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After a long time of no modelling / painting (well over a year) I decided to start work on a new fleet for BFG, as the new release from Forgeworld centres around the Badab Wars I decided to focus my efforts on something interesting from that period. As the Badab wars took place near to the Maelstrom in the Ultima Segmentum and centred around a known conflict I found myself researching the Ultima fleets and thinking about Battlefleet Maelstrom.

Few facts seem to be known about the Ultima Segmentum with regard to Battlefleet Gothic, I could only find one unsubstantiated colour reference and if that was correct it invalidated GW's use of green for their own fleet, so I quickly dismissed it. One solid fact was the information about Kar Duniash the segmentum fortress and its use of the Kar Duniash pattern cruisers, which are sold by GW as their Rogue Trader cruiser. In the initial Rogue Trader fleet rules release it says specifically on page 4: -

Kar Duniash Pattern Cruisers

The Rogue Trader model available from games workshop is based upon a Kar Duniash pattern cruiser, meaning the model is rather versatile and can be used to represent any class of Imperial Navy Cruiser. Our painted example has been equipped to represent a Rogue Trader cruiser, but by replacing the weapons with the appropriate combinations of Imperial broadside batteries it's possible to create a Gothic class, Lunar class, Tyrant class or whatever.

Armed with this knowledge I purchased a couple of Kar Duniash cruisers from GW and set about doing some modelling, I wanted to make some Kar Duniash pattern light cruisers as well. The first step was to duplicate the metal cruiser into something softer to work with, so I recast the body of the cruiser into resin and set about making a smaller prow. In addition I filled the back of the various weapon systems to make the back flush and cast them also, this was to make magnetising the weapon systems easier. As I wished to field some Endeavour, Endurance and Defiant pattern light cruisers I then extended and rebuilt the Lance bay and Fighter bays to the same length as the Light cruiser weapon bays.

You can see my work in progress below, the light cruiser half way through construction is at the front, with all the modified weapon bays ready to be reproduced in resin. The prow of the light cruiser has been cut down to make it scale better with the light cruiser body. The resin bridge section at the back has also been cut back as well. Directly in from the finished weapon bays will let me make a Kar Duniash pattern Endeavour class series of ships.

The middle cruiser body was the test for the magnets as you can see and in the end was cut up for parts as I experimented further with the Light Cruiser.

The Metal cruiser at the back was destined to become my colour scheme test.

Work in Progress Modelling shots







In between waiting for moulds and casting I set about working on a test colour scheme. I wanted to keep the colour palette relatively simple and would be relying on dry brushing (shock, horror, gasp) and washes. I got the basic colour outline laid down quickly using a white undercoat (I wanted the colour vibrancy that a white undercoat brings) and the blue was done with Vallejo Model Color - Medium Blue. Please excuse the poorly taken and over exposed shot from my iphone: -



Working up from that I used GW - Ice Blue with a heavy dry brush to accent all the small detail and then a heavy wash with GW Wash - Asurmen Blue. This left me slightly darker than the colour I wanted, so I ran a VERY light drybrush of Ice Blue which pulled the colour up to where I wanted and re-emphasised the small detail. Once this was done I went and retouched the white prow and eagle and started work on the "lights", in keeping with the "cool" colour scheme I had chosen white for the lights, small dots at key points helped sustain the illusion of scale that any small model requires. I then followed up with GW - Chainmail on the characteristic globes along the dorsal line of the ship and the tips of weapons and landing bays and finally the engines, which then received a further 2-3 carefully applied GW Wash - Badab Black layers.

Lastly I used GW Dwarf Bronze as the base for my Prow Eagle, then followed the edges with GW - Brunished Gold and went over with GW Wash - Devlan mud in the recesses. To make it "Pop" I then highlighted again with the burnished gold. To emphasise the bridge dome I used the gold to do some of the minor metallic work at that end also.

Here are a couple of pictures of the final outcome: -

Hey, those look sweet! Not seen any Battlefleet properally done for a long time...

Looks real nice. Keep it up and post more pics

love the magnet idea for the weapons

Nice work It's a shame there aren't many BFG modelling threads :(

Thanks guys ... I too wish there were more posts about BFG!

The light cruiser is coming along nicely and the modelling aspect should be finished today or tomorrow and be ready for casting during the week.

She's beautiful! I love that snowy prow.

It's a real treat to see a BFG P&M thread and I look forward to seeing more.

Wow, the painting on that is fantastic! Is that blending or drybrushing? Either way, it has done the job brilliantly, also, the white is incredibly crisp!

@ Great Unlcean One : Amazingly its drybrushing and washing, but it was done very carefully.

Well the weekend turned out to be busy, I got most of the work on the Kar Duniash pattern Light Cruiser master done, then I assembled another cruiser with minor modifications to make it a Battle Cruiser and finally managed to make a Prow with Torpedo holes in it after numerous failures.

The light cruiser is made of a number of different sub-sections all of which need to be moulded and then cast for production.

- Bridge section, reduced the existing cruiser size bridge area and pulled in the sub domes and created pillars underneath them out of plasticard.
- Body, removed and tidied sections of the metal body to fit the new parts better.
- Wings, Shortened and cut down to fit to the smaller light cruiser body.
- Prow, Socket and plug arrangement to allow different prows (torpedo etc) to be fitted.


All of this should allow me to create any of the current light cruiser variants, Endeavour, Endurance, Defiant or Dauntless using magnets if I require.

Here you can see the light cruiser held together by blu-tac and willpower: -



and next to the new Cruiser for contrast.



The light cruiser needs a number of minor changes / additions made, most of it is greenstuff work closing holes and gaps before moulding the parts.

The new Cruiser / Battlecruiser required minor changes, specifically making a turret space on the dorsal line and adding a turret, all that remains is to remove the forward dome on the prow and add a turret there too.





Finally I spent a LONG time working on torpedo tubes for the prow, its not often I show a whole lot of mistakes but I decided to show all the failed attempts. It took ages using a drill set on a low speed to make the distinctive torpedo tubes visible on imperial prow, but I am pleased with the final version which can be seen at the front of the following picture: -

If the ships are that small, you can garuantee you wont be winning any battles

Oh yeah ... I suppose the prow's do indeed look like small ships

Just grabbed a pic on my iPhone while leaving for work this morning. Almost completed my second cruiser, just got the masts to paint and the dorsal lance turrets to add. I tend to add them last as they get in the way during the rest of the painting/modelling.



Better pictures tonight after the masts are completed!

The light cruisers are waiting on the current mould which is sitting in the pressure vessel at the moment. It has the Torpedo prow, modified Dorsal Lances and a couple of other useful items.

Its quite nice to have a project with a limited scope, I invariably over-reach my available time and take on things like building and casting entire armies (Steel Legion) instead of choosing things I can actually complete.

Its really good to have some friends keeping me focused, thanks Kurgan & Ragnar!

Seriously though man, those look amazing. Maybe you should consider entering a contest with them when theyre all finished.

Epic BFG fleet.... do want

I am looking forward to getting home tonight, the next mould should be finished, it has the torpedo prow, the domed lances and new masts. With these components I should be able to finish off the battle cruiser and remake the body to mean the prow is changeable as required. I have also worked out a way to magnetise the nova cannon / ram as required on the new prows!

With the final components for the cruisers complete I can move on to finishing off the light cruiser, this includes creating multiple prow again, with and without torpedoes. The cut down wings need reinforcing and a socketing arrangement needs to be worked on at the joint into the main body. I also need to work my way around the model using Green Stuff and close up any holes in the joints and make it "mould" safe (reduce undercuts etc). When all of this is done I can start moulding the light cruisers which will have swappable prow (torpedo or not), swappable weapon bays made for a sword class fitting (long and thin), wings and a tidied body.

The new fittings for the weapons can be seen here. ..

This is awesome

You should blatantly flog those resin copies.

Just dont tell GW

Last night was a good night my new Prow, Domed Lance Turret and Mast mould worked really well.

Here are the new prows, done with different shades of grey resin. As you can see at the back are the new magnetised Nova Cannon and Power Ram, while in the front we have an original prow and a torpedo prow already fitted to the body of the cruiser.



Next up we have the components for the light cruiser almost ready for the moulds. The bridge /dome has been cut down and the two smaller domes moved into the body closer, the underbody section has also been reduced in height to fit better, the wings are cut down (but need building up slightly and a socketing arrangement added) and you can see both the Torpedo Prow (fitted) and the normal Prow, the 2mm dome on top was added using 2mm adhesive gems (you can also see the socket hole at the back of the normal prow). finally there are some fresh out of the mould guns which still need cleaning up!



and asembled



This picture shows the next Cruiser already assembled and waiting to be painted.



Here are the masts and turrets straight out of the moulds, still need tidying up (see its not just Forgeworld that gets flash around their models)



Finally after this Black & White movie presentation I thought we could do with a little colour, here is the finished Battlecruiser with Domed Dorsal Lance Turrets and masts painted. I am really pleased with the result, the domed turrets were cut down Chaos turrets with 1.59mm ball bearings added, they look sleek (being thinner than any other of the plastic turrets) and the domed top fits with the style of the ship nicely.



I just got a deliver this morning of a new resin and silicon rubber from www.tomps.com in preparation for the light cruiser. I have used their silicon rubber before and although it has a short potlife (10 mins) I find it thickens up much quicker than that, so I need to move quickly. Its main advantage is cost, a fairly quick set time, it handles undercuts well and they do next day delivery!

Tonight will be a green stuff night, finishing off the Light cruiser ready for the weekend.

these are all amazingly awesome

I want to play BFG now.

I cant afford to, and dont know anyone nearby who plays ,but I want to play it none the less.

Thats so funny .. that exactly describes my situation ..

"I cant afford to, and dont know anyone nearby who plays ,but I want to play it none the less."

Just a quick update this morning, to show the light cruiser and its weapon modules ready for their mould.

In the first mould are all the basic components, the body, the bridge section, the wings, and the belly of the ship.

You can see the sprue and pouring funnel are already in place (this saves rubber while casting, instead of cutting it out later). The mould has also been keyed (the small holes which force alignment).



In the second mould we see all the weapon modules, with attendant turrets for the lance bay, and both the normal and torpedo prow. I had a spare resin funnel and sprue I could use for this one (saves time).



The Silicon Rubber has already been poured and they both sit in the pressure vessel as I type, in 8 hrs time I will be able to remove them, flip it over, tidy up any clay on the model and get ready for casting the second half of the mould.

If all goes well the mould for the light cruiser will be usable tomorrow morning!

Awesome as usual. Always been tempted to build a battlefleet for my Vostroyan army, and you're not helping me decide not to! Always thought it would be cool having a battlefleet for the army you collect though, just a shame no one else is interested!

@ TheFirstborn : Pm me ... I am in England too .. never know we might be nearby and can have a game!

Anyway the light cruiser mould is all finished and here are some pictures showing the results. There was a single trapped air pocket and for the second cast I have hopefully fixed that.

First up a couple of comparison shots against one of the cruisers.





I wanted to achieve a "similar" feeling between the cruiser and light cruiser and am pleased to say I feel as though I managed it. They certainly feel as though they are from the same "pattern" when just sitting next to each other.

The replaceable weapon modules should now allow me to field an interesting range of light cruiser variants: -

With the addition of a magnetised lance to the prow ... or even in its torpedo variant .. the Dauntless ... or an Endeavour class.



With the change to launch bays we can field a defiant class light cruiser (although I would cut the dome and place a weapon battery or two on the prow)



and finally the Endurance class light cruiser.



So with minor modifications (adjustments to the prow using magnets) I think that's all the variant models of Kar Duniash Light Cruisers I need!

Now I need to cast three of them so I can take them with my while travelling next week and paint them.

Overall I am pleased with the result ... what do you think?

Well I am on the 08:30 train to Swindon, having spent most of yesterday making light cruisers from the new mould. Sadly I did not remember to cast the mast mould at the same time, so I will need to do that upon my return.

I am going to be living out of hotels for most of this week, so no opportunity to do any casting. However as you can see below I have brought with me the five unpainted models to paint: -



(Note the sad lack of masts!)

If I complete the painting on these five models I will have successfully finished my first project in 3 years. I should have about 1100pts worth of fleet, with all the weapons magnetised so I can make any light cruiser or cruiser I desire (including the 'missing' light cruisers from Battlefleet Armageddon) in the characteristic style of the Kar Duniash dockyards.

I have brought the selection of paints, brushes, etc. I require for the models with me and there is a GW in Swindon that I can use to get anything I forgot. I have my iPhone with me so you can expect blurry dark pictures of any progress till I get home.

As you can see about I managed to cast three light cruisers last night and could not help myself from setting up a Dauntless class, Defiant class and a showing the magnets at work: -



 

So far I have managed to spend a couple of hours last night undercoating the five models and will tonight hopefully finish the blue paint on them.

I really like this thread man. Good stuff here!

Nice thread. I been thinking about buying some BFG stuff for a while now and seeing those painted pics has forced my hand. Cheers.

Let the first of the blurry hotel pictures roll ...

Rather boringly I painted the thin white undercoat on all of the cruisers last night. Took a couple of hours of mind numbing boredom: -



As you can see iPads are good for something!

Today I visited Gw in Swindon and got a book I wanted (Enforcer), a stipple brush (looked interesting) and an old white dwarf I missed. I then found an artshop called Ink Spot and blew some more money on a small pallete for tonights painting (at 79p I will throw it away at the end of the week).

With any luck I should complete the initial "Blue" phase tonight!

really epic wow. Love to see thse painted. YOur casting skills are the best I have ever seen! I love this and your steel legion moulds. YOu need to post a proper tutorial on how to do it.

Thanks for the compliement, I have wondered about doing a proper casting tutorial for some time. Will have to think about it!

Well last night was a good night for painting, I completed the three light cruisers and got 2/3rds of the way through each of the cruisers.

If all goes well tonight I should finish the cruisers and be all done, ready to return home on Friday night. It will have taken 12 hrs work for 5 cruisers, which is the best speed of painting I have achieved in years at 2.5 hrs per model.

Anyway here are the blurry, non-macro, iphone, under a 40w bulb, hotel pictures.


Endeavour, Endurance & Defiant class light cruisers


Dauntless Light Cruiser


I am now quite eager to get home and take decent photos!