WIP: Tau Fire Warriors

I've been talking about these boys for a while now. Making really good methodical progress. More on the process after the jump.

I thought I had been documenting this process really well with the intent to do a proper step by step guide.  I must have killed that memory card at some point, because all the proper pics are gone *sniff*

No matter, I have some in-progress pics to show anyway. I started out with a white primer and then a quick spray of grey primer from the underside to preshade the figures.  Next I coated everything in Troll Slayer Orange. As mentioned before, that stuff is really translucent and kind of a pain.  I'll have to experiment with using a Jokaero base underneath again, or maybe the Vallejo paint I've ordered will work out better.  I just don't have the patience for multiple base coats.

Second step is the zenithal (top down) shading.  I mixed a little gitz yellow in to the orange and hit everything from up top to get a highlight. That takes us up through the figures in this first pic. 

Once all the airbrush work was complete, I went to brushing all the cloth.  On previous figures I used a mix of Reaper Ashen Blue and black, but I was annoyed having to keep mixing that color and not keeping it consistent.  Luckily, I found (after some experimentation) that Vallejo Dark Bluegrey is a close enough match.  I actually like the extra punch of contrast better.

All that cloth took me a couple of nights to paint in.  I threw some of the white freehand in with all the sept markings on the helmets and guns.  The shoulder shields were a big pain.  I'm going to have to figure out a different strategy moving forward, because I just don't have the patience to paint 3 coats of thin white over everything to get it neutral, 4 if it will be white, and then 3 coats of thin Ashen Blue over the top.  I realize the top painters do that all the time, but I'm just trying to field a decent looking army here.  This black work on the icon was time consuming, but I'm really happy I did it. 

Finally glued some guys together.  I'll finish clear coating tonight so I can wash everything and then do my highlighting on the armor, followed by a few little cleanup details and these boys will be ready to roll.

What's everyone else working on?  Got a project blog of your own?  Let us know in the comments.

~Deet