Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Planes WIP - part 1

 

Greetings and welcome back.  Today I'm sharing progress on my Skies of Fire project for Aeronautica Imperialis.  Last week I shared the finished bases.   This week I am working on the planes themselves.  I chose to keep with the box art and made my best match for the colors using Proacryl paints from Monument Hobbies.

I started with a black primer coat, then dry brushed on the darkest of the three blues I used.  Next, I dry brushed on the second lighter blue as stripes, as shown above.

Then I dry brushed on the third, lightest blue as stripes next to the the other stripes. The camouflage is all done as randomly as possible, while filling out the space. I wanted each plane to look different so I didn't copy one pattern on to the other.

As I was doing the stripes, I would dry brush the whole bottom of the plane in the same color. In the end, this left a nice sky blue color beneath the plane - common as camouflage against the sky to foil visual identification and aiming of anti-aircraft guns from the ground. Effective against primitive cultures, but not that useful against advanced technology with other forms of electronic detection.

The barracuda fighters were done the same.  I built mine as one AX-5-2 leading two AX-5-3 variants.

The final look is basically identical to the Tiger Sharks.  It is an easy and effective scheme.  At some point, I'll document the full color recipe up top with the rest.

The same light blue bottoms resulted.  I pictured these aircraft as all operating up top for the most part and not down on the deck even though they have that capability.

Then I started to look at the Imperial planes. Since they came in the same boxed set, I am painting the navy fighters the same scheme as the Astra Militarum Vendetta carriers.  These guys come in low to support the vendettas and other Valkyrie carriers when they make drops and extractions. I'm planning a green/red camouflage for these planes - but I'm also still considering a shades of brown camouflage instead.  Check back later in the week so see what I choose.

That's ten planes on the road to completion.  The base painting here is the easiest and quickest part, so they move along quickly at this stage.  I hope not to get bogged down in the detail painting where things slow down dramatically.  I really don't want to have to go back and touch up the camouflage much unless I REALLY have to, which means taking it slow and easy on the details.

Come on back when you're free to see where I get to. For those interested, I will definitely get painting recipes up.  I use them too when I need to add new models to and existing painted force.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Bases - To DONE

 

Greetings and welcome back.  After completing two Predator tanks for the Horus Heresy game, I decided to turn back to my Aeronautica Imperialis collection.  Last season, I completed the contents of the original boxed set, Aeronautica Imperialis: Wings of Vengeance.  So this time, I'm working on the second boxed set to be released, Aeronautica Imperialis: Skies of Fire.  It the second boxed set, we are introduced to T'au and Imperial Army aircraft along with a few new rules.

 

To kick things off, I base coated all the planes and then got busy with the bases.  The bases are pretty easy to get done, so they make for a quick win. Also, the completion adds incentive to get on with the aircraft.  The base tops can be carefully separated from the bottoms with a screw driver or other prying tool. They clip on three sides; use care when forcing the clips open or you'll bend and/or crack the bases, or possibly mangle the dials in the process.  If things go well, you'll have a bunch of base dials and bottoms as shown above.  Don't get the dials mixed up.  There are two different dials and they need to be on the correct side to function as designed. 

A short time later I had the base colors applied, using an airbrush. When gluing the stems in before painting, as I have done, some masking tape helps keep the stems clear, if that's what you're aiming for.  There are many examples out on the web to draw from.  I originally planned to do themed bases for each force.  However, in the end I felt the game would look less chaotic if all the planes used the same bases.  This is a pretty easy scheme to reproduce (that's important because there are a lot of bases to paint if you run a large collection!), and look striking on the table.

Next, I painted in the details on the backs of the bases. Bright contrast draws the eye and makes it easy to pick out the flight details during a game. It's quite easy to paint these raised details, but you want to go slow and take care to avoid getting paint on air brushed transitions like this. It's frustrating to touch up later.  I keep a stiff, damp brush handy to quickly remove any mistakes while painting.

Next I painted in all the metallic trim, including the triangle at the front of the base.  You could do something more interesting there, but it's not a game aid (other than sorta pointing forward) and so I didn't want to draw attention to it.

Last up was a solid coat of varnish to seal the paintwork and add durability for game play.  Not sown here, I did paint the two thin rails on the back plate of each base that run under each dial when the bases are assembled.  This can be brush painted after assembly, but I didn't want to have to seal it by brush, nor spray lacquer all over the dials.  So I did a quick paint and seal on those portions of the back plates before reassembling the bases.  As shown, they are ready for action.  Now on to the planes.  I'll save my big ol' seal of DONE for the finished boxed set...hard to take credit for a handful of bases while the planes languish on the shelf with nought but primer on them! 

Probably no posts until next week while I celebrate the US Thanksgiving holiday with family. Happy Thanksgiving to all those out there that celebrate. And even if you don't, you might find some time for reflection on what there is to be thankful for in this life.  

Like a healthy hobby backlog to look forward to! 😂

Cheers and Happy Gaming!!

 

Pre-Heresy Dark Angels Legion Predator Squadron - TO DONE

 

Greetings and welcome back!  Last week I declared that I'd be back to two posts/week...but then this week I didn't really have enough interesting bits to show to cover two posts.  But I DID finish the two Predators I started in September, so that's not nothing.

I'm a hobbyist who likes options, so I have three turrets so far for two tanks.  And there may be more if any interesting ones turn up on eBay when I'm watching.  These are Forge World resin versions and not the new plastic kit, so sourcing the older resin turrets has become a bit of a problem.  Oh, I almost forgot the big seal 'o DONE!

I don't have great passion for painting tanks, but I think these two turned out well.  I did make a decision to skip weathering, as I do on most of my gaming miniatures.  It's just a personal preference.  I mean, I'll put a little rust on things that should obviously be rusty, but I choose not to spend a lot of time on dirt, mud, paint chipping, etc.  Those effects look very cool when applied well and I love to see it on the work of other painters.  I just don't have a passion for doing it myself on gaming pieces.  

So that's what I've been up to this month, aside from building more cool stuff, as I showed off last week.  Shown above, I also added Corswain to my Dark Angels 30K collection. It's a very cool, very detailed model. Should be a blast to paint one day.  The inside of the cape is fully detailed, so I've just stuck it on under its own friction for the picture here.  It'll get glued on once I paint the model.

With the US Thanksgiving holiday next week, I will probably only post once, again, early in the week.  For a new project, I think I'll do something in my Aeronautica Imperialis collection.  Maybe the 2nd boxed set released (Tau and Imperial Army), but possibly the Necrons or some Aldari.  I dunno.  I have quite a lot to choose from there so I just need to look it all over again and see where inspiration points.  I have a friend looking to play over the XMas holidays so that's the impetus to add some more painted planes to the collection next month.   

If you're interested, please keep reading after the break to see more of the predators I just finished.  otherwise, I'll catch you next time you visit.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

On the Workbench [November] - Kill Teams and Titans

 

Greetings and welcome back.  Following DreadTober, I took a brief break from painting to build a few projects.  Shown here are two Direwolf Heavy Scout Titans for Adeptus Titanicus.  The one on the left with Volcano cannon will go to Legio Tempestus and the one on the right with Neutron laser will go to Legio Ignatum.

Both titans come with magnet sockets for the arm weapons and the waist so I went ahead an magnetized them.  Who knows if Forge World will ever produce alternate arm weapons, but I'm ready if they do!  The waist magnets will allow me to disassemble and fit these titans into my existing warhound spaces in the Battle Foam tray I use to store my titans.  They are a bit tall otherwise.

Then I built some kill teams from the recent Into the Dark and Shadowvaults sets.  Above, we have the Imperial Navy Breachers.  For someone who has been in the lore as long as I have (since 2nd ed. 40k), it is fantastic to see some models for the Imperial Navy.  Great detail and character in this kill team.  I will enjoy painting these fellows.

Next up is the Farstalker Kinband.  Also very characterful.  It's neat to have the Kroot get a prominent place in the game, following on the heels of the Blackstone Fortress explorer Dahyak Grekh. But boy were these models fiddly to assemble - but not near as bad as...

...the Necron Hierotek Circle.  Why there are any Necron hobbyists, I don't know.  They suffer for their art, to be sure.  These models are the worst in the range for assembly in my opinion.  But look very cool once you manage to get them built.

So that's 35 models as a palate cleanser before plunging back into the next painting project.  To keep myself honest, I'll complete the two 30K Dark Angels predators I started back in September, just prior to DreadTober. They were pretty far along, so I'm hoping I can complete them this month.  Then I'll see what December brings.

That's it for this post.  After a weak off building things, I'm back at the painting table so expect to see two posts per week, once again.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!