Jodrell Plays Games

After taking a break for a few years (after it was initially cancelled), I recently binge-watched the last four Amazon-commissioned seasons of the incredible hard SF series The Expanse.

There are many ships of various kinds in The Expanse, but the most notable is Rocinante, the home and workplace of the main characters of the show. She's a salvaged MCRN corvette, armed with point-defense cannons (PDCs), missiles, and in the later series, a rail gun.

I found a good quality 3D model of the Roci and was compelled to paint it for display on the shelf above my desk.

Oye beltalowda beratnas and sésatas, kewe to pensa ere kapawu?

A few (actually almost ten) years ago I posted some pictures of the Battlestar Galactica model kit. Not long after I posted that article, I picked up a Mk II Colonial Viper kit (originally produced by Moebius, now by Revell).

That model sat in my pile of shame for almost seven years, until I decided I needed a pallet cleanser towards the end of last year.

Completing this model was a pleasurable challenge: the model is not super-high quality and needed quite a bit of filling and sanding to put together. This is the first model that I've had to paint the interior cockpit for, seal up and mask, and then finish the exterior. The final step was to remove the masking on the canopy which was very satisfying!

After I'd applied the decals and finished painting, the model looked beautiful, but it's the weathering that makes a model like this really pop. I used a mix of weathering powders and sponge chipping to add an appropriately lived-in level of wear and tear.

More pictures below the fold!

While my hobby activities were in limbo waiting for the house move, I decided to take a sideways step into scale modelling. I'm pretty sure that I was building scale models (mainly Star Trek starships) before I got into wargaming, but I've been doing both for so long that I don't really have a clear memory.

I went into my local Modelzone during their closing down sale and picked up the model kit of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica for less than twenty quid.

After assembling the main sub-assemblies, the model was sprayed with Army Painter Army Grey primer. After this, it was highlighted with several different shades of grey mixed with Army Painter Chainmail, starting out slightly lighter than the basecoat and getting progressively brighter.

Then, the armour panels were given a semi-drybrush with a lighter shade of grey (about 2/3 Coat d'Arms Mid Grey to 1/3 Slate Grey). I used Citadel Scab Red to paint the stripes, and then applied gloss varnish to the areas that would have decals.

Once the decals had been applied and sealed, I added battle damage using a brybrush to create scorch marks, and then applied a generous amount of Forgeworld Black Soot weathering powder to add texture to the model and soften the edges of the scorches. Then the weathering powder was sealed by spraying the entire model with Army Painter matt varnish.

The base was sprayed black and then drybrushed with Tin Bitz and Gunmetal.

More pictures below the fold.