Tau Hammerhead Step by Step part 1

So after my last post, i wanted to start a new post with something 40K related - i opened my cupboard and what did i spy - The hammerhead that I've been meaning to paint for a while!

I'm going to present it as a series of linked posts, each detailing a small part of the project. Hopefully that way you guys can give me suggestions along the way, and so that i can have something to write about on the blog!

So today, im covering the basics of construction...

The first thing that i did was to remove all the parts from the sprues and ditched them all in to the box lid. Do not do this unless you have built a tau vehicle before! Its sad that ive made so many devil fish now that i dont need the instructions any more!

Once i had all the pieces i started to clean up the major components. This is quite a long winded process. First each piece has the moulding lugs trimmed down carefully using a sharp craft knife - making sure not to mark or "dig-in" to the plastic. The aim is a smooth finish, but if there are some small marks there, dont worry...

Then 800 - 1600 grade wet'n'dry sand paper is used to smooth off any bumps. When doing the sanding, you will never get all of the injection points completely smooth, usually I find that I get down to a small indentation. These are taken care of later with the help of some model filler.

One of the big problems i have with the Citadel flyers is the pitiful bases they supply them with, especially given the tiny lug they expect to hold the weight of a large plastic model.

For this model i wanted there to be a large stand for them to be mounted on - the final aim for this model is to place it on a small cityscape terrain base, so something solid would be welcome. In the end i decided to use a piece of Evergreen strip styrene. A hole was drilled in the base piece of the Hammerhead and the strip was then glued to the inside of the chassis (is that the right word?)

From the photo, you can see quite how far in to the model the stand extends - hopefully this will give extra sturdiness to the model. I have a feeling that more support may be needed in the future... but for the moment it at least makes it easier to work with!

So at the end of the first day, i have a partially constructed hammerhead. Next stage is the gap filling, which will be tackled on a future date...

On a slight aside, im testing a new blogging client, so if anyone notices anything wrong with this post (beside my usual awful spelling!) please let me know.