Natasha's Luck, Part One

I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks putting together a landing craft called Natasha's Luck for my Rogue Trader, Marko Steelknife. The base for the model is an old 1:72 scale Deep Space Nine Runabout that seemed to be about the right size. With the addition of a few parts from my bits box I think I was able to 'upscale' the model fairly well - at least to the point that it will work for the wargame table! The Forge World Arvus Lighter would have been ok, too, but wasn't really as big as I wanted. This model ended up 13" long and 7 1/2" wide which is a good footprint for a piece of terrain.

I never really got into Deep Space Nine, so the design wasn't one I was automatically familiar with which helps my suspension of disbelief (Oh, look, the Millennium Falcon is on the table). Nevertheless I set about making as modifications as I could to disguise the silhouette without resorting to taking a saw to the hull.

One of the first things I did was swap the wings left to right to give them a forward sweep for a more predatory look. I also scrapped the sensor array that goes on top and used part of the unit to add an armoured canopy above the cockpit. I had to file and sand it down a bit to get it to fit on the curved hull, but it further changed the look of the original.

Finally, I raided my bits box for some rhino hatches and various extra tech (anything grey in the photos is not original to the kit). I used different bits on each side to break up the streamlined hull and try to make it look a little clunkier. The side propulsion units are some of the most frustrating bit of model I've ever tried to assemble. There are clear plastic bits that fit inside and trying to make everything line up was a nightmare. In the end, I left them out and used textured bits of plasticard to cover these gaps.

Of course, I added an Imperial Eagle on the prow!

While I plan on painting the windows on the cockpit like glass, I'm going to paint the rear windows like the rest of hull, because they are on of the final details that seem out of scale with 28mm models. The only thing this model lacks now is a cargo door, but I'm going to see if I can use paint to give the illusion that the rear hatch folds down.

There are really some nice details on the hull of the kit that don't show up in the photos. All of that white reflected a lot of light and the result was washed out pics... everything will show up crystal clear when I get some paint on this ship!

I'm going to paint it some sort of neutral grey or tan, raid my decal collection for some more detail, and then weather the hell out of it. I want it to look like a work horse rather than a transport for diplomats.

Of course I'll post updates as I have something to report (might be a few weeks as I have a lot on the table)!