Tau: Working with Skyrays - Part 3 (Quick Tip)

Here is the last part (aside from actually getting some paint down!) on my series about making the fullest possible use of GWs Tau Skyray and Hammerhead kits.

• In the first part I covered the options that were available in the kit.
• In the second part I covered rebuilding the front underslung turret.

This is the final part and covers modelling the main weapons to make them interchangeable so you can field your Skyray as a Skyray, Hammerhead (with your choice of weapons) or Devilfish.

I'm not the greatest modeller in the world so feel free to improve on anything I'm suggesting here if (and when!) you see a better way of doing it.

First - the easy bit: The Skyray

I only magnetised this so that the missiles can be removed as fired in-game. I think they're designed to push-fit but I found they weren't a good fit and wouldn't stay in place. 

I glued some pieces of paper-clip into the slots

Added some magnets to the missiles. I'm undecided about these particular magnets and may replace them with smaller, inset ones.

And it fits together like this (the engine pod at the back is just to balance the turret)

The second part - the Hammerhead turret. 

I shaved down some of the details on the "block" so that the weapons could fit totally over it and added a magnet at the back...

And another at the front

In order to mount the railgun I fabricated these small bits of, er, things. For scale they're small - the hole is just beg enough for a small magnet and the entire piece fits inside the hole at the bottom of the railgun, nearer the front than the back

You can just see the, er, "thing" in place complete with magnet on the right-hand edge of the hole.

When dropped in place over the block on the turret the magnet holds the railgun in place and stops it tilting forwards

The Ion Cannon is a little more tricky - there's nothing inside it's hole to glue a similar "thing" to so I had to glue a boatload of bits of sprue into it, front and back, in order to be able to mount magnets. It's a looser fit and so needed magnets both front and back.

Not a great photo but you can just make out the bits of sprue and the magnet inside the hole. It's a similar view if you look into the hole from the back of the gun. Two magnets are required to secure this weapon

And here it is in place

Painting of the tanks is going to need to wait until early 2015 as the Christmas Holiday season is a busy time for me and also there's a short "sabbatical" project I want to do too.

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The Tau Family Album:

Tau: Fire Warriors (Squad 2)

And here is my second full squad of Fire Warriors, complete. These guys have pulse carbines rather than pulse rifles.

The photos above are the same unit from two slightly different angles.

I'm going to try to get one more unit done before Christmas (which is exactly two weeks off) and then take a short break from the Tau to do a mini-project I've wanted to do since getting the first "Apocalypse" book and add a Sentinel Platoon to my Imperial Guard roster!

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The Tau Family Album:

Tau: Family Album

There was a comment made recently about a post I wrote which basically said "Nice models, but the sofa you stood them on for the photos doesn't do them justice." I'd been thinking about constructing a backdrop for my photos for a while and that provided the impetus for me to actually do it.

It's not complete yet as I'm not happy with the quality of the picture behind the models - the way it's been glued to the box I've used as a framework is shocking. I learn as I go and will (as soon as I can find some) print it out again and attach it to a sheet of A2 card that will eradicate the creasing you can see.

For now, though, here is my Tau army, rephotographed.

My first Fire Warrior Squad...

My first Fire Warrior Squad (different angle)... 

My first Fire Warrior Squad (different angle)...

Piranhas - drones will be added later

Another angle on the Piranhas

Riptide with Ion Cannon

Same  Riptide, but with the Ion Cannon swapped out (I love magnets!)

Same Riptide, different angle

Some Tetras

Same Tetras, different angle

My Barracuda's base

Barracuda

Barracuda - another angle

Pathfinders. Mostly actually Fire Warriors with grenades in place of backpacks and no shoulder pads. The squad leader is a tank commander model from the Devilfish kit. The binoculars seemed appropriate for the squad.

My second Fire Warrior squad

My second Fire Warrior squad - different angle

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Tau: Fire Warriors (Squad 1)

Here is my first completed squad of Fire Warriors for my growing army.

I'll be following these up over the next few weeks with more foot troops, which is something that I've been neglecting in favour of painting bigger models.

I've had to pack my airbrush away for a few weeks which has halting my progress on vehicles for the time being, so my foot troops (which had already had their airbrush work done and just need brush-painting and assembly) can get some focus.

So here we go:

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Tau: Working with Skyrays - Part 2 (Quick Tip)

Aaaaaaages ago I wrote a post called "Working with Skyrays - Part 1" after noting that Citadel had been generous in the Skyray model insomuch as with a small amount of work you could use it as a Devilfish or a Hammerhead.

Well, I figured I was overdue to write part 2 and here it is.

I started by cutting a circle of plasticard to cover the hole where the under-turret fits on. I glued a disc magnet to it (actually two - there's one hidden underneath the plasticard too just for a bit of extra "attractiness").

I drilled a hole through the cover where the "peg" normally fits on and then covered that hole with a spare Fire Warrior grenade. Into the hole I glued two small magnets to act as a replacement for the peg and also to attract to the disc magnet shown in the picture above.

I glued a bit of sprue with a magnet in it into the turret itself

Here you can see the turret sitting on the cover (from the 2nd pic above)

I chopped the back off a burst cannon and put a magnet in so it could attach to the turret

and fixed another magnet inside the sensor array using green-stuff

Here you can see the sensor on the turret

and now I can put the whole thing together with sensors (like the Skyray/Hammerhead)...

...or with the burst cannon (like the Devilfish)

And in part 3, I'll tackle dealing with the Skyray and Hammerhead's main weapons.

More Tau-related stuff:

Tau: Barracuda

The fight for The Greater Good takes to the skies!

I completed work on this model a couple of days ago. The model is one of Forgeworld's Tau range and I've wanted one of these since I first saw them a few years ago.

Completing this wasn't without its issues - there is a missile-bay underneath it which didn't work as intended due to some ham-fisted super-glueing on my part. It won't close properly now, which I'm not at all happy about.

The overall result, though, is something I'm very pleased with.

Apologies for the gloomy photos - I couldn't get the light right on the day I took them.

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Tau: Piranhas

Another unit ready to fight for "The greater good" (with the exception that they have no drones yet) - my Piranhas:

This is the first unit that I've completed that shows the Fire Warriors with the shoulder pads that I painted oh-so-long-ago.

You'll notice that in one of the models the pilots don't have shoulder pads - that's because (like a lot of my stuff) these are other people's junk bought from ebay for pennies and refurbished and that model didn't come with pilots so these are some leftover Fire Warriors from the spares box. I'd run out of shoulder pads ;-)

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Tau: Riptide (Finished)

And here is the finished Riptide.

First off - Great Model - well done Citadel! Great fun to build, great fun to paint.

I've magnetized the model so the main weapon and support systems can be swapped out. You can see the main weapon swapped in and out in the photos below. There are a couple of widgets that go on the weapon - I've left

I've not painted the smaller weapons and support systems yet (they'll get done alongside the XV-8 battlesuits as they're all the same parts and the XV-8's will be magnetized too).

Very happy with this chappy. On to the next job: Piranhas!

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