Just had to give a thumbs up. I too am interested to know how you achieved
such a nice looking black using a technical pen. That's pretty thick looking
and yet it doesn't seem to have run all over. And what paint (specific brand
and colour) did you use for the metallic green? I really like the colour!
And the minis themselves are nice. Do you figure the mass ratings you gave
them are close to what they would be when placed next to a canon fleet of
minis? (Or did you just reason backwards from "this is the big one, it must be
a DN"?). If so, then the pack you got must have been a reasonable deal to give
you that nice sized fleet. And the Assault Transports and the DN are both very
cool, as is the Cruiser.
Sweet work, Star Ranger!
Tomb
> Nick Caldwell wrote:
> Any special techniques for using the pen? How do you keep the ink
> Tomb wrote:
The green was Testors Bright Green Pearl spray that I picked up for $1 at a
closeout sale at a train show of all places though I have seen it in stores
since then. I used it over a grey primer so it wasn't quite so bright. It was
somewhat translucent so you sould have seen the newspaper I had the minis on
when I painted them.
It is a very glossy paint and when I tried a dark wash, it just ran off.
I
use a coat of Dullcout to give the rest of the paint more bite.
Micron pens are great. Local craft stores (like Micheals) have lots and lots
of them in varying tip sizes, down to really really small like.5mm plus they
come in a rainbow of colors. I use black mainly but I'm keeping them in mind
for other colors depending on the fleet. Their permanent ink dries pretty fast
and the tip is precise so all the lines you see on the Decados minis were
freehand. The ink is thin to and cover's easily so it doesn't obscure and
details, think of it as a very small felt tip pen. I basically outlined the
area I wanted black and then colored it in. I tried one ship with black paint
and a brush and said forget it and went out a got a couple more Micron pens.
If you go to the page of all my minis and look
at the Not-TIE fighters the Brigade never made, I did all the black
detail on the solar panels and cockpits with a Micron pen.
> Nick Caldwell wrote:
Tom Pope who has been on this list though I haven't seen him lately produces
them under Decals Express (http://www.wargamesexpress.com/decals/) click
'Catalog' then 'Starship ID Codes'. $3.95 for a sheet that allows you to do a
fleet or two of bases. I love them and they go great on black bases. Here is a
direct link to the sample page:
http://www.wargamesexpress.com/decals/catalog/11101.html
> Tomb wrote:
I compared the minis to GZG minis to get a class size, then I used the Noble
Armada stats to get a basic weapon layout. Then crunch it all together on my
spreadsheet to see what it looks like, modify as needed to keep it in the
correct mass range. I just added the boarding marines after Oerjan's initial
pass and they bumped up the Mass on all the ships so they might be a bit large
now but I haven't checked.
The boxed sets that these minis come in can get pricy since you are also
buying the Hawkwook fleet counterparts along with the Decados ships. The
Capital Ship box includes 1 cruiser and 2 DDs from each fleet ant the
Dreadnoughts box includes 1 DN and 2 Assault Landers from each. The rest of
the minis are plastic from the original boxed set or now available separately
along with a hex map as the 'Noble Armada: Ships of the Line' pack. Each of
those comes with 4 sprues of 8 plastic minis, here is a pic:
http://zappa.brainiac.com/spaceship/noble-armada-minis.html
Here is a list of all the Noble Armada minis along with pics:
http://zappa.brainiac.com/spaceship/spaceship6.html#fadingsunsminis
> Tomb wrote:
Thank you, I thought the minis and their 'offical' paint job was striking so
I tried it myself, wanting to get away from a white/grey fleet. I was
able to look at the minis Holistic Design had used for the pics on the website
and box last year at GenCon. They used a much different technique (black base
then paint the green) but I think I did a good job and they look great on the
table.
***
Their permanent ink dries pretty fast and the tip is precise so all the lines
you see on the Decados minis were freehand. The ink is thin to and cover's
easily so it doesn't obscure and details, think of it as a very small felt tip
pen.
***
Try 'em out one at a time before you get REAL gung-ho; I've found the
colors are not nearly as opaque as the black.
The_Beast
I forgot to mention something so I'm replying to my own post...
> Tomb wrote:
> The boxed sets that these minis come in can get pricy since you are
The
> Capital Ship box includes 1 cruiser and 2 DDs from each fleet ant the
The Dreadnoughts box is about lists for $45 and the capital ships box lists
for about $25. You can get them for less if you check ebay and have some
patience. About half these minis I got off ebay and I still have another box
unbuilt. (Plus all the Hawkwood ships if I ever want to work on that fleet)