Into Kai-Itza's Vault - A WIP Thread

Now I've recovered from that martini-flavoured antifreeze Spammy gave me I've got some advice for you Kai.

Quite simply, pace yourself. Try to paint a model each day if you can: You don't have to pick up 30 odd men and say 'right. Lets paint this all tonight'. You'll run out of steam pretty fast. Another good idea might not to buy loads of stuff at once. Seeing huge amounts of unpainted models can be pretty daunting. Wait until you've finished one unit before moving onto another.

Give yourself 'treats'. Say, with your Tau army, you have 20 fire warriors and an ethereal. Paint the fire warriors first, so you can look forward to the ethereal. If you paint all the cool models first, you'll have nothing to look forward to except rank upon rank of basic infantry. This can seriously dishearten a painter.

Anyway, I hope this helps you complete your armies. Can't wait for pics.

Sir Spamalot said:

Tau... what can a say, other than... YAY! I'm repainting my whole army so at least we'll be able to relate My ethereal is all that's done so far

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I'm following your WIP, Spammy it's looking promising, totally diggin' your XV8 Commander, you certainly put the Ninja in Ninja'O (See what I did there?)

ChadMS said:

Quite simply, pace yourself. Try to paint a model each day if you can: You don't have to pick up 30 odd men and say 'right. Lets paint this all tonight'. You'll run out of steam pretty fast. Another good idea might not to buy loads of stuff at once. Seeing huge amounts of unpainted models can be pretty daunting. Wait until you've finished one unit before moving onto another.

Give yourself 'treats'. Say, with your Tau army, you have 20 fire warriors and an ethereal. Paint the fire warriors first, so you can look forward to the ethereal. If you paint all the cool models first, you'll have nothing to look forward to except rank upon rank of basic infantry. This can seriously dishearten a painter.

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That's some good advice you have there, why didn't I think of that?

I'll try that method out, it seems better than to dedicate one or two days a week. Here, have some Rep.

********​

OK, update time

Last night I rummaged through my collection to see how much I’ve actually got to strip, clean, convert, paint and varnish for my Tau Empire Army and this is how much it had amounted to:

***This has been moved to the first post, as part of the contents page***

From raw recruit, to seasoned veteran


When I started this, I’ve immediately jumped into repairing them to good order and painting them, without as much as a sniff towards the long process of cleaning. This proved to be a mistake and a mockery of my painting skills and, I knew that I could do better than that.
Yeah, if you squint at them and place them on the gaming table, they look pretty good. We’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Knowing that I’ve done a good job so far, there’s still room for improvement here and I’ll come back to it to touch it up with Extreme Highlights, the lenses, Sept markings and making the snow look more realistic. So far, it’s a good start.

The following pics shows a small portion of my army and some of the WIP/finished units of the army taken about a year ago (due to a long day yesterday I came home a little late, so I didn’t bother dragging out my entire collection just to take their pictures, I was knackered )

So, enough talk, I’ll do a bit of ‘show and tell’.


Fire Warriors










I always wanted to do something different with my new army; the inspiration came from right here on LO. Before starting this wild collection I was busy lurking on the old painting gallery of this forum, before it disappeared without a trace, then I saw it; a Hammerhead painted in metallic blue and silver, it was the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever seen! That’s what started me on this scheme.

Though I’m still trying to get the hang of how to pull it off, so far I’m doing a good job. Is there anyone out there who might give me tips on how to improve my painting/modeling skills? Like the metals, snow etc? Even though I’m the ‘average Joe’ when it comes to painting, I’m always willing to improve .


Madness takes root


This sorry lot is from one of the many collections that I brought on EBay, this is the latest buy I have and most probably the last (I hope), below are some piccies showing the whole lot and some close-ups of their crappy paintjobs.







From a distance, they might seem like an excellent deal, in my position they are, for I have ways of bringing these back to their former glory. I’ve done a few close-ups of those and some that I’ve stripped and in the process of re-painting.

As I stated earlier, these pics are from the dusty archives of my computer and a lot has changed since then, particularly the Hammerhead and all 3 VX8’s. When I get the time, I’ll post some updated pics of them. I promise!

Drones






You can see what I mean by a bad paint job, no job too small for my paint stripper.

In one day, I was able to strip enough Drones to make a Squadron. This was a while ago and during that time, they were undercoated and in the middle of re-painting.



These are now ready for the next stage, Metallic Green.



As I said earlier, this is from about a year ago; they just need their lenses painted and their bases to do.

I better take the time to show you what is my progress so far on anther post, instead of continuing from here, by back-dating what I’ve done all the way to where I am at present .

When I get the time, I’ll post what I’ve done on-and-off over the past year, these include:

3 XV8 Battlesuits – modeled/primed
My New and Improved XV8 Commander – primed and ready to go
An XV88 Broadside Battlesuit – in the middle of converting
10 Kroot ‘Spineback’ Carnivores – in the middle of converting
A barely started Fire Warrior Squad


Any constructive criticism and comments are very welcome



-Kai-Itza-

King Ulrik Flamebeard said:

The metallic green is odd, but seems to work quite well. My only concern would be that the black cloth isn't very visible. An extra highlight or maybe a lighter grey would perhaps be ideal.
Kuffy

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Yeah the Highlights are there, it's just the crappy lighting of the photo, I think you're right about that extra highlight. Also, I'm going to put some extreme highlights on the very edges of the armour plates (Metallic Green and the Silver) to possiblly give them more depth.

Thanks for the head's up

Deadstar_MRC said:

I think I remember that metallic blue tank! It did indeed look fantastic, as does your scheme. I really like it!

Best of luck, Kai-Itza!

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Thanks mate! By the looks of the looong list I've got, I'm gooing to need it :soldier:.



Update time ,

As I said in an earlier post, I want to bring you up to speed with what I’ve done thus far to give you a general idea of where I stand amongst these hordes of second-hand/NIB miniatures. I’ve been on a frenzy of photography lately to show you, rather than tell you, of what I’ve done over the last year or so.

So far, I’ve shown you my only fully painted unit; the Fire Warriors, and the following is what else I’ve been up to:

XV8 ‘Crisis’ Battlesuit 1









XV8 ‘Crisis’ Battlesuit 2











XV8 ‘Crisis’ Battlesuit 3









XV88 ‘Broadside’ Battlesuit





Sorry about the crappy pictures, folks, my camera decided to throw a fit, much to my annoyance , when I finally get around to finishing them off for priming/painting, I’m sure to post better pics.

And yes, the weapons are magnetised :dance:.

Devilfish swims silently













I’ve been working on this for quite some time, painting it for a couple of hours then leaving it for weeks before throwing myself back into painting it again. It’s not really my best in terms of both painting and modelling, in fact, I was thinking of stripping it down and starting again! Then I thought no, I’ve spent so long on this thing, I’d rather wait until my army is at a decent size before even thinking about starting over with it. Atm I’m starting to get attached to it, even though I’m not happy with it.

Yesterday, I’ve just finished the metallic green on the beast, and started painting the sept colour on some of its plates, my choice was purple and it was because it was the exact opposite colour of my army’s colour scheme, for what I saw in the codex, it fits the army well and breaks up all those metallics.

I’ll paint some more of the Devilfish later, as I’m a little bit behind on my Secret Santa mini.

A Knife in the dark

And finally, my pride and joy of my modelling skills, I give you my commander; Shas’el Standing-Knife (I’ll write up the fluff for him and his Cadre later).













Recently I had to re-model him, as after a few games and a couple of knocks, he fell apart on me, so I had to take him apart and reinforce him with some tough, plastic rod and some industrial strength super glue.
The results; some very strong joins as I reinforced his legs, arms and head.

During the same day, when I was reinforcing him, a single drop of super glue when in his left foot, I managed to wash most of it off. The rest I’ll have to file off at a future time as well as fill in some of the gaps made during re-modelling with some Green Stuff as well

EDIT: - For those keen-eyed of you, some of the battlesuits are missing some parts, these have fallen off at some point during their cleaning/converting, these are not lost, they just fell off and need gluing back in place.


Thanks for all your support thus far, and CC&C are always welcome




-Kai-Itza-

Merry Christmas guys and gals!


I've been rather busy but sadly no pics to show you of my progress.

Some of you might know that I've joined the Secret Santa this year, meaning that I'll be concentrating on painting this model for my recipient, so painting has slowed considerably on the Devilfish as a result (I'm determined to finish the Devilfish, I'm on a roll!).

So, with the painting table filled up with me doing the SS mini, I'm willing to compensate for the missing time...

I've been challenged by my local club to a club Tournamant, we had one during the summer and I got pasted by cheesed out lists :freaked-out:, so in preparation of this, I'm going to strip, clean, convert and prime the following models:

XV8 Crisis Battlesuit
XV8 Crisis Battlesuit
XV88 Broadside Battlesuit
Skyray
Hammerhead

Key

Not Started
Modelling/Converting
Primed

As you can see, there's a lot that I've got to do before this tournamant begins. Plus, it'll give me some much needed practice in how I play them, so far they're going all right in games but, I'll need to 'tighten-the-screws' in time for the GT next year.

Lani Guy said:

Jackmoddle said:

I like your colour scheme but on the Devilfish it makes it look kind of toy-ish. What you need are some highlights or interior lines to break up the large surfaces so that it looks more detailed. I might suggest some freehanded circuitry, or at least some battle damage to suggest that it's a deadly war machine, not a toy.

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I agree with this. But it is very streamline and technological looking.

.... Your XV8's.... are... absolutely... AMAZING! The poses are out of this world, just like the Tau! lol Very action-y-ish, striking, movement oriented, LOVE IT!

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I agree that that the Devilfish is rather plain but, I plan to add some further detail to it after I got a nice solid colour going on the armour plates, detail such as; Shading, extreme highlights, chips/scratches, a fading colour effect from around the exhausts/enging outputs and weathering.

Though ATM it's the weathering effect that I'm having trouble on finding a technique, my Tau Empire Cadre's background fluff involves them doing some heavy fighting on an Ice World, where I will simulate across my collection, that they've been fighting both on the frozen tundras and in the abandoned ruins of the Obsidian Cities high up on the planet's scarse mountainous regions.

I'm haing trouble in weathering stuff like frosting and ice forming in the recesses (mostly on the underside of the Devilfish), I wouldn't want to do too deep in detail on this otherwise the model with look 'overcrowed' or 'busy' with detail, just here and there just to break up all those metallics lol.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter of detail, particularly the weathering on the Devilfish.

Fremen said:

I love Your colour scheme, esp. the metallic green!
Also the modelling is excellent!
I am wondering how will the army look when it will be done!

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Thanks mate!

When thinking about the colour scheme to paint the army as, I wanted something different that could provide a challenge to both my modelling and painting skills, Metallic Green is harder than it looks to apply but when it's over, your greeted with an army that looks striking and unified, as well as look great on the tabletop :dance:

xbanditsx said:

I'm amazed that a single magnet holds up you 'el. Nice job building him!

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Thanks mate!

If you look at the magnet's connection more closely, you'll see some wires poking out of the ruined pillar, they're there not just to make the mini. look pretty, it is actually a few supports to prevent it from falling off under it's own weight. Those supports runs the length of the ruined pillar, providing a very stong 'prop' for the commander to sit on comfortably.

Though he does have a problem with hills during games...:S

I'm not going to equip him with the Special Issue Weapons, as I know that they'll unbalance him, though I do have a remedy for that by scratchbuilding one, that way, it'll be lighter than the metal equivalent and would still look cool on him ^.^

Deadstar_MRC said:

Some very nice poses on the Crisis suits to - I particularly like suit 3, and your commander of course! Although... he does seem to have an extraordinarily large head...

Then again, that is how you tell he's the commander - the bigger the hat the more important the person. I imagine it applies for Tau, too.

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When I originally brought this lot second-hand I just undercoated and painted him as-is, after having some games with him, I just hated his pose every time I stuck him on the table - just too static to be Tau.

My idea of Tau, is an advanced race whose technology gave them the weapons to deal with any threat and the tools to react to them quickly and efficiently which makes them highly maneouverable, but not necessarily fast, which is what I want to capture with this army - the Tau's strengths not their weaknesses.

As well as to make them look great on the tabletop to boot!



-Kai-Itza-

Hey Everyone

Things have momentarily taken the turn for the worse for me health-wise, as I've caught the cold, until that clears up, progress will be slow on all fronts. I'm hoping for this to clear up by the end of the week (hopefully), so I'll probably not be able to get the Secret Santa Mini. done on time (I'm halfway through painting it atm).

This seems to happen to be every year, where I'll catch an illness right slap-bang on one of the most important dates of my calander (It's my Birthday today :dance.

This doesn't stop me from going to my own birthday party, or going out to find a new toy to play with!


Right, best be off, I've got a stack of Uni. work with my name on it :\ (well, not that much of a stack...)




-Kai-Itza-