When the initial version of Aeronautica Imperialis came out in 2007 I had zero interest. It was all resin, a tiny scale, and I've never been that keen on painting vehicles. It's why games like Battlefleet Gothic and Epic always left me cold, and why 40k and Necromunda were so much fun.
Then a re-release with plastic models came out in 2019, and at a larger scale. I ignored it, although a friend bought the starter and showed me his tiny plenz with the clear intention to get me to join in. Nope!
It was only in 2021, having stumbled across an article on a website that usually focused on other stuff, that I realised something: I could paint an Avenger.
Avenger
 |
| 😍 |
These are Imperial Navy fighter bombers / strike aircraft, loosely based on WW2-era fighter bombers like the Stuka and more modern aircraft like the A-10 Warthog (whose main gun shares its name with the main gun of this plane and, by extension, the plane itself). They are also, by far, the best-looking Imperial Navy aircraft and I've wanted to paint one for maybe 15 years at this point. But obviously I'm not stupid enough to buy one at 40k scale.
 |
| The 40k-scale model |
So I bought some Aeronautica Imperialis kits, including the Avenger kit, and... had a baby.
Baby
Even before my son was born I had stopped painting, due to switching my free time to finally getting around to playing Skyrim on the (absolutely correct) assumption that games like that wouldn't be a good idea when you've got someone sleeping in a carrier on your chest. And so, since his birth, I have only played turn-based games (Civ5) or ones that are close enough to that (Stellaris, Crusader Kings 3, SpaceChem, RimWorld). That has also meant no time for painting.
Recently, however, work has been a bit up and down, meaning that I've been able to carve out some time to paint. But I didn't crack open my Avengers and paint them, as I thought I'd start with a plane that was already built, given that I'd received it already assembled in a trade with the aforementioned friend in exchange for a Lightning: a Thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolts are the poster child of the Imperial Navy, yet I've always found them a bit boring. They're just a WW2 fighter like the (not-at-all-coincidentally-named-I'm-sure) Thunderbolt, with a hot rod aesthetic at the front.
Having now painted one, though, I have begun to see their appeal, and I've really enjoyed painting at this scale. It reminds me of painting Airfix model planes as a kid (a Spitfire and a Harrier, naturally), but I'm sooooo much better now and have pushed myself to add various types of weathering to make the plane look more lived-in than my usual clean lines style of painting. I'm looking forward to doing more of them... hopefully before my son is at university.
