Federation Star Fleet

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:29 pm

Darkwing wrote: In the 4th picture, looking down at the bow, did you pain that light effect (illuminating the name and number) or is it just the room lighting reflecting perfectly? If you did paint that, PLEASE share the technique!

I painted the light effect on. It was very easy to do and you will have no trouble duplicating it. The base hull color is a type of light grey, I gauged how wide the name and ship numbers were going to be and dry-brushed (used a small paintbrush with barely any paint in it) white in that area in a cone shape. I used several brush strokes until it looked right. I then applied the decals on top of it. Being as this was the first time I have ever used decals, I had a disaster in the process which ripped the paint including the primer down to the bare metal of the mini where "NCC" goes. Through a long process of inventing new swear words and an extreme fit of rage, I used mr. surfacer500 to re primer the NCC area, painted a fresh hull color grey, and re drybrushed that area white until it meshed with the undamaged part of the light effect. I then added a "paint on" clear varnish only in the newly repaired area and luckily I had a replacement NCC decal which was re applied. Then of coarse the whole ship received a clear coat spray. So if you try this, and have a disaster too, that is how you can overcome it.

Darkwing wrote:That picture would be killer if it was in focus!

I tried everything short of destroying my I-pod to get a clear image. Maybe somebody knows of an I-pod app that makes the camera take clearer pictures? When you look on the model with your actual eyes, the ship name and number are crystal clear.

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:30 pm

I finally got to use a good camera! I deleted my last post and am posting this as a replacement. In these photo's, the flaws in my work come through. There are two major problems I had, A: bad primer that gave an uneven undercoat. B: I was applying the paint right out of the bottle. That caused the coat's to be too uneven. Next time, I'll use good primer, and thin my paint out. Here it is in all it's glory,
Federation Command Cruiser, U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard!

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:00 am

Surrender? I've not yet even begun to fight! Quote from John Paul Jones, captain of the Bon Homme Richard(translated to English, "poor man Richard), late 1700's(or early 1800's, my knowledge of history is TERRIBLE!)

phdillman · Post by **phdillman** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:16 pm

Nice job! If you hadn't mentioned the decal problem, i wouldn't have noticed it.

Excellent details.

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:22 pm

Thank you very much, phdillman! I noticed you have a Romulan war eagle as your avatar. I just got one of those from the ADB store and can't wait to start in on it with better primer etc.! There is just something about the War Eagle that I love, a most beautiful ship to be sure!

marcus_aurelius · Post by **marcus_aurelius** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:47 pm

Belated thanks for the compliments on the Terran Empire DN.

Here is the newest addition to my Terran Empire fleet, the NCA ISS Germanicus

Terran Empire NCA (Germanicus) and 2 NCLs (Agrippa & Sulla)

The entire Terran Empire fleet so far: 1 DN, 1 CA, 1 NCA, 2 CS, 2 NCL, 2 DD

ToddW · Post by **ToddW** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:26 am

Nice work on the front of the warp engines. They actually look light they have small lights inside them.

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:32 am

Oh, marcus_aurelius, those are glorious! I have some technique questions though,

A: did you use masking tape at all in the painting process?

B: How did you make the bussard collectors look real? Did you use red with a blending gel over gold paint?

As far as your primer advice goes: In another post you recommended Tamiya primer and I sort of scoffed at it, but I really did try to get some, but by God, you just can't get the stuff now days. I'm prepping to experiment with Krylon primer now though. Will keep all others posted as to the results.

marcus_aurelius · Post by **marcus_aurelius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:23 am

For the front of the warp engines / bussard collectors: paint a coat of gloss gold and let it dry fully, then ~1-2 coats of Tamiya clear red. That's it.

I used Tamiya painters tape only for the very rear cones of the warp engines; then there is always a little bleeding which I touch up by hand. Everything else is by hand with a 5-0 brush or decals. In most cases carefully hand painting for me is easier than painters tape. Everything on the front of the warp engines (gold, clear red, dark grey) are hand painted, the 'rectangles' on top of the engines are hand painted, the blue grills and copper are hand painted. A few times per miniature I need to touch up using the base hull color after painting the details; I get the base hull color for touch ups by spraying into a plastic cup (outside) and then quickly using it with a brush.

Tamiya primer is hard to find right now so as a backup I use Testors grey spray primer. I only use Testors and Tamiya paints/primers. For the primer and base hull color I only spray, I never use brushes here except for touch ups or detail work. The very last step for every miniature is to use Testors dullcoat spray to protect and remove excess glossiness.

Since I should minimize the postings on this thread without pictures, below is my recently completed example of a Strike Cruiser using Testors grey spray primer,
several light coats of Tamiya pure white spray paint and the aforementioned engine technique.

Savedfromwhat · Post by **Savedfromwhat** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:48 am

Marcus I use the exact same technique on my collectors. Where did you get those NCA /NCL'S they have no globs of pewter in between the saucer and the secondary hull. Are those new?

marcus_aurelius · Post by **marcus_aurelius** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:15 pm

The NCA Germanicus had very little extra flair on it to begin with. Some of mine have extra flair. For example, my NCA USS Crecy on the previous page (3) had significant extra pewter below the right engine that I removed with a modeling knife. If you look closely you can still see the remnants. You can also see a similar condition on my DW on the previous page.

Here is my example of a NCF using the same engine technique but with clear blue instead.

phdillman · Post by **phdillman** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:20 pm

leathernsteel wrote:Thank you very much, phdillman! I noticed you have a Romulan war eagle as your avatar. I just got one of those from the ADB store and can't wait to start in on it with better primer etc.! There is just something about the War Eagle that I love, a most beautiful ship to be sure!

Looking forward to seeing what you'll do with it. My avatar is a render of a 3d model I made. My first spaceship done in 3DSMax. Most 3d modelers start with connies, but I figured I'd start with a simpler ship and work up.

marcus_aurelius · Post by **marcus_aurelius** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:02 am

Federation CVS

My 3 latest Federation ships together (CVS, CS, NCF)

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:15 am

marcus_aurelius, those look fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I only wish my mini's look that good! Hopefully with time and practice.

leathernsteel · Post by **leathernsteel** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:20 am

phdillman wrote:Looking forward to seeing what you'll do with it. My avatar is a render of a 3d model I made. My first spaceship done in 3DSMax. Most 3d modelers start with connies, but I figured I'd start with a simpler ship and work up.

Look for my finished product under the Romulan fleet painting example thread here when mine is finished. But don't expect it to match marcus_aurelius level of quality.

Your avatar looks very professional to me, I assumed that you had simply grabbed the image from a TV episode or a video game screen shot. I had no idea that you had created it yourself! If you can do that, I would like to see what you could do with other SFU ships, like the Condor!!!!!