My third fleet is now underway, though it will not be including any crew on deck as I cannot find an appropriate location on any of the ships so far, unlike the Basileans and Orcs I earlier filled with sailors. While their tops are to closed for crew, the assembly on all of the Dwarf ships so far is incredibly easy compared to any masted alternatives so far… first up is a Runeaxe…
On the small portions of the exposed decking, I opted for a light tone wood to tie them closer to my Basilean palette since they are so close geographically, just like my April Thunderer… Silica bases / cases
Also, I have a group of Hunters finished, and while they are broadly similar to the Thunderer, I had to make some different painting choices as they have very different design choices, such as no wooden decking.
Next ship test for my Dwarf fleet is this Fury. Again the ship is totally enclosed, so no opportunities for crew or decking options to match the wood from the first ones, but the design of the Fury did have good options to spread out the color palette in a balanced way.
My one regret is the rivets on the dragonscales along the side. They were an ordeal to highlight and they look very out of place as opposed to the ones on the armor plating. I have never been shy about adding to models, but hardly ever remove anything… if I paint another Fury, I’ll be slicing each of those off and may go back to remove these at a later point.
The Dwarf ships are all heavy, single blocks and I thought it might be time to work on something a little lighter…
…like their airships! These were a little difficult to manage while painting as they are very top-heavy, but the main issue was that they have a heptagonal cross section for some reason (I have another heptagonal project I have been putting off for months). Seven is impossible to divide, and it was at least a week of trials until I remembered that that multiplying by two will always result in an even number, so here we are with a 14 checker pattern.
looks cold as well, with the blue, greys and whites. 