Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Imperial Planes - To DONE

 

Greetings!  Today I have some completed Imperial planes from the Skies of Fire Aeronautica Imperialis boxed set to share.  I'm very happy with how these gaming pieces have turned out. There is so much detail on these models for the scale.  They are great fun to paint.

The Vendetta Assault Carriers definitely look the part and I especially like how the Ace/Lead plane markings came out.

I look forward to adding Valkyries and Vultures in the same scheme.

The Imperial Navy Lightning fighters came out well too.

I finally got all the missiles painted up - surprisingly without spoiling the paintwork already in place.

I like the scheme here.  However I'm thinking that if I add more Lightning fighters to the collection, then I'll probably match the Imperial Navy scheme I chose for the Wings of Vengeance boxed set, boring as it may be.

Still happy with how these close ground support fighters turned out.

So that's half of the set done.  The T'au planes are getting finished up and I very much hope to have a final TO DONE post up next week to wrap the project.  It feels great to be so close to another boxed set fully painted.  

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Planes WIP - part 3

 

Greetings!  This week I've made more progress on the Imperial planes from the Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire boxed set. I started with cleaning up the cockpits from the glass painting last week.  Then I got to work on the metals.

I have a bit more metal detail on the Vendettas, primarily on the noses. Then I'll add some highlights and  other colors like brass and bronze to a few bits to break things up and add some interest. I took a break from painting to apply decals to so that any final shading or weathering will include those surfaces.  I chose one of the planes to be the squadron leader (or ace?) and added black wings and teeth (see below). The wings total disrupt the camo, but it's rule of cool all the way in my shop. 😎

Each plane got a unit number as well, just behind the side doors. I kept with the GW artwork and added white stripes to the tails for squadron identification. Some GW Agrax Earthshade was applied over the stripes to dull them down a bit to match the rest of the paintwork. I;ll do the same with the lighter decals once I get a coat of matte varnish over them.

The Navy planes got the same cleanup and metallic paintwork.  GW Nuln Oil was used to shade all the metals.  For the navy squadron, I went with some red squadron markings with a red strip on the nose of the squadron leader. Additional Navis Imperialis transfers were added to the wings along with unit numbers in the tails (see below).

I very happy with how the Lightning fighters are coming out.  I might like them better than the Thunderbolts now, my prior favorites. As with the Vendettas, the metals here require highlights and some additional details here and there.

I decided on a laurel encircling an eagle's head for the underside of the wings.  I have no idea what this indicates, and someday I'll likely regret the choice.  But it looks cool.  Not much source material for the icons available on the transfer sheets. The underside details are painted and shaded like the rest of the metals. Highlights and details needed here as well.

And that's where this group of planes sits at the moment.  I hope to be able to update Friday with more progress - maybe even completion for these planes?  I'd like to get back to the T'au planes soon so I can wrap up before the XMas holidays.  

Best of luck with your projects.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Planes WIP - part 2

Greetings!  Today I'm sharing progress on the imperial planes from the Wings of Fire Aeronautica Imperialis boxed set.  After some thought on what camouflage scheme I wanted for these planes, I settled on simple dark green stripes.

The green camouflage was applied using a dry brushing technique with a large(ish) dry brush. I mean...not a terrain sized dry brush, but not a small one either.....ok...a medium sized dry brush :) After the stripes were applied, the planes were shaded all over using a roughly 50:50 mix of GW Agrax Earthshade and Matte Medium.

Once that dried (I left them over night), I dry brushed the base color over the whole model, moving front to back mostly to lend the impression of these planes suffering extreme erosion flying through sand storms and what-not.

The canopy glass was painted white using Proacryl Bold Titanium White and then shaded with a roughly 60:40 mix of a blue wash (Secret Weapon Miniatures) and matte medium.  The pics make things look more white than they really are.  It's a poor man's approach and doesn't give any of the realism that other folks out there achieve.  However, it's quick and simple and reads cockpit glass enough on the table top for my needs.

These pictures were taken shortly after the wash was applied.  I'll go back in with a detail brush and tidy up where white and shading got on the canopy frames.  That will tone things down a bit too.  It looks a little like bad OSL in these pics. 

I don't think I mentioned this earlier; I'm using stunt stands for the painting so I don't have to worry about the gaming flight stands I just completed.  By mounting extra flight stems in standard 40mm bases (and anyone who collects these planes will have lots of extra flight stems...), you get a reasonably stable means of holding the model while painting.  They do occasionally pop off during vigorous dry brushing, so be warned. :)

So that's the Imperial side of the boxed set so far. These planes are ready for details and transfers now.  The T'au planes are similarly ready to move into the detailing phase.  Next week I'll hopefully have some more interesting photos of the set...very close to completion now with all the base colors done on the bodies.

Best of luck with your own projects.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Aeronautica Imperialis Skies of Fire Planes WIP - part 1

 

Greetings and welcome back.  Today I'm sharing progress on my Skies of Fire project for Aeronautica Imperialis.  Last week I shared the finished bases.   This week I am working on the planes themselves.  I chose to keep with the box art and made my best match for the colors using Proacryl paints from Monument Hobbies.

I started with a black primer coat, then dry brushed on the darkest of the three blues I used.  Next, I dry brushed on the second lighter blue as stripes, as shown above.

Then I dry brushed on the third, lightest blue as stripes next to the the other stripes. The camouflage is all done as randomly as possible, while filling out the space. I wanted each plane to look different so I didn't copy one pattern on to the other.

As I was doing the stripes, I would dry brush the whole bottom of the plane in the same color. In the end, this left a nice sky blue color beneath the plane - common as camouflage against the sky to foil visual identification and aiming of anti-aircraft guns from the ground. Effective against primitive cultures, but not that useful against advanced technology with other forms of electronic detection.

The barracuda fighters were done the same.  I built mine as one AX-5-2 leading two AX-5-3 variants.

The final look is basically identical to the Tiger Sharks.  It is an easy and effective scheme.  At some point, I'll document the full color recipe up top with the rest.

The same light blue bottoms resulted.  I pictured these aircraft as all operating up top for the most part and not down on the deck even though they have that capability.

Then I started to look at the Imperial planes. Since they came in the same boxed set, I am painting the navy fighters the same scheme as the Astra Militarum Vendetta carriers.  These guys come in low to support the vendettas and other Valkyrie carriers when they make drops and extractions. I'm planning a green/red camouflage for these planes - but I'm also still considering a shades of brown camouflage instead.  Check back later in the week so see what I choose.

That's ten planes on the road to completion.  The base painting here is the easiest and quickest part, so they move along quickly at this stage.  I hope not to get bogged down in the detail painting where things slow down dramatically.  I really don't want to have to go back and touch up the camouflage much unless I REALLY have to, which means taking it slow and easy on the details.

Come on back when you're free to see where I get to. For those interested, I will definitely get painting recipes up.  I use them too when I need to add new models to and existing painted force.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!