'Blue Angels' - Next Pulp Sci-Fi Team Finished

    My next batch of 28mm metal Hydra Miniatures for my 'City in the Clouds' Pulp Sci-Fi game

You gotta feel for the girls -- pushed to the side by two separate groups of minis after being started on. They almost got their revenge and beat the batch of Viet Cong from Gringo 40s to the finish line, but I decided that I need to brush seal them first. The clear bases I'm putting things on for this project certainly switch things up a bit! 

    Hydra's 'Retro Raygun' line of 28mm (32mm?) figs are well-sculpted and very characterful!

First off, I need to trim the figures from their integral metal bases. I think folks are calling these "puddle bases" now? Not sure why -- they look nothing like puddles to me! I use wire cutters to snip off most of the base and then a X-acto knife to get as much of the excess metal around their boots as I can. Yes, it is every bit the pain that it sounds like. So, if anyone knows of a better way, I'd be happy to hear! I glue the figures to cardboard for painting, propping them up so they're reasonably upright while it dries. Once I'm done, I have to cut them off that cardboard as neatly as I can. Then I have to scrape off the glue from the underside, so bare metal is exposed again. I use 2-part Epoxy to attach them to their bases, once again propping them up so they stand up straight while the epoxy cures. I've heard superglue can "fog" clear plastic, so I stick with my tried and trusty epoxy. I have to do any matte coating on the figure as a brush on instead of spray, so that I don't fog the clear base. I suppose that I could spray them while on their cardboard, before trimming them off. That's what I did with the first batch of Valkeeri. Finally, I use clear gloss on the top of the base to mask the ring of epoxy around the boots. Yeah...LOTS of steps!

    I like how the girls look on their clear bases, but boy is it a LOT of extra steps...!

The first step in painting them was to do their blue skin. I used a Sky Blue base coat, and then watered down some Vallejo dark blue as a wash to give their faces some definition. The Hydra Miniatures castings are super-high quality with good details and very little flash to trim off. Later in the process, I finish their faces with a very dark blue in the eye socket instead of black. I use a very light colored bluish-white for the eyeball, and a medium blue eyes (of course!) for their eyes. I paint their lips a medium blue, too, and I think their faces came out great.

    Sorry for the blurrier frontal view of the leader - love the pose! She looks very...imperious?

Next, I painted their one-piece leotards a pale yellow, dry-brushing them with white. I did their gloves and boots in white. Next up, was painting all of the metallic parts -- helmet, gun, and belts -- in Iron Wind Steel. This was going to be just the base coat, with only an outline left after I'd applied the Metallic Blue craft paint to each metal part. For the belt buckle and the ridges on the helmets, I used a Bright Gold. I added a few tiny dabs of turquoise metallic in the highest spots of the metallic blue on the helmet to make it look as if light was reflecting off of them. And then I sat back and said, "Uh-oh...damn it!" I had just given the Blue Angels helmets that evoke the football helmets of the hated Michigan Wolverines! "Noooooooo...!"

    Looking down from above you can see their unfortunate 'Michigan Wolverines' style helmets....sigh

At that point, I decided the Blue Angels needed a little more decoration. I painted a thin stripe of metallic blue at the end of their boots and gloves. It was a nice contrast and break between the two pale, light colors. I grabbed one of my dark blue micron pens and added three buttons on the outer side of their boots, too. All that was left now, was their guns. I had painted them previously with my dark metallic Iron Wind Metals Steel. I added two rings of coppery-gold accent near the muzzle of their rayguns, and a golden line on the side. The handles and and ventral fin of the gun I painted a color called Chocolate Brown Metallic that I really like using in my Sci-Fi figures. The last step was to paint the nozzle of the gun red metallic with a metallic rose pink tip.

Chick fight! The two batches painted for the project so far square off inside a space station    

I sat back and was surprised at how easily and quickly I'd finished this squad. I pondered if I should add some more decoration -- maybe a wing-like symbol on their lower backs to go with the Blue Angel name? In the end, I decided not to do so. These were cool looking figures and I didn't need to do a lot of detail work to make them shine. So, I called them done, and began the process of removing them from the cardboard they were glued to and epoxying them onto their clear bases. 

I'm happy with how they turned out -- despite the whole Wolverines vibe...ha, ha! Well, I can always make them the bad guys (er, gals), right? So, what's next? Well, since these were a batch of "old" figures (bought before 2026), it is time for a new one. I decided to paint up my contingent of seven Trojan War Achaeans -- Diomedes' contingent. I believe all seven miniatures are from Wargames Foundry, but since I bought them unpainted (and out of their bags) from my friend Keith, I'm not sure. Otherwise, I plan to work on a couple medieval town buildings at the same time. It might end up being a tall order -- one is four story and the other two (not counting their roofs). We shall see how long it take!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 198

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75