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Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello there! In this thread I want to show off my small collection of BFG ships I have acquired so far.

I have always been very fond of the look of the BFG ships (especially the imperial ones) and also of the concept of BFG as a whole. I am very interested in space travel, sci-fi and void warfare, so BFG has always had a strong attraction for me. Also, I really like the grimdark setting, for example the perils of traveling the warp, the superstition and mysticism connected to the ancient and venerable spacecraft, the bleakness of the void, the ever present threat of countless hostile xenos species trying to destroy the human race etc... When BFG: Armada came out, I bought it and had a lot of fun playing it because finally, I could command a fleet of imperial warships myself. Sometimes, I used to just ogle the amazing detail of every ship moored at Port Maw, and that rekindled my love for the setting once again. As luck would have it, I found a good deal for a whole starter fleet of Imperial ships for BFG online, and I couldn’t help but take the offer. In this thread, I want to show you the assembly and painting of my fleet. If you are interested in BFG, I’d be glad if you stopped by every once in a while.
To start off, I’ll show you the cruisers I managed to acquire so far. I also have a battleship, several frigates and many escorts at home, but for now, I decided to focus on the cruisers because the would take the most time to prepare for a paintjob.



The cruisers are the only plastic ships in my fleet and, seeing as I bought them off someone else, they were already assembled. However, I was lucky enough to also get the extra bitz that came with the ships, and two of the cruisers had not been fully glued together, so it was still possible to actually magnetize them! This way, I could get the most out of my fleet and allow some customisability.
First off, I had to download some documents to find out how BFG ships were actually supposed to go together, as I had no previous knowledge of the tabletop game and never played it. Luckily, I found a version of the rulebook which detailed all possible ship variations. It turned out not all of them have torpedos on the prow, but instead can also have a mighty Nova cannon. I decided to seal the torpedo tubes on the ships with Nova cannons to clearly distinguish between the two prow types. This way, the cruisers will be easier to tell apart from tabletop distance. To cover the tubes, I used multiple layers of liquid greenstuff that were shaved flat every time.






The finish is not yet perfect, but I am sure that with one or two extra layers of LGS and a decent paintjob, the imperfections won’t be noticeable anymore.



The port side of this prow already looks pretty decent, and I think the paintjob will cover up the last imperfections as well.



The ship is assembled as a Dominator Class Cruiser in the picture above, but like I said, all main weapons are magnetized and can be swapped out. Note that an antenna had broken off on the port side wing, so I had to replace it with one of the many surplus antennas that came in the box.
Next up, a Mars Class Battlecruiser:



The Battlecruisers can be easily told apart from regular Cruisers by the Macrocannon arrays installed on their dorsal mounts. This Cruiser also features a Nova Cannon, so the torpedo tubes were sealed in the same fashion as on the ship before. Unfortunately, this Battlecruiser is fully glued together, and I don’t think I could remove the main weapon systems without severely damaging the rest of the ship, so I think I’ll leave it like that unless I have some kind of epiphany Anyways, I think Mars Class Battlecruisers aren’t bad at all, are they?



A detail shot of the prow-mounted Nova cannon. I actually managed to drill out the cannon’s barrel with my tried and true
X-Acto-drilling technique. I think the cannon will look nice with this extra little detail when painted up
Next up, a Lunar Class Cruiser:



This one features torpedo tubes and a front ram. Don’t mind the paintjob, the ships will all be repainted soon. Next is a Gothic Class Cruiser:



This ship, once again, came partly unassembled and thus I was able to magnetize it. I had to use up the last few turrets I had for the Lance batteries on this ship. Anyone know where I can get more? Sorry for the dark images, the black doesn’t show the detail very well, but it will once it’s painted. Also, I will have to patch up some holes, as the previous owner had decided to use a different system of attachment, and he pinned the pieces in place with wires inserted into holes which unfortunately came out the front side



The starboard side of the cruiser, which hopefully shows the detail a little better. Man, you gotta love the Gothic Class with its awesome array of lance turrets, right? I really like this type of ship and I am glad I managed to scrounge up enough turrets to complete at least one!



Another shot of my magnetized Cruiser, this time disassembled so you can see how I placed the magnets. I just drilled through the middle portion of the ship and inserted 2 or 3 small circular magnets (all the same orientation) so that they were flush with the surface. The were glued in using superglue. The surface is a little rough because some parts had been glued on and I had to rip them off and clean the area up. This will not be visible when the ship is assembled however. The magnetized weapon batteries have a magnet attached inside and a little recessed, so they also sit flush with the surface. The magnetic bond of the weapons to the ships hull is very strong, and after some filing and smoothing, they started to snap in place really well with a satisfying “click”



The other ship, with the torpedo prow, is also magnetized. All weapons systems are fully interchangeable and fit very well on any ship. However, they have a specific orientation, so each weapon can only be mounted to the corresponding side of the ship. Here, you can see the Lance batteries removed, exposing the magnets below.



The last image shows a different type of assembly, leaving me with a Dictator Class Cruiser as a result. As you can see, the other weapons systems can be attached together neatly for storage while not in use.
So that’s all I have for now, and I hope you enjoyed what I showed you so far. I will now start painting up the Cruisers and then I’ll get back to you with some painted images. If you are interested what paintjob I’m going for: I will try to stick as closely as possible to the colour scheme seen in the video game BFG: Armada, so metallic silver, gold, a brown wash and a slightly distressed/weathered, off-white prow.
I am looking forward to your C&C and I hope you will check back in here for some painted BFG goodness. Oh, also, if any of you have ships to sell for a reasonable price, or know where I can get some more, let me know. I live in Austria, so shipping would be a little bit of an issue, but I’m sure we could figure something out. Anyways, until next time! Take care!











   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

MwaHAhahahaa, I have detected you on our scanners!! Sorry.
I feckin LOVE BFG! I remember getting the original box and splitting it with a friend. The little diagrams for each ship type were gorgeous and I had so much fun in working out configurations and use of bits. I remember the use of milliput to fill some holes on my Chaos cruisers was like some strange witchcraft to me, I’d never tried even simple mods on figs before.
Look forward to seeing what you get up to. PM me about lances, maybe I can help you there!

Oh... I’ll post some more of my ships up next as a response to your arms race soon. I might have a few more ships than you... :S

   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Columbus, OH

Great game and models, looking forward to seeing what you do with them

Thanks,

MegaDave  
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Yes Ragsta, I had the same feeling a while ago when I tried to figure out what was what in the box also theres some amazing stuff out there that people do with GS to decorate their ships. The whole Gothic setting lends itself well to involved conversions.
I'll keep you updated on the progress Also, looking forward to seeing what you're working on!

Thanks MegaDave, Hope you will enjoy!

   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hey there! I'm back with some pictures of the first painted cruiser!



Like I said, I tried to keep it as close as possible to the paint scheme seen in BFG:Armada. I hope I succeeded. At least I am pretty satisfied with the result so far. The cruiser is not 100% finished as some detail on the port side still needs to be painted. Also, I might try to distress the white of the armored prow a little.



If anyone is interested in how I painted it: First, basecoat with GW Abbaddon black. After that has dried, a light drybrush with GW Ironbreaker. Certain details are then picked out in GW Dwarf Bronze. The armored prow is painted in GW Ulthuan Grey. To blend the white back in with the rest of the ship, a pin wash with Nuln Oil in the recesses of the prow is applied.



A detail shot of the painted Nova cannon.
To finish this guy up, I will also add some OSL effect to the engines in the back with a blue glow. I hope you like what I have done so far and I'm looking forward to your feedback! Until next time, take care!




   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello again!

Just a quick update today. Don't have too much time but will explain the images quickly. Let's jump right into it:
First off, I wanted to share with you a little upgrade to the Mars Class Battlecruiser. To make it stand out from the regular cruisers and to make it easier to tell it apart from a tabletop viewing distance, I added some decoration to the large dome of the cruiser's bridge. Looks like this:



Kinda reminiscent of the decorations in the video game. The part came from a new tactical marine box set. Next, I wanted to ask if the following image would be a legal configuration:



I haven't seen this one in the rulebook, but could it be in any of the expansions? I'm thinking it probably doesn't exist, but I had to try out what it looks like with double launch bays. Nice to be able to mess around with magnetized options The next image is again of the Dominator class which you have already seen. The port side is now fully painted as well.



This is what the cruiser looks like with all weapon options removed. Also you can see the finished left side in the following pic:



I have a question though: I'm unsure how to do the engines. I'm thinking a white dot inside and a blue glow around it with a light dusting/drybrush. However, I think I would have to fill the engines in a little so I can put the white dot in the middle. Or should I go so far as to model actual engine exhausts/flames with some cotton and PVA glue? Any suggestions?



Finally, I wanted to show you the new storage for my BFG stuff. I cleaned up my workspace today to make room for my Soul Drinkers and other stuf I'm working on, and I found a nice box to store what little surplus bitz I have. Check it out:



Look at the inside: Nice and organized! I'm very happy that everything is securely stowed away now.



It's very satisfying to have the bitz and the magnetized weapon options stowed seperately in two compartments. The whole thing feels tidy and I'm not worried any bitz will go missing.

So that's it for this update, I hope you enjoyed and I am looking forward to any suggestions you guys bring up! Until next time!


   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

Storage options for the hobby are always good, nice solution there! One of my most prized Xmas gifts from the parents is a random organiser tray from Aldi!

Painting engine exhaust sounds very nice - there are plenty of versions out there in BFG images. Darkstar_9 has recently posted some nice efforts here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/792716.page
You could also oook at some of the gun muzzle effects out there too - Anvil Industry among many others do them.

Double launch bay cruiser - there IS a version in the somewhat unofficial BFG PDFs. I highly recommend you browse Specialist Arms forum for their BFG content: https://www.specialist-arms.com/forum/index.php?topic=5203.0

Nice paintwork so far by the way! When I eventually pick up a new force from Vanguard they may well be primarily metal hulls.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/01/04 09:18:59


   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Ragsta yeah you can never have too many of those trays
I was tinking to fill in the engines a little to be able to paint them white. This way, they would match up better with the smaller vessels like cobras, swords, dauntless' etc who would all get a white dot in the middle. Darkstar's stuff looks nice. I might also try sculpting a smaller flame myself.
Also, thanks a lot for the link, there's some very cool stuff there! Gonna have to check it all out soon! Cheers!

   
Made in au
Alluring Mounted Daemonette




Australia

Beautiful work on the cruiser mate! Lovely paintjob that picks up all the detail on the sculpt. White looks great too.

I wish this game was more popular/easier to get your hands on - I just think these starships are so evocative of 40k lore and feel.

Good luck with the rest of the fleet!

t z you are k 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks tzurk for the kind words! Indeed, it would be cool if it were easier to get the ships. I wish at least FW would offer them or sth... unfortunately, all you can hope for is a cheap used lot. I was lucky to get this fleet at a decent price. Maybe you could get ships from shapeways? I've seen some high quality ones there, but they're super expensive unfortunately :(

   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

I don’t wish to derail your lovely thread with constant links but I will leave THIS one here - BFG style vessels at acceptable prices when you compare to eBay... https://www.scourgescenics.co.uk/

I’ll probably end up picking some stuff up. The Iconoclasts are so cute I may need to add them to my Reavers... Oh, I should probably share those

   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




That first painted cruiser looks great

   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





London, UK

That cruiser looks great! If it wasn't so hard to get into the game I'd be considering it, they're wonderful models at a great scale.

   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello again!
Thanks Ragsta, no worries! You can’t derail a thread that wont stay on track anyways But seriously, thanks for the awesome link! I will definitely have to check some of their stuff out. While the Dauntless cruisers seem a bit bland, I really like the smaller ships like Cobras etc! Also, you are right, the Iconoclasts really are cute! Lemme know your thoughts when you get them pls!
And thanks fingol23and Tyranid Horde for the nice words! Glad you like the cruiser! Most probably I wont get to play either, but I just had to have the ships for their amazing cool looks





Just a quick update on the cruisers so far. Nothing major, but I finally decided to go for it and fill the thrusters of the cruisers in with a little greenstuff. I let them harden overnight. This morning, the thrusters were ready for the finishing touches: some quick and easy OSL! The Dominator class cruiser looks like this now. You may already notice the slight blue glow on the thrusters from this angle:





Today was a fine day for taking pictures, and the colours came out more accurate because of the bright daylight. The thrusters were drybrushed with consecutive layers of blues.



I started out with a very rich, dark blue for the first drybrush. The second layer was GW Ice blue, a very bright and vibrant shade of blue. The final touch was a dab of a 1:1 mix of Ice blue and GW Skull white, applied as a dot right in the centre of the thruster.



Here you can see what I meant in the earlier posts. By filling in the thruster holes, I was able to place a very bright light spot in the centre which completes the glow effect.
Here’s a group shot of the cruiser thrusters in various stages of completion. You can see the small GS plugs in them:



And here’s a closeup of the Mars Class’ thrusters filled in, to let you see what the unpainted GS looks like. I just pushed it in with the back end of a paintbrush:



If anyone is interested in what colours I used for the OSL effect, here’s the triad:



I just had the dark blue Pegasus paint on hand, but I’m sure you can find a suitable replacement in the GW range or any other preferred brand as well

That’s all I have to show you for now! I hope you guys like the effect. I’d appreciate your comments and feedback! Until next time









   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello again!

Got some more stuff to show you! Today, I have another cruiser to share with you. After the first Dominator Class cruiser, today let's look at a Lunar Class Starboard view:



Again, you can see I added a glow to the thrusters cause I love the look. It's almost like its the best part about painting these ships



I think the effect came out even stronger than on the first cruiser I painted, and I like it



Had to take pictures again today because the daylight was just perfect. Daylight just brings out the details and colours way better, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of the natural light this time of year.



Another view, this time from the port side:



This cruiser came preassembled, so unfortunately no magnets on this one. Still. I'm happy with it and it's useful having four cruisers, with at least two being customisable. Another shot from the prow:



As you can see, this class features a prow ram instead of a Nova cannon. Now, let's take a look at the two finished cruisers side by side:



And a last look at both thruster assemblies:



Finally, here's what I am working on atm: the Mars Class Battlecruiser. He has been primed and given a metallic drybrush. Now it's on to the golden details and the white prow. The engine glow will be the last step, as usual.





In other news, I found a special treat in my mailbox when I got home today. I recently ordered from Vanguard Miniatures, and I was very pleased to find out that my package had arrived. Needless to say, I couldn't stop myself from immediately cracking it open. Let me tell you, the stuff I got is just amazing. I ordered some extra weapons batteries (Helian cruiser line with their awesome gothic arches) as well as one set of 3 Zeus Frigates and 3 Zeus Destroyers each, and the detail on all the little pieces is absolutely incredible. They are all extremely crisp castings with no bubbles or imperfections whatsoever, and they have a ton of detail. They are at least as good, if not better than the original BFG bitz. I can't recommend them enough, you should really check them out. Also, the weapon batteries fit perfectly with BFG cruiser weapon slots, so this will be great for conversions. I will of course be magnetizing mine, so I can swap around and create some awesome-looking custom ships. I actually ordered enough to deck out a full Battleship with custom weapons. I am looking forward to using the stuff in my fleet to make it stand out. I will share some pics of the parts in an upcoming post

Alright, so that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoyed, and stay tuned. there will be more soon! Until next time









   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

Excellent progress, finished cruiser and engine glow looking lovely! I might have to do that for my own some day. It would also be a good look for the running lights if you painted dark plain hulls... Hmmm...

Good ship choices too by the way! Fluffy yet effective! Nice call on the Vanguard lovelies - I will pick some up eventually no doubt.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/01/23 23:42:43


   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks Ragsta! The glow is extremely quick and easy to do and adds a lot to the model. I highly recommend giving it a go I didn't have much say in the assembly of two of my cruisers, as I bought them preassembled. I'm glad I can switch the other ones around with the magnetized options though



Posting on here has made me realize how important it is that I fix up my main battleship. The used lot I bought contained a white metal Emperor Class Battleship which was already glued together firmly. The problem was that some parts were glued on wonkily and the weapons had already been attached so I wouldn't be able to magnetize them. I had already tried to take the ship apart but had to stop because I was worried about damaging the parts. Today, I decided to have another go at it. The whole thing snapped in half at a joint, which revealed several other seam lines of glue and exposed the weapon batteries. Heck yeah!! This meant I was able to remove all weapon batteries withought risking damaging them. Also, I was able to take the whole ship apart into its components. Now, I will be able to reassemble it in a sturdier and less wonky way. I'm sooo excited to build this ship again, as this will mean I will have a fully customisable Battleship in my fleet. I will be able to create all the different types of Battleship, such as the fearsome Apocalypse Class etc. As an added bonus, magnetizing the Battleship means I will be able to attach all the Vanguard Miniatures weapons insted of the regular BFG ones. Luckily, I was thoughtful enough to order 3 sets of weapon batteries each, so I can even deck the Battleship out with Vanguard bitz exclusively. This should make it stand out and give the whole thing a very distinct and awesome look. I can't even explain how happy I am that this worked out. I will be keeping you updated on the progress of course! Thanks for reading! Until next time!








   
Made in us
Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps







Always happy to see Battle Fleet Gothic stuff. Great job on the paint, especially the gilded work and the engines.
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks kestral!

Just a quick update on the battleship. I am done with the assembly, except for the weapons batteries, and attaching it back on its base. I might add some kind of decoration on top again, but have decided to leave off the original angel sculpture that comes with the kit because I think it looks kinda goofy. The battleship looks like this now:



Here, you can see the three empty slots where the weapon batteries will go. I added some cardboard to the rear ones. What's left to do is drill a 2mm hole in the middle of each section and insert the magnets. In the next shot, you can see a detailed image of the dorsal turrets. I have added a few subtle tweaks to them.



I didn't like the way the turrets were restricted in their rotation by the surrounding spires, so I had to do something about it. This problem was especially apparent in the most forward turret, which couldn't even turn straight ahead So.... (brace for heresy).... I decided to snip some parts of the metal model off I know, I know, how dare I destroy this expensive kit but I think it is just a subtle change, which helps give the ship more realism. I removed the spire directly behind the metal turret on the top of the prow, as well as the two most forward spires that were in the way of the first plastic turret. Also, I added some cardboard spacers underneath some turrets that seemed restricted in their movement. When painted, these will just blend in with the ship. A look at the other side:



And a look at the engines. These are extremely hard to line up correctly, and I'm afraid I wasn't able to get it 100% right. Still, I'm statisfied with the result, and it is already way better than when I bought it.



Finally, a detail shot of the spacers I added to the weapon sections:



You may be able to tell that these are staggered, getting higher towards the back of the ship. This means that when the weapons are attached, the ship will seem like it gets gradually wider toward the back. Hopefully, this will look nice later on. I will have to try it out when I'm back home and have my magnetized batteries ready. Then, I will of course also test the Vanguard bitz and show you some images!

Ok, that's it for now. Looking forward to your comments! Stay tuned, there will be more Until next time






This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2021/01/26 14:24:38


   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





London, UK

Excellent impulse glow from those engines and your newest battleship is looking the business so far, and I won't condemn the heresy with breaking up an older model

   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar


Hello there!

I’m back with some progress to show you! First of all, thank you Tyranid Horde for your comment and feedback, I’m glad you like the ships so far!
Now, as promised, I wanna show you guys the stuff I ordered from Vanguard miniatures. I’m afraid it took me a while to post this because I keep getting distracted by multiple projects. Thanks for sticking with me though! Also, I have a little bit of painting progress to show you as well. Let’s get to the pictures! First off, here’s some sprues of smaller Escort vessels:



Vanguard miniatures’ bitz are excellent quality and have an incredible amount of detail. The three sprues I ordered are enough to make three Zeus Destroyers (left, possible Cobra proxies) and three Zeus Frigates (right, could proxy as Sword or even Dauntless). The detail on these casts is very crisp. Only thing I’m not too fond of are the oversized eagle decorations on the prows, but it’s relatively easy to cut these down and still look identifiable, so that’s what I will do with them. As you can see, I already clipped one small Destroyer from the sprue and assembled it. It looks like this when built:



These guys are really tiny and cute. I especially love that each of them is a different sculpt, with the cannon turrets on top pointing in different directions on each one. Such a nice little touch to break up the monotony



I’m sure that with a matching paintjob, these ships will blend in perfectly fine with the rest of my fleet once they are done. Note that the prow eagle is shaved down a little already.



I’m looking forward to painting them up. Only problem is, I do not have enough of the original GW flight bases to put them on. Will have to order some in later. Alright, moving on to the next part of my fleet: The battleship. I wanna say this guy is now as converted and cleaned up as he’s ever gonna be, so he’s moved on to the paint stage. Like I mentioned earlier, I managed to take apart and then magnetize all of the battleship’s weapon slots. Let’s take a look at the magnets themselves:



I just drilled a 2mm hole through the center of every weapon slot and inserted 2 or three magnets facing the same way into them. This way, all weapon batteries can only be attached to their respective side of the ship and can’t be switched around. However, this made the conversion process much easier and allows for easy storage of unused batteries by attaching them to each other in pairs. What’s new in this picture as well is that I added some plastic and greenstuff columns to separate the slots from each other. This was done because otherwise, I had these weird gaps between the weapon batteries when they were attached. It also helps to hide the inner ugly areas of the ship which are not supposed to be seen when assembled.
Alright then, Let’s look at the ship with some weapon batteries attached, shall we? To let you guys appreciate the difference between the original GW bitz and the extra stuff I ordered from Vanguard Miniatures, I will always show you a full loadout of the classic bitz, followed by a pic using the conversion parts. Let’s start with the Launch bays:



Above: Launch bays by GW.



Above: Launch bays by Vanguard Miniatures. I must say I absolutely love these sculpts. They really get across that gothic vibe with the arches, and they feature an insane amount of detail in general. I’m sure these will look absolutely amazing even with just a simple drybrush, and they will blend in nicely once painted up. Moving on…



Above: Weapons batteries by GW. Sorry, I only had a mix of painted and unpainted ones, but you get the idea



Above: Weapons batteries by Vanguard Miniatures. Again, amazing sculpts with lots of detail. What I like about these is that they are distinct from the others because the cannons are rounded. There’s only three of them instead of four, but they are larger than regular ones, which would absolutely make sense on a battleship this size. Also, the gothic arches complete the look. Definitely looking forward to painting these up And finally…



Above: Lance batteries by GW (No, I do not own three magnetized pairs unfortunately. One is a battery of opposite orientation, held on by poster glue )



Above: Lance batteries by Vanguard miniatures. Another lovely sculpt. I really can’t decide which of the three types of batteries from Vanguard I like the most, they are all just so amazing and exactly what I was looking for with my fleet. Interesting thing about these: the turrets come separately and are the only bitz cast in metal instead of resin/plastic. I don’t know why, but I’m guessing it’s because that makes it easier to cast these tiny bitz. Great thing is, I can make a fully decked-out Apocalypse Class Battleship with these new parts from Vanguard miniatures, and they look awesome to boot! Ok, so now you’ve seen all the new parts, and I’d love to hear your opinions. Which do you like best? Would you buy from Vanguard Miniatures to get some of them?

Right. Now that I have made you sit through all these pics of raw, unpainted plastic and metal, let me make up for it with some progress on painting! While I did not get much work done on the Battlecruiser I started, I decided to do a quick paintjob on something smaller and easier. So I grabbed one of my three Sword Class Frigates and got to work. Here’s the result:



I find these small ships are really cool because of their sleek, streamlined shape and pointy prow.





Like on all my previous ships, I added an engine glow:



Sorry for the blurry pic. The camera had a hard time focusing on the engine. Let’s take a look at the Sword Class’ engines again with some of his big buddies:



The glow for me is the best part about these ships. It is so satisfying to apply and it adds the finishing touches to a model while blending it in with the rest of the fleet. Also, the engines make for great eye-catchers on the table. I will have to order some black fabric or a space battlemat online to take some action shots at some point!

Alright, now you’ve seen everything I’ve been up to in the meantime. Hope you enjoyed and I’m looking forward to reading your comments and feedback, as usual! Until next time!




























   
Made in nl
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





The Netherlands

Keep up the good work!

Bits Blitz Designs - 3D printing a dark futuristic universe 
   
Made in ca
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






That blue would really pop against a black space background, for sure! Gorgeous work, and love those new pieces.

See what's on my painting table Now painting: Kruleboyz Gutrippaz 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks Malika2 and Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll for your encouraging comments! Happy to hear you like them!
Currently working on the other two Sword Frigates of the squadron. One is almost done except for the engine OSL, the other is awaiting detail work. Will keep you posted!

   
Made in nl
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





The Netherlands

Can't wait to see those Zeus ships painting. Which reminds me, I should finish up designing the Zeus pattern Grand Cruiser!

Bits Blitz Designs - 3D printing a dark futuristic universe 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Wait Malika2, you are the one who designs these ships? If so, huuuge props on your amazing stuff! Hoping I will do your awesome sculpts justice with my paintjob!

   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar


Quick update with new pictures!

I actually managed to finish the Sword Frigate Squadron yesterday evening. Luckily, today was a good day for taking pictures, so now I’m able to show you what I got done! The second Frigate looks like this:



Painting these up, I noticed how much variation there is even among a single type of ship. The Frigates come in two parts (not counting the flight stand), namely the main hull and the wings with additional thrusters and cannons. Both the hulls and the wings come in three different variations, so even if you got multiple sets of Sword Class Frigates back in the day, no two ships needed to be the same. I really enjoyed painting these because that way, I learned to appreciate these subtle differences across the sculpts. Just take note of the placement of certain turrets, domes, thrusters, sections on the prow etc… Of course, I added the obligatory OSL engine glow:



Alright, moving on to Sword Frigate number 3. This one could arguably be used as the squadron leader, seeing how it has the biggest wing cannons and also features the additional macrocannon turrets on both sides of its prow:



I really like this sculpt for its added detail, like the tiny macrocannon turret ahead of the bridge. However, for some reason, these wing sections with the large cannons do not feature the usual auxiliary thrusters at the back for some reason. Eh, probably makes sense that you can’t have both greater firepower and increased speed I guess



Another angled shot:



So now that you’ve seen all ships on their own, let’s take a look at the squadron as a whole:



Really happy with how they came out. The paintjob nicely ties together the different sculpts to make a cohesive force.



Also, I managed to take a more “realistic” pic by placing the ships on a black surface:



And that’s it for now! I hope you liked this update. I’m looking forward to your feedback and input! Stay tuned, there will be more! Until next time









   
Made in ca
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






Oh man, they do look fantastic against the black! Fantastic paint jobs, and you're very right about the fun variance in the sculpts!

See what's on my painting table Now painting: Kruleboyz Gutrippaz 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks again, Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll! Glad you like 'em!

No paint progress for now on the BFG fleet, because some parts arrived in the mail and I spent most of my spare time converting and kitbashing minis for other projects. Will keep you guys posted!

   
Made in us
Ragin' Ork Dreadnought







I really like the engine flare. Looks fantastic.

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