X-Wing - Krassis Trelix Fire Spray Re-Paint

Krassis Trelix. The man is a bit of an enigma.

I searched the webz high and low for an image of the fella but to no avail. What we do know is that he was a nasty mo fo, with a chip on his shoulder the size of a sand crawler...

The former military supply officer had spent years grafting for his Empire masters, mithering as his skills and efforts went unrecognised and unrewarded. Finally, he snapped. Trelix stole a ship and headed straight for the Outer Rim. He would be the master of his own destiny from now on. He eventually joined up with the Karazak Slavers, using his skills as a former supply officer to assist with the logistics of running a major slaving operation. More on these scum in a minute.

Like a number of bounty hunters and slavers before him, Trelix chose a Firespray-31 patrol and attack craft as his ride of choice. Suitably armed and armoured, Trelix's ship, the 'Indenture', was the nemesis of many a space fairer and the plague of whole solar systems of once free peoples...

The 'Indenture' carried a number of additional ship ID signals,
one of which included the name 'Salvation'...

Like the man himself, images of Trelix's ship are pretty scarce. The one above, as seen on his pilot card, shows the ship has a fairly straightforward yellow and white paint scheme. Painting this fella should therefore prove a slightly easier challenge than the more complex patterning of Kath Scarlet. Let's pick up those paint brushes...

Starting with a solid undercoat of white car primer straight over the model's original paint job, you'll next need to block out the yellow sections with GW's Iyanden Darksun and then paint the stabiliser fin housing with Charadon Granite. Both these paints provide really strong coverage and one evenly laid coat should do the trick. The grey panels on the side of the ship's 'tail' are painted with Codex Grey and all of the blue areas are given a base coat of Fenris Grey...

Once all the base colours have been applied, the model is given a generous coating of GW's Badab Black ink wash. Take your time to line edge the joints between the panels. This helps to break up those large flat surfaces and bring out the model's detail. At this stage, you want to give the model plenty of time to dry...

Next up is the highlighting. The look this achieves isn't everyone's cup o' tea and it could be argued that finishing the model in this way starts to separate the model from the 'stop at the ink wash' look of the factory painted x-wing minis. Personally, I really like the way it makes the model 'pop' on the tabletop and it really does provide a final compliment to the model's detailing. Mind you, it does take a steady hand and a bit of time... Your approach here is to simply apply the original colour shade prior to the ink wash. So in the case of the white areas, just apply a thin line of pure Skull White around the panel edges. The blue panels had a bit more attention given to them, with a degree of blended highlight being applied along with the odd panel 'chipping'...

The final job was to give the cockpit canopy a nice smooth coat of Chaos Black followed by several layers of Ard' Coat. Very satisfying :)

So, there you have it. Job's a good 'un. 

Kath and Krassis compare notes...

Krassis prepares to end the Rebel operative's miserable little existence...

You'll recall at the top of the post how Krassis found his fame amongst the scum and villainy of the feared Karazak Slavers Cooperative. Let's close proceedings by taking a look at these upstarts and the frank rationale for their criminal empire...

"We believe that at the heart of every intelligent person lies a secret desire to have dominion over another sentient being. Some pander to this desire by building empires. Other sit in judgment of their fellow creatures. The Karazak acknowledge this very fundamental need. We accept it and we provide for it."

- Karazak promotional literature.

Until next time ;)