Some Finished Mauridians

OK, I know I said I'd be scarce, but I did finish the Mauridian Gal'Ethon battleship and the two Val'Naveg cruisers from Ravenstar Studios. I ended up changing paints with the cruisers. Reaper's Master Series Paints are great paints, especially if you're doing a lot of blending on a miniature. However, when you need two coat coverage it just isn't going to happen. So I switched to Reaper's Pro Paints which have better coverage. This resulted in the cruisers being noticeably darker, but I don't mind it too terribly. As more ships get painted, the ones painted with MSPs will be the minority.

Most of these pictures include the original metal frigates I bought when Xtreme Hobbies was still making these. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the difference in detail in the resin ships blows these away. I'm going to have a hard time going back to metals after these.









Oh, yeah, the battleship is missing the aft ventral fin/wing/thingy. It came off while I was painting at some point today and I'll be darned if I can find the thing.

2,000 Words (and a few more)

OK, the VSD is from Studio Bergstrom and is mounted on Ninja Magic magnetic flight stand adapters and Litko Aerosystems clear acrylic flight stand. The battleship is from Ravenstar Studios. You won't find it on his website, but you can email him for a quote.

Here's where I go into a mini rant. Ravenstar Studios has had the license to produce the Cold Navy ships for some time and his website shows no way in which to order them. If you don't know somebody who knows how to get them or don't check Starship Combat News (excellent source for starship gaming BTW) you'd never be able to get these beauties. I was very hesitant about just sending off money to somebody I didn't know from Adam. I glad I did, because the ships are outstanding in resin. Much crisper detail than the metal versions. He could be doing so much more business if he would get his site updated. Apparently he has a total facelift in the works, but has apparently gotten somebody rather unreliable to get it done. At any rate, he could be making so much more if he had an updated site with pictures of these wonderful pieces.

Mr. Ross, if you're reading this, the Mauridians are the ships I wanted for a long time. Sleek but deadly looking, detailed without being covered in stuff just to be covered in stuff, and a cool anime style.

Painting and A New Distraction

First, I did manage to get the adapters prepped and attached to their bases. I forgot to take pics and I apologize for that. The Victory Star Destroyer looks frickin' awesome on it. Especially since it makes it a bit taller than the other ships on the same shelf in the cabinet. Today I got the base coat and engine "glow" done on the Mauridian BB and it looks quite promising. Next up is mixing a lighter blue and a lighter orange (without going too yellow) for some of the panels, some highlighting, and darklining. While it doesn't have a lot of panel lines and greeblies compared to most CAVs or GZG starships it does have enough to make it a time consuming proposition. At least with the GZG ships I can wash them, drybrush them and call it a day. These Mauridians look so good that they deserve more than that.

And the distraction, I bought Star Trek Online. If you happen to run into Captain Aaron H. Perry in the Alpha Quadrant open a hailing frequency and send your complements. Still flying the noob ship, a Miranda, the U.S.S. Athena though it shouldn't be too much longer until I can pick up a more modern Cruiser.

And the FSE fleet is done

In a final sprint I've finished the FSE battleship and battlecruiser. I think that from here on out I'm going to start with the larger vessels when I have the option. I seem to care more at the beginning of a fleet. I'll seal these last two tomorrow and mount them on their flight stands. Next up for painting are the VSD and the Mauridians. Though I need to wait for some Ninja Magic magnetic adapters to show up before I can start on the Mauridians. In the meantime I can work on the VSD and a couple side projects I have going. Nice thing about the Mauridians is that I already have a paint scheme for them from the first two frigates I bought a couple years ago. It's a bright scheme, but I like it. Hopefully it paints quick.