Skeletons in Spacesuits!

Well how about this for something different! Skeletons in spacesuits! These are the product of talented digital sculptor "BigMrTong", nom de guerre of Mike Tongue out of the UK. I was poking around on Etsy one day (as you do) and spotted these - wow! What an awesome Rogue Trader vibe they have, as you'll see...

I ordered all of the variants available. This clearly is the former captain of whatever doomed spaceship these guys crewed, and two bodyguards equipped with giant-f***-off spanners.

Note that they are equipped with boltguns straight from the RTB01 Space Marine sprue, I love that!

My painting inspiration for these was the ACES suit - that stands for "Advanced Crew Escape Suit". It's a full-pressure suit worn for ascent and descent of the space shuttle, but it's not intended for extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The point of the ACES is to keep crew safe in the event of sudden decompression of the spacecraft.

So unlike EVA suits, the ACES is "International Orange" in colour - the idea being to aid visibility if the crew have to be recovered from water or light-coloured terrain.

The models have lots of detail, including some cool-looking tanks and hoses. I prepped the models with allover Celestra Grey, then Corax White. After that I painted the suit bits Army Painter Speedpaint "Fire Giant Orange", then painted the tanks The Fang (ugh) highlighted Thunderhawk Blue and Russ Grey. The hoses were washed with Nuln Oil and Drukhari Nightshade. The skellie parts were washed Agrax Earthshade and highlighted Pallid Wych Flesh, and the helmet interiors were washed with some old Chestnut Ink I had around. Boltguns are Leadbelcher washed with Nuln Oil of course.

They pair pretty well with old Space Marines don't they! I can see using these guys in a skirmish game (Kill Team?) using Space Hulk boards, they'd fit that vibe really well. Maybe half a dozen Space Marines against 12 or 15 of these dudes.

I really like these models and if you do too, you should check out BigMrTong's prints on Etsy, or have a look at his Facebook group. As for me, I've gotten some amazing metal models direct from him that you'll see up here soon.