GrahamGilchrist's Tau Farsight Cadre and scratchbuilt Orca Log

[omricon]

nice update, and I thought you would never finish them...

[Apologist]

Beautifully clean finishing on the plates, which works really, really well next to the stealthed areas. Have you any plans to do one with a more complete area of stealth? What's on the workbench now?

[GrahamGilchrist]

Have you any plans to do one with a more complete area of stealth?

I ummed and ahhed about this for a long time. Whilst it might look cool, I thought it would disrupt the colour scheme of the squad and couldn't quite face drybrushing completely over a fully painted model. If I ever come acrosss another spare stealth suit model I might have a go though...

What's on the workbench now?

Well, interesting you ask... it's the rest of the stealth team!
There are 7 models done now, although I recently discovered another unsprayed one in the army case so he is being painted up next.

So without further ado, I present the remaining members of Stealth Team Fior:

This Shash'ui is in the process of redeploying to a better firing position, and is about to fire his jetpack. The powered actuators in his battlesuit armour allow him to run quickly even with the bulky burst cannon. Due to the speed of his movement, his suit's active camouflage does not have time to to adequately image the surroundings, thus only his feet are in camouflage.

[GrahamGilchrist]

Shas'Ui Kauyon'Nan is the dependable member of team Fior. His Sha'vre knows that Kauyon'Nan's aim is strong and true, and whether the squad is advancing into the teeth of the enemy, or if the more 'independent' team members are putting themselves in harms way, Kauyon's burst cannon will be there, laying down a hail or withering covering fire.

[GrahamGilchrist]

The following two members of the Cadre are wearing the older XV15 stealth armour. Since the Farsight enclaves seceded from the main Tau empire, resupply of battlefield materials and weaponry has been difficult, with the result that many units must resort to older or cannibalised equipment. Whilst other teams such as Team Fior have been upgraded with the newer XV25 suits, there are not enough of these to fulfill the entire Cadre's requirements, and these two members of Stealth Team J'Kaara wear the older model of stealth armour.



Whilst it is not unknown for strong bonds to form between fire warrior teams, especially among Farisght's followers, it is unusual to see such bonds among the usually individualistic characteristics of a stealth team. These two have formed such a bond over many years and operations together, so much so, that they can almost preternaturally predict each others actions and responses in combat. The Ta'lissera blood covenent between them means that they are more valuable to a commander together than as separate fighting units, and has earned them the nickname Team J'Kaara, or 'mirror' as they reflect each others personalities.



This Shas'ui, like many Tau in the stealth teams, is rather eccentric and refuses to upgrade to the newer battlesuit model, claiming that he has formed a bond with his 'lucky' suit over many years, and fears that he will fall in battle as soon as he adopts anything else. Whilst many laugh at his claims that the suit is tuned to his mental state, none can argue at his results and efficacy on the battlefield. Due to his stubborn refusal to accept new equipment, the other J'Kaara insists on also retaining his XV15 armour, so strong is their bond.

Team J'Kaara are often deployed by Commander Starblade in a rapid reconnaisance capacity or in restricted size environments, where their older and armour allows them faster speed and more maneuverability than the newer models.

[omricon]

This is a great squad, I particularly like the fluff around the old suits.

I would pick you up on the point Apologist made though which is about a more camouflaged model. Surely you dont have to paint it all first if you know what you are going to dry bush with dessert colours then you can just do a basic coat for that bit? Save time and make a cool different looking model...

[GrahamGilchrist]

Surely you dont have to paint it all first if you know what you are going to dry bush with dessert colours then you can just do a basic coat for that bit? Save time and make a cool different looking model...

Well, no I don't have to paint it first, but these ones were already done. As I said, I might try that if I get any more models but I don't want to do it over any of these ones.

[razormasticator]

Man I love your Tau, everything about it! The color scheme, the way you painted them and how they are turning out.

[GrahamGilchrist]

Another update tonight. I have finished the final model of stealth team J'Kaara. Due to his crouching pose and the suggestions of Apologist and Omricon, I have made him in a more completed stealth position. If you look at him at just the right angle it looks like he is taking the profile of the rock.

Anyhoo, here are the photos. I apologise that the colours are slightly off because it's evening here and there was no natural light.





It took quite a number of tries to get the stealth effect correct and consistent all the way round. It was a lot harder due to the larger area of transition effect when applied to the torso.
What do you think?

Now the stealth teams are done, I just have crisis suits left to finish (all 16 of them!)

[edit] Whoops, also not forgetting I have to fully paint the Orca - Doh!

[tinfoil]

Amazing job on the "transition effect"!
A worthy addition to a gorgeous army.

[omricon]

thats great! And I am not just saying that because you took our suggestion.

[Bob Hunk]

Pfft, and you were worried the stealth effect wouldn't work over a large area. It looks awesome! I agreed with Apologist and Omicron, but didn't get a chance to say so. Now on to the Crisis suits!

[le Mediko]

Waouhh!
I just discover your army today : really great work on the Orca.
Your paint scheme is great an the stealth battlesuits are amazing, definitvely my favourite.

[GrahamGilchrist]

Hi guys,
I've received a few PM's asking about templates and dimensions for my Orca (sorry it took so long replying to all you guys).

I actually got the size estimates from a copy of Imperial Armour 3. Obviously this is copyright so I can't provide copies to anyone, but if you can get a copy, it has scale profile drawings of the sides and top of the Orca, and this is what I used for getting the ratios correct.

As for the actual dimensions, I had to guess based on photos of the orca and the size of a crisis suit. There is also a scale drawing in the back of imperial armour 3 of the orca versus a rhino which might help you with dimensions if you have a rhino around to measure.

I can make no judgement on the actual GW model, but I can tell you the dimensions of mine are:
main body width: 122mm
main body height: 75mm
main body length (longest part): 372mm
engine width: 40mm
engine height (longest): 64mm
engine length (longest top profile): 115mm
Top tail height: 46mm
Top tail length: 96mm

Most of this was done by eye and ratios from IA3, and I have no idea whether these are anywhere near correct having never seen a real Orca, but it looks cool on the tabletop

[Vam2tic]

There is only one word to descibe this army........FANTASTIC
Really like the orca and the stealth suits are gorgeous. Keep up the painting these are brill

[Dictator]

Can we ahve some pictures of the orca? We have not seen it in quite some time!

[omricon]

give us a fix more pls!

[Ganymene]

The new stealth suits look incredible.

I especially enjoy the one that is kneeling. The 'almost complete' stealth effect is really eye-catching.

Keep up the good work!

[GrahamGilchrist]

Really like the orca and the stealth suits are gorgeous. Keep up the painting these are brill

Can we ahve some pictures of the orca? We have not seen it in quite some time!

give us a fix more pls!

Thanks for all the replies and kind words. The Warseer encouragement is really driving me to work on this project.

There will be more pictures of the Orca soon. I have not painted more on it since the basic paint job I did for the campaign weekend, but it will get a full re-work before I am done! I'll see if I can rustle up some more detail photos of it this evening in it's current state.

@Dictator - I really like your cadians BTW. very nice colour scheme and clean execution.

I especially enjoy the one that is kneeling. The 'almost complete' stealth effect is really eye-catching.

Thanks! I wasn't sure if he was going to come out well, but I'm happy with the final result

[GrahamGilchrist]

Hi Guys,
A little later than promised, I bring some photos of Orca stuff as requested.

First up, I have some photos of the base design I finally went with. As you may recall from a lot earlier in the thread, I was struggling to come up with a decent way to mount the Orca in it's flying stand with a low enough centre of gravity so it would not topple over.

After many ideas, I decided plastic tubing was not strong enough, and that I needed a metal tube for the flying stand. I got this from B&Q for a few pounds for about a metre.



To keep the centre of gravity and stop the orca toppling over, I needed a fairly wide and heavy flying base. I ended up making the base from a routed offcut of Oak:



and mounted the pole to it using a screw with a wide countersunk head and a thread rivet inside the tube as seen in the first picture of this post.



This all combines together thus with a little dowel on top to provide connection to the Orca. The dowel is unnecessary really, the tube could go straight into the hole under the Orca, but I didn't want to damage the balsa wood. It also means it doesn't spin around when mounted, due to the wood-against-wood friction.



Since the Orca is fairly light, this setup works really well and is not in the least unstable. I would be tempted to use it even for something as large as a Thunderhawk. Another advantage of doing things this way is that the tube unscrews from the base, allowing for very easy transport in a miniatures case with the aircraft.

I've got some more pictures of the Orca mounted on this stand, plus some painting close-ups coming soon so stay tuned.