CA-562 Star Opal

After a long slog in front of the laptop, I've finally reached the dizzying heights of the BBC's special effects department circa 1976.

The header image was pretty simple: I downloaded a photo taken by the James Webb telescope and then propped up the ship on a pot of craft paint in front of a white sheet of paper and photographed it. I loaded the Webb image into Pixlr, an online image editing app, then loaded the spaceship as a layer above it, and just erased the white paper so the stars appeared. It's almost adequate.

Anyway, this 3D-printed spaceship is actually called an X7 Hover Car, but I thought that was a bit boring so I renamed it (CA is short for California, 562 is the area code for Long Beach, where I used to live, and "Star Opal" just sounded cool to me). It's already appeared on the site in a half-painted state and I finished it off in between building and painting my temple. And yes, it is a total rip-off of the Commodore ship from Thor: Ragnarok, AKA the best Marvel movie by far.

It's not the best of 3D prints but then again these aren't the best photos. I used grey filler primer to help smooth out the model's print lines. After four coats I figured it was about as good as it was going to get, so I gave it another blast with matte white primer and brought it upstairs.

Black seemed an easy option, and I considered silver too, but then I decided on red. As per usual I used Khorne Red, Flat Red and Vermillion.

The window frames, engine exhaust and vents are just Black highlighted with Black Grey, and the cockpit windows are Plate Metal and a touch of Silver.

I didn't like the all-red look so I considered doing the inset bits white, inspired by the Gran Torino from Starsky and Hutch. But the thought of painting coat after coat of white over the red didn't appeal, so I went for orange by using Wild Rider Red and Troll Slayer Orange.

I thought I'd try doing a bit of a spaceport diorama using my game mat and some shipping containers to hide as much of the kitchen cupboards as possible.

I don't know why so many citizens are wandering around the landing pad but it looks better than just Betty and her, er, charms. I have another X7 (I accidentally bought a second one because I'm an idiot) so that'll be painted at some point.

Normal service will resume soon

We're off to the Atlantic coast later today for a three-day break. It's only a 3½ hour drive across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, and we're looking forward to seeing the ocean for the first time in a couple of years. We should be back Wednesday evening, and luckily we've secured the services of a dogsitter to look after Cadbury and Erebus.

The temple is on hold for a short while because some basing stuff I need is in the mail, but I'll be working on it again next week. I also have a lot more sci-fi figures and scenery to come! Stay safe out there!