Shuttlecraft Helga

[cheetor]

Whiskey priest and I are planning a space pirate sort of game for BOYL/Oldhammer day in a few months. Many of you will have already seen the lovely work he has been doing on his scurvy swabs.

Currently my plan is to go for ork (and gretchin) freebooter pirates as my contingent. That may change, but in all likelihood it wont.

Regardless, I felt inspired to paint some sort of stolen shuttle or lighter or other sub-system cargo ship for my contingent to cart themselves around in. I had the GZG56 Dropship kit that Daemonscape sell unassembled in a box and I figured that this would be a good opportunity to get it painted as some sort of generic, workhorse, Transit-van-in-space, Serenity/ Millenium Falcon sort of affair, so I painted it during a handful of sessions over Easter.

Painting vehicles isnt really in my comfort zone to be honest: I far prefer painting troops. Even painting bikes or cavalry tends to put me off a bit. Therefore I went for a straightforward, reasonably quickly applied scheme that sort of echoes the look of the Serenity. It also looks a little like the scheme used for a kitbash of a 1980s Milton Bradley made "Starbird Avenger" toy that I am very fond of that appeared in an Epic article in WD 112 in 1989, so I get a little bit of a kick out of that.

As it happens it might be a bit too large a model to cart across the Irish Sea in August, but I will see what I can manage. Comparison with the Rhino below shows that Helga is actually a pretty chunky piece of kit.

Its not my best work by a very long way, but it is quite substantial in size and the grey/gunmetal scheme used gives it a visual "weight" that I quite like. The hinged rear door really appeals to me, suggesting desperate cargo loading under fire and loads of other ideas for scenario driven games.

The blog post with some more images and talk about painting is HERE.

 

[axiom]

Very nice indeed. A few markings wouldn't go amiss in my view, but its great as is for gaming in, on and around

 

[Mr Tough Guy]

I like it, very cool, some nice detail, is that a stork on the side? simple paintscheme but it works really well

 

[cheetor]

Very nice indeed. A few markings wouldn't go amiss in my view, but its great as is for gaming in, on and around

Thanks axiom. I am inclined to agree with you. Helga has turned out more than adequate for gaming with, but something about the scheme isnt quite popping.

There are currently twenty five small transfers on the model, three hand-painted, grafitti-esque "HELGA"s, a pair of port/starboard right-of-way lights, the goofy blue cockpit windows and the equally silly but sort of fun three copper elements. Even though none of those various elements are overwhelming individually I have minor concerns that adding further markings or a large piece of branding to the flat area on the exterior of the main hull might make the whole thing too toy like. Putting the transfers on reminded me of adding the stickers to my Star Wars toys as a kid and I am concerned that Helga will end up looking just as toy like if I add to many more markings. Its hard to say and vehicles are really not in my comfort zone.

I am currently undecided and I think that I need to give it some thought and get some perspective, rather than do something impulsive. Thanks for the feedback

I like it, very cool, some nice detail, is that a stork on the side? simple paintscheme but it works really well

Yeah its a stork transfer had been lurking in the box of transfers for about twenty years. Its from some historical aircraft kit. As I was trying to avoid using Imperial iconography - I want the Helga to be a little more generic - I figured that adding an image of some of the "Death-Storks" of Luther-Macintyre IX would be reasonably appropriate

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[axiom]

I should clarify, I was meaning something like coloured bars on the fin tips or perhaps block coloured areas e.g. nose cone, cockpit or similar rather than lettering (you've added plenty of small scale detail with the transfers).

Some block colours would really help I think

 

[whiskey priest]

I had the same issue with my arvus and the addition of simple block of yellow (well a stripe really) helped to break up the shape a bit

 

[axiom]

I had the same issue with my arvus and the addition of simple block of yellow (well a stripe really) helped to break up the shape a bit

Exactly what I was failing to describe with words alone!

 

[cheetor]

a stripe really) helped to break up the shape a bit

That soiunds like a good idea guys. Ill take a look at doing something like that

 

[cheetor]

So, based on feedback here and in a couple of other places I spent a little more time on Helga this evening.

I added some orange trim to the forward wing/fin edges and to a handful of places on the hull, cockpit and turret. I think that has improved the overall look quite a bit (although the photos are actually worse I think). I will leave it at that one way or another now anyway. But thanks for your feedback guys, it helped

 

[Firebreather]

Thought it look good to start with but those extra touches are a definate improvement

 

[Citadel Collector]

Wonderful, and those space skaven look ace!

 

[axiom]

Funny how those little flashes of colour really bring the whole thing to life- it's gone from monolithic gun metal to having real individuality! Very nice indeed.

 

[cheetor]

Thought it look good to start with but those extra touches are a definate improvement

Thanks Firebreather. I think that the extra bit of work was time well spent. Knowing when to quit is very important, but the extra hour or so was definitely worth it here.

Funny how those little flashes of colour really bring the whole thing to life- it's gone from monolithic gun metal to having real individuality! Very nice indeed.

Yeah, I was hesitant to add too much, but it turned out that a few bits to draw the eye were all that were required. It helps to define the shape at a distance on the table too: thats the whole point as far as I am concerned.

Wonderful, and those space skaven look ace!

Thanks Steve. I really do love my space skaven/veer-myn/hrud.

I have a lot of the old Demonblade space rat guys ready for the next time that I get enthusiastic about them. I am going to mildly sci-fi up some gutter runners too. Whats better than cyborg ninja ratmen from space? Not much, thats what

 

[dieselmonkey]

That looks amazing! As others have said, the little finishing touches really make it.

I really must get back to my Port Imperiale/Spaceport project, I've got a bunch of ships lined up ready to go, but none actually painted yet.

Having said that, I really wish I still had my Starbird Avenger model from when I was a kid, seeing that photo, it would have been perfect!

 

[clownshoe]

That's awesome man. Love the whole theme you have going there. I am looking at the ship thinking Serenity! -
- only slight critic - get some weathering powders on it! ship looks as if she has come straight from a carwash
*i have to add the colour scheme is spot on for those space skaven. Really nice, ties them together well.

 

[Just John]

I really must get back to my Port Imperiale/Spaceport project, I've got a bunch of ships lined up ready to go, but none actually painted yet.

I'd love to know what ships you have lined up DM. Looking for inspiration for my ratlings.

 

[cheetor]

I really wish I still had my Starbird Avenger model from when I was a kid

If ever there was a forum to cater for that emotion, its this one

That's awesome man. Love the whole theme you have going there. I am looking at the ship thinking Serenity!

Yeah, Serenity was direct influence, obviously enough. I mentioned it in the blog post.

only slight critic - get some weathering powders on it! ship looks as if she has come straight from a carwash

It does have a little weathering that isnt coming out due to the dodgy photography. I could have gone further with it, but I didnt want the thing to look like it was falling to pieces and unable to maintian compression, just a bit well used. I have toyed with weathering powders before, but didnt get the results that I wanted, so dont want to spend cash on them in case I dont use them.

Do you have much experience of weathering powders yourself clownshoe? Do you have images or a tutorial link? I am wary of anything that requires spray varnishing to seal it. I gave up trying to spray varnish in damp Ireland many years ago, it just leads to heartache.

*i have to add the colour scheme is spot on for those space skaven. Really nice, ties them together well.

Thanks. I love those guys, great fun to paint. I must get back to the little furry freaks in the medium term.

 

[dieselmonkey]

I really must get back to my Port Imperiale/Spaceport project, I've got a bunch of ships lined up ready to go, but none actually painted yet.

I'd love to know what ships you have lined up DM. Looking for inspiration for my ratlings.

This thread's got me fired up to get on with them so I'll try and get a WIP blog post up next week. I can show the ships I've got so far, it's all oddments picked up off eBay, mainly plastic kits and some resin stuff.


Have you seen 'Big Bertha' btw, on my blog: http://port-imperiale.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... mpany.html

I almost called her 'Helga' too.

 

[Just John]

Thats a nice little small persons ship where's it from? Actually maybe wait until you get your own thread up and we can return thi one to Cheetor and Helga.

 

[cheetor]

Actually maybe wait until you get your own thread up and we can return thi one to Cheetor and Helga.

Helga and I are fine with sharing if you want, although DMs stuff probably warrants it's own thread anyway

DMs shuttle us also from Daemonscape and also ex GZG I think.