Re: Paint Schemes for Full Thrust
From: Darren Douglas <ddouglas@v...>
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 15:07:50 -0400
Subject: Re: Paint Schemes for Full Thrust
See the section in the FAQ attached.
_________________ _____________________
/ / / /
/ / / /
/ __________/ /_______ ______/
/ / / /
/ / / /
/ /_________ / /
/ / / /
/ / / /
/ _________/ / /
/ / / /
/ / / /
/ / / /
/______/ /______/
FULL THRUST FAQ.
Compiled by Darren Douglas
ddouglas@vmark.co.uk
1. Rules and Req and legal bits.
2. About Fullthrust
3. Full Thrust
4. More Thrust
5. Ships
6. Its a friendly old universe (sides ?)
7. Xenophorfic Us. (Aliens in FT)
8. Rules Calrifications
9. Ground Zero Games (who, what, where)
10. Happiness is laser shaped. (New and optional weapons)
11. The only good klingon is a dead klingon (Star Trek with FT)
12. Modeling.
13. Painting.
14. Bases.
15. Campaigns.
16. Its a funny old world (background to the FT universe)
17. FT and The internet.
18. New and expanded rules.
1. Rules and Regs
Unless stated by the contributor all material in the FAQ can be
used in any way or reprinted by ANYBODY as long as suitable
recognition is provided.
Where possible in the FAQ, names and e-mail address's will be
attributed
to the contribution to identify and record the contributor.
Where stated full copyright is preserve by the contributor.
The right is reserved to reformat contributions to fit in the FAQ.
This does not challenge any copyright that may exist.
The FAQ itself is not copyrighted and can be printed and
redistributed in any form as long as copyrights in the FAQ are not
infringed in any way and that full recognition is given for all
work in the FAQ and the FAQ itself.
Contributions.
When you want to send in a contribution mail it to me at
ddouglas@vmark.co.uk. The contribution will then be formatted
and mailed back for the ok before being put in. Sometimes I
will mail people requesting permission to add things they have
posted to the FAQ and these will also be send to you for an
ok. You can say no and the item will not be used.
If you say yes then you can ask to retain copyright on your
work. If you do then that will go on the contribution. If you
say no you will still be attributed with the contribution.
Keeping your copyright will mean that there is less chance of
your ideal being used, so if you clammer to see your name in
printed somewhere anywere, then not keeping your own coptright
is the way to go, but the choice is wholey yours.
To make my live a hell of a lot easier can the contributions
have a title, your name and e-mail address and be mailed
direct
to me ( some days I just can't get time to read the mail
list).
Spell checking would also help me a shed load, I'm not the
worlds greatest speller and use this funny thing called UNIX
without one (look ma no hands..... splat).
Finaly can the contributions be concise and as complete as
possible I see some really good stuff on the mailing list and
would love to add it in but it seems never to be summarised.
There
has been some really good B5 stuff, but it is scattered.
I am currently hoping to take up Mike's kind offer to help
summarise rule clarifications etc. but your help will be
very usefull.
2. Introduction to FT for new players to the system.
Introduction.
Short piece of a FT game ....
What do I need to start thrusting ?
All you really need is the Full Thrust rule book, dice, a tape
measure
or ruler and some space to play in. In the book are the
templates, order sheets and counters to play the starting
scenario.
Do I really need lots of models to start ?
No, the starting scenario is played out with 2 medium and three
small ships a side.
Unlike other games there are no minimums to the number you
require
to make up a force. This is because all ships are payed for in
points, so you could have one very large ship worth a lot of
points
on one side and lots of smaller ships on the other.
Do I have to use such and such's models ?
One of the most refreshing things that I found when I first read
the Full Thrust rule book and played the game was the open and
frank way that they advised people on collecting fleets. There
was no buy our ships or else, in fact it was quite the opposite,
they went to great lengths to stress that you can use anyone's
ships, they also provide in the Full Thrust book information and
the address's of manufacturers of ships and equipment for Full
Thrust.
How much space do I need ?
It does depend on speed, but from about 1 metre or 3'6 square
will do for a start. You can go up to as much space as you have
available.
How long will it take me to learn the rules ?
One of the most often quote saying about Full Thrust is that the
basic rules can be picked up in about 10 to 15 mins. The basic
rules are simple but well done and do not change once you have
learnt them. The addition rules can be learnt at your own pace
but
it should not take more than a game or two with the new rules to
learn them fully.
What are the best forces to start with ?
One of the earth forces are the best to start, there is no
difference between them. I would avoid the Kra Vak and other
aliens until you have played the game a bit. The reason for this
is
their rules appear in More Thrust, which is the expansion for
Full
Thrust. They can also be tricky to use and introduce quite a few
extra rules for a beginner on their first few games.
3. Full Thrust
This is rundown on what the Full thrust rule book contains.
Core Rules.
Equipment needed to play.
Ships groups and classes.
Course determination.
Ship velocity.
Thrust ratings.
Movement.
Making cource changes.
Firing.
Defensive screens.
Threshold points abd specific systems damage.
Ship record sheets.
Ship Classes.
Classes and hull sizes.
Ship diagrams.
Symbols used.
Advanced Rules - Weapons.
Fighters.
Anti fighter defence.
Fighter to fighter combat.
Pulse torpedoes.
Needle beams.
Submunition packs.
Mines
Mine laying.
Mine sweeping.
SPINAL MOUNTED NOVA CANNON.
Advanced Rules - General.
Sensors.
Dummies and Weasel boats.
Collision and Ramming
Merchant Ships.
Faster Than Light driver (FTL).
Asteroids.
Tugs and tenders.
Starbases and installations.
Q Ships.
Advanced Ship Design.
Point costs.
Special hulls.
Weapons and other systems.
Senarios.
Campaign rules.
Background.
Appendix.
Model availability.
Counters and templates.
Ship Recor SHeet.
4. More Thrust
This is a rundown on what the More Thrust rule book contains.
Introduction.
New weapons and systems.
Missiles.
AA Mega batteries.
Wave gun.
Planetary bombardment system
Reflex field.
Cloaking devices.
New optional rules.
Basic rules revisions.
Anti Missile systems.
Sensors expanded.
Sensor jamming.
Damage control.
Fleet morale.
Squadron operations.
Terrain effects.
Expanded fighter rules.
Scrambling.
Fighter endurance.
Fighter quality
Advanced and specialised fighters.
Combining with ground combat games.
Space and ground combat actions.
Full Thrust/Dirtside II interface.
Transporting ground troops.
Interface craft.
Full Thrust/Hellfire interface.
Interfacing with other systems.
Competitive and tournament games.
Ship design and fleet composition.
Type of game and scenario.
Ship design.
Superships.
Expand space installation rules.
New designs.
The Kra'Vak.
Kra'Vak technology.
Thrust and manoeuvre.
Armoured hulls.
Weapons.
Scatterguns.
Fighters.
Mass and points for the Kra'Vak.
Basic ship designs.
The Sa'Vasku.
Bioships.
Power points.
Pulse weapons.
Anti fighter fire.
Damage points.
Screens.
Drone pods.
Ship design.
Background.
Brings it upto date.
Scernarios.
Model Availability.
5. Ships
Buy it, fly it , kill it. Ships in FT.
6. Its a friendly old universe (sides ?)
NAC - New Anglian Confederation.
ESU - Eurasian Solar Union
NSL - New Swabian League
PAU - Pan Africa Union
FCT - Free Cal Tex.
LLAR - League Latin American Rep.
IC - Indonesian CommonWealth.
IF - Islamic Fundermentalists
FD - Free Dutch.
FSE - Fredral States Europa
RH - Romanov Hedgemoney
OU - Oceananic Union
Iseral - ....
UN - United Nations.
7. Xenophorfic Us. ( Aliens in FT)
The Kra Vak.
Do they have pasttes on their heads or what ?
The ones the begin with S.
8. Rules Califications
What is the fire arc of a scatter pack ?
The scatter pack has only one 90 degree fire arc. You can
position the fire arc to fire in any direction (excluding rear
arc), but you can not purchase addition arcs for the weapon.
Question answered by: Mike Elliot
9. Ground Zero Games (who, what, where)
For UK and europe contact this address.
GZG Address:
Ground Zero Games
'Fizno'
Barking Tye
Neddham Market
Suffolk
IP6 8JB
England
For North America contact Geo Hex.
GeoHex Address:
Capricorn Space
2126 North Lewis
Portland
Oregon 97227
USA
Currently GZG does not have net access, although Mike Elliot, who
has net access will sometimes post to the mailing list.
Jon Tuffley who runs GZG was kind enough to provide the following
information onto the mailing list and I have included it here.
To: All GZG rules users and customers
From: Jon Tuffley, Proprietor, Ground Zero Games
Hello.
This information posting came about after discussions between
myself
and Mike Elliott, following his kindly sending me a large amount of
material he had printed from the FTGZG mailing list. As I do not at
present have Internet access, Mike has been good enough to act as
liaison between GZG and all of you out there. It is apparent from
several of the questions regularly asked that some background on
myself, Mike and GZG would be of some use so here goes!
1) GROUND ZERO GAMES (GZG) is a _very_ small one-man operation,
that
one being me (Jon Tuffley). Having been an avid SF wargamer since
the
early 70s (OK, handsup who else started skirmishing with Airfix
Astronaut sets...!), GZG was actually started 10 years ago as a
part-time extension to my own hobby. In 1991 I finally got to the
point
where I could turn it into a full-time business and the rest (as
they
say) is history.
The success and warmth with which Full Thrust and Dirtside II have
been
received by the SF gaming world has surprised me as much as anyone,
and
I'd like to extend a very sincere thank you to all of you who have
bought them (and hopefully like them enough to continue playing).
GZG is and probably will remain, a tiny minnow in the sea of Big
Corporate Fish - at least this allows me to write mainly what I
_want_
to, rather than what some market analyst tells me I should ! Please
rest assured that as long as you like what I'm turning out I'll
continue to produce it.
2) GEO-HEX (and Capricorn Space): for those of you in the USA and
Canada,
Geo-Hex is my American licensee, dealing in the books themselves,
my
own resin model ranges and the "official" starship and vehicle
lines
from CMD. They don't have everything in production yet, but the
inventory is growing all the time and they are endeavouring to get
as
many regional distributors as possible to carry the lines. If you
can't
get the stuff at your local store, get the owner to hassle his
distributors to contact Geo-Hex. "Capricorn Space" is the division
of Geo-Hex specially set up to handle the GZG and CMD ranges.
3) MIKE ELLIOTT, who many of you already know (on Internet at
least),
is NOT an employee/partner of GZG. In fact he is not connected to
GZG in
any business sense. I stress this purely to make it clear that Mike
is
completely independent of any of GZG's business interests. Mike is
a very
good friend and extremely dedicated wargamer who gives me
invaluable
assistance on the rules development front purely for the fun of it
- the
only payment he gets is a few miniatures now and then, something
which I
feel very guilty about! As Mike works in the computer industry and
has
Internet access, he has been good enough to act as an intermediary
for
myself and GZG, with my full approval and support - in fact as
co-developer
of Dirtside II, Mike is probably better qualified than I am to
answer
rules queries on it!
[Legal comments removed...]
Please feel free to comment on this (via the mailing list or by
e-mail to Mike). If anyone has a better suggestion I'd be only too
happy to hear it!
OK, that's about it except to say thanks again to all of you for
buying and playing the games - keep the messages coming, and I'll
try to keep in touch with any upcoming news.
Jon Tuffley 6.6.95
10. Happiness is laser shaped. (New and optional weapons)
11. The only good klingon is a dead klingon (Star Trek with FT)
Its with greatful thanks to Dave Brewer
(db-ft@westmore.demon.co.uk)
for providing the information and insight into FT, star trek.
Early this year I played a few Star Trek: Full Thrust games at a
convention... Revielle '95 in Bristol. A participation game was
being run by the SFSFW. For the third year running they won the
best participation game prize. I'm sure that the SFSFW has been
plugged on this list before, but I'll plug it again. I am the
Man With No Shame.
On the first turn of my first game (a Klingon free-for-all) I
exchanged fire with another ship and tipped him over his
threshold. He drew a card... and three more... and three more...
His warp core breached but not ejected his Ka'Vort class cruiser
was destroyed, but he had an FF card "Trouble with Tribbles"
which he played on me. It took me seven turns to de-tribble my
ship and I had to sit there, dead-in-the water.
The game was run using products from "Felix Enterprises", a tiny
company run by the SFSFW journal editor James Clay in his spare
time. It was my introduction to Full Thrust and a splendid game.
James collection of micromachines is prodigious and includes a
Borg ship made of eight small Borg ships glued together to make
a bigger cube.
How to convert from FT to Star Strek?
The conversions from Full Thrust to Star Trek were very
simple.
Phasers = Beam weapons.
Disruptors = Beam wepons + one extra die. No 'A'-class.
Impulse = Thrust.
Warp = FTL.
Shields... = Shields.
Photon Torpedos are the only innovation. Range 18", three
dice.
Each ship carries a limited number of "spreads". To fire a
spread you must have an unused FireCon ("tactical station")
and
you must write the target in your order phase. They may fire
through your rear arc.
The products are:
ST: FT record cards: Beautifully DTP'd record cards covering
the
micromachines range. No formal design procedure was used to
generate stats- James just made them up. Each card also
includes
QR tables.
Threshold cards
To speed the game up at cons instead of rolling
for each system at thresholds you draw a card. Some cards give
you no damage at all, others a simple system loss, some
destroy
your ship utterly, some force you to draw three or more extra
cards... giving insane runaway damage. Drawing a card is a
moment of tension and humour.
Final Frontier cards:
Occaisionally a threshold cards states
that you should draw a "Final Frontier" card. Strangely for a
damage result these are helpful or just strange, and very Star
Trek...
Felix Enterprises address.
Send an SSAE or International Reply Coupon to:
James Clay
Felix Enterprises
The Copse
Shiplate Road
Bleadon, Avon.
BS24 0NX
United Kingdom
Need more information on how to wipe out the klingons.
As Dave stated in his post the game he took part in was run by
SFSFW. I has contained a large amount of FT and specificly
Star Trek FT stuff and will continue to do so, a must for any
trekker out there.
The SFSFW is the Society for Fantasy and Science Fiction
Wargamers.
Membership gets you a splendid bi-monthly journal
"Ragnarok" and numerous discounts
5% from GZG, 10% from Copelands etc.
Membership is L12.50 UK (BFPO/USFO); L15.00 Europe;
L18.00 USA and other countries (airmail).
L = pounds sterling.
Sorry no address as present.....
12. Modeling.
13. Painting.
Painting tips and hints.
Larry Fausnach (FAUSNACH@12CS2.rnd.aetc.af.mil):
If you are planning on keeping with the typical light grey "panel"
scheme, a good idea is to give it a base coat of a medium-ish gray
(not too dark) then bring up the highlights with successively
lighter shades of gray, finally with white. Try to drybrush unevenly
to avoid an excessively even coloration. Look at the Star Trek movie
U.S.S. Enterprise and you can see that its not a solid shade of gray.
Since this is science fiction, you can really go hogwild if you want.
Fine examples of this are Babylon 5 ships which have mottled
appearances.
Try a tiger- or zebra stripe pattern. If you stay with the typical white
ships, try painting the weapon blisters red for good effect. (Red goes
fasta, right, Brett?)
MCCLURE@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com:
I have a number of spaceships ranging from some old Archive and Valiant
designs, Superior, RAFM's Traveller's stuff and even some of the FT
line.
What I have used as a guide in many instances are the sci-fi
illustrations
done by the artist Chris Foss. In my case, almost all of my ships are
individualized so there is really no consistent theme. But you could
easily
adopt one. You could either apply it as a "fleet theme" (all ships of
your
fleet carry the same color scheme) or a "type theme" (your fleet escorts
are
all blue and black banded, the cruiser types are a menacing grey, etc).
Another idea is to just scan the net or the library on naval camo used
during
WW1 and WW2 and take a variation off that.
Rick Rutherford (rthrford@cygnus.umd.edu):
I used the standard "basecoat - dark wash - drybrush highlight"
technique to paint my ships, and it works great if you use a lot of
contrast.
I wasn't sure if I could do it with colors, so my ships are grey with
black shadows and white & silver highlights. I also tried painting them
blue, and they looked good after drybrushing them twice -- first with
light
blue, and then with light grey on top of the light blue.
I was mostly concerned with making the ships look like they're
HUGE, because at that scale (1/2400) a 1-inch ship model would be 200
feet
long in "real life." So I made sure the shadows were pure black by
painting
in the little lines and crevices with black paint, and I made sure
the highlights (all the bulges and edges) were white (or silver) by
painting
them on top of the drybrushing. The thing that helped was that after
the standard paint/wash/drybrush I sealed them with acrylic spray sealer
and
then went into the crevices with black paint using a very thin brush.
The
black paint flowed easily into the crevices because the layer of
spray-seal
made the surface of the figure very slick, and when I made a sloppy
mistake
I could wipe the excess paint off the figure with my fingers. After
that, I
sealed them again.
Tim Jones (timj@arc.uk.gdscorp.com):
I use the pictures on the front of Full Thrust and More Thrust as
initial
inspiration. I also studied 'Return of the Jedi' as it has the most
capital
ships in it (Mon Calamari cruisers, Frigates and Star Destroyers). The
newer
Star Wars Micro Machines contain a Mon Calamari cruiser with a
simplified
scheme that can be adapted.
I clean the models with soapy water to remove mould residues. I then
prime
them with Grey Car primer as a base coat. Black primer can also be used
to
produce
a more shadowy model.
I have a large selection of Grey paints which I have mixed and collected
(10
shades) and store in eye dropper bottles ( I have all the GamesWorkshop
and
Humbrol acrylic grey paints this gives a wide selection). I select a set
of
3
or 4 shades of grey for a given fleet going from dark to light.
I then build up the greys in layers starting with an over all coating of
a
darker grey that I make sure goes in the recesses but I don't care about
on
the raised detail.
I then apply the next three greys in a series of dry brush layers with
the
first application being not very dry and with a No. 2 flat brush and the
grey being
the next in the shade sequence from dark to light.
The next two shades are applied with smaller brushes and are each dryer
and
more sparing than the last with the last layer being very light and very
very
sparingly applied. That completes the main scheme.
I then detail the model with a fine good quality brush to pick out
engines
(matt orange), vents (matt black), navigation lights (yellow),
guns(red),
sensors
(copper) using distinct colours. Where you paint these it a matter of
interpretation as the model may not have them moulded as such.
This is then sealed with Humbrol Stain varnish to give a good surface
for
the
decals.
Finally I apply some decals, I use Letraset white 8pt or 10pt letters
(expensive but you don't need much) and all sorts of odd model railways
and
War Hammer
transfers I have collected to give the desired effect. I use Humbrol
Decalcote
to get them to mould to the surface. If I am feeling keen I outline
details
such as panel lines over the decals using very dilute grey/black Indian
ink
and a 000 brush or Rotring pen. Finally finish with Matt Humbrol varnish
to
remove
the unnatural gleam.
This procedure can be trimmed down if you want a fleet fast. The
drybrushing
technique is very good for doing batches of ships. Detailing can be
skipped
or
minimal. Decals are optional.
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
Look at some aircraft books, the best ones are the WWII German ones
they did some very interesting things with camouflage for their bombers
and ground attack aircraft.
Jon Tuffley:
When asked how the CMD "official" FT ships should be painted, my usual
response is "paint 'em any colour you want, they're your ships!!"
However
this question has been asked so often now that it seems I am going to
have
make some kind of pronouncement on the matter. Before giving the colour
ideas though, I must stress that these are ONLY IDEAS - they are
suggestions
as to how we see the various fleets, and you are still free to paint
your
own ships any colours you like. If we ever get to the G*m*s W*rksh*p
state
of saying "you can't play our games unless your figures are the right
colours" then I think it'll be time for us to hang up the ol' laser for
good.....
So, here we go. In some cases these colour schemes are the ones used in
our
own demo fleets for show games, in others they are just what we think
looks
good. Please note that the ships seen on the GZG/CMD joint trade stand
at
some UK shows are actually painted by Paul Copeland of CMD, and are done
for sales display only - these do NOT relate to the colour schemes given
here.
Overview of ship colour theory in the FT universe:
[WARNING! High level of PSB (pseudo-scientific bullsh*t follows....]
There is no "ideal" paint scheme for combat ships in the 22nd century,
and
as a result all the major powers have adopted different ideas. As
optical
detection is still a significant part of most sensor suites it would
seem
to
be sensible that a ship is painted in dull, dark colours to minimise
visibility against the starfield; this has problems, however, in that as
well as not providing a reflective target for enemy sensors it can also
not
reflect solar energy, beam weapon energy or anything else - result: a
hot
ship that you are forever having to cool by some means, which of course
gives off a big IR signature anyway. On the other hand, if you make a
ship
bright and reflective so that it does not need such effective cooling
systems, then you have something that stands out like a sore thumb
against
a
starfield, shining in any little bit of reflected starlight...
So, space naval colour schemes come down to part compromise, part
aesthetics
- a smart looking ship looks good on the holovid newscasts back home....
Colour schemes.
Empire (40K):
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
The Imperial ships have a simple all-grey colour scheme. I did
this by spraying with black primer, drybrushing with Grey Primer
and highlighting by mixing codex grey (then available from citadel)
with white. The prow on many of the larger imperial ships have
more detailed paneling. I painted each panel a separate shade of
grey. I found that the more contrasting greys to be better than
greys that were very close to one another. Turrets were painted bright
red. The shield generators, domes etc were painted green. The engines
were painted black before being dry-brushed with brown and then
silver. A very simple, but striking colour scheme.
ESU:
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
These are usually painted 'yellow' as far as I can tell. Despite
sounding
odd, it actually looks quite good. Light brown works too.
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
I painted these for the NAC player when we first got FT. They are
white with red markings. For them I used a base, wash and dry technique
like the others, but instead of washing with a light grey I used a
cream/bone colour and dry brushed white. This made them not look dirty
and dull and made the white brighter, another colour to wash with could
be light blue. The markings were lines and stars, god do I hate painting
stars after these. I used big ones in the centre of cruisers and little
ones on the wings and small ships. I also painted on the battle ships
one big star surrounded in a circle by lots of little ones.
Jon Tuffley:
Eurasian ships are generally mid-green or yellow-on-white (both look
effective, so its up to you); as with the NAC suggestions it is best to
use
a base colour of a darkish shade and then panel-shade or dry brush with
lighter colours. Markings could be traditional red stars, with some IDs
in
either Cyrillic or Chinese!
Kra'vak:
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
Are supposed to be Green and Pink. Although this sounds like it
might be garish, try this. Paint the main hull a Matt Drab Olive Green.
Make
it quite dull if you can, you know, the sort of colour that was popular
for
the camo stripes on '70s aircraft. For the 'pink' use a sand brown. This
changes what could have been disgusting into a distinctly military look.
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
I painted these in purple as the background said. This was
also a base, wash and dry brush technique. Detail and markings were
added I used a Japanese symbol as marking. Look OK Not that pleased with
them.
Jon Tuffley:
When we mentioned a "shifting, green-purple" scheme in More Thrust, this
was
because a friend of mine had painted up a few KV ships this way using
shades
of green, cyan, purple and even pink in places. Believe me, they DO look
good! Since we haven't yet let on just how the KV society works, you
could
get away with almost any scheme - probably different clans/tribes/packs
(or
whatever groupings they use) have different ideas anyway.
NAC:
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
I think would be Blue/Grey. I'm going to paint mine pastel shades of
blue, and add the arrowhead insignia that one of the lads here
suggested.
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
A friend has a growing NAC fleet and has painted them in medium
blue with half a union jack on the blub bit at the front and various
red and yellow detail picked out. This has been done for all size ships
and looks very good. They have been painted with a base coat, wash and
then dry brush technique and then the detail added.
Geoffrey Stewart (Geoffrey Stewart@uow.edu.au):
I first prime the metal with white metal primer / undercoat, which can
be
obtained in car accessory shops. Then I paint the ships mid range blue,
then
use dark blue ink and carefully ink all the cracks and depressions in
the
ship. Finally I dry brush the ships a slightly lighter shade of blue,
and
carefully paint a triangular union jack on the arrow head of each ship.
The
final result is very effective, and doesn't take too long to do.
Jon Tuffley:
New Anglian ships use a predominantly blue/white scheme, though
grey/white
is a good alternative if you prefer it. A good technique is to paint the
ship an overall medium blue (or grey), then either (i) pick out all the
raised panel work in white or (ii) simple dry brush in white (not quite
as
nice, but a lot quicker and easier!). A finishing wash of a dark shade
(blue-black or black) will bring up the surface detail and give a "used"
look - not strictly authentic on a spaceship I know, but all the movie
modellers use weathering so why shouldn't we?
NSL:
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
Another friend has the NSL and has painted them in panzer gray like
WWII tanks. The models were mounted on their bases and then spray
painted
black all over (with a spray can). They were then high lighted with a
panzer gray and then a lighter gray, detail was then picked out in
white. He is going to added German crosses and swastika recon flags.
(Can we say "Space Surf Nazi's) The black stands look IMHO much better
than the clear ones and we are going to convert all the stands we use to
black, try it.
Dave Lavictoire (dlavicto@chat.carleton.ca):
If the watchword of the NSL is 'efficiency', then you might colour your
ships as NASA does, and paint 'em _white_.
A FoaF (Friend of a Friend) told me that NASA spaceships are white so
that
fuel leaks, etc. are easily visible, especially against the black
background
of space.
Sounds good to me - and they'll look sharp on the tabletop, too.
As for German Crosses, I've been eyeing the roundel decals from Hostile
Aircraft (1/144th scale). They're expensive, but very nice.
Rick Rutherford (rthrford@cygnus.umd.edu):
I don't know if there's an "official" color, but I decided to use
greens for the NSL ships, and I'm really happy with the way they look. I
chose green because I've been using cool colors for the others (grey
blue
and purple), and green was the only cool color I hadn't used yet.
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
Last time I saw GZGs models (Ragnacon) they had a couple of NSL ships
painted in what I can only describe as baby-shit yellow. Needless to
say, I
don't recommend this.
The NSL strike me as sticklers for efficiency. This gives me two
possible
colour schemes.
a.) No paint. The NSL may well decide that their ships could well do
without
being covered with several hundred kilos of paint. Paint the models up
as
metallic, with the occasional flat white panel. I've found metallics to
be
very difficult to get done well.
b.) Military. A general, all grey, anti-corrosion paint scheme. Don't
know
how valid this would be on a SPACE ship, but it gives the right feel. A
nice
matt slate grey colour scheme. I've got my 40K Space Fleet painted up
like
this, and it looks non too bad.
Insignia would probably either be a German flag or an Iron Cross with a
string of numbers. Warning flashes near drives and hanger bays (and
possibly
mark out some airlocks this way.
I think the 'Feel' you should go for is a Flat, Efficient fleet with
very
little in the way of flare (leave that to the FSE). Well disciplined and
confident. They should treat warfare as a grim chore rather than the
gung-ho
attitude that some fleets have.
Jon Tuffley:
Neu Swabian ships are usually a functional mid-grey with lighter grey
panel
work, though some squadrons have been seen in "dazzle" patterns of
diagonal
dark grey, white and pale blue-grey stripes. NSL command is often
surprisingly lenient about special paint schemes on certain ships,
especially if the commander has suitable aristocratic connections (for
example, 12th Kampfgruppe has a Markgraf class cruiser named the Manfred
von
Richtofen and painted overall bright red....).
One important note concerning the NSL: according to our background, they
are
NOT "Nazis in Space", so no swastika markings! Think in terms of noble
Austro-Hungarian and Prussian aristocracy - use WWI/modern German
crosses
if
you wish, though we prefer stylised eagle symbols.
FSE:
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
I have just finished these the other week, I tried using an air
brush on these and sprayed them all a dark/panzer type gray. I then when
they were dry spray fine lines of a light gray over them like
camouflage. I then took some black paint/ink and painted it carefully
into the panel lines to make the ship not look so flat. I then painted
on the markings, for the FSE I used blue with yellow stars like the
European flag. The stars again were done in various sizes and all the
ships even the little ones have them.
Jon Tuffley:
Hmm, problem here - I've not yet painted up any FSE ships, so really
don't
know how they'll look best. Overall white with a black wash is one idea,
or
possibly a deep (French) blue? Any ideas anyone?
Free Cal/Tex:
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
Half white, half red and a Blue piece at one end. Like
the flag with a white star.
Surfer patterns and loud colours.
I am currently building a free Cal/Tex fleet and have already named one
of my scout ships the "exellent adventure".
Holland:
Darren Douglas (ddouglas@vmark.co.uk):
Orange, seems to be a good colour for them.
Tyranid Hive Fleet (40K):
Adam Delafield (ad4@bolton.ac.uk):
Drones: These are green. Painted dark green and dry brushed
olive green. Guns painted black. Details in Pink, Blue and
Red.
Kraken: These space squids have some tentacles that I painted
purple and drybrushed pink. The main body was painted black. I
highlighted areas on the body dark grey to light grey. It gives
the appearance of whale skin. Some have details that I painted
red.
Hive Ship: I've got one of these. The tentacles are the usual
purple -> pink. The 'head' is green, painted in the same way
as the drones. The eye was painted bright red. The body is in
two colours. First I did a brown/yellow colour. I highlighted
areas up to pastel yellow. I also painted some blue stripes,
very reminiscent of squids, on the body. These I painted dark
blue to light blue. It looks quite good.
I glue my fighters to pins (except the tie-fighters which ARE pins ;-) )
and stick 'em in a black piece of cork.
14. Bases.
How people are basing there ships.
Geoffrey Stewart (Geoffrey Stewart@uow.edu.au):
I base my ships using 1/8" perspex, I have standard shaped bases for
escort, cruiser and capital classes. I mount the ships on the base
using stiff 1/16" wire, using two pieces to base larger ships. Once
I
have done this, I paint the perspex and the wire matt black, and
then
paint stars etc onto the base.
The final result is splendid, and looks stunning when used on my
star mat
(If you don't own one, I strongly suggest you do so)
How I paint and base NAC fighters: I drill a small hole in the back
of
each fighter, and mount it on a piece of stiff, thin wire about 3"
long.
I then mount 6 of these into a perspex base as discussed in my
previous
posts. I then paint the fighters white with a blue stripe around the
middle
running lengthways. The cockpit is silver. Then I paint the wires
and
base matt black. Then I dry brush on red, then orange then yellow,
for
about 1" from the rear of the fighter down the wire, trying to merge
the
colours. This creates an excellent fighter exhaust effect. The wires
are
then bent in various locations and directions so the fighters are
going
in different directions and angles, this, combined with the exhaust
effect noted above, creates a visually spectacular and very dynamic
appearing fighter group.
The base is painted with stars as noted in my previous posts.
15. Campaigns.
Any campaign information etc.
16. Its a funny old world (background to the FT universe)
The FT background.
17. Full Thrust and The internet.
Mailing List FAQ/information.
So you have picked up the FAQ and have a burning desire to join
in. There is a Full Thrust mailing list available and all you
have
to do to subscribe is:
Send some e-mail to the following address. The e-mail should
contain the following message. The subject line is not
important.
E-mail to:
mxserver@bolton.ac.uk
Subject
not important
Message
Subscribe FTGZG-L "Your Name"
Once you have subscribe you should recieve the mail
automatically. If you wish to contribute and send mail,
construct it
how ever you like and then post it to:
FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
If you wish to use a Mailserver command you should construct a
message with the command and send it to the following address. A
full
list of commands is sent on subscription and are availble if you
sent
a message HELP to the mailserver. The mailserver address is:
FTGZG-L-Request@bolton.ac.uk:
If there are any errors or problems please report them to:
A.Delafield@bolton.ac.uk
Some sites of interest.
Any WWW or ftp sites worth a visit.
18. New and improved rules.