WIP Wednesday with Admiral_Skye

 WIP WEDNESDAY with ADMIRAL_SKYE

We have an interview today with community member Admiral_Skye who's been showcasing his work on the Tau 40.000 discord. An absolutely incredible model that utilizes LEDs to bring dynamism to the XV Enforcer class Crisis Suit, we're happy to learn a little bit more of how Admiral_Skye approaches his hobby!

1. What initially got your attention about the Tau and why do you love them?

There are a few aspects of the Tau that appeal to me, the first and most obvious part is the battlesuits. I just love the boxy aesthetic and the high tech nature of the army, fighting battles not with just sheer numbers but by outsmarting and outmanoeuvring their opponents.

I also love how the army itself embodies the ideas of the Commonwealth it serves, each unit is capable, but its through working together than they become truly strong. Having spotters mark targets for the heavier weapons platforms is just sweet and I wish that this was more nuanced than it currently is.

Lastly, the sheer hopeless optimism that they bring to an otherwise grimdark fatalist galaxy is a breath of fresh air for me.

 

2. What do you like about this enforcer model? Is he your first?

This is my second Enforcer commander that I have built and painted with the first being Shas’O Arra’kon for set of The Eight (Farsight's companions)

The main draw for the enforcer for me was its durability and abilities, allowing a supporting crisis team to hold the line and secure the objective in the face of an enemy charge. While it is certainly less popular than the crisis and Coldstar commanders, I have always wanted to try and make it work in a list.

 

3. What was your approach painting and modeling wise?

Because I wanted to have some light up components in the model, I took a different approach this time and spent a lot longer planning out how I wanted the model to be posed. Once I had worked out a rough pose I spent some time working out a route for the power cables from the base up to the chest cavity where it would then split out to the head and jetpacks.

I did this by cutting and drilling holes for the cables to run and then assembling the calf, thigh, hip and torso around the cables, this allowed me to hide the majority of the cables and soldering within the model.

 

Reminds me of RoboCop ~Calmsword

And herein I made a big mistake, I attached the jetpack LEDs now. My rationale was that I didn’t want to solder around the paint however I ended up regretting this later while working on the model. My advice for anyone trying this themselves is to just have some excess cable poking out instead as this was a big pain going forward.

Because the pose I wanted to go for lead with the shield, I finished my assembly with the shield arm as a sub assembly which would make it easier to paint both the body and the arm. I also kept the transparent shield and lightning separate as well.

Most of the rest of the painting process was pretty straightforward and made heavy use of my airbrush to get the base coat in place. I used a combination of liquid mask and painters’ tape to cover the LEDs and prevent them from being covered in paint.

The last major step was to build a base which would support the pose I wanted, using a combination of rocks, cork and some milliput I covered and smoothed over the electronics in the base. A marker drone covers the topside of the switch and provides a point of interest to the base while also.

 

Next up was finalising the base and giving it some colour! My recipe for basing has been basically the same since I started my T’au collection and it works wonders for all models from infantry to Tigersharks and Stormsurges.

I coat the areas I want to be mud in a watered down layer of PVA glue and sprinkle in some larger small rocks, then once I am happy with the amount the rest of the pva is covered in sand. Allowing some time to dry it’s time to go back into the airbrush booth to prime this material which helps to both lock in the basing material but also provides something for the paint to stick to.

Next, we want to bring in some colour to differentiate the rocks from the mud. My recipe for both has served me well for my entire collection.

Firstly, I paint in the mud areas with a coat of Steel Legion Drab, then cover those sections in Contrast Wyldwood. This gives us a rich dark brown that has spots of lighter brown peeking through, we can then accentuate the existing highlights with a drybrushing of Steel Legion Drab.

Next, we paint in the rocks, for them I use a pair of Army painter paints, base coating with Castle Grey, then I dry brush on Ash Grey to catch the textures present in the materials themselves and bring them to the forefront.

The last step is to coat the whole base in an all-over coat of Gloss Nuln Oil wash, this not only mutes the tones present on the base already, it also has the added effect of making it all look wet and shiny which is what I am going for. You can achieve this same look with a gloss varnish instead if you do not have any gloss washes on hand but your mileage may vary.

The last step is to bring in some greenery, my LGS has a fantastic variety of plant tufts and laser cut plants from Gamers Grass so that is my go-to. I give each a tiny dot of superglue to really make sure they stick on.

The final step is to attach the shield and lightning, the lighting is held on with a small dap of super glue while the shield is locked in place with some UV resin.