Dunking them in Simple Green for a few hours works for most miniatures, I've found.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

Simple Green or dettol, along with a brush and a strong but thin needle.

Painting can be tricky as I always found the models to be tricky and requring a steady hand for the lines. The only advide I can give is keep the colour scheme simple take your time and mount the model on a wine cork for hease of painting. I find that helps. Though you might want to drink the wine after you've finished painting.

Lightbringer said:

Actually there was a tongue in cheek reference to one of these in a Caiphas Caine Novel, where they are described as 'antidiluvian'( though what antidiluvian is in imperial terms Im not sure....pre imperium?). So if the old galaxy troopships are still around its not unreasonable to think that some of the space fleet ships may be around too. Though I have to agree about the class thing...it denotes the designation and function of a ship rather than its exterior look. I think this would be specifically true for raiders and transports. Military vessels by nature tend to be standardised because they are often stripped and canabalised for parts to keep other ships going. Private vessels such as non military raiders and transports would be in my opinion have a lot more variation. And a good thing to because one of the raiders the Hazeroth class privateer looks Emperor **** ugly...looks more like a tugboat than a raider. The Shipwright who designed that one really dropped the ball...

Interestingly enough, according to fluff the Galaxy -class was able to disembark an entire IG regiment at once with a full compliment of shuttles.

Any ideas on good color schemes for RT vessels? How many ships in a prosperous RT fleet? Any heraldry ideas for ships?

I like these light cruisers. where can I get them?

Most of the ships are still on GW's order pages, including the various AdMech designs and the Rogue Trader ship and escorts: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat490024a&rootCatGameStyle=

I have collected my fleet by tactically scavinging Ebay for bits and large purchases, and ordered those hard to find bits from the GW site itself. Forge World had a bunch of BFG models itself, though I think that they are less interesting for a Rogue Trader.

Color schemes and Heraldry for Rogue Traders is probably immensely varied, both to reflect their status in the Imperium as well as to distinguish them from the Merchant and Solar fleets. The rulebooks state one cruiser as being very gaudy while another is still very much in the state it was when it was part of Battlefleet Calixis. It will also reflect the personality of the Bearer of the Warrent. My own players chose a blue / white color scheme and heraldry.

A prosperous Rogue Trader fleet will likely hold between 3 and 8 vessels, a mighty fleet in its own right, several of which are Light Cruiser weight and even a rare Cruiser serving as flagship (I generally avoid anything ouchier then a Lunar except as an opponent to my players - they already kick quite enough ass with just a Dauntless). You can include an Escort Carrier (Q-ship or modified Trade vessel with fighter launch bays) and several escorts, filling out the rest with Merchant Vessels to represent supplies, bulk hauling capacity and perhaps even an orbital refinery to instantly process ill-gotten gains. This would represent a powerful and prosperous Rogue Trader who mostly mines and trades, and you can increase or decrease fleet size based on this prosperity. Also, you can switch around ships to add or subtract combat ability when taking into account how 'safe' the area of space is (Raiders, Warzone, Lost Cradle of Humanity, Dead Xenos World, etc...).

Ive started converting up cruisers, light cruisers & a grand cruiser for my rogue trader fleet - After having a look in the "Rogue trader :Battlefleet Koronus" Ive been inspired to make an Ad-Mech factory ship and in the future even a Universe class mass conveyor & Conquest class star galleon.

You should look at http://www.resinaddict.com/blog/category/battlefleet-gothic/ for alternative rams and what not - Theres also a great amount of info at both http://www.forum.specialist-arms.com/index.php#c1 and http://www.warseer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?92-Battlefleet-Gothic-Discussion

Lastly the painted RT cruisers are amazing!

This is not the best photo of this mini in the world, and it was smashed to a pulp in a move. I'm rebuilding it.

Nice ship mate -
I like the system ship you've put on the base- I have a similar very similar idea . Will post pics when I get a chance

Is that The Ordained Destiny?