Building Decals for Federation Ships

[Rick Smith]

malleman: Yeah, I'm excited to get some painting done. The Shanks class
should be a fun one. But Mr. Cloaky will blow it to smithereens. He always does.

Thanks for the advice with the paint pens. Hadn't thought of that!

[Rick Smith]

Still working on this one. Waiting on a few specific colors to be mailed to me so
that the warp and impulse engines, as well as the phaser and gatling phaser
ports can be painted on.

Just taking a break from Star Fleet for a bit...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8007101@N04/2907398733/

[Davec_24]

It's looking good so far, nice crisp lines on the stripes. It's also a nice pretty blue colour. I do like how Hydran ships have blue/purple/grey schemes that not many other ships have. I also like the weathering in front of the fusion beam (?) emitters, very nice.

[terryoc]

That Paladin... sweeet! I love the clean, neat and even paint job, with perfect detailing. I wish I could do that well.

[Kang]

Beautiful! Like I've said before, it makes it kinda sad to have to shoot at them....

[Davec_24]

But you don't *have* to shoot at them if it bothers you that much! I'm sure the ships in question won't complain...

[Cloaky_McCloak]

So that's what you been up to...

This almost inspires me to get off my butt and try painting my failed Romulans once more. Well see.

Very nice. I expect no less.

[Rick Smith]

Davec_24: Thanks man! It was the first time for masking off things on
such a small model. Mostly happy with the result. I was actually trying
to go for recessed (for lack of a better word) "pocket" fusion beams
instead of the weapons that are mounted on the outside of Hydran
ships, but when I was finished it really looks like scorched marks as
well. A happy accident.

terryoc: Thanks! Lots of patience and holding of breath...heh.

Kang: Thanks mister. You flatter me. I'm sure once the game started,
you'd have no trouble lighting the ship up though.

Mr. Cloaky: Nah, this was just a hour + during a frustrated period of
working on an illustration. I need a break before my mind imploded
from some busted anatomy. Finish those Romulans - I'm positive they'll
be great!

[Davec_24]

Well, it looks cool whichever way I've never really managed to get masking to work, especially for finer detail, but that's probably because I use a good old fashioned paint brush (don't have and can't afford a decent airbrush) to finish my models...

[OGOPTIMUS]

Whatever tools you use, keep using them! That looks just great.

[Rick Smith]

Davec_24 & OGOPTIMUS: Thanks guys. Actually the only masking I really did was the
white band around the ship. The rest was all hand painted using a "0" sized W&N paintbrush
kept to a good tip. I thought about using decals for the rest of the painted on details, but I
was on a roll and didn't want to take the time to make them.

[Davec_24]

It looks fine with the details painted on, I wouldn't worry about decals. So, is it going to have any (painted?) markings, like the letters you sometimes see on the bands around the ships? That can give a nice touch to Hydran ships. Also what's in store for the engines? Keep up the good work, anyway.

[Scoutdad]

Great work on that one. I can't wait to see more of your Hydrans...

It almost makes me want to go play a game using them for something other than target practice!

[Rick Smith]

Both are fully painted and awaiting decals.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8007101@N04/2924365587

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8007101@N04/2925214612

[Davec_24]

Nice job on those, very neat indeed. I like the detail in the Paladin's engines, that looks pretty cool. Did you just dry-brush a bit of white into the middle of each engine?