Tau Riptide - Finished!

*Squeek*

It has been a very slow process (work, motivation etc!) but I finally got my Riptide to a point where I am happy to use it on the table. This was my first attempt at weathering a vehicle, or in fact, to use weathering at all, and overall I am quite happy with how it turned out.

I have decided to call it "Found it!" (or "Drone Recovery")
I imagine a Tau cadre caught up in a long, long campaign. Knowing that re-supply may not be coming, they have to recover as much damaged equipment as they can, even down to Gun Drones.
The Cadre commanders therefore orders recovery teams sent into the field. Knowing that his resources are low, these recovery teams are ordered to proceed with caution. They are backed up by heavy units (like the Riptide) but only to provide covering fire for retreat in cases where they are discovered.

Here are some photos, with more comment below:

Looking back, what was interesting to me about this model?

1. Having a "scene"/ "story".
• The Riptide base is large and this gives lots of options for doing interesting things. In this case, the "Drone Recovery" scene. I liked that I could use the Firewarrior with scanner model almost as though he is using it to find the drone.
2. Trying weathering for the first time. 
• Thanks to this great tutorial on YouTube I discovered the process is actually not difficult! (It was still a bit nerve-wracking though)
3. Really heavy use of washes to indicate age, not just shadows.
• The downed drone was really heavily washed so that it looks as though it might have been out there a long time. I think it works out well.
4. Mixing textures (?).
• Although difficult to see in the picture, I added Dwarf Bronze highlights on the stones so they look as though there are seams of some precious metal. I have never done that before, usually just going with "stone".
5. Greenstuff.
• I haven't used Greenstuff much before, but here I used it to blend in the gap between the base of the stones with the model base, because there was a big gap. Hopefully that gap isn't noticeable now.
6. Used missile pods.
• I chopped these off and drilled them out a bit so they look used.

As I often find, in the cold light of day (I took these photos last night) there are lots of things still to do though:
a.) The missile pod tubes aren't bored out to the same size. I don't have a proper drill. They should all be the same diameter.
b.) The Snakebite Leather on the base edge could use another layer (it feels very thin now).
c.)...and other things I am sure I will notice!

I'll add the Riptide to my Tau Army page.

All C&C welcome!

Cheers,
*Squeek*