Federation Commander

So far, I have six minis from Shapeways I've been working on, all in 3125 scale Frosted Ultra Detail; a Federation galactic survey cruiser; a Romulan DemonHawk dreadnought; a Maesron dreadnought, heavy cruiser, and light cruiser; and a Vulpa blockade runner.

This is how they looked unpainted:



And this my current work-in-progress attempt at each:



Of the lot, I'd say that, thus far at least, I'm feeling relatively comfortable trying to work on the Maesron and Vulpa ships.

In the case of the Maesrons, I've been trying to follow the colour scheme shown in the cover art for SFB Module Omega 1, and particularly Adam Turner's cover art for Module Omega 5. I've painted the "city" sections of these hulls grey, with silver "buildings" and (on the CA and DN) black for the "recessed" sections. The "outer" hulls are painted red, with a clear red coating added - though it may not show all that clearly in my less-than-stellar picturing attempts.

For the Vulpa, I wanted to do something different, yet still reflecting their "post-Maesron" status. So, I used the same colour pattern for the "city" portion of the blockade runner, as well as common weapon and engine colours. However, it took a while to figure out a half-decent alternate colour for the "outer" hull; by accident, I found that a coat of clear red over a layer of yellow produced a nice orange-ey look, which I feel helps distinguish the ship from its former Maesron comrades. (As it happens, the relevant Omega hex maps show Vulpa territory in orange, as opposed to Maesron red...)

In contrast, I'm much less happy with how the GSC and DMH are turning out thus far.

If I'm being honest, I've never been overly comfortable trying to paint the white (or very light grey) hulls on Star Fleet or Auroran Navy starships. In the case of the GSC, I made a mistake trying to figure out how to colour in the panel lines, and "doubled down" by trying to give the ship an overall "weathered" look, as if it has been away from a major fleet installation for a significant stretch of time - which, I suppose, would be an appropriate thing to say about the long-range survey missions your average GSC is liable to be sent out on.

In the case of the DMH, I wanted to go with a green colour, yet one which avoided looking too "Franchise-ey". One of my problems has been how to distinguish the SparrowHawk and SkyHawk modules, and other details such as the warp engines, without looking too garish relative to the main hull.

In all, I have much to do to try and tidy up even those minis I feel more comfortable with, let alone trying to salvage something out of the others. Oh well...

This is a closer "before" and "during" look at the Maesron CA:

This is the Maesron CL:

This is the Maesron DN:

This is the Vulpa blockade runner - note that, while both it and the Maesron CL have prow tachyon gun mounts, the one here is "below" rather than "above":

This is the Fed GSC:

And this is the Romulan DMH:

Just my opinion, but as for the GSC, I would have done the special sensors in something a bit more metallic looking. Maybe copper?

The Omega stuff looks great to me, but then I haven't done any Omega stuff yet.

The DemonHawk? Well, I have one that I need to get some paint on, and I wasn't too sure about green as the base. Now I am sure, no green.

Overall, the actual paint jobs are good. We all are our own worst critics.

Are there any of the Shapeways Omega ships you find interesting thus far, or are there any other Omega (or other non-Alpha) empires you'd sooner wait for instead?

I had used green to paint the "birds" on my Starline 2500 FastHawk and SparrowHawk, but I remain unsure as to whether or not it works for the hull at large. I kind of wish there were "bird" etchings on the DMH, which would make it easier for me to try and break up the mass of green on thee underside of the hull...

And I may need to revisit the GSC's dishes, at last once I figure out what to do about fixing the hull surface itself.

Great paint job, Nerroth. I really like the Romulan DMH. How long did it take for all that? It usually takes me ages if I want to do it right.

My latest Shapeways batch has arrived:



That is a Bolosco Merchant Cruiser and an Iridani Galleon, both in 3125 scale, plus an Omni scale set of Maesron fast patrol ships - all in Frosted Ultra Detail... by which I now mean Smooth Fine Detail Plastic.

Note that the Maesron PFs deploy in flotillas of four; the sprue has one PF leader, four standard PFs, a PF scout, and two missile PFs.

This post is for the Bolosco Merchant Cruiser:

This is the Iridani Galleon:

And these are the Maesron PFs - apologies for the lower image quality on these ones:

A new trio of ships arrived recently: a Federation Heavy War Destroyer, a Neo-Tholian Survey Cruiser, and a Zosman Heavy Cruiser; all in 3125 Smooth Fine Detail Plastic: