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I wanted to make a bad Keeping Up With the Cardassians joke, but it seems you have beaten me to it.

Glad to hear you're feeling better and are back to hobbying.

So having taken a deliberately extended... pause, let's return to work.
The question, actually, is whether or not to repaint, because the X-Wing prepaints are of a far higher standard than I was expecting:



With the exception of the astromechs, especially the Y wing's one, which is just a blob.

I'm happy with my starting fleets, too, just needs me a TIE Defender to take my Imperials up to 100. It's certainly a lovely product, albeit with dangerous potential for crack-like levels of addiction...

So like wargaming in general then?

I've heard X-Wing is pure pre-painted crack in a box.

It is >_>

The large ships had to be released to get me to stop...

@llama - indeed

@ g_x: Yes, it's hella dangerous.

@ Alf: I'm particularly impressed that a basic TIE fighter swarm from the start is still highly, highly competitive, but those big ships do come with nonsense upgrades for the little 'uns. I suppose it's a way of balancing things (eg fix for TIE advanced is in the next one), but it's a bit cynical. I do need to pick up something else for the imperials though, it's just one of those things. *sigh* -edit - also, hardly recognised you with that avatar!

Little guy goes into hospital for wee op today. Nothing terribly major, hernia on one of his chest drain sites. Just got me thinking though that I started this blog as therapy when he was in hospital at 5 weeks, nearly 5 years ago. Also makes me eternally grateful for living in land of free healthcare, and next to a top kids' hospital.

All things being equal, I think I'll try to do a little recap (approaching 200 pages too and all that).

It's been a long time since i've posted on dakka with any frequency, and I changed my avatar right after I posted here.

As for the bigger ships, they used to be nothing more than just a larger footprint on table (i.e the YT-1300, Firespray, Lambda) with some neat upgrades/features. The Rebel Transport and the Tantive IV changed things a bit (like your smaller ships would blow up if they ran into them, and then the Decimator which was released a few months ago essentially encourages players to run them into things (they can deal damage to ships they hit while taking none in return, and they ignore the rules for flying on to a terrain feature).

I haven't played in a while, but I still enjoy the game.

Best wishes for your little one.

Thanks chaps!

So, the repaint begins. Fiddly details, much fun. Wanted to make the stock y-wing into gold leader, for starters, painting in pipework etc and getting it generally grubby. I refer you to the before shot above (when I do the x-wings I'll side-by-side them). Anyway, Gold Leader:


and the underside:


And a wee comparison with an un-repainted X-wing:


I imagine I'll do the Xs as Luke's and Biggs's for starters. There's also the HWK to do. Funnily enough, I'm less fussed about the TIEs as their paint jobs are, generally, rather better. But you lot can choose - what next?

Also, not to sore from detail work which is good (though I know when to take a break!)

Cheers gang!
graven

Nice job on the Y....looks down and dirty as any good rebel ship should

Good to hear you're managing detail work without pain - and that you know when to rest

Nice job, Graven. Good improvement over the stock.

Nice and grubby. Definitely preferred the used look from the originals to the glam of the prequels, ignoring there other problems.

Wow good job Graven.

Why? Why? Why?

Nice to see you moving forward.

monkeytroll wrote:Nice job on the Y....looks down and dirty as any good rebel ship should

Good to hear you're managing detail work without pain - and that you know when to rest

Rebel ships should be properly war-weary! Thanks man.

Dr H wrote:Nice job, Graven. Good improvement over the stock.

Cheers mate. The stock minis are pretty decent, in fairness, painted up as generics of their squadron. Fortunately the internet is a magical place wherein one can find plenty of pics of original models, at a staggering level of detail.

Llamahead wrote:Nice and grubby. Definitely preferred the used look from the originals to the glam of the prequels, ignoring there other problems.

And my, there were plenty of other problems! thanks mate

Miss Dee wrote:Wow good job Graven.

Most kind m'lady!

Solar_lion wrote:Why? Why? Why?

Nice to see you moving forward.

funny guy

Thanks for all the support gang. So have now started the rest of my rebs to match. First, filth :

I was surprised at how nice the pre-painting was on those things. But you've definitely improved on them.

You need some sort of tea timer for telling you when to take breaks. I mean that literally: have a 'cuppa' and when you've finished it-- or it has gone cold, time to take a break, and go make another. I do this with coffee or rooibos tea. It works pretty well.

Clearly someone drove those through the swamps of Nabu (or whereever... sorry, not much of a Star Wars geek).

Red Harvest wrote:I was surprised at how nice the pre-painting was on those things. But you've definitely improved on them.

You need some sort of tea timer for telling you when to take breaks. I mean that literally: have a 'cuppa' and when you've finished it-- or it has gone cold, time to take a break, and go make another. I do this with coffee or rooibos tea. It works pretty well.

Very wise advice, Tea cures all.

Gitsplitta wrote:Clearly someone drove those through the swamps of Nabu (or whereever... sorry, not much of a Star Wars geek).

Naboo. But it's new trilogy, so you are forgiven

And now...
The HWK-290!


Needs a bit more window flash and engine glow, but nearly there.

And here it is side-by-side with the Y and the WIP Xs


Cheers for your ongoing!

Rebel Scum... bring in the bounty hunters!

Oh no, that way madness lies. I really want a set of Scum & Villany (extra Y-wing, 2 Z-95s, awesome cards), but one thing at a time!

Meanwhile, more glow:


And some hot shot kid from a backwater planet you've probably never even heard of:



Had to pull off and reattach one of the engines, but an easy fix. Very happy with final colour - post smoke, it's krieg khaki, flayed one flesh, 50:50 flayed: VJ ivory, Ivory, 50:50 ivory: VJ dead white.

Those turned out beautifully graven. Give yourself a pat on the back!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Those turned out beautifully graven. Give yourself a pat on the back!

Why thanks kindly mate! I am quite pleased

next... BIGGS!


and with Luke:


and the rest:


Next up I'll take some proper photos, hopefully on a nice black background

Wife working on her masters, and #1 got bug, so a pretty chilled out day otherwise: baking wifey's birthday cake #1 (dark chocolate/fruits of the forest gateaux) for next Sunday (it's an American sour cream chocolate cake, freezes well, will then defrost and decorate next Saturday), and kids painting eggs (captain america vs batman, who will roll furthest?)

Hand is... achey. Inevitable, I suppose, but could be a lot worse. In other news, my review of the most recent edition of 2000AD over at Big Comic Page got picked up by the comic to promote it and a massive surge in site traffic, so very chuffed there.

At llamahead's suggestion, I order some 6mm from Dark Realm's Pax Acardia miniatures for metropolis's birthday to use as DUNE skirmish models (Fremen, Sardukaar, and Atreides and Harkonnen house troops). Any suggestions on a good ruleset for 6mm scifi, folks?

Hey ho, take care y'all,
graven

So, a side-by-side of TIEs next, with repaint on the left:

Very happy with this; I hadn't realised how much detail on the TIE was obscured by blobby paint.


Couldn't help myself, those lasers *have* to be green!

And butt-shot:


Lovely easter, rolling Marvel vs DC eggs by the boys (Batman won, naturally) and much chocoalte consumed. Onwards!

That looks really good Graven.

I thought they looked good before but you made them pop. nicely done!

Been a while since I visited, and I am very happy to see you at it again.

Tea is one of mans greatest finds.

Models are looking brilliant, love the dirty look, funny how space is often depicted as clean! Sure with all the smegg that must be out there from the exhausts, and bodily fluids from the millions of people that seem to be floating around, there must be dirty spots somewhere.

Anyways, brilliant, love it, drink more tea.

Amazing job on those fighters there graven. A little TLC really makes a difference in their appearance.

Good job Graven.
Camkierhi I've always wondered how do Ork ships rust in space?

Ships look great. I echo the love of grimy vessels.

 Llamahead wrote:
...I've always wondered how do Ork ships rust in space?

I always thought that they were rusty to begin with. Like they were slapped together on a planet using the rough sheet steel and ruined enemy army laying around. Once in space the exterior doesn't get any cleaner and the interior corrodes into one solid goop.

Repaint looks so much better! Nice work!