How to do: Space and Stars Flight Bases

[RikuEru]

Because Brother Dallo asked on how I do the Space and Stars Flight Bases in my WiP thread, here the Tutorial for future uses:

 

 

 

How to do: Space and Stars Flight Bases!

 

Step 1:

 

Assemble your flight bases. Cut out a long strip of cardboard. Put some double sided sticky tape on it. Put the Flight Bases on it.

 

 

Step 2:

 

Prime them black. (Remember the shaking the can. Warming the can in lukewarm water before can do wonders, too!)

Due to the transparent plastic, it's sometimes hard to tell if it's not fully covered yet or just glossy black primer already - it takes some getting used to, so you sometimes need to do a second layer of black.

 

Step 3:

 

Rip up an old sponge. (RIP. AND. TEAR.) Then dabble on some Grey Seer onto the sponge, rub of some of the paint on a piece of paper, then put it onto the bases. You decide on how much and the structure of it.

Either dab it on, for the "gas clouds", or lightly brush it on in long strokes for the more "streamy" variety (third from the left).

If you need inspiration or ideas, look for pictures on interstellar nebulae and what kinda structures they can form - basically any error you could make at this step could just be a strangely formed nebula. Don't worry too much about it.

 

{"Why Greyseer, Rikueru?" - Well, it's a very light grey, which behaves REALLY well and works well with Contrast colours on top!}

 

 

Step 4:

 

Repeat the same with some White Scar, but only at the "center" of your greyseer clusters/streams - basically a Highlight.

(Remember to shake it REALLY well. You sure you shaken it enough? Yes?! SHAKE IT MORE!

Also make sure you have none of the nasty white "blobs" of paint sticking to your sponge!)

 

 

Step 5:

 

Now for some colour!

Use -whatever- Contrast Colour you like! Does it fit your fleet? Is it your favourite colour? Is it your partner's favourite colour? Both of them?

It doesn't really matter. Again, look at pictures of interstellar nebulae, any colour is possible, any colour combination is possible.

 

Apply the Contrast colour in a thin layer ALL over the base (even the black parts). Now take either a dry brush (which has seen the best of his days pass by - not a new one!) or some pieces of paper towel, to remove some of the Contrast at the center of your clusters/streams, so you get NEARLY white parts in the middle and darker coloured edges.

Now add some more Contrast of your favourite variety (or a second colour) at the edges and here and there.

You can also wetblend two contrast colours or thinly layer them over each other.

 

Be creative, play with the Contrast colours, trust your gut, go with your instincts.

If it REALLY turns out to your disliking - and a night of sleep doesn't help to change your judgement - just prime it black again. There's no detail to loose on these flat bases.

 

 

Step 6 a):

 

The aforementioned steps can be done in quick succession, because it doesn't take long to dry, but NOW you should let the Contrast colours dry fully!

 

Step 6 :

 

Now get your White Scar again and get yourself a straight sewing needle of average size. [Handle with care!]

(Pros of the Hobby who trust their painting skills and have good brushes might want to use a brush for this!? I chose this because it was easy, fast AND reliable. Also no tip of a Brush needs to suffer.)

 

We won't be using the tip of the needle, as that would take ridiculously long and would make teeny tiny stars. (Go ahed, if you want that, tho!)

Instead we use the BACK of the needle, the ear - because it has the right size and can hold some colour!

 

With the needle, you can now put down all the stars you want.

As you can see, I dabbed the needle onto the cardboard a few times, to get rid of excess paint, to make smaller stars.

You can vary them in size, line them up, group them in clusters or let them stand alone in the deep dark.

Go wild, stop whenever you want.

 

When you are done, take some Abaddon Black to clean up the Flight Base stems, if any of the colours got on them, to clean up.

 

 

 

 

Step 7 [Optional]:

 

For some variety, or as markings, hidden details, easter eggs or just for fun, you can also add a few "coloured" stars.

In my example I used Lothern Blue, Wazdakka Red, Auric Armour Gold and Stormhost Silver! (The last didn't work out as well as I thought)

 

 

 

 

AND you're done! Congratulations!

Now put on your models and enjoy as they fly through space!

[Brother Tyler]

I just added the link to this tutorial to our Battlefleet Gothics resources index under Modeling & Painting and I added the resource topic tag to this topic to (hopefully) prevent it from being accidentally deleted in the future.

 

This is an excellent tutorial that will benefit players of Battlefleet Gothic and any number of spaceship games.