Tutorial: Airships for Dystopian Wars

So following on from yesterdays shots of the Pflicht Airships I thought I would show a step by step of how I did them. They were easy enough in the end as they are not too intricate. Most of the shots below are thumbnails so just click on them to bring them up much larger

The bases on the Dystopian Wars flyers are a pain. While nice looking with the arcs marked out they don't fit together at all. After a long long while simply trying to force the stems into the bases I gave up and grabbed my drill. I was lucky enough to have a drill bit the exact size of the stem. However I was unlucky enough that this one was blunt. It still did the trick but it really needed more force than I was comfortable with. The bases are robust enough to take this thankfully. I was a little confused by the white backing the bases had. I took this off straight away but I guess it can be left on to save getting fingerprints everywhere. I can't see that it serves any other purpose. Getting the stems into the model was also a little tricky. One of them really didn't want to cooperate. Eventually I coerced it in. One word of caution however! Don't press the stem too far into the base. I did this and now it is raised ever so slightly off the surface. This causes the model to rotate around the stem easily and I guess it will be annoying when it comes to actually playing. Even with the drill I needed some force to get the stem in and this is why I pushed it too far. So you are warned!

The most important step in my mind is getting the base colours on correctly. Once you have a nice even coat on the model it is practically playable. For these models I copied the scheme I used for my Ships. German Field Grey(vajello) is the base colour for everything. Its got great coverage which is good as I didn't undercoat these models. I was worried about the spray filling up too much of the detail. However the mould release agent will stop the paint adhering to the surface so it is important to wash the models down with some soapy water. A soft scrub gets the residue off. I then pick out the metals in a bronze colour. I dislike the idea of bare iron on sea going vessels and I thought I should follow it through on the fliers. For a little bit of variance I picked out the Prussian flag on the tails. The edges of the panelling helps keep the lines straight.

Of course I forgot to take a photograph of the next steps but this shot will help explain. I washed the whole model down with a light black wash. This brings out the fine detail of the resin models. It also gives some nie texture to the generally flat area of the baloon itself. Without a wash this would look terribly boring. I then go back with german field green, the base colour, and pick out all the raised areas such as the ribs and gun ports. Finally I mix a drop of bleached bone in and highlight these areas. It's pretty simple. That finishes the green ehough so that it looks great on the table top. Getting more detailed in terms of highlights is really not worth all the effort. I did highlight the edges of the baloon ridges with some of the base colour though so that they stood out a little better.

The metals were picked out in lighter shades of gold. I washed them first with Ogryn Flesh (GW). This gives a nice purple base to the metal without darkening the raised areas too much. I also put some patina on the tesla coils to the front but my eyes are not seeing it on the pictures. It is Hawk Turquiose mixed with Thraka Green and some water (both GW). I just let it run into the cracks. Thats basically how I painted the models. Freehanding the Iron Cross is annoying but I will cover that separetly later in the week. So I hope this is helpful in getting your airships to the table quickly and effectively.