painted!


Yeah just jump in and have a go. The only thing from my Skitarii that I magnatize is the Onager for different gun options. Have a look at my Sidera Maris plog. I did a mini tutorial for doing that. Now to stop being such a magpie about these things and get into my Skitarii box and get them taken care of.

OT Liking what I'm seeing, the fix on the ethereal looks good. Maybe, sand/scrap the line of GS smooth a bit more before priming. Wasn't there a suit or three with that box?


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## Tyriks (Dec 9, 2015)

Roganzar said:


> Yeah just jump in and have a go. The only thing from my Skitarii that I magnatize is the Onager for different gun options. Have a look at my Sidera Maris plog. I did a mini tutorial for doing that. Now to stop being such a magpie about these things and get into my Skitarii box and get them taken care of.
> 
> OT Liking what I'm seeing, the fix on the ethereal looks good. Maybe, sand/scrap the line of GS smooth a bit more before priming. Wasn't there a suit or three with that box?


I could probably try it on some extra bits. I'll check out the tutorial, thanks!


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Fully primed and ready for painting! Sort of...

Really happy with the posing of the XV8's. I've took some photos of them on drone bases as theirs are currently being prepped but I'm sure you don't mind. The engines and heads remain removable for painting purposes and all weapon loadouts are magnetised.

Alpha













Beta













Gamma













XV8's













Alternative Wargear













Now to the issues. The Ethereals robe didn't bind well urgh! Any advice? At the moment I'm thinking liquid green stuff a sanding/scrape and re-prime. Anybody tried this before?













Also some of my engine parts are suffering from the same issue which is frustrating! They're semi-hidden from view because of their positions but still... (Please note, that's not mold line it's misalignment/gap)


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Ok so in the huge amount of time I've been not posting I've painted... 2 models! I've no doubt my white is too thick, I'm finding it difficult to get the right consistency. At the moment it's either fully skimmed milk consistency or semen, which clearly is an issue. I've tried to go for a glow effect from the orange lenses and blue lenses/gun barrel, I think it works better with the orange. Anyway, they're not perfect by any means but I'm happy with how they look in the last image, i.e. from a tabletop distance. The legs/hooves and base are yet to come.


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Coming up nicely so far. Quite a nice simple little scheme here well done, the crisp white with the nice effect of that black wash works great.


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## wide_ocean (Dec 14, 2011)

Digg40k said:


> it's either fully skimmed milk consistency or semen


This, so much. The right priming does help a lot though.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Beast of a painting session today. Managed to get the vast majority of the paintwork on the Fire Warriors done. Just the cloth on the legs and the blue goat hooves left to do. Painted the Shas'ui with inverted shoulder shield colours in order to make him stand out.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)

Crisis Suits WIP. They need: light grey areas to accent the white; lenses and glows; weapons painted and blue glows.


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

Looking real good.
You know, for heretek machines.


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## Digg40k (Sep 7, 2008)




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