They look pretty good mate, I think both A's and E's look better too. That neb-B is sure looking good in particular and you absolutely nailed the A-wing cockpits. VCX I rather like and really it is just screaming for that last 1-2 little highlights along the raised edges to make it superb.

But I'm going to lay out something about A-wings and Armada's rebel fighters in general (minus the Y-wings, which are a joy)... it's somewhat uncomfortable and I feel a little odd about saying it, but here it goes: In my experience, the detail you put on these things is the detail you imagine onto them. You have to paint your A-wings not based on what the models natural contours, but create them yourself. It sounds harder than it is.

So, as to not take focus off this thread at all, I did draw up a bit of an illustration aaaaand put it in spoilers. Hope you don't mind, mate

Wow, they are really different from most! Cool choice of colours too, but I love to dirty up mine with a heavy wash, and or weather them with a bit of dry-brushing.

Pretty funky ships though mate!

They look pretty good mate, I think both A's and E's look better too. That neb-B is sure looking good in particular and you absolutely nailed the A-wing cockpits. VCX I rather like and really it is just screaming for that last 1-2 little highlights along the raised edges to make it superb.

But I'm going to lay out something about A-wings and Armada's rebel fighters in general (minus the Y-wings, which are a joy)... it's somewhat uncomfortable and I feel a little odd about saying it, but here it goes: In my experience, the detail you put on these things is the detail you imagine onto them. You have to paint your A-wings not based on what the models natural contours, but create them yourself. It sounds harder than it is.

So, as to not take focus off this thread at all, I did draw up a bit of an illustration aaaaand put it in spoilers. Hope you don't mind, mate

Alright, to not take the focus we have these gaudy things. But they show the illusionary contours I was talking about.

The left is the 'first layer' after your base coat. But it's a contour line. Leave a bit of a 'gap' if you have coloured sections, let that dark line stand out and it makes it a bit distinct. The middle is the 'highlight' layer. You can even put a darker wash or something in the front 'prong' part. And the right is just the two over each other. And with that, you get something like the below.

Thanks for the awesome breakdown, and you are spot on, detail on rebel ships is what you add to them. Creating the contours probably helps anyway as the models for As aren't even freaking symmetrical (and a bull line you believe in beats a real line any day). Thanks for the breakdown/walkthrough, as I have 1 more set of As to go, and a whole whack of other rebels it is greatly appreciated.

The Nebulon was a bit of a treat, the metal came out really nice I feel, odd flow there as it was a black grey - metal highlight - 'rust effect' - full metal dry brush and it gave this really burnished /rusty grungy look, highlight a bit with silver.

What I realized some time ago is these models are in a way quite great. They are not the super detailed hero miniatures of the fantasy world but in a way they are better because you actually aren't provided with very much. You can paint these things just about any way you want, and paint as long as you want on them. Pretty close to canvases overall. Opposed to mostly just picking out details on a figure and then being done. The downside is if you are meticulous, or glacially slow like myself, you can toss away time really fast. Those 4 fighters probably took 4-5 hours total, albeit a lot of dry time in there. Can I get something passable in 1hr, probably,. I've seen good from the table 15 minute jobs.

Wow, they are really different from most! Cool choice of colours too, but I love to dirty up mine with a heavy wash, and or weather them with a bit of dry-brushing.

Pretty funky ships though mate!

That relatively garish colour choice of mine. I like it because my fleet is never confused on the table. We have loads of canon colour schemes floating around.I'll leave it to the pros and dream up whatever I can. I tend to erase the fact, or try to, that I ever used washes though, they never look how I'd like, which leads to relatively meticulous dark lining to minimize clean up.

Weathering is something I've not mastered, but I have a gladiator I partly melted in dettol... so I'm going to make a beat up ship in the future.

Oh dear, my Pelta is floating in Dettol as we speak and I am out for lunch! Does it cause a lot of damage?

Oh dear, my Pelta is floating in Dettol as we speak and I am out for lunch! Does it cause a lot of damage?

This is the one instance it happened, but I did kind of forget about it and left it for 2+ (can't remembeR?" days. It is mostly the bottom has a whole lot less detail no, the top is fine. I find 3 hours to be the sweet spot for Dettol and paint. Scrubs off well after that, but I'm very hesitant to soak and leave the house now. Don't introduce water during the scrub either, just dish soap, water screws everything up. At <2 days I've never had an issue.

It's sorted now, and cleaned up well. Can you just respray when dry, or do you need to clean with something after?

Usually I just soap and water, when dry prime away

To all you folks who can paint excellent X-wings, my hat is off to you. I feel my painting ability is logarithmically affected by size.

Y wings came out... alright? I guess.

And this mornings work, an alt palette 'ghost' that I rather like.

Painting time has a been a bit sparse between a convention (Niagara Boardgame Weekend), a GNK, campaign play, and attempting to fit regular play into the mix. But here is a quick phone shot of the first wave of defenders. Maarek and the Steele squaddies. I think I've settles on an ace scheme for myself moving forward. Of course this runs into problems with multiple aces in some types.

That is a seriously funky paint scheme, it's really good.

Your presentation makes up for daring to break Imperial uniformity. Keep it coming!

The Ragstopper...

Or so it is affectionately known by its crew. The 'Illuminator' was once the choice ship of the Imperial Dawn for surgical strikes, and the veteran crew that flies with it is a testament to its skill, and condition. While usually in dry dock, or sent on the occasional picket patrols in the outer reaches, where little trouble is expected, the 'Ragstopper' is the 3rd line of defense, behind a fleet of raiders... The crew seems to have no issue finding trouble however, and many a rebel has learned not to trust the exterior of this ship. It may look unassuming, but the crew alone is worth it. The ship is in dry dock primarily as early retirement, opposed to the ship not being combat ready.

So my first stab at some rust, blast damage, wear, etc. Overall a quick paint, 3-4 hours, pardon the cell pic (I'll get a better one next time I break out the real cameras). Came out pretty cool, I like the contrast between lights and rust, kind of illustrating it is very much alive, despite all outward appearances. So I went for broke, bigger everything, more pronounced glows, etc. Just ran with it and have fun. This model was savaged by some Dettol, sat in a few days (normally not an issue) and lost a lot of detail on the bottom and sides, warped a bit, needed some epoxy touchup, etc. So what do you do with a scarred model, you paint a scarred ship. The top was 98% in tact, so it gave a good canvas to work with. Lots of 'painting with washes' on this one, the rust, the overall tone (didn't like vallejo 'cold grey' much, so I threw a brown/orange wash over the whole thing after highlights), nuln oil blasts, etc. Overall pretty relaxed and fun. Bonus points to whoever identifies the reference.

It's from the Malazan books right?

1 hour ago, Felswrath said:

It's from the Malazan books right?

Yep, Catheron's ship, always seemed to pull through. I award thee 5 internet points.

23 hours ago, Darthain said:

Yep, Catheron's ship, always seemed to pull through. I award thee 5 internet points.

I love Google! Laughs out loud

4 hours ago, Felswrath said:

I love Google! Laughs out loud

Cheat

PHANTOMS! (with complimentary blown highlights, which kills the white/ivory shading unfortunately. I totally copped Drasnighta's phantom game, so be it. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery I am told. A copy is also always less than the original. Crappy phone shots once again, I'll have more control when I break out a real camera, the shading on the whites is subtle though (slightly yellow to not, mostly.) There is currently no goldilocks lighting to be had that allows me to capture the gold, without blowing the whites, need more control for that.

Shuttles? SHUTTLES! (I bothered to lightroom one photo a bit, as I really think the camera on my phone is poor, so it was easier to alter exposure there to correct than dicker on the phone. It will be obvious which one recieved. processing. Dark aces sporting purple and gold.

Makin' some E-wings.

Per my constant 'mistakes', my shading is a bit subtle, along with the highlights, both could be 1 step farther most likely. Oh well, next batch.

In the great struggle to not be too subtle, being too bold! (moar e wings pls)

Spent 1.5 hoursish rehighlighting Home One. Why? The previous were too subtle. I think I did a better job this time. The rather 'dullness of the first photo is a bit deceptive, as overall I increase contrast in both directions. A higher shade, an even higher highlight, and some counter shading on round 2 give the ship a whole lot more depth. I am slowly learning the ins and outs of shading for effect, which is not the same as actual shading (and can look like complete crap in process, until the final product is arrived at. Rule of thumb seems to be the smaller the area, the more contrast is required to pull it off.

Before:

After:

Oddly enough this phone shot shows the detail best... First time for everything. Probably the fandangled painting light I built.

Also added a bit more to the shuttle aces, trying to shade w/ metallics

How are you blacking out the clear plastic flight stands please?

Really like your work,especially the B-wings and metallic Gozantis--hoping my stab at painting my ships doesnt go horribly wrong as not really a good painter.

Krylon matte black spray, no prep , just spray it on.

On 3/12/2017 at 5:30 PM, thedrake70458 said:

How are you blacking out the clear plastic flight stands please?

Really like your work,especially the B-wings and metallic Gozantis--hoping my stab at painting my ships doesnt go horribly wrong as not really a good painter.

Krylon matte black spray, no prep just striaght on.

I'm still very happy with the Bs, they were the first 'good' job I feel like I churned out. glad you enjoyed them. They are about the only thing I've not considered revisiting and stripping down to start over.

Thanks for the tip on the flight stands--I have Krylon matte black so will use that.

Just hope at some point I can paint fighters somewhere as good as you.

6 hours ago, thedrake70458 said:

Thanks for the tip on the flight stands--I have Krylon matte black so will use that.

Just hope at some point I can paint fighters somewhere as good as you.

I had literally not painted anything in my life before armada, not even high school art class, so just be patient and have fun, you'll be fine. I'm proof that there is hope for just about anyone.