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Instructions that come with
the miniature is pretty much the way to go
in finishing.
Most of the way through
detail painting and clean-up of the
weathering wash here in the two photos above
and below. I still have some small areas
left to pick out, like the Weapons System
Reception Sensors on the leading edge of the
Primary Hull, and have to remove some excess
wash yet to go a this stage. This is where
the little gaming miniature comes to life
for me, and I begin to think about its
imaginary service life and let that dictate
the final finish.
Just
before applying a satin clear coat for
decaling, I finished in the Bussard
Collector Domes on the warp engines some
more with a wash of Tamiya X-27 Clear Red
enamel paint. Additionally, I tried out a
new idea for rendering a glowing warp engine
effect suggested by the painting guide. I
trimmed out a section of white decal sheet
and applied it to the warp nacelle. Then, I
overcoated the white decal with a 50%
diluted wash of Tamiya X-23 Clear Blue. It
is an interesting result, one I tried out at
the same time on my Rescue/Hospital
Ship USS Hope. I'll keep on attempting
to refine it as I go forward.
With all
of her decals in place, USS Charlemagne
awaits a sealer satin coat to blend them in
to the final finish. High-quality markings
really enhance a gaming miniature and makes
it come to life. Before doing so, I enhanced
the warp nacelle effect one more time, using
a mixture of four drops Future acrylic floor
finish with one drop of Tamiya X-23 Clear
Blue enamel paint. Now, it sounds like the
two wouldn't work together, but it did mix
long enough for me to paint the solution
onto the nacelle. It worked out well.
I
deviated a little bit from the drawing,
again, when I did the decal representing the
Hangar Bay Doors on the underside of the
primary hull. I used a Circle Template and a
sheet of white decal film to draw a slightly
larger pattern in pencil - with the graphite
outlining my Door and the segments.
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I
sealed the decal before trimming it out
for application. I didn't replicate the
bluish glow around the Doors like in the
drawing because it's easy to confuse with
the warp engine effect. I like how the
doors stand out done in white, which is
why I didn't do the Doors in the color of
the ship's hull. After the decal setup, I
weathered it lightly with an application
of Pigments to blend with the rest of the
miniature and moved on to seal it all up
with two coats of Polly Scale Satin
finish.
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