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I've had a couple of Bandai's Vehicle Model kits sitting around half finished for much of this year (a state that's been all too common with several of my builds in 2018). I'm currently trying (probably in vain) to get several projects wrapped up before the end of the year and, as these didn't require all that much work, they were the first to get finished. A-Wing Vehicle Model 010 Up first is the little 1/144 A-Wing, finished in the red/white movie scheme. The weathering on this is a little rougher than I'd like, but it is what it is, and at least I've got it done. You do get a pair of these in the box and the second one is built but not painted yet. I've modified the guns, rear fins and engine nozzles slightly, and it'll be finished in a non-movie scheme that's yet to be determined. AT-M6 Vehicle Model 012 The second completed build is the First Order Walker from TLJ. It scales out roughly at 1/550, so it doesn't really fit in with any of the other Bandai releases which is a shame (or not, if you don't like the subject). There's not a lot you can do with something that's entirely grey, especially at this scale, but I've tried to vary the tone a bit and pick out some of the panels. The finish isn't entirely accurate (the grey should be quite a bit darker), but it turned out reasonably well. Thanks for looking Andy

I got this for review and just couldn't resist putting it together in between doing other things, and it did put up a little bit more of a fight than I expected, with a few ripples in the body that needed filling, some confusion in the direction the lower body faces, and some bubbles in the corrugated leg parts. They were easy enough to fix, and I've been priming it on & off for a few days, testing, fettling and so forth in between sessions, finishing off with a coat of black. This morning I squirted some LifeColor panzer grey all over it, and sealed that in with some AK Gauzy before applying a couple of coats of AK Worn Effects Chipping Fluid (ooer!). Then I overcoated that with some more LifeColor, but this time some Anthrazitzgrau, which is slightly lighter than the base shade. I've been harassing it with a stiff paintbrush for a wee while now, and decided to take a few pics to see how it looks, as you get a bit "blind" to it after a while. It's the first time I've used this technique, so I was a little anxious about screwing it up I'm quite pleased with how it has come out so far, but there's still a long way to go with it. I'm basing mine off the look of the Star Wars originals, although every one seems to differ slightly from the last pic. I've since applied a filter for Panzer Grey (an old Mig one) to blend the two shades, and add a bit of tonal variation, but I have a lot more to do to weather it. I've also got to do the detail painting of the feet, the greeblie insert in the front etc., and add a general dust coat to finish. It's about the most beaten up model I've tried to date, so I'll be hoping that Andy gets a wriggle on with his painting, so I can slavishly copy him

So after a very long interlude I have returned to model building; following some great advice from you guys at the forum I have begun my first ever attempt at detail painting and weathering. I decided to start small and build my confidence and techniques on the tools that come with R2 and BB, so I selected R2's Arc Welder for my first 'victim' I'm using Vallejo acrylics and what you see is black base coat, gun metal, silver, blue (mixed to lighten the shade), gold and red from the basic set I bought along with the first layer of black wash. Looking at it I think I should have painted the gun metal sections black and washed with the gun metal or attempted to dry brush it on as I think it looks a little bright, but I aim to tone it all down with a few more dark washes. More WIP to follow as soon as I find the time to do some more painting!

https://www2.deagostini.com/uk/products/build-your-own-x-wing/GI2130000000?gclid=CjwKCAjwlPTmBRBoEiwAHqpvhVitafD95FsoHhMiRrnByrfFGP7lILkE9rgw_zsq_CEOWbO44d5A_hoC1pMQAvD_BwE

Hi all, I thought it was time I tried some of these Bandai Star Wars kits I hear all the kids are going mad for... I'm not sure I'll have much to add to Andy and Adam's efforts, but I'd like to move some of the Star Wars-ey plastic from my stash to the cabinet where I can see it I started by putting the little ISD together, which was a pleasant experience. There are some fiddly seams in the superstructure and I'm not delighted with the fit of the bridge tower, but with some clothes pins and thin glue it seems to have mostly closed up. I managed to get glue to squeeze out of most of the superstructure joins so I could pare it down and sand it, but I haven't tried as hard with the joins on the vertical surfaces. I'm trying to decide whether to rip off Andy's "aztec" panelled finish or not - the movie ships are quite flat looking, after all. If I do try the panels, I might keep them to the recesses rather than the raised stuff, really not sure yet. Perhaps more interestingly, I've built up the contents of the 1/144 U-Wing box. The U-wing itself is in a variety of bits as I need to paint the interior, but the TIE Striker and Occupier tanks can be pretty much fully assembled before paint: Fit on both is the usual mix of perfection and not-quite-perfection - you can see some seams where the end-caps of the TIE Striker cabin attach, for example. I thought about running some CA into them, but I'm wary of cracking the plastic or indeed making a mess of what's currently a very sharp line. The same line appears on the 1/72 so presumably it's a legit panel line? The tanks fit pretty well and the seams are such that you *could* fill them all but maybe don't have to? And the U-Wing seems great from what I can see. There's a join right through the radiator fins at the back, so I opted to assemble these around the rear plates first and clean up the join. That means I'll need to make around it to paint the rest. I'd hoped that I could cut away enough of the pins that I could join the pieces and slide them into place, but some of the interlocking stuff is visible so I gave up. I'll put some more pictures up when it's in primer, as well as finish that Zoid Cheers, Will

Welp, I finally gave in to temptation and started the Bandai 1:144 Millennium Falcon that's been sitting in my closet for quite a while now. I'm going to do a proper as-it-happens WIP thread for this build. I still haven't decided on all the particulars -- whether or not I'm going to light this sucker and how much extra detail I'm going to add. I probably will end up lighting it -- fully lit TFA-style looks *really* good to me. I just put in an order for several Flory washes for weathering -- hopefully they'll arrive well before I get to the weathering stage. I started yesterday with the mandible maintenance wells. Inspired by this build video, and this stunning Bandai build I'm painting a lot of detail in the mechanical bits, like I've done with my Blue Leader build. Definitely not going for screen accuracy here . First a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. Then a base color coat of Gunship Gray. Then I dry-brushed Vallejo Duraluminum all over, and picked out details using Vallejo Gunmetal Gray, Valljeo Duraluminum, Tamiya X-12 Gold, and Citadel Hashut Copper.

This was a quick weekend build of Bandai's box scale (1/144) TIE twin pack. The kit turned up on Friday, and I built them up that evening, adding a little battle damage to one of the standard TIE's solar panels. The X1 was a straight OOB build. They were painted yesterday (Saturday), then weathered today. Nothing fancy with the painting/weathering. Just base coats over a black primer, detail painting, then a few pin washes and some dry brushing over the damaged areas on the panel. This is how they looked on Friday night And then fully finished tonight The obligatory scale comparison shots with paint pot and, of course, Nigel. The Gunze barley grey in the photo was used for the main base coat on both TIEs Thanks for looking

This is Bandai's newly released B-Wing, which finally completes the set of original trilogy rebel fighters, the others having already been out for some time. I did grumble a bit about the cost of this one when I first ordered it, and I still think it's a bit on the steep side, but you can't deny that you get a fantastic kit for your money. All the aspects of the original studio model are reproduced perfectly, and features like the folding wings and rotating cockpit all work without compromising the detail and accuracy. Bandai sell a separate lighting module (originally made for Gundam kits I believe), which can be installed in the fuselage to light the engines. I picked up a Chinese copy unit very cheaply from ebay, which fits perfectly and does the job just as well as the Bandai version. In truth though, the effect isn't all that dramatic, especially as you can't really see it unless you're looking from behind. I didn't bother switching it on for most of the shots, as the camera lights tended to negate the effect. I have added one shot at the end with subdued lighting so you can see how it looks. The only additions to the kit were a couple of aluminium tubes to replace gun barrels, and a few addition stencil decals to add a little more fine detail. The full build can be found here. Thanks for looking Andy

Hi, I am new to this forum so I am starting in the middle of my WIP. It took me weeks to find references to the Snowspeeder cockpit and building it. I think all visible parts in 'making of' pictures of the movie and inside the movie itself should be quite accurate. All other parts is guesswork be me and Bandai itself - it seems to me. I like making the details of the tiny cockpit with a tiny brush. A shame nobody will see it after it is finished. Like in the AT-ST this will almost be half or 1/3 of the build time... This is my reference for the outside: http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=2405 Luke and Dak All inside the fuselage with the first layer of paint Mr Hobby Aqueous Colors. 2 parts H11 (Flat White) and 1 part H51 (Light Gull Gray) Its a little bit brighter than it looks in the photos, but the next layer will have more white. Thanks for feedback. Not only at my work, but also if the WIP format ist ok. Are the photes too large or too small? Thanks!

GOUD-4 Messenger Droid 1/12 Scratch Build I've not been doing much modelling over the last week or two since the room I usually work in is way too cold at this time of year. I've spent more time on the sofa watching TV but, to keep my hands busy, I've also been playing with some scrap plastic card from the big box of off-cuts I keep from previous projects. A couple of night's work ended up with this little pile of droid bits... ...which were then stuck together to make this If you don't recognise him (and there's no reason why you would), he's a loose rendition of GOUD-4, who was a messenger (mouse) droid on Kessel from the Solo film. To be honest, I can't actually remember seeing him on screen but he was presumably in one of the corridors at some point. I first saw him in the DK visual guide for the film and thought he'd make a nice addition to Nigel, who's been looking rather lonely of late. As I said, it's a loose rendition, as many of the angles and details are off. Unfortunately, I'm only aware of one production photo of the droid which is the one in the book. As a result, I've no idea what the back or the right-hand side should look like, so much of that has been made up using the visible sides as reference. If you haven't seen the real GOUD-4, he looks like this So, inaccurate as he is, he's been painted up (in the rather bland paint job of the original), weathered, and has now joined Nigel on the shelf, where he'll no doubt be picking up a few of Nige's bad habits over time. Thanks for looking Andy

Hello everybody ... Well I decided i couldn't wait to start my Bandai AT-ST Walker. Being that im coming from an Aircraft modeling base i have loads of extras in 1/48 scale. My intentions are to build this as a Resistance captured/operated walker. Ive chosen to build it as a Temperate/Junglie L.R.R.P. Unit. This will have extra weapons possibly uprated armor, stowage, and a nice Camouflage scheme over everything. Something like the scheme #’s 7, 9, & 10 from @Gekko_1‘s walker thread. Im hoping Gekko you dont mind me linking to this ? I take inspiration from several other builds of Star Wars models not just walker’s. I have thank @Gekko_1, @AndyRM101, @monsterpartyhat, & @Pete in Lincs all your sci-fi works have inspired me to do this. Dennis

CR90 Corvette a.k.a. Blockade Runner a.k.a. Tantive IV Some of you may have seen the sprue shots of the new blockade runner I posted in the Bandai discussion thread. Well, I wasn't intending to start it just yet, but since the sprues were laying around on the bench after taking the photos, one thing led to another, and here we are. I also wasn't intending to show any build photos, as the box scale kits only have a handfull of parts and very simple construction, but in the end I took a few shots of the build so I'll post a brief construction run-through before getting on to the painting. The main hull is split vertically, but the majority of the seam is covered by other pieces later on The lower hull, which incorporates the bottom of the cockpit, then clips in place. You can see that they've included (or not included to be accurate) the missing escape pods, so the kit represents a post capture Tantive VI. The upper hull clips on in the same way as the lower hull. The cockpit face and end caps are then added. On all the parts I lightly reamed out the holes for the connection pins to lessen the tight fit, the added a drop of glue to keep everything secure. Most of the parts joined without gaps, but there are a couple around the neck area that will need a smear of filler. The engines are a triple layed construction, with the lower cluster added first. The three engined mid-cluster then clips in place, with the upper cluster added last. There are panels for the top, bottom and sides of the engine assembly which finish off that area, but I'm leaving these off for now as I want to paint each engine cluster separately. The only other parts to add are the small gun turrets and the top radar dish. The whole thing comes in at around 5" (12 ½cm) in length. It doesn't sound all the big, but it seems a lot larger in person than I was expecting. It's certainly the largest kit in the Vehicle Model range so far. This release includes one of the newer clear stands, which I think are an improvement over the older black ones. It's hard to hide the sprue gate marks, but the clear plastic looks a bit more elegant. It would be nice if they'd release a set of these stands to replace the older ones. As I mentioned above, I've kept the engine section loose for now so I can get access for painting. That brings us around to the main part of this wip which will be the painting and weathering. Before that though, I'll need to decide exactly what it is I'll be representing. What it won't be is the Tantive IV. There have been a few CR90's across the films and tv shows but the've shown up most frequently in Rebels. It's a couple of examples from that show that I'm considering for this build. The first one is Liberator, which was the command ship of the Rebel Phoenix cell. It's a similar base colour to Tantive IV, but with blue accents and a grey engine section. The second one has similar colours, but with a different marking pattern. The white triangle on the cockpit on this one would tie in well with the similar marking on the Phoenix Squadron A-Wing I built a while back. The red trim adds a nice highlight too. It's interesting to note that the digital model of the CR90 created for Rebels replicates the missing escape pods from the Tantive. I'm not sure why they did that, but it saves me from having to replace the missing ones. At the moment I'm leaning towards the one with the red highlights, but I'm always open to persuasion. Andy

YT-1300 Millennium Falcon FruitPACK (FP-04) 1:144 GreenStrawberry We're back to Star Wars again! It's pretty certain that GreenStrawberry are clearly SW fans, as they have released a substantial number of sets for the various kits, including the big and the little Falcons. Now they're offering the little Falcon sets in a super-set, which gives you both sets and offers a discount on the individual purchase price. The set arrives in a thick card envelope with the details on the front on a white sticker. Inside are the two individual sets in the usual GS themed dark grey, green and red, each with a header card, the Photo-Etch (PE), instructions and any ancillary parts hidden within a resealable clear foil envelope. The following sets are included: Detail Set (01616-1/144) If you read my review of the FruitPACK for the big Falcon, you might be expecting a re-tread of that, but this one's a little different due to the way that Bandai engineered the kits separately to cater for the differences in scale. This is patterned on the Force Awakens Falcon, which has the new-style dish after its removal in ROTJ during the second Death Star battle. The set contains a large fret of Photo-Etch (PE) and a sheet of self-adhesive stickers, and construction begins with the dish, replacing the chunky kit mounting for a more accurate one. The central gun emplacements are also heavily modified, with new parts added to the cut-down seats, and a complete emplacement with self-adhesive printed details supplied for your ease. This is topped off with a bezel that attaches to the rear of the glazing so that it can be easily installed top and bottom, as the two emplacements are identical. The landing gear has a new set of scale-accurate doors, plus the "cuffs" that sit above the gear legs. The cockpit is also heavily augmented, with the kit instrument panel cleared of all the moulded-in detail, and the three joining studs removed to make room for the new detail. With that done, the glazing receives a quilted headliner, and a new ceiling is folded up with panels added, then more stickers added for detail. The rear seats get new headboxes to correct their inaccurate appearance, and the side consoles with sticker instruments are added, with a new bulkhead plus surround and door, and of course another sticker for the busy light infested detail. The new roof is added to the lower part of the cockpit, and faced off with a small faceted modesty panel before the glazing is put in place. The final few parts include an edge panel for the access walkway roof, and a blanking plate for the end of the walkway inside the hull. Grilles (01715-1/144) Two small frets with 32 circular parts that laminate up to make the six vents on the aft of the Falcon's deck. Each one is made up of four layers – a lower circle, the grill section, the raised divides, and a final detailed bezel that sits on the top. There are two types of grille, with the two on the left (looking from behind) differing slightly from the other four. Their location is shown clearly on the last diagrams, so there should be little room for confusion unless you try really, really hard! These will improve the detail on the aft deck immensely from the original kit parts. Conclusion Lots of extra detail to improve this gem of a kit and make it more impressive than it already is, with a modest discount on buying them separately thrown in as a bonus. Review sample courtesy of

Hi All, My interpretation of the Blockade Runner from Episode IV Bandai's immaculate box scale tantive IV Happy Modelling , Ian

I finished this model ages ago, but it took a long time to get around to taking studio photos of it. The new animated show "Star Wars: Resistance" is a mixed bag, IMO. I love the animation style (I grew up watching Robotech, the US-import version of the Macross Saga, so I love the anime style applied to Star Wars) and some of the ship designs are quite cool, while some of the characters are.....anyway. I fell in love with the main hero ship, the constantly-in-need-of-repair Fireball, which came about from one of Lucasfilm's showrunners wondering what an X-wing designed around the F4U Corsair would look like. While the actual ship doesn't directly share any parts with the T-65 X-wing or the F4U Corsair, you can get pretty close my mashing the two together, which is what I did with a Bandai Vehicle Model T-65 X-Wing, and an AFV Club 1:144 scale F4U. The AFV club model was very nice to work with, with plastic that's compatible with Tamiya extra fine cement. I had to do a lot of chopping, filing, and repositioning of various parts, as well as replacing the X-wing wing cannons with music wire and aluminum tubing, since they predictably broke off in all the handling. The paint job took ages - SO much masking. There are 4 base colors, and quite a few odd panels. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I didn't really keep a build log outside of Instagram, but there are a bunch of WIP and primered photos in a flickr album.

Hi Everyone, This one I've worked at on and off for months (with huge gaps!). I've overdone the weathering (particularly the exhausts), which meant I parked it for a while. I'm happier with the end result now though, even though it's not perfect! Good fun though. And for those not familiar with the size, it's pretty small:

Buying something from Amazon I needed something to take me up to the magic twenty squids and free postage, so I had put this little fellow in my "save for later" basket some time ago for just such a day. I usually top up with Vallejo paints but this time I needed a fiver so this little chap for six squids was just the job. Quick little throwaway bit of fun... But when I opened it. Well it isn't a bad little model. So I started thinking about "doing something" with it. Anyhoo, more on the MF model and what I decided to "do" with it later, I decided I wanted something to display it on. Probably my favourite Star Wars moment is when the Millennium Falcon swoops down on Darth Vader closing in on Luke in the trench and takes out his wingman causing DV to abort and Han shouts "Yahoo, you're in the clear kid, let's blow this thing and go home!" So a bit of Death Star scenery is required. A Laser turret. Nothing commercially available that I know of (apart from the Bandai kits and I don't think there is anything suitable?) Anyway I'll just scratchbuild one... First off find some scale plans. The best I could find was Adam Savage's "Tested" website (yes, the "Mythbusters" guy) Build a Studio Scale Death Star Laser Tower It is more concerned with a CAD/CAM model but the drawing gave me a starting point. So, plasticard and tools to hand off we go... So that is where I'm at. You can see I have started on the "Laser Guns" using plastic tubing or different diameters but I need to "greeblie" them up a bit. The thing that looks like the buffer plate from a steam locomotive is to locate the lasers guns behind the curved plate (making them moveable was decreed as a step too far!) What started as a little basket filler has turned into a project. I think the turret is probably too big but the Death Star was a "BIG" thing so who really knows. I was amused to find out that the sets that depict the interior of the Millennium Falcon would not have fitted inside the full 1:1 model that was built at Elstree for filming the scenes in "A New Hope" and that full model was used for the scenes on Tatooine and on the Death Star without being moved, they rebuilt the sets around the model! If anyone is interested in any of the techniques I have used please ask. Peace out.

so I thought it time to have a go at this one I have had in storage for a while yes Sir it is from the 80's but now I haven't had it since then, I built it as a kid I got it from John menzie and if I remember right it wasn't the best of fits. I bought this one over 5 years ago from eBay and it came with a diorama. any way it was still bagged up as well (sorry no pic of that) so here it is ready to go this was when I remembered a little about it. the mouldings are not up to modern standards so first job was to clean up the top and bottom of the ship CARFULLY in places then start to construct it and that's as far as I have got so far, I will keep you upto date as far as possible, any tips gratefully received I am prob going to airbrush it and that will be the first one in 5 years , am I mad

My idea here is this is a young Mara Jade and her trusty driod an the run from one of the Huts henchmen on distant desert planet, a long time ago in galaxy far far away. The pictures are in a bit of a random order and one or two of my SW driods. Hope you like it as always any comments and feedback is Wellcome. Cheers Brian. Adding this one because I like it, I don't have any fancy photo editing stuff just MS paint.

Hi y'all! Here it is finished at last, after a black wash in the main trench. Another fine addition to my SW Bandai kits, but by far the most time consuming one! See you soon! Ciao Iwik

I recently picked up a boxed set container a Resistance U-Wing as well as a TIE Striker, both of which debuted in Rogue One. I have been itching to build some TIE fighters after seeing some of great builds on the forum. While I'm waiting for delivery of my TIE fighters and TIE Advanced models from Japan, I decided to try out some colors on the TIE Striker. After seeing the meticulous masking required for the TIE solar panels, I decided to try out a shortcut. So I pulled out an old flatbed scanner and scanned one of the wings at 600dpi, then pulled it into Affinity Designer and drew shapes to mask the panels. I then exported the mask as an SVG file and imported it into the software which drives my Silhouette Cameo 3 cutter. I decided to use transfer tape as the mask material since it has a low-tack surface. I applied a base coat of Badger Stynylrez Black then sprayed a light coat of Vallejo Metal Steel (thanks for the tip to @AndyRM101) . Below you can see the masks applied. The fit was close to perfect although the central solar panel section was every so slightly narrower on the bottom side than the top. For the TIE hull color, there seemed to be significant variance between Episode IV (which featured light gray TIEs) and later episodes which had a pronounced bluish hue. At one point I came across explanations related to advances in blue screen technology which allowed ILM to use non-gray colors for the later movies. I liked the gray/blue tone and this seemed to be what was used in Rogue One so I followed instructions on a thread on theRPF which recommended a 1:1 mix of Tamiya XF-2 Flat White and XF-82 Ocean Gray 2 for the gray/blue color. I probably should have applied the Vallejo Steel a little more liberally, but it still has a subtle metallic sheen that reflects the light nicely. The Bandai models are designed to not require glue, which means that test fitting parts can require some degree of force to pull apart. Unfortunately, while trying to remove the cockpit part from the fuselage, I snapped off one of the two tiny laser cannons underneath the cockpit window. This part is a fraction of a millimeter in diameter and while trying to glue it back on, the force of the tweezers on the cylindrical shape caused it to fly off somewhere under my workbench. After crawling around and eyeballing every gray speck under my workbench (and there were MANY) I actually found it. Predictably (for me) the same exact thing happened again with the tweezers rocketing the fragment in a random direction not once, but twice. After the third launch, I couldn't locate the damned thing, so I threw in the towel and decided to try another approach. So I cut off both laser cannons and drilled them out with a pin vise, then cut a couple of pieces of wire to appropriate lengths as replacements. I tried to smooth down the rough edges of the wire left by the snips using a Dremel rotary tool with limited success. The model also came with a black rectangular base which featured a multi-position tip that inserted into the bottom of the TIE Striker. When I took some of the test photos with the included base, the shape of the dual axis swivels was somewhat distracting, so I decided to create a custom base. I found an old jar lid in the garage and a piece of dowel which I used to bolster a length of 3mm tubing. Painted black with a white decal cut on my Cameo 3 cutter, it bears a striking resemblance to the base AndyRM101 created for his TIE Striker. I had asked my son if he thought white, gray or silver decal would look best and he suggested that I go with white.

This is my first post and the third model I’ve built in over 30 years since I just got back into the hobby. Having found the Britmodeller forum a couple of months ago, I’ve learned so much from the fantastic community and I hope to keep improving my skills so that I can someday contribute back. This model is part of a Last Jedi Resistance Vehicles boxed set that includes Poe Dameron's boosted X-Wing, a Blue Squadron T-70 X-Wing and a 1/350 scale Millenium Falcon. Rather than going for the standard Blue Squadron paint job, I wanted to try to something a little different. I've seen a number of people create builds based on Ralph McQuarrie's concept art from the 1970s and I really like the color scheme. The design team for Episodes VII and VIII went back to a lot of McQuarrie's original concept art for the "new" ships as you can see from the half-cylinder engines in the X-Wing image below. AndyRM101, who’s become one of my favorite modellers due to his superb skills, wonderful advice and top notch contributions, did a fantastic job with the 1/72 scale version for his Resistance T-70 X-Wing model and I'm hoping to do something similar at a smaller scale. As with the other Bandai Star Wars kits, the quality and detail of the parts are exceptionally good. However, this kit was unusual in that the halves of the thrusters did not perfectly match up when assembled. Bandai usually has exceptionally good fit for their parts but I had to trim down the assembly tabs to manually align the parts for a perfect fit. They were only misaligned by a fraction of a millimeter, but on a model this small, the mismatch is more prominent. Another minor issue is the central shaft that the S-foils rotate around was too loose and it's too easy to nudge the S-foils out of their X configuration. I found this to be the case on the T-65 X-Wing model as well. I ended up adding some glue around the central shaft to bulk it up slightly and tighten up the fit. I applied a base coat of Stynylrez Gray Primer followed by a coat of Vallejo Model Air 71.121 Light Gull Gray which turned out to be a little too dark. The orange-yellow hull and wing markings were masked and airbrushed on with Minitaire D6-125 Warning Yellow. I used Minitaire D6-109 Badger Fur for the gray hull stripe and Minitaire D6-110 Charred Stone for the darker blocks. Metal panel details were a thin mix of Vallejo Game Color 72.054 Gun Metal and Model Air 71.057 Black. Some panels were painted with Minitaire D6-108 Rock which has a lighter, warmer tone than Badger Fur. Like most X-Wings, there are quite a few markings and panels that need to be masked. I copied the wing markings from AndyRM101 which used a combination the orange along with smaller dark gray blocks on the wings to give a little more visual interest. After blocking in all the base colors, I sprayed on a coat of Tamiya TS-13 Clear so I could begin weathering. Since other builds of the "McQuarrie X-Wing" I've seen were painted in a clean style like the original concept painting, I wanted to weather mine a bit to look closer to the grungy style of the movies. Due to the tiny size of the model I avoided the use of chipping fluid or liquid mask on the markings and instead sponged on small spots of Light Gull Gray using a torn bit of makeup sponge. Since the orange hull markings are pretty light, the chipping is not very prominent. I also sponged on darker scuffs and streaks with Model Air 71.268 German Gray. I'm eagerly awaiting a shipment of Flory Washes which I understand to be excellent. In the interim, I used Vallejo Model Wash Light Gray, Dark Gray and Rust in various mixtures for picking out panels lines and details. The BB model droid is a tiny little piece of plastic which has surprising detail for being so small. It was tricky to paint and required quite a bit of time to sharpen up the details. Below is the initial color blocking before cleanup and a pin wash. Another tiny detail were the red triangles near the leading edge of each engine intake. I didn't have any decals so small, so I made a little mask and airbrushed on Model Air 72.711 Gory Red and it turned out great. I should have gone for a lighter hull color like Vallejo White Gray, but I didn't have any on hand and I wanted to try out my Minitaire paints. I also feel like I went a little overboard with the panel line washes which is a habit I picked up from painting miniatures where "black lining" and exaggerating edge detail is crucial for reading such small shapes. Overall, this was a fun little build and I'm slowly building up a fleet of 1/144 Star Wars vehicles from Bandai. Now I just have to find the time to build and paint them!

Hullo all. Thought I'd finally post up some pics of my X-Wing build. I received this Christmas before last, but only in the past few months did I really crack it open with intent to complete it So here she be in progress Still need to finalise a surround for the base, probably out of balsa wood. Pilot is painted up (in blue), just needs a wash and a bit of highlighting Gaz

Well it's been a while, (had a bit of modelling mojo loss), but finally i've finished my Sandtrooper, the construction of this build couldn't have been simpler, And has been covered by other folk on here , for example Andy Moore, whose work has been an inspiration whilst working on the various Bandai stuff i've got stashed. The whole figure was assembled in sub sections where it was possible and then sprayed with a couple of coats of Vallejo SATIN varnish, weathering was mainly MiG engine oil for the darker coloured sand and smudges, and MiG Gulf war Sand weathering powders for the lighter tones, The supplied Decals were used for the various helmet markings, and the pauldron was painted with Vallejo Model Air 'aged white'. Base was covered in Tamiya surface texture 'paint' to which fine sand was added with copious amounts of watered down PVA glue, then painted in various sand/desert colours, and a few Model Builder grass tufts added for a bit of variety. He was finished in a style to replicate the Sandtrooper named as Davin Felth...'Look Sir !..Droids'. anyhoo, onto the pics. Comments appreciated..