The Black Swans

[FantomPencil]

Well, this took me a while. But it's finally finished..!



Arguable the most famous Pirate/Privateer squadron in the CS universe, The Black Swans. All 36 of them.




Flight #1 "Black Wing"


Flight #2 "White Wing"


And Flight #3 "Red Wing"


And these have to make do as their Zeppelin, The Huntress...

[Thom]

Holy crap that's a lotta work! Well done! Could you post an enlargement of the Swan insignia? Is that a decal or hand painted?

[FantomPencil]

Thanks..!

Here's a close-up of the Devastator of Gertrude "Bootleg" Barone, Lead 5 of the Third Squadron.



Which reveals not only my barely adequate brushwork in more detail, but also that the insignia are a complete cheat..! They were reduced in scale using a paint program and then printed out onto - of all things - a sheet of label paper and then cut out using a hole punch. I didn't find out about decal sheets for inkjets until months after I'd started...

Oh, and for the white lines and cockpit silver detailing I used a gel ink pen, which I highly recommend if you have hands a steady as mine..!

[Rocket]

These look fantastic! I especially like the Bloodhawk with the white lines along the leading edges of the wings... looks very classy.

[Thom]

Well done!

[Cyagen]

That is a lot of black planes!!!

Nicely done, the bloodhawk is very nice indeed!

Did you actually based them on the roster in BCV?

[FantomPencil]

Luckily the can of Army Painter matt black undercoat was more than up to the task.

They were indeed based on the Black Swans section from BtCV.

Here's a close-up of the Bloodhawk, which is piloted by Erica "The Streak" Boch:


And the Firebrand of Susan "Billboard" Moore:




I was pleased with how this one turned out.

I tried to keep the paint job as close to the CS lore as possible, but as it would be a nightmare to keep track of 36 identical planes in a game (and I'm not keen on base ID markings) I tried to make each one as unique as possible but still look part of the squadron. Each flight has its own coloured propeller spinner, for example: First Squadron are black, Second are white, and Third Squadron have red.

[Cyagen]

Nice job!

Are they Ral partha metal or repainted clicks?

[FantomPencil]

Only 8 of them are metal. The rest are Wizkid resprays. And remounts.

I bought one of the Wizkid miniature sets a few years ago to see if they were the same scale as the Ral Partha minis I already had. After the Wizzers went out of business they were practically giving them away on eBay. I ended up buying about 20 packs...
Consequently, I've got more Devastators, Avengers and Brigands than I know what to do with..!

[Grant]

HOT DAMN!

That's fine work, and a good job of repainting the wizkids version