Homeworld first pass

[Kelly]

I told myself that I would not have to paint my Homeworld ships since they were already color coded, were box storable, and were potentially child resistant (with no paint), besides the fact that I have three other concurrent projects right now, but that decision has not lasted long.  So here are some of the first tests on some Taiidan fighters and a heavy corvette…



The color coding was what initially drove the testing as I really like the fighter round tokens, but it is almost impossible to tell the difference between variants of the same color given their size.  Despite the larger ship silhouettes still being easily distinguishable, when they are next to painted fighters they look out of place, and so I bid farewell to all hopes of sleep…

I did want to preserve the blue v. red aesthetic and first tried just line washes along the details of the pieces but the smooth finish of the plastic requires multiple coats of wash, which led to the second attempt of primer and traditional paint for not that much more time per piece.  Again, the nature of the models made priming difficult, and I had to switch to an airbrush primer to get better adhesion but that also made cleanup of any errant brushstrokes along the borders very easy.

The storage question is not that much of an issue since I was having trouble with the close fits of the vacuum formed box inserts so they will be moving into another space.  Also, the relative softness of the plastic they used is perfect for pieces that will be handled often, but with the standard deployment formations within Homeworld being set numbers by ship class, I most likely am moving them onto bases which should also mostly preserve their paint and have no real affect on their use in-game.

[Kelly]

The basic fighter tokens from Homeworld Fleet Command and the campaign box come in two forms, bombers and interceptors, for both forces...


Paint really helps recognizability on the table from a distance, because the size differences between the small craft classes are lost when uncolored, especially for the blue tokens for the Kushan side.  Is that enough of a benefit to make up for all of the time being locked up in the project... I have no idea and make a point of not thinking along those lines...

[Kelly]

Here are the corvettes and frigates from the basic Homeworld Fleet Command set for both the Kushan and Taiidan forces…


The larger ships do have strikingly different silhouettes, so there are not any real confusion issues that would come up with the fighters, but I think their palettes turned out well and will tie each side in cohesively to each other with just a few alterations.  Now I just have to test out colors for the next set of classes from the campaign box.

[Kelly]

Here are the additional options of corvettes and frigates from the expansion for Homeworld Fleet Command for the Kushan and Taiidan forces…


The corvettes for both are salvage corvettes, so of limited use in most missions, and the Taiidan version is the first asymmetric ship so far, by which I mean one side is impossibly difficult to paint, so I doubt that all of those will end up finished.  The alternate frigates are a totally different story, better balanced designs that are a quarter again bigger than the originals, and much easier to paint.

[Ruckdog]

Great job on these, as usual! I love your style with all the precise black-lining.

How is the game itself? Have you gotten a chance to play?

[Kelly]

Here are carriers and destroyers* as the capital / super-capital ships from Homeworld Fleet Command for both the Kushan and Taiidan forces…


All of these are substantially larger than the frigates but the destroyers did not take much longer to paint since they were designed very well.  That was not the case for the carriers as they went in a much different aesthetic direction than the rest of their respective fleets and had too much detail, but I will not have many of those to paint.

Great job on these, as usual! I love your style with all the precise black-lining.

I was literally thinking while painting the destroyers “I have never met a panel line I didn’t like” and then I got to the carriers.

How is the game itself? Have you gotten a chance to play?

We are only a few scenarios in so far and I have a lot of thoughts on Homeworld that I am still trying to organize but absolutely do not regret the purchase.  The decision to paint… well I am absolutely regretting that though.

*I know, I know…

[Kelly]

Here are the last of the regular ships from the expansion, Kushan and Taiidan cruisers.


These were not as quick to paint as the other capital ships as the level of detail in the molds are not constant across the lines, the Kushan cruiser in particular (right) had even more elements on the hull than either of the carriers did.

I realize all of the sample pictures have been flat on their pedestal bases for sizing comparisons so far, so here is a more dramatic view of a portion of the Kushan fleet so far…


…and of the Taiidan fleet.  Their destroyer is probably the most faithful conversion from the screen to three dimensions out of all of the pieces in the set with its dorsal spines, and is definitely my favorite.


After the fateful decision to travel down the road of paint and sorrow, I had to work out a conversion plan to allow for traditional 1/8 inch acrylic rods placement to keep the handling and wear of the paint to a minimum.  Except for the Taiidan salvage corvette as it is easily the worst model from the entire range, all of the other designs have taken to the balance drilling well and now these can be used with any other 1/8 inch base setup, and are in-line with my standard storage.  (250)

[Kelly]

From the Scout expansion to the campaign, here are stealth fighters for both the Kushan and Taiidan fleets.


These are the same designs as the regular interceptors, just molded in clear plastic… if the original tokens were hard to tell apart at arm’s length, these were impossible.  Several tries with washes and I have the outlines picked out in ink; well, most of the outlines as since these are translucent, I had to take out several lines that were showing through and blurring the details more than I liked.

I considered trying blue and red ink for the two sides but the red was tending towards pink, again from diffusing through the model, so plain black will remain.