2 hours ago, Vykes said:

And by a lightbox, Outerrim means 'a piece of white paper with a salt shaker behind it' to prop the thing into a bend. It sure ain't perfect but it'll do in a pinch to help the pictures a lot. A proper lightbox is just, you know, gravy/icing. They look right good, mate.

That works too! So does draping a piece of white fabric from a lamp.

Tell ya what, this tread got me to pick up a paint brush and work on some of my minis.

audio weasel, ur painting skill is impressive, most impressive. that lancer was really cool man, great work

On 2/10/2017 at 5:28 PM, Vykes said:

And by a lightbox, Outerrim means 'a piece of white paper with a salt shaker behind it' to prop the thing into a bend. It sure ain't perfect but it'll do in a pinch to help the pictures a lot. A proper lightbox is just, you know, gravy/icing. They look right good, mate.

Urgh, now I have to go and buy a salt shaker .

Out of all my minis from Mel, I definitely get the most use out of alternate freighters for the flotillas:

Mel how about an old Victory 1? I'm sure there would be some folks interested in that one.

those freighters are really cool, great paint work

9 hours ago, jbc98k said:

Mel how about an old Victory 1? I'm sure there would be some folks interested in that one.

The FFG model is a Vic 1. Mel could do a Vic 2, though.

On 2/5/2017 at 8:23 PM, Commander Klank said:

Here are my Vindicators... One is converted into an anti squadron heavy cruiser. They are printed in FUD. As a matter of fact everything I get from Mel's is printed in FUD. It's the only way to go (for me anyways).

I built a Star Destroyer battleship from the Revell snap-rite Imperial Sat Destroyer model and bits form Mel's shop...

The bridge is form Mels ISD1 mod set and the turrets are from Mel as well.

The forward structure the middle turret is sitting on was scratch built using Mel's starship panels.

I've found now that acrylate is available, it's a much better materiel for these types of prints. There is a bit of cleanup, but it just feels stronger. I'm not worried about spoken breaking it simply from an accidental bump, or dropping it.

that's always good, I'm always scared about dropping stuff haha

I have 2 Munificents, 2 Recusants, 1 Providence 1 Lucrehulk Battleship, & at least one of every CIS squadron, all in FUD. The details cant be beat, but it needs to be cleaned and primed well. It is also brittle stuff, so avoid drops. If you must go with WSF, be prepared to clean the panel lines with a dental pick, and some of the small details may have cracked off or just not fully formed in printing. If you are unsure of the quality difference you could order one of a very small ship in each. I have yet to try the Black Acrylate, so I cant speak to any of its issues.

Just now, cynanbloodbane said:

I have 2 Munificents, 2 Recusants, 1 Providence 1 Lucrehulk Battleship, & at least one of every CIS squadron, all in FUD. The details cant be beat, but it needs to be cleaned and primed well. It is also brittle stuff, so avoid drops. If you must go with WSF, be prepared to clean the panel lines with a dental pick, and some of the small details may have cracked off or just not fully formed in printing. If you are unsure of the quality difference you could order one of a very small ship in each. I have yet to try the Black Acrylate, so I cant speak to any of its issues.

Well my order is almost done, just waiting on the platform now, so a trove of photos and experimentation will be forthcoming... the things I do for SCIENCE!

4 hours ago, cynanbloodbane said:

I have 2 Munificents, 2 Recusants, 1 Providence 1 Lucrehulk Battleship, & at least one of every CIS squadron, all in FUD. The details cant be beat, but it needs to be cleaned and primed well. It is also brittle stuff, so avoid drops. If you must go with WSF, be prepared to clean the panel lines with a dental pick, and some of the small details may have cracked off or just not fully formed in printing. If you are unsure of the quality difference you could order one of a very small ship in each. I have yet to try the Black Acrylate, so I cant speak to any of its issues.

thanks for the tips, I'll keep that in mind when I make my order.

A box of Mel's finest product now winging its way to me. Better than Christmas ;-)

Once I finally get "enough" of the official ships (someday?), I really do want to get some from Mels. Way too often do I have that tab open, hovering over the Buy button.

I'd love to see some more "other franchises" in Armada scale, too. ;-)

I had Mel make me his Vindicator model in 15cm size for a "Pocket" Star Destroyer project I have in mind and I got it in high definition black acrylic. It's in production right now and I'll post a review here once I get it.

She'll be 1400 meters and have a different bridge (eventually).

5 minutes ago, Commander Klank said:

I had Mel make me his Vindicator model in 15cm size for a "Pocket" Star Destroyer project I have in mind and I got it in high definition black acrylic. It's in production right now and I'll post a review here once I get it.

She'll be 1400 meters and have a different bridge (eventually).

Cool looking.

I wish he'd make a Vindicator with a smaller keyhole.

I shaved/sanded mine down till only about 2mm showed and the key holes work fine... not that the underneath is seen that much on a gaming board.

3 hours ago, jscott991 said:

Cool looking.

I wish he'd make a Vindicator with a smaller keyhole.

Just paint your bases black, keyholing issue disappears then. Plus if they were any thinner there'd be no material to actually support the thing on its base, surely, especially with FUD?

9 hours ago, Commander Klank said:

I had Mel make me his Vindicator model in 15cm size for a "Pocket" Star Destroyer project I have in mind and I got it in high definition black acrylic. It's in production right now and I'll post a review here once I get it.

She'll be 1400 meters and have a different bridge (eventually).

That would make a nice Combat retro-fit Interdictor.

6 hours ago, MajSharpe said:

Just paint your bases black, keyholing issue disappears then. Plus if they were any thinner there'd be no material to actually support the thing on its base, surely, especially with FUD?

I have more than a few Shapeways ships made for Armada, some from Mel and some from others, and the keyhole on the Vindicator is by far the biggest. You can see that it could be much smaller and still accomplish the same purpose.

The Dreadnought, for example, doesn't even have a projected keyhole and sits on a stand perfectly fine.

3 hours ago, outerrimrebel said:

That would make a nice Combat retro-fit Interdictor.

Sort of the idea... it will be faster and more maneuverability than an ISD but have less armor (hull points) and slightly less firepower. It's main protection will be it's shields and speed.

10 hours ago, MajSharpe said:

Just paint your bases black, keyholing issue disappears then. Plus if they were any thinner there'd be no material to actually support the thing on its base, surely, especially with FUD?

The problem with painting your bases black is your opponent can't see your opposite firing arcs easily (annoys me slightly)

2 minutes ago, Darthain said:

The problem with painting your bases black is your opponent can't see your opposite firing arcs easily (annoys me slightly)

Gotta say that never occurred to me, but I've never had any complaints about it. I'm rolling out some coloured custom vinyl decals on my bases soon too, to permanently solve the "Which shrimp is that again" problem, without having to squint at base markers. Being a designer-maker and having tonnes of kit lying around has its advantages. I'm also working on an X7 Deep Space Manufacturing Platform, which I'll post about once it stops being an embarrassing heap of glue

7 hours ago, MajSharpe said:

Gotta say that never occurred to me, but I've never had any complaints about it. I'm rolling out some coloured custom vinyl decals on my bases soon too, to permanently solve the "Which shrimp is that again" problem, without having to squint at base markers. Being a designer-maker and having tonnes of kit lying around has its advantages. I'm also working on an X7 Deep Space Manufacturing Platform, which I'll post about once it stops being an embarrassing heap of glue

Are you using Mel's spaceship decking and side panel bits for that?

7 hours ago, Commander Klank said:

Are you using Mel's spaceship decking and side panel bits for that?

Using a few bits of Mel's (e.g. turbolasers/freighter), but the panels were too rich for my blood.