December 21, 2025

This week the workbench was devoted to Star Wars projects.  I began by painting a lot of space cargo.  I followed that with two of Mandalorian’s second spaceship… one with the cockpits blacked out and the other with the cockpit clear to show Mando and what my granddaughter would call Baby Yoda. 

I wanted two drop ships, but I didn’t want to pay what was being asked for 3d-printed Star Wars Imperial drop ships that would be compatible with my 28mm figures.  The alternative I selected was the Rebel Moon drop ship (popcorn bucket).  It’s a good size and an interesting configuration.  I built two ramps, one each for the rear of each ship.  I used Evergreen plastic.

I ended the week doing the 9th and probably last of my AT-TEs by Action Fleet.

Happy Holidays!!!

December 14, 2025

I began the week painting the last of my AT-TEs (by Action Fleet).  I have two more on order, but I wanted to complete the seven I currently have on hand. Each got a seated gunner made from a modified seated Modest Minis Clone.

With those AT-TEs done, I turned my attention to what will probably be my last two droid tanks.  These are the transformer version and were put together with pieces from several droid tanks and one main gun made from Evergreen plastic.

This past weekend I made an unexpected find at the swap meet... a Firespray 31 class scout ship (Slave 1). It was $3 and in great condition.  It’s the Habro 2012 version.  I painted it the basic color scheme of the toy. The figure is 28mm and provided for scale.

The swap meet also offered up a plume of smoke from some unknown broken toy.  I got it for a dollar, gave it a new paint job, and will be using it atop a volcano I got at Savers thrift store about a month or so ago.

Like the swap meet, Savers has been a great source of material for me.  Last week I found a second remote control Terra truck (sans remote control) for a couple dollars.  As with the first I will be using it as a hover truck with my terraforming space station complex.

I closed the week out painting the Cad Bane’s Xanadu Blood spaceship.  Bane is one of my favorite Star Wars’ character… bad to the bone.  This is the transformer version and the only version I have found that works with 28mm figures.  The big problem with this ship is that the only ones I have seen are on eBay and cost far more than I am willing to pay.  It took me months of searching to find one on eBay in complete condition that met my financial requirements.

December 7, 2025

I just finished painting my three Micro Galaxy Squadron LAAT gunships.  I used Vallejo Model Color (Khaki, Burnt Red and Yellow Green).  I added a 28mm seated Clone on both sides of each ship.  The figures are by Modest Minis Studio on eBay.

With the LAAT gunships done I turned my attention to Ahsoka’s starship (also by Micro Galaxy Squadron).  When I did the Micro Galaxy Squadron Ghost ship, I liked their color scheme so much and it was so complex that I decided to keep the original paint job and simple age it to make it work with my other ships.  I did basically the same thing with Ahsoka’s ship.  I didn’t like the grey that it came with (looked too plastic) but I thought I could make it work and in doing so keep the white lines that ran through it, so I hid the red with masking tape and sprayed the grey flat black.  I then dry brushed the sprayed areas with Vallejo Model Color Khaki and then lightly dry brushed Vallejo Model Color Pastel Green (a kind of grey-green) over that.  Next I removed the masking tape and lightly (very lightly) dry brushed the red with Khaki to reduce the look of plastic, give it some look of wear, and help it blend in with the rest of the ship.  I was nervous throughout the process, but I very happy with the way it came out.

This past week I found a toy forklift at the swap meet and decided to paint it up for use as part of the terrain features of my terraforming space station complex.

As the week neared its end, I discovered that I had one more AAT tank (Micro Galaxy Squadron) that I hadn’t seen when I painted the others, so I put my brush to that.  I still have two more AATs to paint (the transformer version), but they required a bit of modification so that will probably get done next week.

I ended the week painting two of my Action Fleet AT-TEs.  I also modified the seats on the main gun so they would fit Clone gunners modified from the same seated Clones I used with the LAATs.