How to make your own custom decals

Very useful for the decal heavy Tau army, here's a tutorial about how to print/make your own.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/12/tutorial-custom-decal-sheets.html

Simple Green is Awesome!

I had a success with Simple Green product this week.  

I heard a year ago it was good for stripping paint off miniatures while still being non toxic.    I tried it on a tank I had spray painted.   I used Army Painter spray and either sprayed too far away or while it was too humid and the paint had a rough, sandpaper like texture to it.   The results were ok.   I had gotten rid of most of the textured paint but it didn't COMPLETELY remove the paint.

But, this year I had 2 Pathfinders that had the same Army Painter rough/sand paper issue.   So I soaked them in a cup of Simple Green.   After the first day, I pulled them out and used an old toothbrush to start scraping off the excess paint.  Then I put them back in the Simple Green for another day.

The next day i pulled them out, started brushing and the paint just fell off in flakes.   I'd say about 90 percent of the paint came off of the figure with just toothbrushing it.   I used some tweezers and a dentist tool (sharp pointy metal thing) to get all of the paint off.  You can get Simple Green at any big hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot in the cleaning supplies section.   The results speak for themselves....

Painter Showcase: Sirath at DakkaDakka.com

This guy's stuff is FANTASTIC.  Really clean and detailed stuff.   Love the Naga, Crisis Suit and Kroot conversions!  Check him out!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/user/8512-Sirath.html

Painter Showcase: Freeloader at DakkaDakka.com

Here are some nicely painted Kroot, Tau and Crisis Suits from Freeloader over at Dakka Dakka.  Check them out!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/user/19880-Freeloader.html

Crisis Suits Team 01

Here's a first pict of my painted Crisis Suits.  Color scheme is more of the same (see earlier posts).   For these guys i use the magnetic base instead of the crappy clear ones GW gives you.   Its using a construction toy set called MAGZ.   The main pedestal portion has magnets on either end and I just delicately screwed in a wood screw to the main pedestal hole on the actual suit.  Got sooooo tired of them snapping off the GW clear bases.   Take a look.

BoLS: Commander Farsight Story Article

Interesting article on Commander Farsight.   Did he discover the secret of the Ethereals?  Is he a pawn of the C'Tan?  Only time will tell.......

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-lore-farsight.html

Nice Crisis Suit on GW site

Here's a nice shot of a painted Crisis Suit on GW's site:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/blogPost.jsp?aId=12800033a

Firewarriors!

Here are some picts of my Firewarrior squad.   Again its a Bleached Bone based with Bestial Brown and Scorched Brown areas.   The blue skin areas are Shadow Grey with Space Wolves Grey highlighting.   For the red bits (eyes and shoulder insignia) I used Scab Red (or was it Red Gore?  I always confuse the two, they're very similar) with Blood Red as the highlight.

Beasts of War Video: Tau Battlesuit Weapon Systems

Here's another Tau related Beasts of War video.   This ones about Tau Battlesuit Weapon Systems.

Painted Kroot!

Here are some painted Kroot for you.   Used Catachan Green for the main green color with Camo Green and Rotting Flesh for subsequent hilights.   I used a Devlan Mud Wash over all the Catachan Green areas, then highlighted over top.  

The brown bits are  Bestial Brown and Scorched Brown with Snakebite Leather highlights.   Metal portions were Boltgun Metal with a Badab Black/Water (half and half) wash.  I then highlighted with Chainmail.  

Bell of Lost Souls Rumor: Tau in August 2011?

Some Tau codex update rumors at BoLS today.   Especially intriguing is the multi hit Rail gun for the Hammerhead (sorta like the Blood Lance Blood Angels psyker ability).   Lots of new plastic figures too hopefully.   Take a look: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/09/40k-rumors-tau.html

Tau Piranha... in 3-D!!!! (not really)

Took some pictures of my newly painted Tau Piranha.   Got these and my unit of Kroot ready for the tournament (or "painting contest" as some bitterpants' called it) at Brave New Worlds in Willow Grove, PA on Sept. 4, 2010.   It was the first time I had a fully painted army together so that was definately cool.  By the way I got first place in the tournam... sorry...."painting contest".   And as Kung-Fu Dave would say, "MEEAAAHHHH!!!!".  (last photo is a 360 degree animated .GIF)

Crisis Suit Commander

Here's a Crisis Suit Commander "Fireknife" build.  Color scheme is Skeleton Bone Army Painter Spray (same as Citadel Bleached Bone), Bestial Brown, Skull White highlights and Burnished Gold for "sensor/antenna" areas.   The exposed metal in the legs, elbows and thrusters used Chaos Black with a drybrushing of Codex Grey overtop.  For the Red lenses I used Red Gore, Blood Red, Blazing Orange and Skull White specular highlight.

Video on Tau Sky Ray Seeker Missiles

Beasts of War makes some great videos.   Here's one about Tau Sky Ray Seeker Missiles and their rules:

Kroot Golden Deamon Winners 2010 (these are not mine!)

Here's a link to pictures of some of the Golden Deamon winners at Gamesday this year:

www.the-warforge.com

Here are some Kroot pieces:

Pathfinders

Here is a picture of my Pathfinders.  Still have to put on half Bleached Bone and half Skull White highlights on the Bleached Bone areas but they are coming along.   Very similar to my Hammerhead,  used Army Painter Skeleton Bone spray base then Bestial Brown for the brown bits.   Used Chaos Black with Codex Grey drybrush for the boots and parts of the Pulse Carbine.   For the pants and other brown bits I washed the recessed areas with a Denab Brown wash and then highlight with Snakebite Leather.  Markerlight emitters was Shadow Grey with Space Wolves Grey highlight.  For eyepiece and shoulder patch I used Red Gore and then Blood Red with a Skull White specular highlight.

First post with one of the first models I painted...

Here's a few images of one of the first models I painted for my army, the Tau Hammerhead Tank.  The army is a sand dune desert themed army.   I used Army Painter Skeleton Bone spray paint to lay down the foundation and used Bestial Brown for the brown sections.  

For the dark, neutral colors I used Chaos Black and then highlighted with Codex Grey.  Because the rest of the model is mostly warm hues these neutral areas tend to look cooler or bluer. 

Any areas of the model that seemed to be "antenna" or "scanner" looking I painted gold.  Most lights and hatches were based with Blood Red and highlighted with White and Orange and the dark areas are a Scab Red.  Comments are welcome!

Ion Cannon Varient