Flying High

Edo, 1870 - The Blazing son press office has just confirmed the launch of their newest aerial vessel, the IAS Tenshi. Capitalizing on the latest anti-gravity lifting device, the Tenshi is slated to replace the older war gyros that have comprised the emperor's aerial fleets so far.

Above are some pictures of my scout gyro conversion. The official models are not out yet, and I'm not too fussed with the preview renders, so I made my own. The one model for the Japanese Faction that I'm absolutly in love with is their flying carrier. I decided to do an all flying Blazing Sun's fleet. I really liked the detail of their much maligned "train ships" so I decided to turn them upside-down by carfully sawing off the pilot house and the AA emplacements. The conversion turned out well. I actually think the Japanese ships look more like ships when you turn them upside-down. Next I'll do a larger war gyro and fill the rest out with carriers. The advantage of flying models is that they are pretty expensive points wise, so I won't need to spend a whole lot of money to get to 1000 points.

Pedagogical Techniques

Ask and you shall receive dear readers. I'm devoting this post to my painting technique fore my Dystopian Wars painting technique. Here is picture of one of my painted and rigged battleships. I was bestowed one of the highest nerd honours last week when my FLGS offered a place in their display case for my DW fleet.

This is the first blog post that uses a photograph taken in my new photobooth. My pictures are getting better, but as they do, they are revealing the painting mistakes that the poorer photos hide.

Without further ado here is the recipe for my quick and easy DW paint scheme.

Prime White

Hull

• Basecoat with Vallejo Model Colour German Beige Camo.
• Wash with GW Devlan Mud(the thicker the better).
• When dry, paint the panels with German Beige Camo leaving the areas around the rivets and seams darker.
• Pick out the hard edges and the gunwales with Vallejo Model Colour Iraqi Sand.

Deck

• Basecoatwith Vellejo Model colour Mahogony Sand.
• Wash with GW Devlan Mud.
• Drybrush with 50/50 mix of VMC Ochre Brown and Saddle Brown
• Lightly drybrush with 50/50 mix of the above mixture with Iraqi Sand

Details

• Windows were just filled in with VMC Deep Sky Blue
• Metal was done with basecoat metal(GW Tin Bitz, Bolgun Metal, Etc), washed with Devlan Mud and highlighted with GW Chainmail.

I hope that helps. Its dead easy and makes a good, quick result.

Stay tuned. I photographed my process for rigging and should be releasing a tutorial soon.

Cardiff Steamer

coming out from the other side of the application season, I finally got some serious painting. I succumbed to the new hotness at the local store here in Cardiff and bought a fleet for Dystopian Wars. Being the token Yank at the store I had to go for the FSA. It was convenient that they were my favourite models of the whole range. The figures are a joy to paint. I really can't compliment them enough. Spartan is really showing us the future of miniature making. I think the process of designing figures on CAD and having them 3D printed had finally matured where it can create models that are superior to more old fashion methods.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out, with the devlin mud adding a grungy feel. I went the extra mile and added a mast and some rigging. I think it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the models. I have two battleships and some aircraft left to paint and then I'll be ready to enforce the Monroe doctrine at the barrel of a gun!