Sunday Starships: Privateers

I finally painted up the last of the starships in the Star Frontiers privateers boxed set I scored in last summer's Half-Price Books miniatures find (you can find the rest of the painted privateers here).

These are about twice as large as the other spacecraft in the privateers set, but thematically they blend in just fine.  The streamlining makes them suitable for atmospheric missions, while they have enough engine capacity to perform deep-space tasks as well.

These craft could probably serve as Class II or Class III vessels for War Rocket.  In Galactic Knights or Starfleet Wars, I can use them as in-system defense or local police, or just civilian targets/objectives.

Now that I'm done with the privateers, I need to paint up the Sathar ships my wife picked up for me.  Not sure what paint scheme, but I think I want to go multicolor.  It will have to wait till after Thanksgiving, though.

 Oh, and here's some pics of each ship by itself.  First, the Condor Class:

 Next, we have the Moonlight Stinger:

Finally, the Rollo's Revenge:

Hope you enjoyed these, and thanks for stopping by.

Sunday Starships: Star Frontiers ships

After a two-week silence, I at least have something to share with y'all: Some more completed Star Frontiers Knight Hawks ships.

These are all from my last Half-Price Books score, and include some pretty rare privateer spaceships from a boxed set, as well as some scouts and a freighter from a Federation boxed set and a blister pack.

I painted these guys metallic pearl white, which very bright, then toned down the brilliance with a wash of metallic gunmetal gray.  The domes were done in gunmetal gray, and then details picked out in various colors I hadn't used before.

I really like these privateers--they look very sleek, like something out of a 1960s aerospace magazine.  They'll find use in my games as racing vessels or luxury yachts, probably.

Of course, these scouts and freighter will join the Galactic Knighthawks stunt team, a/k/a the Flying Roadshow.  I tried not to repeat any colors when painted the markings on the scouts.  It's hard to tell from the photos because of the flash, but I didn't forget the markings for the scout at the top; it has silver/white stripes.

 And, of course, I have another freighter.  This is the GKHs' support ship, or possibly a tanker for in-flight refueling.  You can see the details pretty well in these pictures.

 

Can't wait to get these on the tabletop, but I need to come up with some rules for them first.  Back to the keyboard!

Sunday Starships: Monday Edition

I messed up in my posting yesterday, so this edition of Sunday Starships is going up on Monday.  This week's featured ships are Pirate Assault Scouts from the Star Frontiers Knight Hawks range of spaceship minis.  These were part of my previous acquisitions from a local used bookstore.

I think this style of spaceship goes very well with the vessels in my Flying Roadshow, so I started out painting them the same way: white primer, brushed on metallic pearl white, and metallic gunmetal gray wash.  Instead of detailing with another metallic, this time I just picked out a couple of areas on each ship in a bright primary color.

One problem with the primer, it went on really gritty and grainy--and it even started coming off as dust when I handled the primed minis.  I don't think it was the temperature/humidity--I sprayed some other ships black at the same time, and they came out all right.  However, once I brushed on the pearl over the white primered ships, they looked fine, and the wash did a good job bringing out the details (although they're washed out by the flash in these pics).

The size and style of these ships doesn't really fit in with most of the Superior Models/Monday Knight ships in my collection, but I think they will work as civilian passenger shuttles.  They also would work great in War Rocket, if I ever get to play that game again.

I'm happy with the way these came out, and I'm encouraged by the fact that the wash did such a good job showing of the detailing on these models.  I'm gonna have to leave my safety zone of drybrushing to try experimenting with wash techniques more often. 

Sunday Starships: treasure fleet

I haven't posted any starship pictures in a long time, but that's because I hadn't painted any more ships recently.  Well that changed this weekend, so here's my latest batch of spaceship minis:

These ships were part of my massive score of several boxed sets and some blister packs from Half-Price Books.  I'm just happy to get some of my accumulated loot painted.

These vessels were originally pirate frigates from the Star Frontiers/Knight Hawks game.  I might use them as such for my games, or they might serve as more cargo vessels--maybe special ships carrying back loot on an annual basis.  Call it the Slannish Treasure Fleet.

Despite the deep-space environment of these craft, they have a design element much different than other ships in the Star Frontiers range.  They wouldn't look out of place in War Rocket.  I'd even call it a steampunk asthetic.

In an acknowledgement of that Victorian machinery vibe, I decided to paint these ships with a metallic look that gave the impression of tarnished brass.

I drybrushed these guys with three colors (all Folk Art brand): First, metallic antique copper.  Next, metallic copper.  Finally, metallic Inca gold.

 
BONUS STARSHIPS
I also finished up a trio of Federation frigates to join my civilian transport fleet.  Hey, a privateer can never have too many merchant targets ...

Have a great Sunday!

Another score from Half-Price

Hit the jackpot again at Half-Price Books over the weekend: A blister pack each of Star Frontiers frigates and scouts--one Federation set and one pirate set.  But the best find was this box of "Knight Hawks Privateers," a product I'd never seen before, depicting a faction I hadn't heard of till now:

The box of privateers holds six streamlined ships that would look at home in a 1960s aerospace magazine.  I really like the New Frontier design style of these vessels.  These spacecraft will also fit right in with the Flying Roadshow--or maybe they'll form a rival team.  And just like my painted Fed scouts and freighter, their look is also perfect for War Rocket.

These privateers even come with names.  The big one on the left is the Rollo's Revenge; the ship with the third nacelle that needs to be attached is the Moonbright Stinger; the third from the left is the Condor Class (not sure if that's its name or the class of ship); the tiny one up top is the Thruster Class (ditto); and the last two small shpis are the Lightspeed Lady (left) and the Golden Vanity:

And, just like those other blister packs I acquired, these come with Adventure Squares on the back of the cardboard:

Of course, this means more stuff to paint, on top of what I already have to paint.  But I guess that's a good problem to have, right?

The Flying Roadshow

I finished painting my Star Frontiers scouts and freighter, and I figured out how I'm going to use them in my games--as one of the galaxy's most prestigious precision flying teams, the Galactic Knighthawks!

Comprised of seven stuntships and one support vessel, the Galactic Knighthawks travels from system to system, entertaining locals at airshows, planetary fairs, sporting event halftimes, and trillionaires' birthday parties.

The Knighthawks are one of the top three independent stunt-flying groups in known space.  Their pilots include former military officers, retired probability racers, and freelance corona surfers.

In its century-and-a-half of existence, the Galactic Knighthawks remains one of two acrobatic spacer teams to have employed citizens from all of the Five Powers, and the only group to allow a non-Turing AI to pilot one of its ships on a regular basis.

For Galactic Knights, I can use these guys as targets, obstacles, or objectives.

These ships are also the perfect size for War Rocket as Class Is and a Class II, so next time I play that game I'm bringing the Knighthawks.

As far as painting, I primed white, brushed metallic pearl white, and washed in metallic gunmetal gray.  I then added the color detailing to the smaller ships.

For the freighter/support ship, I didn't add any color.  I think the wash did a decent job bringing out the detail on this spacecraft.

I enjoyed experimenting with metallics, and thought they came out well, even though you might not be able to tell thanks to the glare from the flash.

I'm looking forward to getting these guys on the table!