German Fighters in the Space

Playing a tactical starfighter game has been on my list for a while, so painting a set of them was long overdue. I chose Brigade’s 1/300 starfighters that can be used for Squadron Commander – but I’m sure that dozens of other options are available too. My squadron has six Hornisse Interceptors, four Galland Attack Fighters and four Kondor Strikeboats.

Assembling the minis was very easy, I have not come across any issues. I like the colour scheme shown on Brigade’s site – grey and red is a simple but dynamic combination, so I made only minor changes.

The steps:

• After cleaning the minis with washing-up liquid, I gave them a black basecoat, followed by dark grey (Vallejo 70.994) drybrushing and neutral grey (Vallejo 70.992) highlights.
• I painted the canopies Macarage Blue, used masking tapes to paint the red stripes with Wazdaka Red. The weapons and the engine nozzles were painted bronze (Vallejo 70.998)
• Washes: I used Nuln Oil to correct and to reinforce the panel lines where needed and Agrax Earthshade to give more contrast to the bronze parts.
• Details: I highlighted the red parts with Blood Red, the weapons and the engine nozzles with bronze (Vallejo 70.998). On the canopies, I used Teclis Blue, Temple Guard Blue and white to paint light streaks and I used the side of the brush to paint their frames grey.
• I applied the decals: Brigade’s black vehicle numbers and the crosses from The Plastic Soldier Company. I have to admit that the Cross pattée insignia that is used on Brigade’s site looks better but unfortunately, I couldn’t find any decals that would fit these fighters. UPDATE: Pendraken has them.
• Varnishing: to protect the minis, I gave them a layer of Citadel Gloss Varnish – with the exception of the bronze parts. One day later, I also added a layer of Vallejo Matt Varnish (70.520) to have a nice and even matte finish. I covered the metallic bits with Vallejo Metallic Varnish (77.657).
• As a finishing touch, the canopies also got a layer of gloss coat to give them a more glassy look.

As I wanted to add more variety and to highlight the leaders of the flights, I gave them a slightly different design. I was sticking with the same colour scheme, but these fighters have an extra red stripe added, either on their wings or on their fuselages.

I painted these minis a few months ago, but I didn’t have time to post about them earlier. Since then, I started using enamels which could be applied for panel lining without the risk of staining the panels. I’m happy with the result even without the enamels; it was a quick and simple process and I enjoyed painting these tiny starfighters.

Last but not at least, I have to talk about the stands. The basic black stands have only one small plastic pin that breaks very easily. There are many options available on the market, with metal or acrylic bases and rods, telescopic flight rods, magnets, pivoting heads, dials or dice trays, etc… I wanted something simple, that can be removed for the ease of storage and transportation. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I found the following solution: I drilled a 3mm hole to the fuselages and glued there the transparent caps of TT Combat’s Widgets pack. These widgets stuck solidly to the fighters and fit tightly to the top of the basic black stands without glue, but they can be removed when needed.

What’s next? These German starfighters will need opponents, that is for sure. They won’t have to wait too much as I have already bought the EuroFed and the Yenpalo squadrons from Brigade. So watch this space (pun intended) for more updates!

UPDATE: Two aces have been added to the squadron