I finished painting four battlemechs from the old 3rd edition intro box. The four I painted are the Phoenix Hawk PXH-1, Griffin GRF-1N, Thunderbolt TDR-5S and Warhammer WHM-6R. A good friend let me take them from his stockpile of mechs to practice painting on with the understanding if I totally turned them into messy plastic blobs no problem. I think they turned out okay and should be okay for use on the tabletop.
These miniatures are not what you would call premium quality with sunken bits, holes and missing detail. The plastic itself doesn’t sand or file very well and only a really sharp blade seems capable of cleaning up the flash. The plastic itself is also very slippery with super glue struggling to adhere unless its roughed up. On each mech I did my best to clean them up as well as bending the arms around a little, I also added some magnet sheet to the bottoms to add some weight. I picked a paint scheme from the Federated Suns -1st Aragon Borderers basically because it was majority blue which is an easier colour to paint and would fit the 3025 era mechs.
First up the Griffin, I reworked the gun and replaced it it with something more substantial and hopefully PPC looking. I’m pretty happy with how the cockpit came out on this one and the mech overall although I’m a little biased as the Griffin is one of my Favorite mechs.
Next up is the Phoenix hawk, minimal changes a little arm bending, leg bending and a new gun barrel. The 4 antenna were a little painful to insert in place but they turned out okay, I used a bristle from a dustpan brush. I did paint this one slightly different to the others, on the Phoneix Hawk I tried to highlight the edges using the side of the paint brush rather than dry brushing. The result is definitely cleaner and nicer looking so I’ll continue practicing that technique.
Next up the thunderbolt, bent the arm up and replaced the end of the gun barrel but he still appears slightly off balance. I did not paint any of the numbers or insignia on any of the mechs they are all self print decals.
Lastly the trusty old Warhammer, He really is the most boring of the bunch although I used him as a checker pattern practice, hard to see in the pictures but the bulbus bits on the backs of his lower legs are all checkered. If I paint another one of these I’ll try and add some different coloring around the torso area.
I had fun painting these and for the first time I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. I hope to paint a few more next would be a star of Clan Mechs.
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure – Bill Cosby
Sirrob01 