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.
For a different kind of lighter, one of the first thoughts I had for Mantic Vault models was using translucence by printing in clear resin, and the Trident Realms release gave me the perfect subject to finally test.
The Kyr Angler was printed with plain clear resin as I have not yet tested out how dye ratios will affect the curing process, and after hollowing out, the glowing portions just received a plain blue wash. The remainder of the model was primed with a brush and then built up around the glow parts. During the painting process, I held the model up to a lamp for light-proofing and mostly kept the appropriate areas together, but I definitely should have stretched the stl out wider for ease of access on the inscribed back plates as I did lose some detail along the spine.
Three trials so far, and nothing is set yet on the final lighting… the latest is a set of cut-down Christmas lights, but I definitely will be using this on a 75mm base to represent the Kraken from the base scenarios which should allow plenty of room for batteries within.
Will I do an entirely lighted fleet? Not anytime soon… this took far longer than any other conversion, but I am glad I have at least one as a scenario centerpiece.
looks cold as well, with the blue, greys and whites. 
