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Bandai Star Wars 1/144 Fleet


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Hi there,

 

Long time listener, first time caller, as they say on call-in radio shows. I recently got back into plastic kit modeling after an absence of....oh, let's call it a round three decades. My dad got me the 1/72 + 1/144 Bandai Red Squadron 2-pack for the holidays last year, and after a few months putting off doing anything waiting until I'd picked up an airbrush and made a good workspace in my apartment, I said "Ah, hell..." and jumped into building the tiny X-wing, on account of it being tiny and having water-slide decals. 


Well, needless to say I was completely hooked immediately. I'll post some of the other vehicles as well, but to start off here's some progress on my latest, my first Gold Squadron Y-wing. 

 

This Y-wing I decided would depart from canonical accuracy in a few ways - I like my engine nozzles to look more like real-world engine nozzles, so this one is a dark-ish metal base with sooty pastel weathering. 

 

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Rather than the yellow stripe on the engine nacelle, I decided this Y-wing once upon a time had fully yellow painted nacelle nose cones, but much of the paint flaked off quite a bit from one too many hyperspace jumps. 

 

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I also detailed some of the other greeblie bits on the engine pods with metallic paints (mostly shades of Vallejo Duraluminum). Here they are assembled, but with the main engine body pre-weathering. 

 

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And for the body, I similarly put in a lot of metallic accents. It doesn't make sense to me that all the innards would be painted white under the armor plating that the Rebel Alliance inexplicably removed....

 

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(I need to get way better at detailing those R2-units, though)

 

Still more weathering to be done, but I love how this is coming together. The vehicle model kits are *so* much fun to build! And the skills-rebuilding mistakes hurt a lot less with how inexpensive these kits are :).  Full size pics on my Flickr Photostream, along with more that I'll post in this thread eventually. 

 

Thanks so much to all the amazing modelers posting on this forum! It's been really inspirational, and gives me so much to draw on. 

 

Edited by monsterpartyhat
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Thanks, all!

 

I did have to go buy myself some magnifying glasses to make the detail work easier :). It's also nice that I can't actually see some of the mistakes the camera picks up at a normal viewing distance!

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Here's a valuable lesson for me in not trying to get *too* subtle at this scale. Inspired by all the detail on the rear cockpit panel of DaveG's "Green Leader" over on the RPF,  I painted that panel in 3 different metallic shades. Well, they weren't different enough to really be noticeable at this scale, in such tiny areas. I may yet paint a pipe or two yellow or red. 

 

34908213015_aa8d707310_c.jpgP5269694 

 

Here's a couple more detail shots of the nearly finished fighter. 


34097465653_082bf9db8b_c.jpgP5269687  34097465713_6302726eff_c.jpgP5269690

 

And a couple in formation with my other non-canonical Y-wing in blood red colors. 

 

34097465123_19620d17c0_c.jpgP5269705 34521229340_247a3d93d5_c.jpgP5269700

 

I've a little more to do on adding paint chipping and some more sooty weathering on the engine vanes to the gold Y-wing before I call it done. 

Edited by monsterpartyhat
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This isn't actually a Bandai model, but I was inspired by the photos of the upcoming Bandai A-Wing vehicle model kit to work on my F-Toys A-Wing a bit. I already re-painted one of these in a custom color scheme, but the stock ROTJ colors as they came from the factory just didn't inspire me.  It's a really neat little model, and fits in reasonably well with the Bandai 1:144th kits, but the factory red color is just a little...weak. 

 

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Compare that to upcoming Bandai, painted properly:

 

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It comes apart into pieces very easily though, so repainting it is a snap. I'd already added some panel line washes, but the Bandai teaser photos told me it was time to repaint the red. On the way home from work I picked up some XF-9 Hull Red to blend up a decent A-wing red. I think I ended up with about 3 parts XF-7 Flat Red to 1 part Hull Red, thinned slightly with a drop of water. 

 

34754463742_8fd742aeb5_c.jpg 34107231483_cc97f3fdcf_c.jpg

 

I masked off the red areas, which would later remind me that I shouldn't trust masking so much when brush-painting, as I had some of the red pull into the panel lines via capillary action. I should have just free-handed it carefully up to the panel edges, like I did with the Y-wing. 

 

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A-wing bleeding like a new-school Cylon Raider :) No problem, a little ELO should help. I got to use the Tamiya hobby cotton swabs that I just picked up for the first time. They're SO TINY!

 

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There we go - not too shabby. 

 

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Also not quite done, but that's a definite improvement. Now the laser cannons need painting, and I'll probably add some non-canon metallic detailing to the engines, just like I did with the Y-wing, and of course, weathering. I'm really looking forward to the Bandai A-Wings in August. I think I'll be getting three of that 2-pack :).  

 

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7 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

Lovely work on those Y-Wings. The chipped yellow on the nacelles looks great.

 

Andy

 

Thanks! I've got your amazing (and amazingly well documented) work to thank for a crash course in Star Wars weathering :) 

IIRC, I used a makeup sponge to get a finer pattern for the small scale. Tamiya flat yellow, followed by Vallejo Duraluminum for the places that have chipped through to metal.  

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I realize this post is working backwards a bit, but I love seeing other folks post their step-by-step painting progress, so I figured someone might enjoy this too. I just got these shots processed from the on-sprue painting process for the yellow Y-wing. 

 

First we've got that beautiful Bandai sprue, as yet unmolested. 


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I put a first coat of rattle-can black on the whole thing. 

 

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Then a white base coat, sprayed off-axis to leave some shading in the recesses. 

 

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Next up I lined the pipework using a copper paint pen. 

 

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Then brush painted more metallic details with Vallejo acrylics. This part is really easy, as there are so many natural boundaries on this model that you can just let the paint flow to clean edges. 

 

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And all those pieces assembled, with a few more details painted - one yellow box, a little silver dry-brushing of highlights, two red landing lights, and a liberal application of Citadel Nuln Oil into the crevices of all the metal-painted areas. 

 

34118042093_864a5e3291_b.jpg 

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Hah -- I'm trying to limit myself to one subject for the moment. It helps keep the habit under control (well....relatively under control - I think I'm on 1:144th ship #12 right now). If I start building robots....it's just going to take over my apartment. 

 

Here's a preview of what I'm working on this holiday weekend - I seem to be on an A-Wing kick. I guess I want to get these F-Toys A-Wings finished to my satisfaction before the Bandai kit arrives. 

 

34802545771_ebd1cec37f_c.jpg

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Well, it's been an interesting weekend of modeling. See that orange & black A-Wing up there? Well, I basically finished the whole thing....then stripped it back down to bare plastic and did it over. I made some coloring and weathering choices that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. In fact, the paint started off poorly - I picked up a pot of Tamiya X-6 orange; it didn't really register to my brain that it's a gloss paint. Tamiya's gloss acrylics behave pretty differently from the flat ones, and I don't like them at all. I have this bad habit of often saying "Ah, it'll work out....." when I should have stopped right there :). 

 

The base coat of orange never looked great, and the final coat of flat lacquer ended up making it run...probably didn't wait long enough for the paint to cure. Well...that lead to me stripping the whole thing to start over. About 10 minutes with the ELO stripper, some q-tips, and a rag got everything off very effectively. 

 

I should have taken a photo of the melted paint mess - it was a lovely, disgustingly black-green sludge. Mmmm. 

 

Anyway, as a result, you get a nice step-by-step of the re-do! This is the last of my A-Wings...then it's back to Bandai kits. 

 

Here's the bare model, stripped back to plastic as best I could. There's still a bit of accumulated paint in the panel lines - I scraped a bit out as best I could with a hobby knife. The rest of the lines will be dealt with later. 

 

34960514165_15597520d2_b.jpg

 

That took a couple of thin coats of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer very nicely. This time, instead of the glossy orange, I'm mixing my own from the flat red and flat yellow (I lined 

up the Vallejo black wash by mistake - I used model air black & white for various mixing tasks).

 

34796638722_c5becc9360_b.jpg

 

That looks about right.

 

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And goes down smooth! This is about three light coats, with the mixture lightly thinned with water. 

 

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I used a hair dryer to accelerate the drying of each coat, so I could get the whole thing done in a long morning. At this point I thought about just making it an orange & white build, but I really wanted to see it through to a black squadron A-Wing which will eventually pair with a Poe Dameron T-70 X-Wing, when I get around to that. 

 

34796638852_94a734737c_b.jpg

 

Note: NOT a cup of Tang in the background. 

Edited by monsterpartyhat
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Next up, masking off the orange sections so I can lay down the black. There's something about this process with small kits that I find deeply satisfying. Cutting just the right piece of masking tape with a blade, then laying it down with tweezers - it tickles my obsessive brain just right. 

 

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Flat black is laid down all over - Model Master Flat Black in a rattlecan. 

 

34150184983_1514d4c9b8_b.jpg

 

Then the moment that I simultaneously love and dread - the unmasking. Did I adhere the masking tape right? Will I have clean lines, or horrible bleed through? Will I be happy, or have my hopes dashed to the ground and have to start ALL OVER again?

 

OK, it's not really quite that dramatic, but it's slightly fraught. Fortunately - great relief! I've got clean lines and no bleed-through. Tamiya masking tape comes through again. 

 

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In this shot you can also see that I detailed the cockpit. Once the canopy is on you won't see it, but I know it's there. 

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For the next step, I cleaned up the panel lines a bit. Some of them had become a bit indistinct with the black coat - I took a hobby knife with a brand new #1 blade and ran it down along every panel line. No pressure, just letting gravity do the work. It didn't actually remove any material, just made the lines much more distinct again. In this picture the panel lines on the upper half (relative to the photo frame) have been done, and the lower half are yet to be done. 

 

34150414733_b28b8e9907_b.jpg

 

Following that, I brush-painted a number of contrasting panels, some in XF-18 Medium Blue, some in an 80% gray mix, and some in a 60% gray mix.  

 

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With the nice clean panel lines on this kit, you can get a perfect hand painted panel by carefully taking advantage of surface tension in the paint. 

 

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And there's the completed halves of the fuselage, with black, medium blue, and 2 shades of gray panels. The greeblies on the bottom are highlighted in what's become a favorite of mine already - Vallejo Duraluminum, darkened slightly with Model Air Black. 

Edited by monsterpartyhat
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The last steps are detailing. I've got laser cannons for 2 a-wings to finish. Behold the laser cannon assembly line! These are off-white unpainted plastic to begin with. 

 

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Next - engine detailing. I know A-Wings have yellow engine glow, but want to give this one something slightly different - I love the pink/purple of X-wing engines, so this gets a coat of duraluminum again on the inside of the main engines to provide a shiny base, and then a hot pink pearl application. I'll mix a little white in the center later as well.

 

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Finally, here's the whole thing put back together, alongside the rest of my A-wings. I'm not 100% happy with the engine nacelles - I think the white section ended up looking a little goofy. I may paint that in orange and leave them solid orange, or perhaps paint it orange and then paint the rest dark grey. We'll see.

 

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And, of course, weathering. I'm going to be pretty subtle on weathering this one. Just a little paint wear here and there and a some oil-staining. I like how this one looks pretty clean. And that's it for the A-wings. Once I'm happy with the final result I'll post a completed gallery of the entire A-Wing squad. 

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Thanks! I agree, the tiny models are fun. And they let me indulge my impulses to try all kinds of color variations without worrying about ending up with a $30 model that I don't like :). Like, last night I started a new Bandai X-wing on a whim, with the idea of giving it a more real-world like finish in military earth tones. 

 

I started with a base coat of Testor's Dark Aircraft Grey, which it turns out is basically identical in shade to Tamiya Medium Gray. Then I've been adding panels in various shades and mixes of Deck Tan, J.A. Grey, Medium Gray, NATO Black, and NATO Green. Mostly mixing in NATO Black to get darker shades.  

 

Duraluminum mixed with NATO Black for the inner wing engines and panels, with dry-brushed straight Duraluminum for highlights. 

 

If anything, right now it's too subtle, though - definitely needs some higher contrast. I think the primary fuselage stripe will be straight-up NATO Black, and I'll likely add some darker panels with a mix of Deck Tan and NATO Black, with a few accents of Hull Red here and there.  Haven't decided on what I'm going to do for the wing flight markings yet - it's definitely not going to be the standard X-wing pattern, but it will likely be in NATO Green.  

 

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Edited by monsterpartyhat
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I haven't figured out what to do about the wing markings yet, so I spent some time on the engines. I really wanted to build one with bare metal engines with heat discoloration, so I gave that a try. I'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. Subtlety at this scale takes a lot of patience, and if you're too subtle you won't notice it without magnifying aids :)

 

So, engine starting point.

 

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Base metallic colors - Vallejo Pale Burnt Metal darkened 1:1 with black on the body, and straight Pale Burnt Metal on the exhaust nozzle. 

 

34173260014_c513c34998_b.jpg

 

I drybrushed some pale burnt metal on the piping highlights, then made thin washes out of XF-3 yellow and XF-8 blue for the first bands of heat discoloration. 

 

34173259784_64fb0d056b_b.jpg

 

Then I added another light wash of the hot pink pearl I used for my A-wing engines for the final discoloration, and a generous wash with Citadel Nuln Oil. 


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I'll likely add a little pastel soot later, to dull it all down a little, when I do the final weathering pass on the whole model. 

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