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Bandai 1:72 T-65 Rogue One Blue Leader


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This was just going to be a quick build (famous last words). 

 

I've been concentrating entirely on 1:144 vehicles so far, but I still had the 1:72 T-65 X-Wing from the Rogue Squadron two-pack hanging around. I was all "Eh, it's got high quality decals, I'll just do a quick decal & weather job on it". 

 

Yeah, of course that didn't happen. First....oh, so much detail! And gosh these 1:72nd scale parts are so big....I'll just detail the engines, like I've been doing on my 1:144 X-Wings, and decal the rest....

 

....yeah, but then I thought the yellow of the decals was too bright, and not quite the right shade.....apparently I just LOVE masking.  I've been at it a few days already - first day's progress was all detail painting the engine parts. 

 

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The rear engine is so much fun to paint.  Got it lined up with the rear end of one of my Blue Squadron minis, too. 

 

36107167584_c607f0fc48.jpg 36133232743_0b0f56b0a2.jpg 

 

Compare that to the 1:44th version that fits on a fingertip:

 

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I love how Bandai's even included detail that will never be seen in the completed model, unless you leave it open for some kind of maintenance diorama. Of course I had to full paint it, too. Because it's there. 

 

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Finally, I did up the wing inside panels and engines in all my metallic colors, with Nuln Oil for the dark recesses again. 

 

36107171684_d4d3852420.jpg 36133234813_3d2c11d4e4.jpg

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It's practically too hot to think in San Francisco right now, but I've nevertheless managed to finish all the wing markings, landing gear wells, R2 unit, cockpit, and main engines. Not all at once, mind you, I've been finding time to paint here & there, but less time to edit the photos and post about them. 

 

Wing masking - just one phase out of so many, with the the tiny Blue Squadron for company. 

 

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I decided to make the interior of the wing engine compartment Hull Red. 

 

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Like many of my builds so far, this is my interpretation of Blue Leader, I'm not making much attempt to replicate the digital asset from Rogue One -- the 1:72 kit has *SO MUCH* detail that I feel like it's a shame not to detail paint it. I've been making all the parts that reasonably might be mechanical painted in various metallic shades. That extends to all this detail on the trailing surface of the wings:

 

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Landing gear wells are yellow, with metallic paint chipping and some oily weathering:

 

36989440285_ebb4e5d9e1.jpg 36989441515_91b6a6d2af.jpg

 

And of course, the engines get that X-Wing Pink Glow (tm):

 

36153602764_b45edf04a1_b.jpg

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Nice detail painting.

Looks like a nice kit in this scale.

And of course it makes it easier to see

that the back end is from a steam loco.*

(Not a lot of people know that)

 

*Sorry if that spoils it for anyone.

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10 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Nice detail painting.

Looks like a nice kit in this scale.

And of course it makes it easier to see

that the back end is from a steam loco.*

(Not a lot of people know that)

 

*Sorry if that spoils it for anyone.

I really did not know that. I'm finding out all sorts about the source kits used in the SW studio models - fascinating. 

 

Loving the detail painting you are adding here Mr Partyhat

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  • 2 weeks later...
7 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

It's looking great even before the weathering. Is the little red/white hazard striped panel in front of the cockpit a decal or hand painted?

 

Andy :cat:

 

Thats a decal :)  i think I'd need to be the size of an ant to hand paint clean stripes that small!

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The metallic style works great in 1/72 as well, nice colour choices too.

 

For the disassembly, did you cut the pins down or anything? I find that if I fit the parts together partway through for test purposes (really it's to make it look like an X-Wing) then I usually break them trying to get them apart again. I've taken to trimming off quite a bit of the male pegs and then gluing during final assembly.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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I found it easier to disassemble than I expected. It helped that I tried to press lightly when assembling everything, especially the halves of the fuselage.

 

My technique for prizing them apart is to slip the blade of an X-acto knife inbetween the parts I want to separate, and gently rock it around the long axis, to provide leverage. The desire to not snap the blade is a fairly effective limiter for the amount of force I'm applying :) If the part is large, I alternate from either side or either end, so you're never trying to move one side too far, keeping the tension fairly even. 

 

It's not visible in the photo above, but I even removed all the side-stripe pieces of the fuselage to weather them independently, as if they're panels that got chipped while they were on the ground for maintenance of the machinery behind them. 

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For disassembling Bandai kits, i've found some nice trick a while ago, when i tried out a new clear coat on one of my kits: AK Gauzy Intermediate

That stuff is similar to Aqua Gloss and dries insanely smooth. I'm spraying a thin coat of it on the joints of the kit and once dry, it leaves almost no friction at all. I can assemble and disassemble the parts as if they were lubed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally found some time to get back to this build - I've completed the chipping and general dirtying phases of weathering. After all the detail painting I did, I sort of ran out of steam on painting a few last details and adding decals (and there are SO MANY decals in this kit!). There are a few more decals I may yet add when I feel up to that task again :)

 

Looking at the closeup photos, I feel like I went a little overboard on chipping on the left side, but it looks good to me from a typical viewing distance. 

 

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A few more decals, some soot, and some streaking and I'll be ready to call this one done. 

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I built the original X-wing way back in 79ish, and I still have a soft spot for X-wings. This is a lovely build/paint job and makes me go all nostalgic.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

BTW, can you tell me what Nuln Oil is?

 

Rearguards,

Badder

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Thanks! The T-65 will always have a place in my heart :)

 

Nuln Oil is a very thin wash from Games Workshop in their Citadel paints line for gaming miniatures. It flows beautifully into details - it's perfect over metallic colors for engine detailing and anything mechanical. 

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-WW/Shade-Nuln-Oil

 

 

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