Tutorial: Speed Paint Battlesuit

Here's an easy way to paint the Tau Crisis suits in a rather quick and effective manner as based on the T'au Sept color scheme.

At this time, I'm preparing a 3000pts apocalypse army. Meaning I would need to have a sizable army painted up and in decent painting quality that is above avarage tabletop quality. Bear in mind that at the end of this tutorial, the objective is to prepare a decent looking battlesuit in the shortest time and still subject to further refinements.

Firstly, the colors which are used are as follows:Tausept Ochre; Vomit brown, bestial brown and scorched brown(for base), bleached bone and devlan mud. These colors are the base colors which I will show how to be applied on the suits. Here I will demonstate how to color the model without chaos black primer.

Before the model should be painted, I believe it is good practice to do the base first properly before painting the model. This is important, as to make sure the finishing touch-up on the base does not affect the model in the final stages. I would not dwell too much into the base and will move straight on to the main coloring.

Firstly, apply an even coat of tausept ochre to the model after assembly. Leave out the arms, as it would make it easier to go through to the hidden corners. Add a bit of water to have it spread easier. It should be thick enough to have an even coverage in one layer. should the coating is too thin or the plastic color still shows, apply another layer after the first one dries.





Next, apply a thin layer of the Citadel wash, Devlan Mud, onto the recess and armor lines. The first layer may not be sufficient, again, wait till it dries before applying the next wash. Now, you will have a model with a good foundation paint and washes that brings out the contrast line on the overall looks.

Now, after the last layer dried up, apply chaos black to the relevant parts, as shown below. Make sure the lines are crisp and clear to reduce overlapping and rectifying works later.

The following step is the most important. Apply vomit brown to the model and majority of the surface. Avoid the armor lines as best as you can and always prepare cotton buds should the color accidently fills into the recess. It is best to keep the color thin to allow easy rectification. At least 2 layer of this is required to have an even layer throughout. Once done, mix 50/50 vomit brown with bleached bone and apply this as highlight to the edge of the armor line and recess to bring out the darker color washes. go back and touch up the black areas if needed. You're almost done.

While all the above is going on, it is advisable that the arms are done in the same time, with the same technique. Assemble them and complete the model. Add bone white for lines and markers on the model and apply decals where desired.



The rest of the weapons should be done in the same manner to achieve a similar effect and fast coloring solution.




I'm keeping my weapons interchangable for most of my battlesuits, so I went all out to paint all the weapon choice.


Overall, this technique allows quick and quality speed coloring and easy rectification at any point of the process. Good luck!