The haul comprised 1 each of the XQ-3, 4, and 5 platforms, 2 BFF-1 Bulk Freighters, 2 Action VI transports, 1 CSS-1 Senator Shuttle, 1 Republic Frigate (aka the Consular Cruiser), and 1 DP-20 Corellian Gunship.

I consider it a theme pack of ships. The DP-20 is a perfect stand-in for the CR-90 as its similarly sized and styled. The Republic frigate could fit a wide variety of roles, but in my mind it could have been used by the Empire early on like an Arq or Raider. The stations are largely to provide a sexy piece to replace the cardboard tokens. The freighters and shuttle could replace tokens for missions, scenarios, and various homebrew, or even potentially replace flotillas for cool variants.

Now I will have to take the plunge and paint once more. I've dabbled in painting Warhammer over the years, but have rarely followed through for long. I am far more comfortable with painting ships than characters however, as they lack that challenging organic component. I think I will likely keep their colour schemes fairly 'stock' as per their examples. That said, I am definitely interested in any advice from other Mel's Minis painters or, well, frankly anybody! Thanks for reading!

I have my eye on one of those Stations for sure.

Wash them good before you paint. Otherwise I am putting up painting videos on YouTube as I go. I'm super close to having a video for my Assault Frigate done. Had some technical issues copying the files over to my laptop but problem solved.

That's quite a haul. I'm a big fan of Mel's ships ( talk to text tried to make that male ships). Clean them thoroughly and soak them in dish soap and water overnight they really tend to soak up paint badly otherwise. The ones I've gotten I used mostly as replacements for existing ships but recently started giving them their own stats and making cards for them on KDY.

Again, wash them good. Frosted Ultra Detail is really oily as they used a blob of coconut grease to help support the 'resin' as it's printed. Then melt it out with really hot water. I find a good degreaser helps as well, like Purple Power (I've got a ten year old spray bottle of it I'm still using), just wear a pair of nitrile or latex gloves if you use a degrease as it will remove the oil from your skin as well.

I also use a good primer, like Vallejo Surface Primer or AK Interactive Primer, apply them in thin coats so you don't loose the detail! Other than that, just remember you can always strip the paint off if you don't like how it turns out.

3 hours ago, Thrindal said:

I have my eye on one of those Stations for sure.

Wash them good before you paint. Otherwise I am putting up painting videos on YouTube as I go. I'm super close to having a video for my Assault Frigate done. Had some technical issues copying the files over to my laptop but problem solved.

I've watched your videos and they are part of what confirmed my buying spree. Once I saw a good close up video of that FUD quality I was sold. Thanks for putting them up!

The assault frigate variants look spectacular and are definitely on my wish list.

1 hour ago, Megatronrex said:

That's quite a haul. I'm a big fan of Mel's ships ( talk to text tried to make that male ships). Clean them thoroughly and soak them in dish soap and water overnight they really tend to soak up paint badly otherwise. The ones I've gotten I used mostly as replacements for existing ships but recently started giving them their own stats and making cards for them on KDY.

I do intend to use the KDY stats for some of these models. I will also be sure to get a good soak and clean done before priming!

53 minutes ago, outerrimrebel said:

Again, wash them good. Frosted Ultra Detail is really oily as they used a blob of coconut grease to help support the 'resin' as it's printed. Then melt it out with really hot water. I find a good degreaser helps as well, like Purple Power (I've got a ten year old spray bottle of it I'm still using), just wear a pair of nitrile or latex gloves if you use a degrease as it will remove the oil from your skin as well.

I also use a good primer, like Vallejo Surface Primer or AK Interactive Primer, apply them in thin coats so you don't loose the detail! Other than that, just remember you can always strip the paint off if you don't like how it turns out.

Where I live I can only find Citadel easily, and one shop carries Army Painter I believe as well. I have spray cans for both black and white primer from Citadel.

I've always been nervous around the idea of stripping paint off plastic models. In general I've been nervous about painting overall.. too much of a perfectionist in me at times, especially considering how not perfect my artistic side is haha.

2 minutes ago, TheBigLev said:

Where I live I can only find Citadel easily, and one shop carries Army Painter I believe as well. I have spray cans for both black and white primer from Citadel.

I've always been nervous around the idea of stripping paint off plastic models. In general I've been nervous about painting overall.. too much of a perfectionist in me at times, especially considering how not perfect my artistic side is haha.

All I use is Citadel White for Primer, I like it a lot.

I found the first hurdle you have to get over with painting is to not be a perfectionist. Once you get over that it makes things a lot more fun. Also a little Nuln Oil or other wash goes a long way in covering up minor imperfections.

14 minutes ago, Thrindal said:

All I use is Citadel White for Primer, I like it a lot.

I found the first hurdle you have to get over with painting is to not be a perfectionist. Once you get over that it makes things a lot more fun. Also a little Nuln Oil or other wash goes a long way in covering up minor imperfections.

Haha yah I am definitely gonna be relying upon Nuln Oil. In fact, to help get my feet wet, I am thinking about giving a little Oil treatment to some of my other boats. The Nebs have that garishly white painted engine section that needs some darkening, and a few of my Imperial models seem to be lighter or less washed than others. Ultimately I would like to paint all my squadrons as well, but that is a metric fuckton of tiny little work.

47 minutes ago, TheBigLev said:

Haha yah I am definitely gonna be relying upon Nuln Oil. In fact, to help get my feet wet, I am thinking about giving a little Oil treatment to some of my other boats. The Nebs have that garishly white painted engine section that needs some darkening, and a few of my Imperial models seem to be lighter or less washed than others. Ultimately I would like to paint all my squadrons as well, but that is a metric fuckton of tiny little work.

I have painted a lot of squadrons but I seem to have a never-ending bin of unpainted ones, Mel's ships have provided a good break from crosseyed, hand shaking, finger cramping work that is squadrons. I do have a few in the cue though once I finish my Mel models. I know I need to do some E-wings and Z95's.

10 hours ago, TheBigLev said:

Where I live I can only find Citadel easily, and one shop carries Army Painter I believe as well. I have spray cans for both black and white primer from Citadel.

I've always been nervous around the idea of stripping paint off plastic models. In general I've been nervous about painting overall.. too much of a perfectionist in me at times, especially considering how not perfect my artistic side is haha.

Use what you have, I've always had mixed results with a spray primer. Either I apply it too heavily and obscure details or I miss spots and have to spray again.

2 hours ago, outerrimrebel said:

Use what you have, I've always had mixed results with a spray primer. Either I apply it too heavily and obscure details or I miss spots and have to spray again.

Yay I'm not the only one with spray can inadequacies

12 hours ago, TheBigLev said:

Where I live I can only find Citadel easily, and one shop carries Army Painter I believe as well. I have spray cans for both black and white primer from Citadel.

I've always been nervous around the idea of stripping paint off plastic models. In general I've been nervous about painting overall.. too much of a perfectionist in me at times, especially considering how not perfect my artistic side is haha.

Both Citadel and army painter have good quality paint. Don't worry about stripping off your own paint jobs if you're using acrylics they're pretty easy to get off without doing any damage to your model. I was really nervous about painting when I started too. I practiced on Micro Machines until I got a general hang of it. Now it's a really big hobby for me. I think everyone suffers from the perfectionism thing and is their own harshest critic. I also wouldn't worry about any lack of artistic skills I don't have any and I use technique to compensate. Dras has some great instructionals over in the painting sub thread and there's no shortage of videos on YouTube. Give it a try and you might find you've got yourself a brand new hobby

I am gonna soak them in soapy water overnight and give them a scrub with a toothbrush, carefully, tomorrow. I have watched and read a lot of the great content people have posted, it definitely makes me more confident in the whole process. I also just watched Thrindal's new video today, and considering how nice the finished product is he made it seem downright easy. Haha I hope I have as much success!