Plamo: The Griffin GRF-1S (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

My days of painting BattleTech models seem to be coming to a middle. At the time of writing, I've done up 17, not counting test models. Today's subject is however one we've seen before, the Griffin. As you may recall, this was a model I was unhappy with at the time. As I have since moved onto full collecting, I decided to give it another go, as the first of a new lance I've pieced together from eBay and such. Expect to see its squad-mates in the coming weeks...

 

Obviously, I've talked a bit about this one previously, but before I start nattering about shades of green, I suppose further context won't hurt the word count. The Griffin, as part of the whole Unseen business, was based on the Soltic H8 Roundfacer from Fang of the Sun Dougram. This explains the glass canopy and broadly human shape when compared to later, home-grown designs. The canopy look is not something I'm a huge fan of, BTW. Yes, this is a valid stylistic choice, especially with non-humanoid designs, and you can claim magic space glass, but it looks fragile to me. This origin also explains a weapon fit I'd call unbalanced. Categorised as a sniper, the Griffin carries a Phased Plasma Gun (PCC), which as weapons go is a fairly intimidating one. The thing is, its a single shot doohickey with a lot of waste heat, and a minium range. Its secondary weapon is a long range missile rack (LRM), which compliments the PCC, but also doubles-down on its weakness. You don't really have a close range option, nor an option for volley fire. Unless, you happen to be using the optional quirk rules, where upon it can ditch the PCC and punch like Mohammed Ali. I see myself using this in concert with mechs of comparable reach and/or slightly more varied gun selection.

This model was stripped via the Dettol method, which revealed how stupidly thick the original canopy paint was. It also prompted a new base, as the original wasn't looking that great. Things came out much better this time, although there's something about the head area which I just don't get on with, the curved surfaces I think. I also mixed up the paint scheme as I went, using the AK Lime Green in two different ways as the plastic fought back. It just came out dirtier than I would have liked, and the glass still isn’t perfect, but its still a clear improvement over my first try.  Which even accounting for my bad camera skills...