Will McCammon's Minis (Formerly: My wallet hates me, but...)

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:35 am

A couple more quick pics of the work so far:

Federation Fleet as of 6/6/2007
Lyran and Kzinti Fleets as of 6/6/2007
Orion Cartel as of 6/6/2007

To see the other work, just follow the links in the signature line and look for the all new, totally updated Battlegroup Murfreesboro homepage- schedueld to go live during the week of 12/31/2007!!!

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:30 am

I recognize those Lyrans from the contests. Nice work on all of them!

Man. Every time I think I'm getting more than a few minis, I see your boxes (and Aaron Staley's) and just need to go back to my corner and put my funny hat on.

Luckily, my wife is supportive of my mini's buying and work (she's a plant and salt water aquarium addict - so we're even).

If I ever need pictures to show her, "See! You See! I'm not so bad after all." I now know what to bring on screen.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:25 am

Today, I got home earlier than expected. The weather was surprisingly dry and so began the primering -

Improvised spray booth at work.

I got a question about the red impulse engine blocks on some of my minis in the previous pictures.

Those are made from styrene plastic (part number tabs from Gundam model kits, to be specific). I wanted the engine blocks on my "fast" saucers to match the "normal" saucers, so it was time to scratch-build. I used red plastic to make it easy to see while filing, etc.

I used the same plastic to make the torpedo block on the necks of my "pimped" Federation Battlecruisers (with new-style CC saucers) - PICTURE.

[EDIT 10/15/09 - moved pictures to PhotoBucket]

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:35 am

Pictures of my modified Fed CS mini, in-progress HERE.

[EDIT 10/15/09 - moved photos to PhotoBucket]

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 2:01 pm

djdood wrote:Pictures of my modified Fed CS mini, in-progress HERE.

Looks good, Will. Keep up the good work.

Starfury · Post by **Starfury** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:49 pm

On eBay I decided to bid on some ISC ships just for fun.

I won.

13 ships: 3xDN, 4xCA, 3xDD, 3xFF Cost per ship: $2.75 and this includes shipping.

I don't really need these...but it was too good to pass up. My wife will be a bit...irritated...with me when the box arrives I think.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:13 pm

A fleet in a box. Nice acquisition!

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:53 pm

Starfury wrote:On eBay I decided to bid on some ISC ships just for fun.

I won.

13 ships: 3xDN, 4xCA, 3xDD, 3xFF Cost per ship: $2.75 and this includes shipping.

I don't really need these...but it was too good to pass up. My wife will be a bit...irritated...with me when the box arrives I think.

Only because you outbid me and I didn't get the outbid notice [work email

] unitl after the auction had ended.

That's OK, though - I already have 3 DNs, 3 CAs, 3DDs, and 3FFs - It was just too good not to attept to acquire (but my bid maxed out at $2.50 / ship)

But I did manage to get ahold of 4 packs of Fderation Officers for our upcoming Prime Directive campaign.

Congrats and have fun painting them!
Tony

Starfury · Post by **Starfury** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:05 pm

Sorry to have beat you out, I put in a bid that was about $2 higher than the current and got lucky. The price per ship is very good. Considering I've only got 2 ISC ships, a DN and CA from when I used to paint years back these will be fun. I may do a few of them as captured ships and paint them as Fed or Gorn.

For those of you that want some serious firepower: there is an auction for FOUR B-10 Battleships up. Talk about a fleet with a little bit of firepower.

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:13 am

I finished my modified CS mini this morning and got it primed: PICTURE.

I also mixed by big bottle of custom-color paint for my Fed minis. If the weather behaves, I should be able to start airbrushing base-coat on at least some of them tomorrow.

[EDIT 10/15/09 - moved picture(s) to PhotoBucket]

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:19 pm

Starfury wrote:Sorry to have beat you out, I put in a bid that was about $2 higher than the current and got lucky. The price per ship is very good. Considering I've only got 2 ISC ships, a DN and CA from when I used to paint years back these will be fun. I may do a few of them as captured ships and paint them as Fed or Gorn.

For those of you that want some serious firepower: there is an auction for FOUR B-10 Battleships up. Talk about a fleet with a little bit of firepower.

That's OK. I wasn't really all that interested in them, I just liked the price. Most of them would have eventually been traded off to other people anyway.

The one that got away was an earlier auction from the same person for 11 Andromedan ships. I only have 2 Andros and they would have made a nice addition. I put in a bid and then forgot to go back and see how the auction was going. I lost that one, too.

Starfury · Post by **Starfury** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 4:35 pm

I saw that auction and passed because I don't play SFB so don't need any Andromedans to fill out my fleet. I think that guy is going to be putting up SFB/FC mini's for a while; sounds like he somehow got a ton and he's parting them out.

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:37 pm

Yeah, I thought he same thing. I added him to my "Favorite Sellers", that way I get notified every time he posts another auction item

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:39 am

Darn it.

Four minis base-coated this morning.

Let that paint cure for the whole day.

I figured I would hit them with a darker color wash tonight and then detail paint tomorrow. Except the wash started eating the base coat away. Need to re-think that plan. I think the little bit of thinner (alcohol) in the paint I thinned as a wash is attacking the base-coat.

I could work around this by clear gloss coating the minis, but that stuff is horrible (smells bad and is kills brain cells). I'm trying to avoid solvent-based stuff as much as possible nowadays, to spare my poor brain from additional deficit. The primer and final dull-coat will be plenty, thank you.

Since I don't wanna deal with sealing them with a cleat gloss coat, the next best thing I can think of is trying to do the washes with inks (which I've never worked with). Scary.

I'll hit Micheal's on the way home and see what they have. Grrrr...

I hate rushing, but I'm trying to beat a deadline with one of these mini's.

Mazza · Post by **Mazza** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:51 am

I make washes with a non-alcohol based floor cleaner called "Pledge One Go" (not sure what it will be called in the US or other countries). A little bit of paint, a little bit of that, mixed all together makes a good wash. Works with inks too. It smells a little when it goes on, but it's nowhere near as bad as the smells you're complaining about - there are no real fumes, just a "floor cleaner" smell until it dries.