Crisis Suit Conversion: Part Four

The next thing I worked on is some extra armor plates, which would protect the hips of the battlesuit--The ball & socket joints where the legs connect to the torso of crisis suits are completely exposed, so adding armor to this section makes sense as an upgrade.

Tau Battlesuits, as is well known, are inspired by Anime depictions of mobile suits and other giant robots.  Being a fan of the Gundam series, I wanted to give this battlesuit a definite Gundam influence.  I particularly like the RX-93 Nu Gundam, as I think the Fin Funnels it has look pretty cool (the wing-like structure behind its left shoulder).

So I decided to duplicate the Fin Funnels and add them to my design.  For the Nu Gundam, the Fin Funnels detach from the main suit and act as drones that support the mobile suit.  Drones are definitely in character with the Tau, but the style of the Fin Funnels look nothing like Tau drones.  So for my battlesuit, rather than make them detachable and act as drones, I will assume that the "wing" shape that they form is a support system that is integral to the battlesuit itself.

I started construction on the funnels and assembled them...

...but after putting them next to the rest of the model, I realized that I made them way too big.

Back to the drawing board I made some that were much smaller and more manageable.

This looks much better...

Here's a shot of the rear of the fin funnels, with sundry parts strewn about my work table.

Here's a shot of the rear of the suit, with a plasticard piece of additional armor protecting the um...posterior of the suit.

And finally, with some of the sensor spines added onto the suit.  I trimmed off one spine on the left hand set of spines to provide an attachment point for the funnels (or wing, as I should start calling it).