The Fem Fa'Tau Anniversary model

Greetings!

"Anniversary model" probably got many of you wondering what I mean by that, but quite simply it is Da Masta Cheef and Wolfy's 1st wedding Anniversary and I painted up a model for them to mark the occasion.

Packaging with the parts.

This particular model I stumbled upon while scouring ebay. I had never heard of Grim Skull Miniatures before, although I have seen their Coven Limos I didn't know who produced them. They have a number of alternate 40K characters and archetypes, the bulk of which are female. Some, like this piece, are totally cheesecake and are ment more for fun than play.

Prepping. 

First off, let me state that the quality of this model is amazing. Very, very little flash had to be removed. Absolutely no mold lines. All the pieces fit perfectly and there was no need at all to fill any gaps. There was no warping either. I promise you if this thing had been produced in Finecast the gun would have been as straight as a Frito. If I graded miniatures this would get a solid A+.

Once I got the miniature prepped I primed it black using Chaos Black.

Primed.

After exploring Da Cheef's blog (always a fun thing to do) this image was the best example of a Fem Fa'Tau color scheme:

Cheef's Fem FaTau paint scheme. 

I had to let Cheef in on the secret so after a few text messages I had the necessary paints gathered up. Xerxes Purple probably being the most crucial.

I followed Warhammer TV's 'painting Tau flesh' tutorial (there are actually 2 on YouTube) as I had never painted Tau flesh before. Amazingly I had all the recommended colors.

The Fang basecoat.

It started with a basecoat of The Fang, followedby a wash of Agrax Earthshade, then a layer of Fenrisian Grey and I highlighted this with Russ Grey.

Progess on the flesh

It was all coming together surprisingly fast. I decided to treat her legging like stockings or pantyhose. To achieve this look I left the basecoat color but applied a few layers of Nuln Black until I liked the look of it.

Progress shot of all the bits.

After further correspondence with Da Cheef regarding the appropriate colors for the drone, I was able to get a close enough match.

The finished base.

The purple armor was done by painting all the purple bitz with Xerxes Purple but I wanted a bit more depth so I applied Beaten Purple by Formula P3 into the grooves. I was quite happy with this result.

After I finished the hair, and a few other minor parts, the models was done!

So when they returned from their late honeymoon Son of Neverness and I made a stop by their place and presented this miniature and I am happy to report that Wolfy was pleasantly surprised! Special thanks to the Da Cheef for playing along with keeping the secret and assisting me with the paint selection. (I think he was surprised at my turn-around time on painting this thing).

Hopefully we'll see more painted Fem Fa'Tau in the future, right Cheef?  ;)