I'm rather fond of that size too, Ly-ly. Anywhere from 18-24" seems like the right size depending on how broad and how thick any exaggeration is. The ISD is sort of like that for proportions. But yeah, 18" SSD is just fine.

I find it's partially how I hold my brush Big Mac, otherwise my hands shake quite a bit and if I ever put my elbow or forearm on the table at all it gets really bad from the pressure. But a lot of it is just using the side of the brush to line it in progressively smaller regions.

-laughs- thanks Salty (Exsalted, heh), though there's always a bigger fish

But, I can at least say I'm either really persistent, really bored, or quick enough. I finished up most of them while mulling over what to do with the standard TIE ln.

Too bad the reds didn't come out as bright as in person, but I'll see what I can do about that some other time. I'll admit, I'm really really tempted to sell all my own Imperial Squadrons and use whatever I get just to buy more Imperial squadrons to repaint. Saves on the Simple Green

Lovely work as always, Vykes. My own squadrons are en route, and I'm getting some Villain ships from a friend who's splitting his R&V pack. The red stripes look great!

Hmm Bloodstripes on the fuselage....

I like It!

great idea!

Well I'm certainly not wondering what you've been doing with your time! A pleasure working with you as always and I'm glad I'll finally have some genuine Vykes Armada TIEs to go with the... few 1/270 scale ones you've done for me

Thanks mates. I'd love to see what you come up with Cheesy! I can't take credit for the bloodstripe idea, that was Zen's idea to add it True Zen, mate, you did have the inside scoop on that one ! -laughs- It's fun, what can I say. So were the 1/270's Always great working with you too, eh?

And for our little finale sort, I did get the Armada Tie ln done too.

And now I want to paint some more Tie fighters... I never thought I'd say those words and still be sane by the end of the sentence.

Sorry..... HOW many Armada TIE fighters?

There is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing' but this week it was 7 flights, 21 of tie Ln, then 7 more flights of the other kinds. Scary thing is, I painted more X-wing Imperial tie types than I did Tie ln Actually I think there's about as many X-wing sized models as I did Armada. Hmmm...

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I'll be ebaying my existing ties and buying more squadron packs with it so I can get even more ties at my new standard. ...the madness, the horror, the Zimbabwe economics of it all!

Well, I got another few little things done in the meantime. Putting together a Ceknell post but trying to get all those little screen assets back is proving to be a pain. Anyway, I've got a pair of new Y-wing flights.

I decided not to weather them any. They look all nice and crisp. Nothing particularly original but I like the look and I figure I already have 3 flights from Gold Squadron as my Coyotes, so why not another group of reds?

Anyhow, while I've mapped out my X-wings and B-wings, I'm still mulling over what I want for my A-wings. Totally out of ideas on those.

Not too much new, just a pair of new squadrons. Not my greatest B-wings ever, but not bad. I wish I could say they were for my regionals list but I've hung up B-wings until Wave THOR (Thanks Le Rouge Boss Sep t, that really is a great title for it ). Still, it's squadrons rather than committing to some capital ships which will get done after the tournament.

They look great as always! Would love to see a collected pic of all the squadrons together once you've got a few more added in for this Corellian push!

Gorgeous!

These models are amazing! This post inspired me to do some of my own painting. Nothing fancy, but I wanted to change form the standard factory scheme.

I am curious, what material did you use to modify your AFII's? I like the beefier back end look most of yours have and it also helps to show that the Rebels used the ships they could find, rather than build them all on an assembly line.

Thanks mate, I do appreciate it! Actually I rather like doing RAF's quite a bit for that exact reason: they are still part of a ship class that's thrown together with various styles of shipyards and frames. So they can all be different, they still look similar, and I don't feel like I'm infringing too far on the typical Star Wars aesthetic. If anything, the tiny RAF engines did that, so I'm merely restoring balance to the Force one toothpaste cap and extra scrap of plasticard at a time.

Yep, toothpaste caps, they make awesome large scale thrusters because of the 'grip' look like stiffening rings on rocket nozzles (and they look neat). The rest is really an assortment of a bunch of different things. I always suggest just holding on to interesting scraps of plastic and 'bits' to put in a bits box. Then you can generally create a bunch of interesting modifications over time. Tools are sort of an assortment of a low heat hot glue gun mixed with typical gel superglue and some two part epoxy putty (Green stuff, or even better, milliput) which helps with smoothing and sanding. If you come across old broken airplane model kits, scavenge what you can from those too! Usually they're a great source of neat bits and greebles.

No promises, but I can always look through my SD card and see if I have any RAF WIP shots.

Post Scriptum: Oh, and here's a bit of a secret, Lego. Yeah yeah, I found some in my barn loft when I put it there years ago: but hear me out. They're great if you need to fill up a big gap and keep a relatively simple geometric shape. Drill it with a hand vice drill, pin it with a paperclip, and you have a good extra spot for mounting extension pieces to be covered over with other less noticeable materials.

Well, a few new things fresh from the evils of the painting dockets.

Not my favourite ISD, but I finished it in a ridiculously short amount of time (all things considered) so I may or may not keep it. It's mostly airbrush work with about an hour of actual brushwork, then an hour or so of lights. That's practically mass production time.

In more interesting developments: I think I have my Rogue Squadron. I'm still trying to figure out if I should make a whole squadron of these, 3 flights or just keep the 1. X-wing sculpts are still frustrating to work with.

There's some blue A-wings and some green A wings, both of which I'm missing pictures of but I'll update this pretty quick when I find them. And finally

do they look like the last group? Honestly, they aren't. But I must admit I'm having fun painting Red Squadron Y-wings. I'll have a lot of other stuff up in the next 2 weeks. Pretty busy painting schedule actually. But the fun news is I picked up one of Mel's MC40A's, one of my favourite ships from the X-wing/Tie Fighter series. Anyone think it would make a good 'Phoenix One' stand in for the time being?

Great stuff! Love the window paint on the ISD.

That Rogue Squad is outstanding! I wish I could paint that well.

those x wings look sharp,

I love the black and gold!

Amazing work!

Thanks mates!

Aye Martok, I do like doing window... sorta There's a lot of them. Usually about a thousand on ISD's, and there's 3 layers on 'em.

Salty, Centerpoint, I'm liking that Rogue Squadron flight. I'm tempted to make 3-4 of them and use them as my usual 'Heroes' for the Alliance like my gold and white Hyacinth is for my Imperials.

Well, looks like we've got a few more today. Turns out I've done a lot of painting recently. Not much different, but I got a few things down for new techniques. Names to follow...

Sure, whyyyy not. Green squadron are made up for someone else, and I'll be getting some more to make a full proper Phoenix squadron.

yeah, I already have a fair few corvettes but I have another one. It's the same as the rest of the Khazar group, in theme. In other news, SW90's are frigging great.

GSD's are my least favourite ship aesthetically, but if I'm happy about painting them these days. I'm pretty happy with that transition. But I want to add a few more blacklines on it, and a Nebulon B that I've been working on too. I've still got another one of these to do so this was good practice.

My last VSD, done like the newest ISD. The hull is pretty easy to do and the lights ended up taking the longest. That feels a little weird but C'est la vie, eh?

I've still got another VSD, some squadrons, and soon... ooooh so soon, Wave 3-4. Oh, and an MC40 which shipped today!

Very nice, as always you set the benchmark Mr Vykes.

I just love the way you paint your starfighter canopies, and your whole painting style in general is fantastic!

Gorgeous work. I think the latest ones might be your best.

Can't wait to see what you do with the MC40. It's next on my list of Mel's ships to pick up.

Vy-Vy is chomping at the bits for the Interdictor to get into his hands

Thanks mates. Aye Ly-ly, I veeeery much am. Especially with all the potential for larger scale lighting effects and the like! Still totally clueless about what to do with that MC40 for now, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

-sighs- I'm looking forward to picking up everything I want pretty soon, but as much as I love it, painting neat space ships doesn't pay the bills, so I took one of me ol' jobs: making houses not leak in the middle of summer. Ugh, whole lot less painting time now. Especially frustrating as I think I'm liking this new method but have a lot less time to practice. Oh well, I still have to get some pictures of a Nebulon B, and I finished up a squadron of Grey Y-wings like before. Still good though.