[BFG] Customising my fleet

[Junya]

Hi,

So I’ve been meaning to start a project log for BFG for a while now. I started collecting 'properly' about a year ago (yes, I know- very late!) and despite only playing a couple of games I am totally hooked on the game and have been busying myself with the related hobby aspect every opportunity I get. I think the game itself is very well done and the models and interesting to see the 40k universe from a fleet-perspective.
It’s just such a shame that I’ve only decided to dive in to BFG now and not earlier when I could have accessed the original range! *Curses younger self!*

I did however manage to order a set of chaos and imperial cruisers from the GW webstore before they ditched the specialist games range (these have been sitting around for a good couple of years...) and have been hitting ebay now and then, and now I've amassed a decent enough intermediate fleet for the two main factions plus Eldar and am in the middle of painting them all up starting with the Imperials.  I’ve also been working on some 3D printed parts over the past few months, either to replace long OOP and hard to get models or create custom parts for some variety.

I love the Imperial cruiser kits and their modular design but now that I’ve got a few of them they tend to look a bit too same-y even with the different weapon loadouts (although my standardised paint job doesn't help!)


My painted Imperial cruisers so far in iconic Battlefleet Gothic colours (I’m a sucker for studio paint schemes I guess).


Cruiser bits including alternate bridge and prow ram and a bunch of fins!

With each ship being a masterpiece of engineering by what can be different forgeworlds and with ship parts/materials/designs inexplicably becoming available/lost I wanted each ship of the same pattern to have a few more visual options to make each one more bespoke and unique. To this end I made some 3D printed extra bits n bobs (keeping in style with Imperial ships) and I'll be using these alongside some paint retouching to really make each ship distinctive when you scrutinise them up close- more on this when I get round to finishing the job!

I’ve also begun building a fifth cruiser with the Kar Duniash style bridge and a slightly modified prow- I just shaved off and filed down some of the trim detailing on the prow.




I was quite pleased with how these rear fins came out, just a bit of minor trimming on the engines and it was a good fit!  Perhaps this one will be kitted out as a heavy cruiser as the rear fin gives it that extra 'heft' in appearance.


So far so good in my opinion and looking quite mean!

That's it for now, although it's not much work to redo the cruisers it's hard to find the time to complete the job at the moment. I'll keep this updated with my cruiser 'refit' progress and new ship builds as I go along.

[marell le fou]

Hey, that's cool !!

[wellspring]

That looks very cool! I can't wait to see it painted!

Will you be magnetizing the broadside batteries?

[Junya]

Hey, that's cool !!

Thanks

That looks very cool! I can't wait to see it painted!

Will you be magnetizing the broadside batteries?

Painting has started on the latest cruiser!
In case anyone wonders I used a mix of old and new GW and Vallejo paints: I basecoated in Caliban Green, followed by a heavy drybrushing of Vallejo Sick Green, a watered down black wash and a final drybrushing of Scorpion Green.



And yes, indeed I have magnetised the broadside batteries including the prow armaments and the spine of the ship where the turrets/antennas go! Thus allowing me to build any cruiser option when required.

There is some further customisation here with my own alternate gun batteries with buttress-like ribbing that gives it a more armoured, brutish look. I've actually designed alternate versions of all the broadside armaments but haven't ordered them all for print yet.

[Islacrusez]

Oooh, where'd you get tiny magnets like that? I've got some small ones but not quite small enough!

[Junya]

Have a look on amazon or ebay for neodinium or rare earth magnets. I use the 2mm diameter by 1mm thick ones for most of the magnetising and 1mmx1mm ones for the prow and top armaments.

[radu lykan]

Yep the 1mm ones fit well for masts and turrets etc, did it on some of my ships.
 What I didn't do was customise my ships and every time I see someone putting in this kind of effort I feel like I wasted a great opportunity, if only I hadn't batch built them all
Great stuff, do you have any links to your stuff on shape ways etc?

[Islacrusez]

I think mine are 2.5 or so diameter and at least 1mm thick.

Loving the winglets btw, though personally not a huge fan of the bridge or battleship rudder. I once attempted a minor conversion on a Chaos cruiser to make it a heavy, but was not hugely successful. You inspire me to try again! And to try an Imperial ship, too!

[Junya]

Yep the 1mm ones fit well for masts and turrets etc, did it on some of my ships.
 What I didn't do was customise my ships and every time I see someone putting in this kind of effort I feel like I wasted a great opportunity, if only I hadn't batch built them all
Great stuff, do you have any links to your stuff on shape ways etc?

Still not too late to make some minor alterations! I'm planning to cut up and add some extra details to the prow of my existing cruisers.
You can check out my shapeways profile here:- https://www.shapeways.com/shops/vanguard

I think mine are 2.5 or so diameter and at least 1mm thick.

Loving the winglets btw, though personally not a huge fan of the bridge or battleship rudder. I once attempted a minor conversion on a Chaos cruiser to make it a heavy, but was not hugely successful. You inspire me to try again! And to try an Imperial ship, too!

Thanks, and- 'winglets'! I've been trying to think of a good word for them. Yeah the bridge and the rudders are a bit of a departure from the classical cruiser look so no worries, I like the eclectic mix and not all specifically for pure aesthetics just to show how oddball Imperial design can be.

Do try again and share your results! I would like to see it. I've actually made some minor conversions to a couple of chaos cruisers too, which I'll upload a pic of soon.

[Junya]

Here's a quick pic of my slaughter class cruisers.

Although not wholly visible in the photo, I extended the engines with some styrene rod with two smaller engines underneath the main ones- reflecting the Slaughter's speed and enhanced engines. I also recasted the fin from the Repulsive Grand Cruiser and integrated that into the cruiser's underbelly.



I accidentally glued one of the fins the wrong way round.. . .the right cruiser was the way I intended but the left one doesn't look too bad.  Will have to fix that at some point! Which do you prefer?

Not totally satisfied with the results- I think I'll go back and tweak but it does make identifying them at a glance so much easier!

Note that I didn't magnetise the weapon bays because these were secondhand from ebay and already assembled with copious amounts of glue!

[marell le fou]

Huhu i do prefer the left one. More agressive.

[Geep]

I like the right one- being streamlined seems more predatory to me. I like your ideas for making the Slaughters more obvious- Telling Chaos Cruiser types apart can be surprisingly difficult.

Great work.

[Lyksus]

Especially since some of them have the same layout... 

[radu lykan]

That's why my murders are getting prow lances

Might put some funky engines on my slaughters now as they are still on their sprues
Liking this thread

[Junya]

Thanks for the replies! Alright so I'm leaning on right version for the "under-fin", comparing the two; I think this way makes the Slaughter somehow faster looking yet still menacing... plus the wife chose this one too lol (it wouldn't look good if I opted against her judgement!). I may use the other orientation for another class of cruiser.

That's why my murders are getting prow lances

Might put some funky engines on my slaughters now as they are still on their sprues
Liking this thread

Sounds like a good idea! I must say I'm not a huge fan of the way the Chaos cruiser engines look- they seem like just a mold cavity and differ from Imperial design so much...so I'm going to try and convert them with imperial style ones that I'll either 3D print or recast that 'plug' into the existing cavity.

I've been busy with other projects at the moment (making a 3D settlers of catan map using Mighty Empires tiles) so haven't got anything to update but I'll try to post some progress up this week!