A Quick Nef - or 10.. later

Some time ago, I invested in the Imperial Skies Kickstarter, and as part of the package, picked up the French Fleet from Brigade.

Lovely Cast Iron, Steampunky Floating Dreadnoughty rules goodness, plus dice, markers.. I somehow managed to forget the new cast French Dreadnought.. but no matter.. on with the build!

Hannants helped out with a couple of these...  much drilling, wiring, glueing (and cursing at teeny tiny parts and tremulous tweezers) later... et Voila!

I also did some surgery like drilling out turrets to replace with open gun positions, adding crosspieces to masts, and so on. Scale is an issue... but whatever.

I also bought the deck cranes pack, plus the heavier than air aircraft from Brigade, added rails, cranes, boats, etc..  as clutter and brass are the essence of the period in my view.  Here's one example - ready for the paintshop.

Now it's time to get dramatic with the colours, after all, these are giant floating dreadnoughts, and as long as no-one sneaks up below them where there are no turrets, they rule the skies!

Starting to look the business I reckon.

Glamour shots of the Heavier than Air before decals are added.

The fleet in review.

Close-ups

One think I didn't buy was the French carrier, which to my mind wasn't impressive enough.. so - two cigars and some MDF later looked like this.

Add bits from a defunct USB key. a plastic kit mantlet, some sprue cutoffs, cranes, parts from the Tamiya detail kits, and two defunct Lithium CR2 batteries..

More USB parts, funnels from a pen, rear steering from MDF..   ready for paint.

In all her undercoated glory..  the 'Fraternite'..  ready for paint.

Viva Aeronef!

I took a break from painting 15's to paint up a fleet for Aeronef (flying Victorian Pre-Dreadnoughts and advanced Dirigibles).

Initially I was inspired by the Imperial Skies Kickstarter - and Brigade Models had a sale on for Christmas, so a couple of weeks later - the Italian Fleet Pack arrived.

Two days later, this is the result. I am quite pleased.

One of the reasons for the selection of the Italian Fleet, apart from them being among the nicest models in the range, was that the flags supplied are also perfect for Mexico. Many of the locals already have Aeronef for South American fleets, so Mexico was a good fit, and also sufficiently large and potentially wealthy enough to afford a decent fleet. Plus - the opportunity to have a vessel nicknamed 'La Cucaracha' as it was impossible to kill, and bonus.. role-playing an atrocious accent..

Anyway, fun, and I learned a lot doing these. I have plans for future fleets and some additional detail that should be fun.