XV8 CRISIS BATTLESUIT PILOT
Ejected Tau Commander with pulse pistol and failsafe detonator
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Click any view of the pilot conversion above to see a larger version. |
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he Armoury section of Codex: Tau Empire has a lot of goodies for the Fire Warriors of the Greater Good. One of the battlesuit Wargear items is the ejection system, which allows the pilot to escape a doomed battlesuit. You replace the battlesuit with a pilot model when the ejection system is used. Since there isn't a pilot miniature in the Tau range, that means a conversion.
To get the look of a pilot, you have to consider his circumstances. He was just hurled from his exploding battlesuit, so it makes sense that he has a backpack or chair seat with thrusters on it. Also, battlesuit pilots need a lot of information to guide their highly mobile death machines, so it only makes sense that they'd have a targeting lens over one eye that feeds them battle data. Lastly, the codex says he's armed with just a pulse pistol. However, that would make for a pretty spartan conversion, so we thought we'd also give him a failsafe detonator, too (even though the rules say he doesn't carry one).
Click any image above to see a larger version.
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Remove the grenade launcher. With a fresh blade in your hobby knife, remove the grenade launcher from the bottom of a Tau pulse carbine (the one without a hand on the grip). |
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Cut down the barrel. Slice through the barrel just in front of the trigger guard with your hobby knife. Then, reduce the length of the barrel by cutting away a section immediately behind the circular symbol near the front of the barrel. Use the existing lines running perpendicular to the barrel as starting points for your cuts. |
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Remove magazine & assemble pistol. Next, carefully cut off the magazine and its housing from the back of the handgrip and under the carbine stock. Make sure you leave intact the stock that sticks straight out along with the handgrip. In the rough spots where you made your cuts, use a file to smooth them out. Add a drop of superglue to assemble your new pulse pistol. |
Click any image above to see a larger version.
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Clear the gun arm. With your hobby knife, files, and pin vice drill, carefully carve out the grenade from that particular arm found on the Fire Warriors sprue. Take your time and make sure you don't break or cut through the fingers, as you will need them next. Dry fit the handgrip in between the fingers to check the width as you go. |
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Attach pistol to gun arm. Dry fit the pulse pistol several times in the gun arm before you apply any glue – make sure the barrel lines up with the arm in a fashion that makes sense physically. Once you're sure about the placement, add a couple of drops of superglue and affix the pistol. |
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Assemble targeter. To make a targeter lens, clip off a very narrow brass pin to the right length and glue it to the very end of a a small rectangle (1 mm x 3 mm) of thin plasticard. You might need to punch through the plasticard to seat the pin securely. If you do that, cut out a small 1-mm square of plasticard and place it on the outside surface of the lens over the spot where the pin emerged. |
Next: XV8 Crisis battlesuit Pilot - Pt2
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