What Have You Painted Today??

[Iain McGhee]

I did read on their forum that they had problems with the first run of models, mainly down to a bad batch of resin. The ones I got were mostly fine, no bubbles or shrinkage. The only two that needed any work were the battleship and carrier, and that was just some sanding on a couple of parts. I'd say they are easily among the best resin quality models I've worked on.

 

[AdrianH]

The latest addition to my EA fleet: Explorer Cortez.

Missing are four oval-shaped nozzles on each side of the central section. They show up on the AoG and Mongoose official photos but don't seem to be present on this one being used as the Rescue target in the February tournament. Does anyone know whether there should be additional parts to glue on?

 

[McKickaha]

My own MGP sourced Explorer has these pieces, and from what I recall, (built it a long time ago), they were originally supplied as separate parts.

Paintjob looks good, very nice work on the chequered sections, particularly on the bridge, and the front chevrons as well.

 

[AdrianH]

Thanks! The bridge and outside front chevrons are decals. The blue squares round the centre section were done with a very fine marker pen, as were the inside front chevrons.

Another oddity: although supplied (by Noble Knight) in a Mongoose package, the model had no hole under the centre section for a stand, but does have small holes under the latticework sections where the AoG photo shows two stands being attached. It wasn't difficult to drill a hole for a centrally mounted stand, and the holes in the lattices aren't visible unless the model is turned upside down for some reason, so it isn't a problem.

 

[Greg Smith]

A lot of Mongoose models had AoG holes and no Mongoose holes.

 

[McKickaha]

Thanks! The bridge and outside front chevrons are decals. The blue squares round the centre section were done with a very fine marker pen, as were the inside front chevrons.

8) You had me worried for a moment there, wondered how I was going to manage to out do your "paintwork". :lol:

Sadly decals and I have a long history of not seeing eye to eye, although I have now used your excellent ink jet paper techinique succesfully on a few occasions. Front Edgar's industries logo on my "Dilgar War" super freighter for example.

Another oddity: although supplied (by Noble Knight) in a Mongoose package, the model had no hole under the centre section for a stand, but does have small holes under the latticework sections where the AoG photo shows two stands being attached. It wasn't difficult to drill a hole for a centrally mounted stand, and the holes in the lattices aren't visible unless the model is turned upside down for some reason, so it isn't a problem.

Mines is the same.

I am going to get around to building a bigger version of the Explorer more in line with canon. Been meaning to do this for some time, years in fact, (even bought the plasticard girder section then) but I will get around to it someday.

 

[G Quan]

The Cortez on the Feb. turnament is my ship and I had no parts left to glude on. :evil:

 

[AdrianH]

Now with added side nozzles. And also with added Hyperions. The Eternity Squadron is not named for combat prowess but for the fact that all its ships appear in all three Earth fleet lists as well as on screen, making the group valid for any point in B5 ACTA history from 2230 onwards.

The Explorer's side nozzles are a piece of 3mm diameter aluminium tubing squashed slightly with pliers and cut to lengths of 1.5mm (1/16"). Better results could probably be obtained by squashing the tube in a good vice so that the whole lot would be equally flattened.

 

[McKickaha]

Nice fix for the Explorer.

Hyp's always look a lot better with the hull numbers.

 

[AdrianH]

New Drazi recruit: Strikehawk.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

Very nice. Love the worn and rugged look. ^^d

I've been trying to give my pak sunhawks that kind of look.. Apparently I wasn't being bold enough.:?

 

[AdrianH]

By contrast, I prefer a subtler touch and am not entirely happy because I think I overdid it. By contrast, I prefer my less weathered Warbirds, which were my first Drazi ships. But at least it shows up the glowy bits on the engines and nacelles of both the main ship and fighter nicely.

The Strikehawk was painted more or less the same as the Warbirds, though with lighter grey and brighter red. Then I went over it with watered down black ink. That really overdid the weathering, so I went back over some of the grey bits and redid the glowy bits. For a pak'ma'ra version, I would probably have left it after the inking. (The only pak'ma'ra ship I recall seeing on screen was their version of a Sunhawk in, if I remember correctly, "Lines of Communication". It was very dirty and had a green engine bulb rather than the fiery yellow/red Drazi version.)

 

[McKickaha]

AdrianH - Your being too hard on yourself, but I guess we are all our own worst judges when it comes to mini painting.

It is always good to see different approachs to ships and lets face it, (one of), the challenges for any Drazi admiral in particular, is differentiating his ships paintwork, several times over in most cases. So great job as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Banichi]

This thread is great for seeing all the really nice work done by others.

I've finally picked my brushes back up and started to clear my lead pile. I'd had these chaps sitting on my table half finished since November.

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And to be honest since I took these pics I've touched up, and finished the bases.

I'm now just putting the finishing touches on my Pak.

 

[McKickaha]

(in blue)

This thread is great for seeing all the really nice work done by others.

Sure is

Nice bunch of cut throat bilge rats there Banichi. Guessing the bases came "pre planked" but are definitely a nice touch.

I'm now just putting the finishing touches on my Pak.


Looking forward to seeing them, tried a tester for my own Pak but I am just not happy with it.

As a very short break from shp painting, after a very long break I am also currently painting a few figures myself, blood angel space marines.

Doing these to also resharpen my banner painting as prep for a few special ships for a project I am working on.

 

[AdrianH]

Raider Strike Carrier: front view, aft view.

Originally bought not for gaming but as a model of a ship which appeared on screen and looked interesting, this proved a disappointment. The aft section (core plus two boxes) is too small; if the front section (fighter rings) is Babylon 5 Wars scale then the aft section is Fleet Action scale. The boxes have rows of "teeth" on the rear top and bottom edges; the ones on the top edge should not be there. And there are big rectangular indents at the back of the boxes, looking like huge engine exhausts. In fact, the indents should not be there and the engine, a small cluster of tubes with one nozzle, is located in the middle of the back and is not shown on the model.

The upper "teeth" were removed by filing, the indents were covered over with paper rectangles and some gaps filled, and the engine was scratch-built from some thin plastic rod and a short piece of aluminium tube for the nozzle. The aft section is still too small but at least looks a bit more like the "real" one.

And from the front the ship doesn't look too bad provided you don't look too closely and notice that the big ring has twelve fighters where the "real" one only has nine.

 

[McKickaha]

Nice work to bring more in line with canon.

Always did like this B5 ship design.

 

[warhammergrimace]

Here's something I knocked out yesterday afternoon..

and here is some items I painted in the last couple of weeks.

 

[AdrianH]

Not all ships in B5 are weapons of mass destruction. Here's my freighter.

 

[M1ndr1d3rs]

AH: Something wrong with the link? I keep failing to connect. :?