Glad I got that stay of execution Ly-ly. How else would we all hear about how to make adequate oil streaks and such? Including me, I haven't a clue but I can often figure it out as I go.

Good Catch Forgottenlore, Dras, guess it copied over when I was writing up the format buuuut they were named before. Though I may have to think long and hard about Dagger, Dirk, and Sporky IV.

Those mines are superglue lids, some beads, small screws, and masts from some BFG ships though regular paperclips work fine. Frankly, screws are a mistake as they're just a touch too heavy.

Though I may have to think long and hard about Dagger, Dirk, and Sporky IV.

Stiletto or Kris might work for non-silly names to go with dagger and dirk, though lacking the "D" alliteration.

Wow. . . I got a pet name. I haven't even had a drink bought for me yet. . .

I guess I should put up at least an informal 'my home fleet' picture. Just Rebels for now, and I'll get something more dynamic when I figure out what that is (likely after I get my grubby hands on the GR75's).

I'm perpetually lazy with names and 'Lyr/liar' is generally more derogatory. So we've got Dras, Salted, Ly-ly, guess I do think BigMac but that's too easy a reference ain't it? For others not mentioned, oh you aren't spared either. It's usually in my head so that should say something. I've got to draw effort for painting from some other sources, eh?

Not sure if BigMac was in reference to me but I've been called worse haha, I'll take it!

Is that all of your rebel ships Vykes? We're some of the others you have done commissions for other people? Mean looking fleet for sure!

That it is mate, that it is.

Aye, that's all my rebel ships for now. I've done a fair few commissions and given some ships away as well. That MC30 is almost certain to be given to someone, but I've given away a fighter pack and a half, Nebulon, RAF, and a fair bit more Imperial stuff just to get a few people into the game.

I try to keep a limit on the stuff that I get, 1500 points each side right now and increasing by 250 per wave. It keeps me from really going over-budget like I did in WFB.

Can we get more tutorials?

Sure, I think I can do some tutorials. Wish I'd checked in sooner or i could have put up a MC30 one. Hmmm... maybe I could strip it down.

Anyway, what kind of tutorial would be useful? I could easily put up one for the VSD. Nice thing about having 2 is that I could only get so far on one in a day. I've got a metric ton of X-wing stuff to do so I never got beyond the base coat of the other.

On the VSD, is that a light blue over a dark undercoat or the other way around? I am trying to do a very similar effect on an ISD, but so far all I have to show for it is 2 frustrating nights and a little less simple green.

It's a medium blue-grey that has been washed with black, then the plates were mostly painted back with the primary medium blue-grey. (It's badger fur from Minitaire, but it seems very similar to GW's Dawnstone with a hint of Russ grey or another muted blue). Then it's built up with some more neutral greys to make the blue hue stand out.

Show us how you do patterns and designs!

Hmmm, I might be able to do that. Not entirely sure how but maybe something along the lines of 'easy stripes' or the like. Pattern-wise, it's mostly ad hoc but I'll see what I can do.

Now for some updates, well, I won't show this enormous sprawling number of X-wing things I've yet to do, but I've got a few things done that were the same colours.

VSD Octavi

Standard colours but I can easily make a tutorial on that too.

And #2. It's just a counterpart to the more exciting modified MC30

MC30 Akavirii Pride. S still got the engines to go.

love what you did with your "Janus" all kinds of good ideas in that one.

I really should get a fleet shot of my own in here for all the ships you've done on commission for me. Maybe litter a table with all of them mid fight haha

I've still got an extra ISD and VSD plus I think something else I should send your way at some point!

How did you do the janus? That is the coolest RAF I've seen.

Thanks mates, wish I had something more for you all today buuuut I'm fairly deep into some X-wing (as Zen well knows )

You know Ouzel, the Janus is still one of my favourites hands down. I'm a sucker for the raised bridge and more proportionate look of the whole thing. -laughs- some called me crazy, I'm not crazy, I'm eccentric. It's crazy but with working ideas.

And thanks Chris, I really wish I had a WIP picture to show for it. I did check through my old SDHC cards too, buuuut in short, it was involved. A rough rundown is sort of like this. I popped the joints of the ship and took it all apart. The bottom half of the hull had to be cut so the prow of the ship could be lengthened. Then I used a razor blade to cut the prow from the side 'hull'. In retrospect, my dremmel and cutting tool would have been better for it.

After that the rear 'engine' was cut off and I used a spar from an old lego kit along with some extra bits from the older model 40K leman Russ Las Cannon sponson to form the basis for the rear engine block, liberally adding the muzzle from a cannon and a few superglue 'protection' rings to gt an even look. It was attached and gaps were filled with a bit of greenstuff (I'd recommend the harder properties of milliput if I did a project like this aga... when I do this project again)

The main body was filled out with, well, lego honestly. The plastic makes a great spine as the plastic sticks with superglue, it can be easily filed, and fills stuff out without being too heavy. Anyway, I made that, added some plastic from old phone cards when I plasticard ran out. Then I padded it out with a few pieces from some aged 40K kits, though it's not necessary. The bridge, well, after I flattened the top out with some old plasticard and made some ridges to give it definition, I just topped it off with an extra bridge from a Battlefleet Gothic Emperor Class battleship. I had a spare in my bitz box from long ago when I built my Retribution.

Anyway, after that it was just some proto layer painting to make it serviceable. I may see about making a third Rebel Assault Frigate in the future, and if I do, I'll make a full tutorial out of it!

-laughs- feel free too, Zen. Big fleets across tables always look awesome! And yeah, thaaat might be pretty fun. Still got that Raider around? That's basically a small fleet on its own too, eh?

Alright, well just a glimpse of -why- I've been busy, I'll keep it brief.

Yeah, my Rebel X-wing squadron is my Ashtek Clanners.

I'll replace the picture with something more fun soon enough. Well, as an 'incoming' piece, I can say that I'll be working on some Armada Imperial fighters pretty quick. Maybe I'll make a tutorial out of it, if anyone wants. Not that it's too different from what we've already got.

These are exquisite! And the patience you must have had to paint those itty bitty fighter miniatures must have made Job look like he was having a tantrum!

I commented to another artist who also painted one of his Corellian Corvettes in red that some opponents in the SWU would think twice about firing on such ships, since red denotes "diplomatic" status. Well done!

Thanks mate, I do appreciate it Those Ties require an insane amount of patience. I may not be Job, but after 2 sets of Armada Imperial fighters and more than 60 X-wing scale Ties in the past 2 months, I sure do feel like I might be getting close

That is true, I almost lost track of the whole meaning behind red in Star Wars, and that is a pretty good idea. Maybe appropriate that I consistently use the red as a 'named' ship and as a consular ship, that really does seem like it would give it a degree of status and protection.

-laughs- hopefully I'll get around to some more Armada stuff pretty quick. I've got a fair bit on order and lined up. Nothing fantastic, buuuut there will be stuff in the near future.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks mate, shall do and have, point in fact.

Well, just to say that my Armada creativity isn't quite dead, I figure I'll give you all a quick update and then hopefully have something more complete in a few days. Long story short, I've been working on a lot of X-wing stuff. But, I'm slowly shifting back into Armada once again! So, hopefully we have this and a Ceknell story update in the next few days to a week.

Today's little example post, I seem to have gotten away from using washes on squadrons. I rather like the results, even if that's 5 7 layers of paint.

Well, I'm still convinced we all get better as we practice, and I'm sorta happy to see some personal results, even if these are spoken for So, confidence to redo my own squadrons, even if this one needs a little bit of extra attention on the inner wings. It's fun to take pictures so you can see all those ugly blemishes. But, this one's also pre-varnish at midnight local time, away from my usual light set up, and thus not shot in ideal photographic conditions.

Oh, I also updated my workbench stuff. Here's a temporary 'update' as well, it'll be removed in a while.

Did you make that SSD back there?! Wow! It looks great! Different from the SSD I'm accustomed to, but it looks really kick ***!

Aye, that I did. It's not super impressive yet but it'll do as an objective ship once it's done up. I may even do it at the same time as the other Imperial ships. I figure, I'm certainly not gonna match Mel's awesome replica, and I don't even trust my own measurements to come close,(I can be slapdash at time), so it's a pocket SSD. Still, it's 18" long and built to receive a VSD bridge. .

So I think of it as a pocket SSD that could very well get some use in this newest Corellian conflict (which I'm hoping to adapt to the Ceknell campaign).

Many thanks, mate!

That is what I think an SSD should be about size wise.

Nice work with the Tie Bomber and no washes. I am still amazed how steady of hands you have to get those fine lines. I struggle with any kind of straight line like that. Looking forward to more Armada updates including those ISD's you got waiting to get finished!