Imperial Thunderbolt - Part I

 

To the skies!

 

A very quick post today because not much time the past week. The next models up are a set of Imperial Thunderbolts from Aeronautica Imperialis. One, show here, is a Thunderbolt Fury and is the designated squadron leader. They have an assortment of loadouts, but are predominantly anti-air; I have a couple of Marauders as well which I intend to be bombers or anti-ground loadouts.

The colour scheme follows that of the Knights for Titanicus. Pretty simple airbrushing (over a black primer) only so far:

• The Fang over the entire plane.
• Russ Grey to highlight the centre of various panels.
• Fenrisian Grey / Air Caste Thinner (1:1) lightly sprayed underneath. This isn't seen in the photo, but is a nod to many aircraft doing this to help camouflage against the sky.
  
• Deathshroud around exhaust areas, gun barrels, engine areas, to give an impression of soot and oil.

The Imperium likely wouldn't care much for camouflage paint schemes for their aircraft. The fighting environments are too varied, and the resources applied to engagements by the Imperial Navy aren't expected to be subtle. Likewise, their fighter planes aren't going to be in pristine condition - especially the Thunderbolts. They're used for combat, not parades. The highlighting and blackening approaches help give a less uniform appearance, more of a rough and ready look without even applying scratches or battle damage. I will probably do a little more such things later as well, just to really separate the look of these models out from my usual style.

Not sure the attempt to lighten the underside worked. I tried to thin the paint somewhat and make it more glaze-like, hoping to keep some of the prior highlighting showing through. It's still good to experiment sometimes however, so I'm glad I gave it a go.

-- silly painter.