# Tau army WIP journal



## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

I've always wanted to do one of these, but never really got it going once i started an army. So now that I'm doing my Tau, I'll be able to get it going. I am moving in the next couple days, but I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be updating this with the painting process as I go along with my entire Tau army. Hopefully it'll all go down well


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Woot, more Tau. Bring it on. Have you decided on a colour scheme yet?


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

yes i have and I already did one test model that as soon as its finished, i'll post a pic of it and then start going through the process with the other models. We have a green and bone scheme with some grey detailing so far.


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

Here is my test model for my new Tau. Pretty happy with the scheme overall and excited to get this done (and need to try to get it done by the first of June for the Las Vegas GT!)

I'll be moving this weekend, and it might be a bit before internet connection gets back to me, so there will probably be a delay, but i'll update as soon as I can. Thanks for browsing 

Oh, and the in the last pic, eventually there will be a Tau decal in the round white section...


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Good luck with your move!


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

new entry now that i'm moved. I would have gone step by step with the painting, but I couldn't find the camera til today after the move. So here is the Shas'El of the force. Him and Farsight will be in the red/bone armor while the rest of the army will be in the green/bone armor to signify rank.


























I have my Broadside basecoated, so I will do a step by step on how I do the the armor colors coming up...


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## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Looking good, real nice colourscheme as well. 
Really helps the model from becoming to dark
and helps it to fit with the green/bone scheme
of the rest of the army.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

yes. yes yes. lovely new colour scheme. i'm now on board. keep it up.


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

Im not a fan of the colors either, but good smotohpaint.

I reccommed another layer though, the black is faintly visible underneath the magenta-purple.


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## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

wait for the foundation colours! i love them!


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

This post is somewhat long, I just started typing and came up with the following.. hope you enjoy 

*ARMOR PART 1*

Now that I have a small captive audience, which I don't mind since i have never attempted an army journal before, lets get down to it. I am in the process of painting my 2 Broadsides and it's a good time to go through how I do my armor and exosuits. 

When I do an army, I dont really go all out for Golden Demon quality. I do some very good work I feel when I can focus on a display model for a while, but an army I put myself in a different mindset to get the army done and on the table. This may cause me to shortcut some stuff, not layer as much as I would, but I still want a very presentable army on the table so eventually I feel it all comes out in the end. So I wanted to throw that out as my processes on this diary will not be earthshattering or very complex. When it comes to a full army, I try to keep it simple, stay with the basics but still add flair here and there when I am able.

So onto my Broadsides...

I get the model built obviously, these were the Forgeworld Broadsides that I got in a great deal (and they are an amazingly beefy model compared to other suits) so they were fun to build. I used regular superglue. I cannot emphasize enough to use the right glue for the right job when it comes to building. I use superglue (usually a thick consistency glue when i can get the kind i like) for resin, metal, and metal on plastic joins. I use Testors plastic model glue for any full plastic to plastic joins. For those that may read this that are just starting out, using superglue on plastics will make the join weak. I have actually received models from people in trade that they used superglue to build and I literally pulled them apart, worked a knife to remove the superglue and rebuilt them with plastic glue. Plastic glue will make its own chemical reaction to heat up the plastic and actually melt it back together, making it into basically one piece. There is my modelling 101 tip of the day 

After building the models, I use a coat of black gesso (thanks weetoysoldiers for the tip) and modelmasters flat black acrylic paint in a 4:1 ratio and brush basecoat the models. I used to use sprays, but I have never been able to find one that doesn't eventually fill in some of the detail or have side effects during the drying stage, so I just brush everything now and i'm very happy to do so.

Once blacked, I used a good coating of Scurf Green (Vallejo Game Color) to go over all the parts of the model that will be green










I'm not looking to be perfect on this coat as I go over the armor seams and separations with black if i need to afterwards. 

Once that was done on both models, I am using Goblin Green (Vallejo Game Color) to be basically my main color. I am going to go over almost all of the Scurf Green to do two things. One, allow it to be a deeper green going over a darker one, and also to allow the Goblin Green to be a bit darker shade. I do leave some of the Scurf Green in the extreme low areas of the model to give it a dark green darkness that the Goblin Green main color will highlight. This coat I am way more careful on to not go over any armor seams or separations and leave the black lines underneath. If i do accidentally, I will very very carefully go over trouble spots with black again.










I do one to two highlights on the main coat to finish the green armor and move onto the bone parts of the armor. I have mixed in a lot of Privateer Press paints (them who makes Warmachine) to my collection and I am using them on this army to test thier worth (so far so good). I will warn anyone using them that they are very thick, but even thinned a little bit they provide pretty good coverage even with problem colors such as reds, yellows, and bone colors. My highlight color is Cryx Green from the P3 line.

I would normally (when working on a single model) would do a halfway blend between the Goblin Green and the Cryx Green, but when doing an army, I try to do just the next color up, making the highlights somewhat transparent so they aren't completely stark and don't take away from the basecolor. I highlight at the tops and peaks of the armor segments and where light would hit other areas. Trying to keep the lines thin and pretty clean. Once i go with the first highlight lightly everywhere I want it, I go over it again with the same color at the extreme points to just give those points a bit more brightness than the lower highlights.










I then clean up the green areas for the last time with some black or the other green colors and give it one last look over. Once happy, I'm off to start the bone color segments. Which will be the next post hopefully tomorrow night...


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

*ARMOR PART 2*

Alright, got the second part of the armor/exosuit done. 

I realized after doing my first color test suit that I had done this before and forgot about it. Since it was more of an organic army I had forgotten...










Its slightly different, but same basic concept... anyway I digress...

First thing to do is give yourself a good base color for bone. Bone on black almost never works unless you put it on thick. Your basecolor will also tell you what tone your bone color will be. If you use a brown, you're bone color will be much more organic looking. If you use a grey, you can get a much more smooth, industrial color thats a bit more subtle than a brown/bone. I chose to use a grey to give the bone color the more industrial look since i'm not doing tyranids or other organics. For all of these bone colors and highlights I'm using the P3 paint series starting with Cryx Bane Highlight for the grey.










This is done the same way that I applied the Goblin Green. Good coverage with care applied when around the armor seams and separations. This gives you a natural blacklining which for Tau I think looks great for the right colors.

Next I apply the main color. P3 color Jack Bone is used. This color will completely cover the grey that i used as the undercoat. The grey is basically a painted over basecolor to give you good coverage for main coat and give you the tone you want as I explained. So after this coat, we should see no grey left over.










Once this has been done, do any clean up with the seams and separations and then I have two highlights to do. One is with the P3 color Menoth White Base.










This highlight is applied strongly on the edges to start my "light reflection" highlight and give me enough room to apply my last highlight. My last highlight is done with Menoth White Highlight. This is done carefully along some of the edges to reflect the last of the "light" on the model.










It is a bit subtle on the last pic, which is why I took a bit closer shot to show it on his center armor section. 

Now that this is done, this pretty much settles my armor colors and I am off to start weapons and details.... coming soon...


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

*GUNS*

Guns will be short and sweet. I chose a grey for the weaponry of my Tau and went with Vallejo's Sombre Grey as it gave a bluish grey that was sort of industrial looking. So it went on the missle pods and railguns taking very care to not get in the separation lines to give a natural blackline. I left a few parts of the railguns black for effect and to prevent monotony on the such a large weapon...










After that was done, I took P3 color Cryx Bane Highlight grey and touched up both the black and the Sombre Grey with a highlight. The highlight grey is more natural grey than the blue grey of the Sombre but I liked it visually and it also gave a slight weathered look to the weapons. The weapons overall i usually keep simple on all of my armies as I kind of loathe painting weapons in general 










I also took this time to clean up some of the final areas with black to get ready for the small details.

Next up we're going to hit the last color I use besides my small detail colors and that should all come up in the next post. Thanks to those that have browsed or followed along, this has been fun for me so far 8)


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## blkdymnd (Jan 1, 2007)

*METAL AND DETAILS*

Last post for the Broadsides! Yay  

First I started with the metals, there is so little metals on a Crisis Suit/Broadside that I just went ahead and did one solid coat. I used P3 color Cryx Gold and it has a great metal effect that it highlights itself very well to the light. Better than GW or Vallejo so I just did one good solid coat where I needed it...










Lastly, it was up to details. I did red on the tops of the smart missles, this was done with Sanguine Base and Sanguine Highlight from P3 and Blood Red for the final highlight...










And the sensors on the helmet the same was done...










and the shoulder insignia, which i just did Menoth Base White and Menoth White Highlight










And lastly, the finished product. The base is not final, I'm still working out a scheme for the final base which I always do after the models are all done, so it'll be a while...


















With that done, I believe it's time for my Stealth Suits to get painted. I have something special planned for them I believe, hopefully it'll come out well... you'll see as I do  Thanks again, I'll update once there is more progress


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Very nice. Definitely going to keep an eye on this thread.


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## darklightknight448 (Nov 9, 2007)

*SWEET
9/10:biggrin::grin::biggrin:*


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## ACoz (Oct 23, 2007)

Great stuff... you have my attention, now.


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