A morning of painting

Got cracking on the airship this morning.  I ran into a problem that I had expected, but not to the extent that it manifested.  My big issue with painting US minis is that they don't have a base, so you have no choice but to hold the mini while painting it.  As such, the paint can wear off on areas that get handled too much.  This may be a function of using Vallejo Model Color, which I head is somewhat delicate.  I planned for this with the airship by intending to paint the body first, varnish a holding spot, then finish off the wings.  This has worked to a point.  Despite my best efforts, paint has been wearing away from the body as well, where I put it down when not painting.  The dorsal fin has been hit especially hard.  As such, I've moved up the varnish step to right now.  I finished up the front half of the airship and am in the process of putting a coat of varnish on it.  WIP shots:

Top shot.  I decided on a canvas sort of color for the balloon itself.  I had many thoughts on it, from red to white to black and white checks, but canvas seemed both realistic and it stayed within my established palate, which made it a winner.

I'm torn on the bottom.  I think I should work in a white plate or two, as the only white bits are going to be the nose and the tail fin.  At the same time, I think it looks fine as it is, and I did go a bit overboard on the heavy cruisers.

I also touched up my Krakens.  I had decided to paint the shaft of the ship bronze as I just couldn't justify the planks as wood.  I also painted the ram itself silver, or "iron" if you will, because of the Iron Ram rule the ship has.  The problem was the front of the ship was awfully shiny and metallic, so I wanted to break it up a little.  I ended up painting the arms on the ram black, though it doesn't show so well in this shot, and I think it does well enough. 

I hope to finish the airship tonight, but that's probably wishful thinking.  I have a game with EV tomorrow and as usual I'd rather not bring unsealed models with me, but I may not have a choice in this case.  I guess I could just bring the flying stand as the model itself is essentially just decoration, but that'd be very lame.  I'll put in a good effort tonight and try to make it a non-issue.