While working on my Epic Necrons some time back, I came across some miniatures in my collection for another old favorite GW game. Namely, Battlefield Gothic. Battlefield Gothic was a space ship combat game set in the 40k universe.
I used to play it often when it was the thing back in the 90s. I (along with some friends) have kept up our old miniatures for the game and pull it out every once and a while for a spin. During the last “spin”, I started to update some of my old models and the Necron fleet was one of those efforts. Like so many projects, it was “mostly done”, but put away as my attention moved onto something else that was shiny. Well, as I have a lot more time on my hands these days, I decided that I needed to move the mini along to the “totally done” side of the ledger. With that said, I thought I would go from the beginning of the project, in the interest of completion.
All the models are old metal castes. The larger ships are all muli-part and the smaller are single castes. As normal, I used super glue on the models to get them to stay together. Considering they were assembled in the 1990s, I have to say I used some good glue! I just finished making the bases and this is were the changes happened. The kits came with the usual clear flight stands. Anyone that has used these for any type of miniature has encountered the down side of these stands. Basically, they all break off at the point of the miniature if you glue them and do not hold the miniature if you don’t glue them. They also have an issue in holding metal models, as the whole construction becomes top heavy and they fall over (often breaking the mounting rod). So, my solution, upgrade!
It is an easy task. Instead of attaching the plastic rod to the base, use finishing nails (they are cheap and strong. Guide the nail through the base, so the head is underneath the bottom of the base. Add white glue to the bottom of the nail as you are putting it through the hole. This secures the nail and fills in any gap at the base bottom. Then, get some one inch (or whatever size matches the size of base you have) washers and then glue them to the bottom of the base. The small hole in the base gives the nail head someplace to sit, so you do not get any wobble. If you want to be extra sure, you can fill in the hole with more glue to better lock in the attachment.
Once the model and base are painted, just glue the nail into the miniature. Since it is pointed, it normally fits in well. Sometimes you may have to cut off a little of the nail tip, it the mounting hole is too shallow or maybe drill out the model more to get a deeper fit (more important on larger models). If your hole is too large for the nail, no worries. Just overfill the hole with glue, brace the model and let the glue dry. Once it is dried, it will be securely mounted.
For these models, I went with a simple metallic paint job. Instead of painting silver models silver, I just hit them all with dull coat. Once that dried, I hit all the models with GW blue wash to give an alien look. I then painted various weapon and engine details with different shades and highlights of green. Added some brass here and there for variation. I then satin coated the models to seal them and make sure there was a little sheen.
The bases were a simple spray paint of Krylon gloss black. Once this dried, everything ties together. I then glued the models to their bases and I now have a Necron fleet to use some day, in the future, maybe far far future…..
- Manteuffel