A day late, sure, but it’s got to be Wednesday somewhere, right?  (What do you mean that’s not how it works?)

Sigmar help me, I’ve actually done some painting.  Not a lot, but given how the past month’s been: I’ll take what I can get.

There’s been quite a bit of faffing around with the exact paint color scheme I want to use on my Tau 2.0. I’m still not sure that I’m in love with it, but it’s definitely Good Enough.

Here’s a finished, final model: all he needs is some static grass on the base and varnishing.  Sean P. will likely be happy to note that, in the end, I went with Dragonforge’s Lost Empires bases. In the end, it came down to variety, and thinking I could get the effect I wanted.  It’s turned out okay, I think.

The only thing I’m unhappy with is the Fire Caste symbol.  Previously, I’d painted it black-on-white, and I don’t think it ever looked good. The slightest imperfection in getting lines straight and shapes even stood out. I did some quick alternative color mockups below: the second from the left might have hastily been done in Gimp, but it’s not too far from what black-on-white actually looks like. :/

The more I think about it, the more I like the rightmost one. I think I’m going to give that a spin before I hit the model with varnish.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to make good, quick progress with these guys.

Progress proceeds (slowly) on the Tau. As you can see, I’ve got some Fire Warriors basecoated, and I’m starting in on a final test model.  I’ve put together some Pathfinders, and I’m starting in on a… I dunno. Either a Hammerhead or a Sky Ray. Both, I suppose.

What I’m doing here is something I’ve wanted to do ever since deciding to revisit my Tau a few years ago: smoothing out the sides of my tanks. Devilfish carry troops, yes, but how many hatches does a Hammerhead or Sky Ray need?

Or so my thinking goes.

Instead of putting the hatches on, I’m filling the space with some 2mm plasticard (not as smoothly cut as I’d have liked) with the gaps filled in with greenstuff and the whole mess sanded super-smooth.  It feels perfectly smooth, but we’ll see what it looks like when it’s been primed.

I’m probably going to do some plasticard stuff to the back of the tank when it’s assembled. That smooth space might work on the sides, but I’m not crazy about it on the back.

Anyway, we’ll see if it works out or not next week, I expect.

I still have a blog and hobby, right?

Nothing fancy here, just some color tests as I try to adapt my old color scheme to something a little more involved than “just make sure everything is covered.”

The base is about where I want it; there’s a wash to apply to the red dirt, but it’s the same setup that I used on my Orks.

The model’s not a done deal, but it’s what I used to work through exactly what colors (besides “grey” and “turquoise”) I’m using.  If you look at this and then look at the above model and squint, though, that’s kinda sorta what the finished product will look like.