New to FC - Questions & Minis

Rick Smith · Post by **Rick Smith** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:07 pm

They look great! Interesting color choice - nice and bold.

OGOPTIMUS · Post by **OGOPTIMUS** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:08 am

I'm also in the grey/black Klingon camp, but this is making me think again about how to paint my own.

Very nice.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:54 am

Funny thing. I had to go to Micheal's with wifey tonight. While there I went browsing through my favorite section - the Paints!

Folk Art has a color called "SeaBreeze" which is nearly identical to the Seafoam you used. In fact, with drybrushing for highlights and washing for shadows - it would be identical.

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:53 am

Well, I'm still experimenting with my new minis and which way to go with them. Having recently starting watching the Star Trek TOS episodes again, I decided to try and go closer to "canon" ....for the most part.

Here's my version of the Klingon D-7, for the purists:

So basically, I did some studies on how other hobbyists did their TOS D-7. Also watched the TOS episode "Elaan of Troyius" For the most part, I notice the grey of the hull was very light. I thought about it for a while and feared that after doing my Fed ships, my Klingon ships, and my Romulan ships, that I would end up with lots of ships that were either light grey or off-white.

I decided to real back my pursuit of following canon a little and made the grey a smidge darker. Just so there would be more of a contrast when its on the table with Fed ships. Although, if you watched the remastered TOS episode of "Elaan of Troyius", the D-7 appears to be a darker grey. Although, that is indeed due more to just the lack of ambient light hitting the ships in that area of space.

Speaking of the remastered D-7, I looked at that version to borrow how they treated the rear glowing blue parts. I was debating of using the rear version of the ship in "Undiscovered Country" but decided to go with the TOS remastered version.

Hope you guys like.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:23 pm

I like the grey one better...

toastie · Post by **toastie** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:38 pm

Evil Goatee wrote:So basically, I did some studies on how other hobbyists did their TOS D-7. Also watched the TOS episode "Elaan of Troyius" For the most part, I notice the grey of the hull was very light. I thought about it for a while and feared that after doing my Fed ships, my Klingon ships, and my Romulan ships, that I would end up with lots of ships that were either light grey or off-white.

I'm been wrestling with the same problem. I don't think Feds should be a pristine white, but if you tone it down, you get grey. Klingons - grey. Romulans - grey. Gorn - grey.... AAAGGHH!

BTW, is the insignia painted on, or decal?

Rick Smith · Post by **Rick Smith** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:43 pm

These are looking great man! Nice work.

Love the painted on details...the Klingon text actually looks a little like "TOS" if you squint.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:55 pm

toastie wrote: I'm been wrestling with the same problem. I don't think Feds should be a pristine white, but if you tone it down, you get grey. Klingons - grey. Romulans - grey. Gorn - grey.... AAAGGHH!

My solution was:
Federation - Titanium White with a ghost grey wash... a very, very thin wash
Klingon - Panzer Grey with darker grey trim
Romulans - Egg-shell white upper surface, gull grey lower surfaces
Gorn - Medium Grey with ghost grey highlights and trim
Hydrans - more of a blue than grey (it kinda makes southwestern front battles llok like something from the ACW!

)

toastie · Post by **toastie** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:30 pm

Scoutdad wrote: My solution was:
Federation - Titanium White with a ghost grey wash... a very, very thin wash
Klingon - Panzer Grey with darker grey trim
Romulans - Egg-shell white upper surface, gull grey lower surfaces
Gorn - Medium Grey with ghost grey highlights and trim
Hydrans - more of a blue than grey (it kinda makes southwestern front battles llok like something from the ACW! )

Here's what I've been doing.

Feds: Light Ghost grey
Klingon: Been using Testors gunship grey, may experiment with grey green
Romulan Old series: white lower surfaces, light grey upper surfaces
Romulan KR series: light grey with medium grey details, green details on the engine vents
Romulan New series: white lower surfaces, medium grey upper surfaces.
Gorn: I've been using dark grey. Thinking of trying to do medium to darker green upper surfaces with 'scales' effect, light grey underside. Think of 'alligators in space'.

Hydran: Dark royal blue

Starfury · Post by **Starfury** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:27 pm

I've done my ships in a variety of colors. Generally I've followed the "preferred" color scheme but Klingons in black look pretty good.

For my Gorn I tend to do them in Gunmetal and wash with a black ink and then drybrush silver. I used to freehand the ship insignia but can't paint that well and the decals were a bit small for some of the ships so I dug out my old Warhammer 40k decals and used those.

Pictures will be coming, I'm shooting for this weekend.

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:30 am

Scoutdad wrote:I like the grey one better...

Cool. It's pretty much the one I've decided to go with. Later on, as I paint different class ships in the Klingon fleet, I'll add my own variations on insignia and decorative surface details.

Rick Smith wrote:These are looking great man! Nice work.

Love the painted on details...the Klingon text actually looks a little like "TOS" if you squint.

Thanks Rick! Yeah. The Klingon text sort of does look like it says "TOS". I was basically following this image as a loose guide.

http://i.pbase.com/g3/64/521964/2/89713177.YP0ZYfEb.jpg

toastie wrote: Gorn: I've been using dark grey. Thinking of trying to do medium to darker green upper surfaces with 'scales' effect, light grey underside. Think of 'alligators in space'.

I think that would look awesome.

With the Klingons, I'm going with that medium grey (40% gray I guess). Still undecided on the Feds. At first I was going to match the Enterprise in the Smithsonian. Then I changed my mind and thought of combining he Smithsonian paint job with a mix of what you see on screen in the title sequence. Sort of an eggshell blue-grey. I just might trash all those ideas and just go light grey.

With the Romulans, I'm just going white.

While we're on the subject of paint schemes. I wanted to ask you guys about the Orions. I plan to paint at least one or two cruiser class ships from each race/faction. I noticed with the Orions that they have these pirate themed decorative paint jobs. I was thinking of painting my Orion ships each with a different scheme. Like, each Captain customizes his ship. But then, I see some Orion ships just plain grey and some (later on) with elaborate decorations. If I made the cruisers and lighter ships with individualized paint jobs, would that break canon in any way? Just wondering. I would assume not . . . since anything not seen in TOS episodes has a loose idea of "canon". Still, would love to hear your opinions.

Thanks.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:23 am

toastie wrote: Gorn: I've been using dark grey. Thinking of trying to do medium to darker green upper surfaces with 'scales' effect, light grey underside. Think of 'alligators in space'.

Check out these Gorns, Pained by Mike Raper: [Look for Entry #5]

As far as Orions go: I don't think there is a "Canon" to break.
I have half a dozen or so painted with Flames...
Some painted "basic black"...
and even one that matches my first car...
The next fleet box will be the Blue Raiders and will be painted in the MTSU colors...
My Orion DN, OTOH will be painted in a deep indigo blue with an even deeper wash and some electri blue highlights. The end result I'm shooting for will be a recreation of a next sky.

So have fun and paint away.

junior · Post by **junior** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:40 am

Evil Goatee wrote:While we're on the subject of paint schemes. I wanted to ask you guys about the Orions. I plan to paint at least one or two cruiser class ships from each race/faction. I noticed with the Orions that they have these pirate themed decorative paint jobs. I was thinking of painting my Orion ships each with a different scheme. Like, each Captain customizes his ship. But then, I see some Orion ships just plain grey and some (later on) with elaborate decorations. If I made the cruisers and lighter ships with individualized paint jobs, would that break canon in any way? Just wondering. I would assume not . . . since anything not seen in TOS episodes has a loose idea of "canon". Still, would love to hear your opinions.

I would assume that an Orion ship could be painted however the ship's owner wanted. Each owner is going to have his or her own ideas about how the ship should be decorated. One captain might like his ship to be heavily marked up, whereas another might prefer a simple pristine white. And ships that are the property of the local cartel (as opposed to ships owned by independent operators leasing out territory from the cartel) are probably going to have some unifying theme to the way that they look.

Evil Goatee · Post by **Evil Goatee** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:45 am

Ah I see. They group up into cartels. I didn't know that. Guess I was thinking more like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or something.

Heh heh.

Is there a website or something that has background info on each of the factions? I've done searches on Lyrans, Hydrans, Orions, Gorn, and all that. However, every time I browse, I just get things that are very brief. About a paragraph at most. Is there anything out there that is more detailed?

Wolverin61 · Post by **Wolverin61** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 3:49 am

My Orions are all black.