Saturday 28 February 2015

From TamsinP - ESU Raiding Fleet (130 Points)

Two submissions in one day and both have been SciFi :D

This is my 18th submission in 12 weeks and amazingly this is my first (and maybe only) submission of spaceships.



And so I present the 16th Patriotic Raiding Fleet of the Eurasian Solar Union Space Navy. Well, the start of it - I have a bunch more ships to add to it at some point. These are the ships in the Mega Fleet pack from Ground Zero Games.

These had already been primed black by hand, but the next stages were done with the airbrush - it got plenty of use last weekend. First up was a base coat of Hull Red. That was followed by a first highlight of Hull Red/Scarlet then a light second highlight of Scarlet. Once that was done, the final step with the airbrush was to add irregular black stripes. The airbrush paints I've been using are Vallejo Model Air.

The rest of the painting was done by hand. To help me distinguish between ships of the same class during games, I've picked out panels in either Dark Prussian Blue, Black Green or Black Red. The capital ships got panels in Dark Prussian Blue and Black Green.

They then got sprayed with satin varnish before getting a black wash to help bring out the raised details. This seems to have knocked the red back to a brownish colour - I actually think it looks better (thankfully).

Weapon tips and the SDN's hangar opening were done in Fluo Orange; the engine glow was finished with a wash of Fluo Green.

And onto the pretty pictures of spaceships!

Zheng He Class Scout Ships



Poryshkin Class Corvettes



Kuritsa Class Frigates



Ural Class Destroyers



Kiang Class Light Cruisers



 Oriskansky Class Escort Cruisers



Xinglong Class Heavy Cruisers





Pobyeda Class Battlecruiser







Khalinov Class Battleship





Morov Class Battle Dreadnought





Zhukov Class Super Dreadnought











I posted this pic on my blog last night, but for those who haven't seen it, here is a pic I took in the dark. You can just about make out a faint green engine glow.



I have no idea what these are worth in points - I've sent Curt some size pics to help him out.

I have next week booked off work, so you can expect either one huge entry or several smaller ones. I haven't quite decided what to paint up during my time off. I'm hoping to get about 300 points worth of something done though, leaving me in sight of my 2500 point target with just under 2 weeks to go.


From Curt:


Very nice Tamsin! 

I remember your excellent NAC Fleet from last year's Challenge and these 'Space Soviets' look like they'd be admirable adversaries. The ship design has a certain quasi-Klingon look about them - though somewhat more boxy and sharp edged - nonetheless, they have very cool silhouettes. Your use of the airbrush has allowed you to create some great effects with the mottled colours, while the orange running lights tie them all together. Do all of the ships have the same bright green engine flares as the Super Dreadnought? It's a nice touch.

Well done Ms. P!


20 comments:

  1. Smooth work with that airbrush Tamsin. Nice to see you get some ships done!

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  2. Another great entry, you are certain,y clearing stuff out.. Nice touch on the engine glows

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  3. Well done. the green engine glows are a nice touch, unexpected yet work very well. I might have to steal them.

    As I do not have that many spaceships to paint you have clearly one the side challenge. No Point in me competing when I have already lost and I refuse to go and buy more ships. But If I can I will finish what I have started and I hope to get them done. So congratulations Oh great Queen of the Universe.

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  4. Nice work Tamsin! You are cranking these entries out at quite an impressive speed

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  5. cool. I did think I was in with a chance of a top 5 finish but with a week off you've stormed passed me. Could do with there being a heat wave during your week off, or a lottery win, new romance, anything distracting;)

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  6. Your spaceships are always very good but that airbrush pushes these into a higher class, great work

    Ian

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  7. Excellent work Tamsin, you must have a massive collection of these now??

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  8. Fantastis looking figures Tamsin, really like how you've done the engine glow.

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  9. @ Curt - thanks! They do look a bit like Klingons (..on the starboard bow, scrape them off Jim!), particularly the capital ships. The airbrush definitely helped speed things up and made it easier to do the "camo".
    And yes, they all have the green engine glow effect.

    @ Anne - I know you've been trying to keep calm waiting for me to do these. You can relax now ;)


    @ Dave - cheers! It's been good to get these done, but I've still got more unpainted. The engine glow is done the same way as with the previous ships, just a different colour base (and it seems to work better in green!) :)

    @ Clint - thanks! I thought you had a mega fleet as well, so it should be the same number of ships. If that's right, then there's still a chance of a tie in our side challenge :)
    I'll email you my method for doing the engine glow. It's easily adapted to use the different fluo colours from Vallejo.

    @ Samuli - thanks! I do seem to be in high gear this year :)

    @ Martin C - cheers! I'll happily settle for any of those possibilities other than the heatwave! ;)
    I'm sure you'll crank past me back into 5th place before the end of the Challenge. :)

    @ Ian - thanks! The airbrush was a big help doing these and will also get used for other spaceships, although I do have more NAC, FSE and NSL ships to do at some point, which will need to be done by hand to match the current fleets :)

    @ Ray - not really. Well, not compared to some people. OK, you've got me - it's a pretty big collection of spaceships. With more to come ;)

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    1. @ Peter (who snuck in when I was still typing replies to comments) - thanks! The engine glow is a trick I picked up off other spaceship painters/gamers, although I'd probably have worked it out for myself :)

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    2. Truth to admit I bought them from a friend so not a complete fleet but enough for me. I will get them painted hopefully before the end of the challenge but the US Paras have taken a little too much time. So I am happy to call this a win for you.

      I don't have your email. Is it OKAY if I scrounge it from that nice Mr Rousell?

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    3. Clint - if you click on my name, it will take you to my blogger profile which has a link to my email.

      You might have less ships, but if they are all larger classes, you might still beat me on points. Let's wait and see before declaring it :)

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  10. Lovely ships Tamsin! They look all business and remind me that I haven't done ship one in the side challenge I accepted!
    I better get moving!

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  11. Cracking paint job on these ships!

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  12. Lots of entries piling in from you Tamsin! Wonderful spaceships, I'll have to enter a spaceship challenge next time perhaps as I've got a load lying around still unpainted.

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  13. @ David B - well, you'd better crack on and paint some ships then! ;)

    @ Moiterei - thanks! :)

    @ Chasseur - cheers! Just the two entries (although the other could have been split up into three or four I suppose).. Maybe post-Challenge we could set up a spaceship painting challenge - I've got plenty waiting to be prepped, primed and/or painted. :)

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    1. Sounds like it could be fun, I'll see how I'm placed after the challenge Tamsin, and let you know!

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  14. Thes are grega, such intricate work at so small a scale is really impressive. One of my gaming mates has been going on about this rule set so perhaps I'll have a game at some point.

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    1. It's not really any more difficult to do detail work on these than it is on a 15mm or 28mm figure - the smallest ships here are about 15mm long, the big SDN is about 11 cm long.

      Full Thrust is a great game and not that expensive to get into. It plays fast, particularly the "light" version - you should give it a go.

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  15. Wow, what a great fleet! The colour scheme is deliciously evil and ominously looking well done!

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