Some of the mysteries of the universe are difficult to penetrate.
Something like that happened to me a while back, when I bought a Relthoza starter fleet set, mailed it off to a painting service, and when the models came back painted, they weren't what was supposed to be in the set. The starter fleet set was supposed to come with Drone-class frigates, but somehow they got changed out for something else. Was the error at the manufacturer's end, or did something get accidentally switched at the painting service?
Well, I'll never know the answer to that one! So I picked up a pack of Drone-class frigates, and carefully put them on my lead pile.
Many cycles later… ahem… I was ready to paint them, only to find that the clamshell pack had broken open and the parts were scattered. (Each frigate has two parts.) I've recovered enough for four frigates, so that's what I painted. (Maybe the lost parts will show up soon.)
![Drone-class frigates Drone-class frigates](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339b.jpg)
And here they are! I thought I glued them onto the flight stands straight, but they look rather herky jerky here…
![Drone-class frigates Drone-class frigates](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339d.jpg)
The challenge was to replicate the 'spider' paint scheme used by the painting service on the previous Relthoza models. I went with black primer coat, drybrush of dark gray, drybrush of blue on the central hull, washed with black ink, highlights of dark gray and blue again as needed.
![Relthoza Drone-class frigate Relthoza Drone-class frigate](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339g.jpg)
The 'wings' of the previous models had splashes of yellow that climbed a bit up the hull, so I tried to do the same on the mini-wings the Drone frigates had. It took several coats to get good coverage.
![Relthoza Drone-class frigate Relthoza Drone-class frigate](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339i.jpg)
The previous models also had their 'eyes' (bridge) painted green, so I found something eye-like and did the same on the Drone frigates.
![Relthoza Drone-class frigate Relthoza Drone-class frigate](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339j.jpg)
(Do drones have bridges?)
![Relthoza fleet Relthoza fleet](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339e.jpg)
So, how did I do? I think I came close, but my yellows are brighter.
![Relthoza fleet Relthoza fleet](showcase/scfshowcase/2020/918339k.jpg)
The 'eyes' are hard to see in the pictures, but you can spot the green in the picture above.
Now, where are those missing parts?