WIP: Tau Riptide

Time to bring a little heavy firepower to my growing Cadre. Early pics after the jump.

Having completed my fireteams and pathfinders, I've decided to move on to something with a little more kick. I finally broke the plastic wrap on my Riptide-- and was a bit intimidated by what I saw.          

Wow. That is one tightly packed sprue. It's a far cry from the old GW space marine sprues with a ton of dead space between torsos and heads! There's, like, a billion parts on here. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Fortunately, the instructions (as always) were clear and concise. I was able to determine what sub assemblies I would need to speed up the painting process, and had them constructed in a little over an hour and a half.

You'll notice the tiny head in there. I've never liked that the gigantic riptide has the same size head as the basic crisis suit. It makes sense in the fiction, but it's garbage design. It makes the whole thing look like a body builder with this silly little pinhead. so I built my own.

This new head is kitbashed from existing parts in the kit. No need to fish through your bitz bin - everything you need is supplied in the box. It's constructed entirely of extra bits I didn't intend to use. This design is inspired by one I found at "little losers" studio. If you google image search "Tau Riptide conversion", you'll see it in the top few hits.

I also managed to prime the sub assemblies. Given how intimidating this kit was when I opened it, I'm pleased with how quickly it's actually coming together.

Are you working on a riptide, or other large model? Share your progress in the comments below!

-trip