Finished the four EA Chronos frigates and two EA Marathon Advanced Cruisers.  Probably could have detailed them better, but I am satisfied with them.  Pictures when time permits.

Still have the EA Hyperion to finish, which will likely have a lighter base coat with a dark wash on it.  Then on to the ancient Greek/Phoenician/Roman ships.

I finished detailing the following EA ships:

• 1 Omega Destroyer
• 2 Olympus Corvette
• 1 Warlock Advanced Destroyer
• 1 Apollo Strike Cruiser
• 1 Delphi Scout

I am nearly done painting a Hyperion Cruiser.  I also finished the Mindriders ship over a month ago.  I'll post pictures and painting details as soon as I can.

I completed the Torvalus Dark Knives a week or more ago, but I finally got around to photographing them.

You can find a larger version on Flickr.

How I made them:

1. primed them with a black spray primer
2. painted them with two coats of Floquil NATO Black
3. painted the three engines with Floquil USSR Underside Blue and a small sharp brush.  I used the Floquil NATO Black where ever I painted beyond the lines.
4. painted the lights with Floquil’s Railroad Signal Red and a small sharp brush.
5. finally, I sprayed them with Testors dullcote and then mounted them.

The Torvalus are:

I started painting the ancients.  Not the ancient greek triremes, but some of the Babylon 5 ancient ships.  The Dark Knives are done but for the sealant and I am working on the Mindriders ship.  I am aiming to finish them by tomorrow and post pictures.

Been a bit tied up with work and family.  Managed to get all of the Shadow Cruisers built.  Planning to base the White Stars this weekend.

Next up I thought I would try my hand at painting some of the triremes.  My research turned up that the hulls of the Athenian triremes and the quinqueremes were probably made with fir.  The Phoenician triremes and the heptares likely with cedar.

I visited my local woodworking store to get samples of each type of wood.  They didn't have any fir, but being the knowledgeable folks they are, they did have a book with pictures of different types of wood.  The cedar looked like pine, only darker and more red.  The fir looked lighter and less red than the cedar, but still darker than a pine.  I figure I can make a wash using a light brown and a bit of red for the cedar and water it down further to make the fir color.  This is of course on top of the tan I sprayed on the primed ships.

Here are some photos of the Babylon 5 miniatures I just finished.

More photos on Flickr and as a slideshow.

Looking at them now, I think I either needed to add more silver paint to the wash or do more washes.  The silver shows up better when the light isn’t quite as bright as daylight.

Over the last few days I have been able to finish up a bunch of the Babylon 5 miniatures.  The sixteen AOG Fleet Action scale Whitestars are done.  The three Shadow scouts are done (I glued them together either before priming or after.)  The Shadow cruisers just await gluing. 

A bit on how I painted them.

For the whitestars I:

1. primed them in gray,
2. painted them with two coats of Testors Acryl silver paint,
3. made up a wash of Floquil German Mauve (i.e. purple) and water (I forgot the ratio, but it was mostly water), and washed the entire miniature since they are small.  If it looked like there was too much purple, I would use the brush to better distribute it.  I put two coats on the top and one on the bottom.  The effect is to give it a splotchy purple/silver pattern,
4. painted the weapons in gunmetal,
5. finally, after a night or two of drying, I sprayed them with Testors glosscote.

For the Shadow ships I:

1. primed them in black,
2. painted them with two coats of Floquil NATO Black,
3. made a wash of the Testors Acryl Silver (16 drops) and water (80 drops) and spread it over the miniatures using the same technique as the whitestars.  I coated both sides twice.  As a result the miniatures have bits of silver sprinkled over the black that looks similar to what the ships are supposed to look like   [Note: Looking at them now, I think I either needed to add more silver paint
   to the wash or do more washes.  The silver shows up better when the
   light isn't quite as bright as daylight.],
4. finally, after drying, I sprayed them with Testors glosscote.

I like the way they came out and hope to post pictures before the weekend is over.

Now that I have gotten a hang of the wash technique, I am looking forward to starting work on some of the ancient Greek and Phoenician triremes I primed and sprayed with a tan base coat.

With some help, I was able to put on two coats of black on the six Shadow ships, the two Torvalus Dark Knives and the one Traveler ship I have.  I also painted the fleet scale Whitestars silver and their bases black.  Next the detailing.

I gave into temptation and got some the Agents of Gaming B5 ancients and Fleet Action scale Whitestars.  After cleaning and removing the flashing, I primed them as well as the Vorlon destroyers and three of the Shadow Scouts.  Man, those Shadow Scouts are great looking miniatures.  Out of scale, but great looking.

Oh well, more stuff to paint.