We’re back, our short break was not so short and sort of became a little bit of a recharge session for all of us. The last year’s been crazy for everyone and we’re all no exception. But we’re back and ready for another year of tiny little things!
First up for me is a bit more progress on my Aeronautica Imperialis Orks. These are a real back burner project, as we don’t play much of this at the club. However, I really dig the miniatures and I’ve been painting them every so often. I’ve also been experimenting with some new paints during the break.
The Fight Bomba is a twin engine jet that’s a fair bit larger than the single engine Dakka Jet. The plastic kits from GW are pretty impressive. There’s a bunch of different engine, wing and fuselage options that can be mixed at will giving you the ability to have no two planes alike if you mix your components up. There’s also a heap of different weapon options on the sprues as well. I’ve got a bunch left over for other projects (and you’ll see them bob up now and again in my scratch building projects). They’re also nicely detailed with deep panel lines and rivet detail that comes out very nicely when you apply some washes and responds well to a good drybrush. Aesthetically they might not be your thing, but I do like the Orks, and they’re consistent and well executed. The Diesel Punk – Weird WW2 – Sci-Fi combo that Games Workshop use for their Orks is well captured.
I’ve gone for a yellow to red gradient, which is the same as the Dakka Jets I did a while back. But I’ve mixed some things up. First I’ve tried to include a bit more yellow and so the leading edge of the wing is where the gradient really starts to kick in (rather than the nose). I’ve also changed paint from Acryllics (Vallejo Model Air) to lacquers (Scale Modellers Supply – SMS). The big gain here is the brightness in the colours: the reds and yellows are so much brighter. I’m using the brightest Vallejo paints I could find, but the colours just pop so much more with the SMS ones. The lacquers also wear a lot better, spray better and require simpler clean up. Their main drawback is the chemicals are a few steps in the wrong direction the nastiness index so you’re going to want to up your safety game (a booth/extractor hood, gloves and respirator are a good starting point). But you can see the difference below when next to a DakkaJet.
You can see the variety on the pictures of the individual planes below, they all share a common look, but the differing details and combinations give them that chaotic – disjointed – feel that GW’s Orks embody.
As well as a bunch of paint I also used some of the decals that GW provide with the kits. There is nowhere near enough of these, but they I do think they look pretty good. They’re good quality decals, but the size of the model and depth of the detail does make them a little tricky to get down and levelled. However, it’s nothing that some Microset & Microsol (or your own favorite decal setter / melter products) can’t handle.
As discussed I used mostly SMS paints for these models. A quick word on SMS, they are an Australian supplier of lacquer model paints and well worth a look. Locally made and produced, they do a great range of colours that suit both military and car modelling (i.e. lots of greens/greys/browns as well as bright colours, pearls, colour shifts and metallics). If you’re an Australian train modeller they are also releasing various colour matched paints for different Australian subjects. There’s also a smattering of Vallejo and Scale 75 acryllics for the details. More specifically:
- Body 1: SMS Premium Red (PL03)
- Body 2: SMS Premium Blue Angels Yellow FS13655 (PL175)
- Weapon 1: SMS Premium Green (PL06)
- Weapon 2: SMS Premium Bright Blue (PL37)
- Weapon 3: SMS Premium Red (PL03)
- Guns: Vallejo Model Air Steel (71.065)
- Engines: Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal (71.072)
- Panel Line: Ammo Black night (A.MIG-1611)
There are a few other colours in there, but that’s just some random metallics and colours to bring out some of the details; nothing special at all there.
