Scratchbuilt Interplanetry Light Freighter

[dijit]

Well every good pulp story needs a tramp freighter, or a ex-military cargo plane to carry the heroes to who knows where; the same must be true for every good space opera. So in that effort it's taken me almosts a year and half to get this far.

The Hercules class light freighter.
Know for it's robust construction, ease of maintenance and cheap parts the Hercules class is a popular ship with many seeking a light interplanetry freighter. It's short take off and landing abilites also make it very useful in a wide range of different environments and can be seen used both smugglers and those seeking to catch them.
The model seen below is the short hulled version, which has an exceptional short take off and landing distance, but is still able to haul a good deal of freight. An up-armoured version is used by some armed forces as a light dropship where funds prohibit the use of speacialised military spec dropships.









It still needs a little finished, particularly around the rear loading ramp, but it's pretty much done. Not pretty, but it will suffice for my purposes.
The minis are 28mm from Zombiesmith.
Hope you like it,
Duncan

[supervike]

That's really great!  I always wanted to build something about this size as well, very inspiring!

[Modhail]

Looks cool!
How are you planning to paint it?

[dijit]

I'm thinking a pale grey with plenty of weathering. But that said if anyones got better ideas, I'm open eyes 
Duncan

[commissarmoody]

looks great! I cant wait to see it painted up

[Oliver]

MAybe light green? :p

[Parriah]

Nice! I love all the niggling little details all over the hull. Are you thinking of adding more?

BTW, what are those orange cones you used for the engine housings?

[dijit]

A jade green probably wouldn't be too bad, I'm trying to avoid camouflage like colours, but not wanting it flashy. If it's a smuggling ships they don't exactly want to draw attention to themselves.

I'm thinking of adding a few more they help breakup the surface area a bit and add a sense of depth, just need more brass strip, might try it with some left over overhead actetates I've got. And the orange/red things I've no idea I scavenged them out of the bin, I've a feeling they're used for when electrical cables run into junction boxes, but could be totally off the mark. Pity I only had the two of them, they've been sat in my bits box for years now. Finding random and useful looking bits and shapes seems to be half the job of scratchbuilding.
Duncan

[Marine0846]

Looking good.
I look forward to seeing it painted.
Well done.

[Parriah]

So, any progress on the paint job?

[Silent Invader]

Missed this before.  Very cool.  Makes me want to finish my own.

[Dr. The Viking]

Duncan, you are my hero! 

[dijit]

I've base coated it, though unfortunately the paint bound the hinges of the rear door. So I've had to peal them off and am currently rebuilding them. I'll show more pictures when they're done.
Duncan

[Sangennaru]

aww, so bad! =(

Wanna see it painted, that's very cute!

[oldskoolrebel]

Excellent!

Looks really really good. I love scratchbuilds like this. Can't wait to see the rest.

Cheers
Andy