Neptune Class Frigate

[Malika]

I demand more Frigate madness!

I've seen your other stuff on Flickr as well, very cool, I'm really curious how you'd do a battleship...

[Commissar-Krad]

I would love to scratch build a battleship or dreadnought, I just know it would take me forever.... I will probably do it some day.

[mangozac]

[Commissar-Krad]

Thanks to all the nagging....

I got back into it today and put a bit more time into the Neptune.

I started by roughing out the prow. For me, this always starts with a plastic frame which I fill with milliput. I had to replace my old milliput as one of the components started to cure and formed an awful crust making it very hard to work with. I got the superfine instead of silver-grey this time and I really like it better. Much easier to mix and shape with a sculpting knife. Tomorrow I will be able to sand it down and add details. I'm planning on a turret on the top and the standard details on the bottom. Not sure what I am going to do for a figurehead yet.

Next I added some macrocannons to the sides. I think that three fits the side of this ship rather well and a fourth would only get blocked by the side antennas. The bottom seemed a bit bare to I put a triangular strip from the lower vox array up towards the prow. I also added some more pieces closer to the back on the sides and then finished by adding the lines to the bottom fin.







Stay tuned, I will hopefully stay on top of this until it's done!

[Malika]

See what a bit of nagging can do!

Looking good!

[Fleafa]

Looking great! Just get that prow smoothed off and are you good to go?

[Commissar-Krad]

Yup, gonna sand the prow and add some strip styrene, probably tonight. We'll see how much I get done.
Thanks for checking in.

[mangozac]

It does indeed look awesome! I'm very impressed! Are you planning to cast it up?

You use exactly the same prow construction technique as I! I've got a box of Superfine Milliput I need to try out some time. I usually use the standard yellow/green version.

[Commissar-Krad]

mangozac, I'd love to cast this and the Jovian Light Cruiser up, but I still lack pressure casting equipment. Also, the superfine sanded much nicer for me, it seemed to show less striation from the sandpaper.

First thing I did tonight was sand the prow smooth, that also included a bit of superglue fill where I didn't have quite enough milliput. Whatever works, I guess. Next up the details to the bottom of the prow were added, as seen below.



After that I made the turret for the top, it matches the dorsal turret I already made near the bridge of the ship. I must say that this was very frustrating to do without my plastruct weld cement. Which I actually left open last time I worked on this in.... May. So, I had to make due with my superglue. Gotta work on it while I have the will, so it shall have to do.

I decided I liked the shape of the prow enough that I don't really want to bulk it out with any panel lines. So I moved right on to sculpting a figurehead. I decided on a winged skull. At this size I always feel like my #11 xacto blade is the best tool. The greenstuff does not usually stick to it and the blade allows for very clean cuts with minimal tearing and pulling. This is probably the smallest thing I have ever had to sculpt.







With that, I think I will call this one done. I will post some pictures of it assembled tomorrow or the next day. The last thing I want to do right now is accidentally touch the figurehead and crush it. Thanks for checking in.

[mangozac]

[Commissar-Krad]

I will have to try my hand at a space marine prow and maybe some armor wings to go along with it. Thanks for the compliment and the great idea.

[Malika]

Well, if the thing is going to be multipart you could do both!

But the idea of an Astartes styled prow would be excellent!

Or perhaps even a prow in the style of the Adeptus Mechanicus?

[Commissar-Krad]

It's a possibility, we shall see how far my motivation takes me...

[mangozac]

Hey Konrad, I just tried out some Milliput Superfine tonight and found it really difficult to work with compared to the standard stuff. Did you get white fingertips while working with it? It seems really chalky and staining. I bought this box a year ago and although it had been unopened until today there's the possibility it could be too old?

[Commissar-Krad]

I got less white fingertips than I did with the silver-grey and for me it seemed to wash off easier. I'm not sure what the shelf life is supposed to be. The silver-grey used to stick to everything in great chunks for me, whereas the superfine just left a little white residue. I don't know what it could be.