Perhaps this was foreseeable: with the Ghost Bear -themed Star having three Points already it was just the matter of time when my internal pressure of completing things demanded two more minis with this scheme. From my already black-primed minis I took the last Clan Invasion Salvage Box and a not-too-random one from my Clan Heavy Striker Star box.
A couple of hours later I had a Stormcrow and a Viper side by side:
I think I changed my mind about Viper's AMS something like four times before I settled with this approach: metallic gun part, blue radar part. These got a bit of more carefully made chippings on them, but only on the blue areas. The grey camouflage is not that patterned, the oil wash made it look more like the part.
The yellowish cockpit wasn't the best choice but this was a choice I made over a decade ago and just went with it now.
The Viper's Jump Jets are an improvement over my previous attempts, I'm actually almost happy with them. Some cleaning ought to have been done on the edges, so they'd look better on camera. To my foul eyes these don't jump out that much.
Of course I had to take some group photos of the finally completed Star. The base decorations still need to be unified, and I guess I really have to redo the viewports and energy weapons on the two 25th Anniversary Box minis
Recipe/methods in case anyone is interested
[00] Black primer.
[01] Overbrushed VGA 72750 Cold Grey all over, allowing for not-visible undersides to remain black to reinforce shadows.
[02] Drybrushing everything with VGA 72749 Stonewall Grey to bring out details.
[03] Highlights with VMA 71111 UK Mediterranean Blue, in wherever they looked like they belonged. A very Bob Ross -like approach.
[04] Brighter chips applied here and there with VMA 71318 AMT-7 Greyish Blue, with a paintbrush for streaks and scuffmarks.
[05] Inside the bright chips I painted darker core chips with a drop of VSP 70624 Pure Red mixed into four drops of VMA 71055 Black Grey RLM66.
[06] Unit numbers painted with the same mixture.
[07] All bare metal pieces (joints, gun barrels, AMS bottom, SRM faceplate, vents, JJ ports) painted with clean Black Grey RLM66.
[08] Gentle drybrushing of Cold Grey on all the bare metals to bring back the details.
[09] Oil pin wash with ABT002 Sepia, excesses wiped away with thinner the next evening.
[10] Jewelables aka viewports and weapon openings painted with VMA 71057 Black.
[11] Viewports jeweling: VMA 71033 Yellow Ochre base, first bottom/right highlight layer with a drop of VMA 71075 Sand (ivory) mixed in, the final opposing glare dots with plain Sand(ivory)
[12] Medium-class lenses: VGA 72732 Escorpena Green base, first bottom/right highlight layer with a drop of Sand(ivory), glare dots with plain Sand(ivory)
[13] Large-class lenses: VGA 72721 Magic Blue base, first bottom/right highlight layer with a drop of Sand(ivory), glare dots with plain Sand(ivory)
[14] Clan roundel: Mediterranean blue rotated asterisk with counterclockwise claws as a base, a slightly smaller cold grey fill for the same shape, and a stonewall grey bear-ish shape added in the core. RLM66 for the eyes, nose, mouth.
Supposedly.
[15] Galaxy roundel: Yellow ochre for the crossed lightning bolts, stonewall grey bear-ish lump with RLM66 dots for facial features.
[16] Jump Jets: watered-down VGC 72023 Electric Blue as base, next two smaller layers lightened with a drop of VMA 71270 White RAL9001 each. A drop of water added for thinness in the last mix.
[17] Hex base: white glue over the surface, and a sprinkling of Woodland Scenic's Ballast over that. No foliage on these two. No paint on the ground as the originals were also unpainted, but the sides were painted RLM66 with a chipped Mediterranean Blue front edge.
Thanks for taking a look, feedback of all sorts is always more than welcome
