TIE Fighter

[Smiffy]

After doing the review for the new Revell TIE Fighter here, I was impressed enough to crack on with it straight away.

As I said in the review, the detail is very nice and it's a decent sized model when complete, so I've decided to do a full repaint. I started logically enough with the cockpit, by giving everything a coat of Vallejo Gunship Grey. This was followed by a coat or three of Johnsons Klear, to seal the basecoat in. After leaving it to set for 48 hours, I gave everything an oil wash of a very dark (almost black) mix. The excess was removed and it was left for about a week. The goal here was just to create some depth and shadowing. I wasn't going for any weathering here, as the Empire abhors filth. That plus the fact that TIE Fighters don't seem to have a very long average life expectancy, so wouldn't normally have time to collect a layer of space dust, let alone anything else.

Once dry, the panels were picked out in Tamiya NATO Black and I gave everything a very light drybrushing with a medium grey, just to accent the high spots. The switches were taken care of with dabs of red, green and white Tamiya paint. I then used some Citadel Bolt Gun Metal to go over the last few details. This was overcoated with a thin mix of Tamiya smoke, just to tone the silver down a bit. I finished by giving all the components a coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish, to give a nice even sheen.

The seat and the interior of the cockpit ball also received a coat of NATO Black, just to give a bit of variance.

With that done, I turned my attention to the pilot (or Bob, as I like to call him). Now, I'm not a figure painter by any stretch of the imagination, but I decided that Bob could do with some attention. I repainted the cloth parts of his flight suit with NATO Black (can you tell that I like this stuff?), being extra careful not to paint over the insignia on each upper arm. The Armour parts of his gear were treated with some Citadel Chaos Black, as were his boots and gloves. The details on the chest piece were taken care of, referring to a picture in the Star Wars Technical Journal. I left his flight helmet as is and just masked it off, while I gave him a matt coat. The boots and gloves were then given a single brushed on coat of Klear, to give them a bit of a sheen. Not perfect, but a little better in my eyes, at least.

With the internal paint work done, I started getting the cockpit assembled. I took a round file and opened up the location holes, to make fitting a little easier and enabling me to test fit the parts, without worrying if they'd come apart again. The sidewalls were attached to the floor and the forward bulkhead was put together, adding the control yoke. The completed assembly was then joined to the floor/sidewalls.

The seat had the arm rests added, then Bob was stuck in place, using cyano. I then manoeuvred the seat in, glued it in place from underneath and added the rear bulkhead. Cockpit done.

The assembly was glued into the lower half of the cockpit ball and the rear panel added. I want to give Bob any advantage I can, so the front screen has been treated to a couple of dips in Johnsons Klear to improve the clarity. Just the thing you need, for example, if you find yourself having to navigate through an asteroid field or down an enormously long mechanical trench, without clipping your wing leader, sending the Dark Lord of the Sith spinning off through outer space. I can assure you, that sort of thing is frowned upon.

Anyhoo, I'll get the canopy masked up and then we can think about getting the cockpit all sealed up.

[Will Vale]

Great work, it's all so neat and tidy! I guess you're right about the Empire's attitude to filth and individualism, although I reckon a Leia pinup would be a funny addition to the cockpit. "Err, it's target profiling, Lord Vader!"

Will

[Silverstone 2]

I like what you've done with the repaint!

Do all the pieces simply fit together under friction?

[Smiffy]

Cheers chaps.

I reckon a Leia pinup would be a funny addition to the cockpit. "Err, it's target profiling, Lord Vader!"

You're thinking of a gold bikini, aren't you?.

That would've been a nice little touch, actually. Sort of a nod to the original ILM guys who put a miniature poster in the cockpit of the Blockade Runner.

Do all the pieces simply fit together under friction?

Yes, some a little too well. I've cut the pins off the two halves which make up the cockpit ball. It was so tight, I was pretty sure it wouldn't come apart again if I'd test fitted it. I'm using glue on everything, though.

[Mike]

It's looking good Neil, and the contrasting sheen on Bob's boots and hat works very well

[Smiffy]

It's looking good Neil, and the contrasting sheen on Bob's boots and hat works very well

Why thank you.

Who's Neil, though?.

[Mike]

Why thank you.

Who's Neil, though?.

Ugh... sorry Brian, I meant Paul

[Smiffy]

Ugh... sorry Brian, I meant Paul

[Smiffy]

Finally managed to get some free time to do a little more on the TIE.

After getting the two halves of the cockpit ball together, I masked up the front screen, using Tamiya tape. I also applied some masking to the inside of the top hatch and then temporarily stuck the hatch down using Gator Glue. Once I've finished painting, I'll pop the hatch back off, add the clear glass and then stick it back down. I went around the edge of the front screen with more Gator Glue, then wiped away the excess with a wet finger. This seals it in nicely and also fills any gaps around the perimeter of the frame.

For the most part, the fit of the two halves of the cockpit ball is very good and only required a swipe with a medium sanding stick, just to clean up the joins. There were a couple of areas that needed a small amount of filler, so I used some Vallejo Putty. I quite like this stuff. It's easy to apply and again, the excess can be removed with a wet digit, reducing the need for sanding.

With that taken care of, I started to think about the paintwork. First off, I decided to give the canopy frame an undercoat of Tamiya Nato Black. I mixed this with Tamiya thinners and a drop or two of cellulose thinner, to give the paint a bit of bite. The fumes must have gone to my head or something at this stage, as I then used the rest of this mix to do some pre-shading. It's not something I was planning on doing, I kinda just got caught up in the moment.

I gave that a day or two to dry and then went over the model with a nice thin coat of Tamiya white Fine Surface Primer. This stuff gives a lovely smooth finish, although on this occasion, I did get some spitting. Luckily, it was only in a couple of isolated spots and was easy to clean up with some localised sanding.

Now she was ready for the main paint colour. I've seen a lot of TIE Fighter models at shows, in books/mags and on t'interweb. It appears most people tend to go for the Stormy Sea Blue finish as seen in Empire and Jedi. I prefer the look of the TIEs as they appeared in the original Star Wars, however. On screen they look quite a stark white (probably due to the intense lighting during filming), but studying pictures of the filming miniatures reveals them to be a very light grey colour. I took a bottle of Tamiya XF-2 Matt White and then added small amounts of XF-19 Sky Grey Matt, until I was happy with the shade. This was then airbrushed over the model in thin coats.

I think the next thing I'll do is put down a gloss coat, to seal everything in. I've got some of the Alclad Aqua Gloss to try out for this. Then I'll mask up the wings and spray the black solar panels.

[Mike]

Good progress Pete... erm, Steve, umm... Miranda? Looking forward to seeing the weathering stage next

[Smiffy]

Good progress Pete... erm, Steve, umm... Miranda? Looking forward to seeing the weathering stage next

Cheers, Phil.

Weathering will be minimal on this one, though (providing nothing goes wrong, of course).