Tea and Crumpets on the Flight Line

Finally finished up a cutting plan to turn some 6 mm pdf into a Tau Manta.
Along the same lines as the Ocra (drop ship, not battlefleet gothic escort) here.
This is the latest addition to my Colonial Tau, a long dormant ToEG.

Went through several iterations in development, realised I had enough parts left over for a second Manta, decided
that I should use the final plans as a test, hence a third bird/fish/manta. Will paint a camo pattern in due course.
Pictured with a gun drone formation in preparation: punched plastic disk, two staples, dab of glue and paint.
We are all home grown economy in the (TAU) colonies.


The beasts are huge. Metric 10 mm squares on this cutting mat.


Cut out in several layers. Needs a little modeling work to put together, and some sanding, . . .

Ah very clever!

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Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Very well done! How did you do it - tools etc?

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

Aaah,

Sweet arts'n'craft, thats genious man!

Thanks Guys,


Drew up some line plans overlaid on some pictures.
Used a 60 watt laser to etch and cut 6 mm PDF.
Punched up some 5 mm plastic disks and rod for burst cannons.
Plastic sections and brass rods for rail guns and ion cannons.
Bent wire stand. Seal with PVA glue and then paint.

Very Cool !

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

amazing

Finally deployed for Battle.

Protecting the Blitz against a Black Templar Crusade


Forward View from the Bridge


Hiding in the corner of the Field, steep hills from Cappadocia, counts as ruins.




Combat Record for first deployment of first Manta:

Crash deployment from the reserve Kor'vattra elements moving to defend the planet.
Lack of camouflage scheme meant Manta was spotted from orbit and subjected to a Space Marine Cruiser Bombardment.
Lost 1 DC damage but this barrage also knocked out the Deflector Shield (or was it the next incoming fire mission).
Very effective medium range shoot shredded a Marine Tactical Formation.
Supported several defensive firefights. Unfortunately in two case the defenders were wiped out before supporting fire was resolved.
Took 5 more DC in a direct assault on the Manta and broke towards the end of turn 1 (start of Turn 2?).
Retreated to rough ground well behind the main line. Failed to rally at the end of Turn 2.
Failed the activation roll in Turn 3 but shot anyway and took out a rash pair of Thurnderhawk Transporters attempting a combat landing on the Tau Blitz!!
With a little help from friends, . . .

Repair Tasks: Deflector Screen, NOE Maneuvering Thrusters, AA Burst Cannon Targeting Systems, Active Camouflage Projectors.

Very cool! We need to have a game soon Andrew and give it another go! Love that scenery too by the way!

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http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

Hi!

Wow!

Seriously creative!

Primarch

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Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

That is amazing

I am amazed.
Nice work, saving you about an arm and a leg per model

Hi!

LOL!

I thought the same thing.

Primarch

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Primarch


The Primarchload
Magnetized Titans Tutorial
Net Epic Gold
Heresy Rules

I'm absolutely loving this.

Can I ask a question about how you used the laser to generate different heights in the "z" axis?

I'm guessing you used a grayscale and raster etching to vary the power of the laser over the surface so that rather than simply etching you removed material?

I'm used to using a laser to cut out 2d profiles but it's never occurred to me to try etch different depths as well.

Yes, black and white gray-scale for the depth cut. Eventually got proper RGB files and a reasonable resolution on the drawings to send to the cutter. Still not seeing the fine resolution on the cutting beam yet, . . . (?).
Main cuts are done in hairline red. Some playing around with the laser intensity and speed to get the depth you want. Ultimately the challenge is to create a sufficiently simple set of sections because you can only cut in one axis (down) and on one surface for each component.