ACTA:SF is a fun game that gives the flavor of a Star Fleet Battles game in a much shorter time. On of the big selling points of the new system are the newly released Starline 2500 series of Miniatures.
In a past post we looked at a couple of sample miniatures.
See old post here ACTA:SF Ship Review
In this post we will put a lick of paint on my favorite ship of the bunch, the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser (Which ACTA:SF refers to as the D-6).
Assembly
As mentioned in a previous post the D-7 comes in 3 metal parts, plus a mulit-part plastic base. The Metal hull has the long boom attached, however this can be problematic as it was badly bent, the head and both "Wings" needed manual adjustment. Even with all the careful bending I'm not sure if I got the ship perfectly symmetrical.
The Warp Engines attach to the thin wing section. Due to the shape of the ship this section is very thin and presented no easy way to pin them. We will just have to be careful in gaming.
Painting
See old post here ACTA:SF Ship Review
In this post we will put a lick of paint on my favorite ship of the bunch, the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser (Which ACTA:SF refers to as the D-6).
Assembly
As mentioned in a previous post the D-7 comes in 3 metal parts, plus a mulit-part plastic base. The Metal hull has the long boom attached, however this can be problematic as it was badly bent, the head and both "Wings" needed manual adjustment. Even with all the careful bending I'm not sure if I got the ship perfectly symmetrical.
The Warp Engines attach to the thin wing section. Due to the shape of the ship this section is very thin and presented no easy way to pin them. We will just have to be careful in gaming.
Painting
First I had to decide how I wanted to paint this bad boy. Doing a little internet research I found there are dozens of way to paint them. From battleships grey to blue or bright green.
I decided I wanted to do something a little different and, like my X Wings, went to the filming models for reference.
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| Filming Model |
One the ship was assembled I base coated the ship with Tamiya Grey Primer. I love the Tamiya primers as they go on super thin and clean.
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| F5 shown in primer, you get the idea.... |
Once the Primer coat was dry I painted searched through my paints for suitable colors.
For the grey/green I found the aptly named Valejo paint "Grey Green"... A test on the bottom the the model confirmed that I liked the color and I gave most of the model a few thin coats.
then I took GW Alatoc blue and mixed it with the Velejo "Grey Green" (I know! crazy, right?!) at about 50-50 and gave the tops of the secondary Hull and Bridge bulb several thin coats.
I highlighted the mixture and applied a couple of highlights to the edges of the hull. I wanted to avoid dry brushing for this ship as I don't think it gives a good "Scale" appearance for these clean Star Trek ships.
Once the Primary Hull colors were in place I used a slight wash in some of the recessed areas, painted the engines and other doo-dads red to give it something to pop at a distance. The Grills were painted a slightly darker shade of blue with a grey highlight. On the Original filming model these Grills were silver but I didn't think metallic paint would transfer that well to such a timy scale so I went with grey.
Lastly I had to address the markings. I could have attempted to hand paint the markings but I have little doubt how that would have turned out. Ugly!
I'll have to order some aftermarket Klingon decals to finish this ship.
For the grey/green I found the aptly named Valejo paint "Grey Green"... A test on the bottom the the model confirmed that I liked the color and I gave most of the model a few thin coats.
then I took GW Alatoc blue and mixed it with the Velejo "Grey Green" (I know! crazy, right?!) at about 50-50 and gave the tops of the secondary Hull and Bridge bulb several thin coats.
I highlighted the mixture and applied a couple of highlights to the edges of the hull. I wanted to avoid dry brushing for this ship as I don't think it gives a good "Scale" appearance for these clean Star Trek ships.
 |
| Highlighting the Green-grey |
Once the Primary Hull colors were in place I used a slight wash in some of the recessed areas, painted the engines and other doo-dads red to give it something to pop at a distance. The Grills were painted a slightly darker shade of blue with a grey highlight. On the Original filming model these Grills were silver but I didn't think metallic paint would transfer that well to such a timy scale so I went with grey.
 |
| The darker blue/Green is highlighted |
Lastly I had to address the markings. I could have attempted to hand paint the markings but I have little doubt how that would have turned out. Ugly!
I'll have to order some aftermarket Klingon decals to finish this ship.
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| Klingon D7 in orbit |
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| ACTA:SF Klingon with various spaceship models |
Well there you go... hope you enjoy. I'm looking forward to getting these ships out on the game table soon.
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