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Miniatures you love/hate to paint
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Starfury
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 302

PostPosted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:06 pm    Post subject: Miniatures you love/hate to paint Reply with quote

I've just gotten back into miniature painting a few months ago after a several year break. I used to do dragons, 40k space marines, Battletech, Kryomek (cool minis), and SFB ships. The first miniatures I did were 3 Gorn and 1 Romulan and they turned out pretty good. I did a Fed NCL (old version) and it turned out ok, but I didn't do any standard lettering. I'm starting to realize why the few SFB mini's I kept have only 1 Fed SCS and no other models...I never really liked doing the Feds.

Least Favorite: Federation
So-So: Klingon/Romulan/Hydran/Kzin/Tholian
Like: Gorn, ISC, Andromedean (but don't play the last 2)

I do have the decals for the Federation ships and plan on using them on the NCA I'm currently working on, but don't know if I'll do the rest of the ships with the "standard" markings or just go with my leftover 40k decals and paint the ships in the various 40k marine chapter colors.

What fleets to the painters here prefer to do?
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:45 pm    Post subject: I Agree Reply with quote

You know, about 8 years ago I Bought a massive 200+ collection of SFB Miniatures on E-bay. I then Dunked them all in Acetone to strip em, and re-painted them.

And to be honest, I didn’t like the way my feds came out either. But since then, my Painting skills have improved quite a bit. And I am probably going to strip em down and re-try.

Tell you what. Decals on a miniature can make allot of difference in the Final appeal of a mini. And although the feds I painted previously look rather plain, (there were no decal sets available at that time to "spice them up" so to speak) I feel that if I use decals this time, they will look allot better this time around.

And as a footnote, I think it would be an excellent idea if ADB released a line of decals for ALL the star line models. How hard could it be? I have no idea. But I would defiantly buy them in droves.
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terryoc
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Joined: 07 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mark Tutton makes decals to order for SFB ships. I haven't used them myself, but I've seen the decals used on ships and they look good. You can specify ship names etc etc. Prices start from $4 (iirc). Contact him at starfighterace@yahoo.com for price lists and details.
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 12:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah yes, I noticed those on the legacy sight. And they are very beautiful. But I am referring to a line of decals for other races as well. Like the Hoards of romulan hawks, gorns, hydrans, etc that I have that no one makes decals for. Granted, many of those details I can paint on by hand, but I would rather have the decal if possible, and save myself the extra hours staring into a lighted magnifying glass. I Have 200+ SFB minis, many of which that I plan to strip down and re-paint. And I plan to order more. More decals would be a blessing! (Much less CT Syndrome involved)

Come to think of it, I was looking at some of the Canadian sight decals for klingons and romulans, and many of them seem to be of odd scales. (Like 2200 or 2500) I wonder how “off” they are on ADBs 2400 scale figs. Has any one tried these decals yet?
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terryoc
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm pretty sure Mark makes Romulan hawk decals for SFB ships. IIRC, In his advertising photos, he shows Romulans with beautiful hawks on the underside.

Gorns and Hydrans I'm not so sure about, but I'm pretty sure that Gorn and Hydran national symbols are available, at the very least.
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Starfury
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 302

PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have bought Fed and Gorn decals from Mark and they sheets for the Fed have TONS of decals for just bout every detail on the ship. The Gorn decals have the standard ship markings in the Gorn script.

Maybe one of my problem with the Fed ships is they're white. Plain, boring, bland white. Maybe thats why the 1 I finished and the one I'm working on are both non-white (one is ivory, other blue)
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Steve Cole
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Joined: 11 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I paint my Fed minis "battleship gray" which in my mind is the Federation wartime paint scheme.
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steve Cole wrote:
Personally, I paint my Fed minis "battleship gray" which in my mind is the Federation wartime paint scheme.


Well,, seeing as though you are "the man" as far as this game goes, wouldn’t that sort of make battleship gray THE war time color for the flat heads? I Mean,, I’ve seen some SFB art renderings, (like the BCJ on the cover of Klingon boarder) that look sort of grayish. I figured it was the lighting at first. But it looks very cool. Ive wondered how to get that efect on a mini.
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OGOPTIMUS
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Joined: 10 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steve Cole wrote:
Personally, I paint my Fed minis "battleship gray" which in my mind is the Federation wartime paint scheme.


I've done the same thing, using Gull Gray for the Fed ships' base color. I think it gives a better contrast to the other yellows, blues, and reds I use on the ships, and it shows less lines.

It also makes sense to me since the classic Enterprise of the 1960s wasn't white, it was gray if you really go back to it. I think that is also mentioned in the FJ Tech Manual (though it may have been Mr. Scott's Guide...). It wasn't until ST TMP that the Enterprise was white.
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:06 am    Post subject: . Reply with quote

I am pretty sure it was white in the original series. at times it also appeared to be a sort of US interior greenish color, and a gray ish as well. I think the reason for that had more to do with the various ways they were lighting the model for the TV show, (special effects?) than the actual color of the ship. I do specifically remember putting together a Model of the original enterprise, and directions for assembly were white.

However, in TNG the enterprise D appeared to be different shades of tarnished white, or even a metallic battleship gray, depending on when the episode was filmed.

I am thinking that possibly a good way to get the effect I want would be maybe a Spray coat of Tamia white, and then a wash of some sort of Light battleship gray ink. Or just a water based Light gray thinned with rubbing alcohol. I really like that dirty grayish white effect of the previously mentioned fed BCH. I know it’s a painting, but it’s a really neat painting. And gives the vessel a sort of menacing look.

on a similar note, Most modern navys paint there surface navys some shade of Grey. It sort of makes sence that a futuristic earth navy might do the same thing.
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Steve Cole
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would not regard how I paint my Feds as being "the" way to paint Feds. My theory that gray is the wartime color is just my theory, not the official paint scheme, and we've done plenty of product colors where white Fed ships are fighting wars.
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Scoutdad
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Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry I came into this discssion late, but I do have a few comments to add.

Even though I prefer to freehand the details on my minis (and I prefer Lyrans and Kzinti to all the others, and the Gorn are my least favorite) - I have seen and used some of Mark Tutton's non-Federation decals.

If you contact him via email, you can get entire sheets of nothing but Lyran fleet symbols, or Klingon trefoils, or Romulan fleet symbols, etc.

I have purchased many decals from him and he's always been great about providing me with what I want. While he has several fleet box / squadron box packages available - he will customize those for you. I recently order decals for 15 different Federation destoyers... and nothing else.

Mark will also allow you to select the names / hull numbers of the Federation ships you want to match your specific fleet ideas.

I highly recommend his products to anyone for any race currently available.
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

THAT is awesome.
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Scoutdad
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad I could help.
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Predator06
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 71
Location: WV, OH, KY tri state region.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know, I was surfing thru the miniature painting contest picks the other day, looking for a little inspiration for my feds. And I Believe I found it.

I saw a few picks of the federation warp engines, where contestants had mixed red and orange together to give the tips of the engines a really cool look. I started by painting mine red, and then using a very fine 10/0 brush to apply a little orange "star-like pattern" on it, and then finished up by applying a gloss coat over the red part, and that little bit of detailing just changed the whole look of the miniatures. Why, with a set of those decals, my feds will look rather good. I actually had fun re-painting them. And I think they look pretty good now. Even if they are Just a bunch of prissy-lily white do-gooder saucer heads. Twisted Evil

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!
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