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!!
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