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Thanks guys

Believe me, these things aren't unusual for me. It's a rare build that doesn't have some kind of incident at some point. It's not so much impatience, more abject clumsiness. I tend to be more suspicious when things go smoothly.

Lots of slightly irritating distractions have kept me from the bench for most of the weekend, so not got as much done as I'd like. Hopefully I'll get some more time tonight. I have managed to spray some of the panels in various lighter and darker red tones to break up the finish a little.

I randomly masked off individual panels...

26613046060_b6c66551df_b.jpg

...then sprayed a slightly darker tone of the base colour made with the addition of a little Tamiya Hull Red. Pale reds can be a pain to mix, as adding white just gives you pink, so for the lighter tones I mixed Vallejo GC Warm Grey with GC Gory Red, and lightly sprayed this over various panels to give a more faded look. I didn't bother masking for the pale red. It was just concentrated in some areas more than others, and as a result the model's lost a little definition, but that will come back with the panel washes and weathering. Some of the smaller details were picked out by hand with various Vallejo red tones

26613037430_d4e260f040_b.jpg

26792462062_61a17caf05_b.jpg

26280234534_072da4f382_b.jpg

Once all that was done, I masked round the cockpit frame, sponged on some masking fluid for paint chips, and gave it a coat of Vallejo Black and Grey Green in a 50/50 mix

26613025640_dc72a34e71_b.jpg

The landing gear's also had some paint. The chipping for these was done with hairspray

26280227884_84afc843c6_b.jpg

That's all so far, but hopefully there'll be more before tomorrow

Andy

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I like how this is shaping up. I like your panel by panel approach to laying down the red, kind of what we've come to expect of X-Wing maintenance crews. The landing gear looks sensational. The gear on this kit looks very toy-like as raw plastic but the finish you've put on yours makes them look solid and realistic, I really like how they turned out.

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She's really coming to life now Andy. You've completely transformed the landing gear. I was wondering just now how she'd look with F.O.D. intake and possibly exhaust covers like a parked fighter jet. Could add a simple fictional squadron logo or the Rebellion logo. Just a thought that popped up.

Can't wait to see more!

-matt

Edited by M_Sinclair
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She's really coming to life now Andy. You've completely transformed the landing gear. I was wondering just now how she'd look with F.O.D. intake and possibly exhaust covers like a parked fighter jet. Could add a simple fictional squadron logo or the Rebellion logo. Just a thought that popped up.

Can't wait to see more!

-matt

I like the idea about FOD guards. I might look in to doing that. I need to find some stenciling to add to the fuselage and wings, and if I find something suitable for a logo or nose art I'll add that too

Andy

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Thanks guys

Believe me, these things aren't unusual for me. It's a rare build that doesn't have some kind of incident at some point. It's not so much impatience, more abject clumsiness. I tend to be more suspicious when things go smoothly.

Lots of slightly irritating distractions have kept me from the bench for most of the weekend, so not got as much done as I'd like. Hopefully I'll get some more time tonight. I have managed to spray some of the panels in various lighter and darker red tones to break up the finish a little.

I randomly masked off individual panels...

26613046060_b6c66551df_b.jpg

...then sprayed a slightly darker tone of the base colour made with the addition of a little Tamiya Hull Red. Pale reds can be a pain to mix, as adding white just gives you pink, so for the lighter tones I mixed Vallejo GC Warm Grey with GC Gory Red, and lightly sprayed this over various panels to give a more faded look. I didn't bother masking for the pale red. It was just concentrated in some areas more than others, and as a result the model's lost a little definition, but that will come back with the panel washes and weathering. Some of the smaller details were picked out by hand with various Vallejo red tones

26613037430_d4e260f040_b.jpg

26792462062_61a17caf05_b.jpg

26280234534_072da4f382_b.jpg

Once all that was done, I masked round the cockpit frame, sponged on some masking fluid for paint chips, and gave it a coat of Vallejo Black and Grey Green in a 50/50 mix

26613025640_dc72a34e71_b.jpg

The landing gear's also had some paint. The chipping for these was done with hairspray

26280227884_84afc843c6_b.jpg

That's all so far, but hopefully there'll be more before tomorrow

Andy

what did you paint the landing gear with, alclad or vallejo paints ?

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I like the idea about FOD guards. I might look in to doing that. I need to find some stenciling to add to the fuselage and wings, and if I find something suitable for a logo or nose art I'll add that too

Andy

What about a pin-up of sorts for the nose? I've spotted them on occasion in the animated shows, often using the Twi'lek girls :)

CWGunship009.jpg

Gaz

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That's the sort of thing I'd got in mind. I always liked the LAAT/c with the Wampa 'shark mouth'

26292754973_bdb1dbc96b_b.jpg

I'd design something myself, but I haven't got a printer that's up to the job of printing decals. There isn't that much space on the nose anyway, so it'll probably be best if I leave it with just the white stripes for decoration.

Speaking of the white stripes, I've been mulling over the best way to show paint chipping on them. The main options are hairspray or masking fluid and since the underside of the wings won't be seen when it's on the base, I used them as a test bed

The one on the left is hairspray and the one on the right is masking fluid

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The hairspray gives the smallest chips, and it also makes it easier to get them along the edges of the panels, but it's also the most unpredictable, and you can end up with oversized chips like the two on the right edge of the outer white section

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The masking fluid has a tendency to be more 'blobby', and it's harder to confine the chips to the edges of panels, but it is easier to control the effect

26863054966_7447506d13_b.jpg

You can also see on the one above that I've started to add some paint chipping to the red as well. This is just painted on with a brush, and I'll be chipping the rest of the wings and fuselage like this

I've also got a tiny bit of work done on the base. The aperture in the frame was filled with a square of MDF, then a sheet of plasticard was cut to make the paved area. The revetment wall will go down the left side of the hardstanding, and the remaining area will be the snow landscaping (unless I decide to go with desert or forest or something else)

26623944600_82119ac39d_b.jpg

The plasticard's been textured a bit with a round burr in a dremmel, and had some panels scribed onto it, along with some cracks in the corners

26803174492_8479b363bf_b.jpg

It looks a bit rough in the raw plastic, but once painted it should look something like this one I made a while ago

26803164242_3646b03b68_b.jpg

Andy

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what did you paint the landing gear with, alclad or vallejo paints ?

I used AK Xtreme Metal polished aluminium for the landing gear. The engines were Alclad and the turbine faces were Vallejo. They'll end up being more heavily weather, so a lot of the polished finish will disappear.

Andy

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Some great work there, the red is really eye catching. Sorry to hear about your troubles but also sort of glad I'm not the only one to have that kind of day at times :)

My 2p on the base would be to rotate the wall slightly to put it all off-grid, but that may not be possible if you've started marking out panels. I think I just like triangles.

Will

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Some great work there, the red is really eye catching. Sorry to hear about your troubles but also sort of glad I'm not the only one to have that kind of day at times :)

My 2p on the base would be to rotate the wall slightly to put it all off-grid, but that may not be possible if you've started marking out panels. I think I just like triangles.

Will

Thanks Will. I have those days all too often.

It'd be my normal practice to set the base at a bit of an angle to give it some visual interest, but I'm slightly hampered here by the fact that the base is square, and only just big enough for the model. If I set the hardstanding and wall at an angle, the X-Wing would be hanging over the side of the base. I'm going to stand the X-Wing at a bit of an angle to the wall and scatter the other bits and pieces of equipment around. I'm hoping that will be enough to offset the symmetry in the base

Andy

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Sounds like a good plan. You might be able to push the rectilinearity (is that a word?) inside the strong black frame, and get something with Piet Mondrian vibes :)

Will

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Sounds like a good plan. You might be able to push the rectilinearity (is that a word?) inside the strong black frame, and get something with Piet Mondrian vibes :)

Will

Err... yeah, that's just what I was thinking Will :D Actually, I do seem to have been using Mondrian colours without realising it, so you may be on to something.

When I do the Y-Wing, I could try partially melting it to give it a Dali look :P

Actually, since you first mentioned it, I've been thinking that I really do need to get a bit of angle on the base. I can twist the hardstanding area, and fill any gaps with more plasticard. The joins can be made into more panel lines.

I think I'll need to get the X-Wing done to a point where it's on it's legs, so I can stand it in situ to get a better feel for the layout

Andy

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I prefer the chipping with the hairspray. Even the bigger chips look good imo. Please don't melt it though, even if Dali is cool. :P

Yes, I think I'm going to go with the hairspray. I prefer the predictability of masking fluid, but the chips look better with the hairspray.

Little bit of work done on the ground equipment. I've built up one of the pieces from the Hasegawa set (the hydraulic test stand), and added a few random details from the spares box. I'll call it a generator, but it could be anything really. I might make up one of the other units, but I don't want to overcrowd the base. I'll see what space there is at the end.

I've also made up two of the ladders from the Brengun set. I'll use the bigger one, but I'm not sure about the smaller one, as it doesn't really reach any part of the X-Wing. I was expecting them to be a nightmare to put together, but they actually went together pretty easily

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26646415690_af44889db2_b.jpg

Andy

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Could maybe pop the little one in front of whichever engine you've left open. It might to be able to get a technician's head in line for an inspection?

Will

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I've also made up two of the ladders from the Brengun set. I'll use the bigger one, but I'm not sure about the smaller one, as it doesn't really reach any part of the X-Wing. I was expecting them to be a nightmare to put together, but they actually went together pretty easily

Have you seen the ParaGrafix X-wing photoetch set? It has two ladders: one that reaches the droid socket and another for the pilot. From what I can tell, they're pretty spot on to what was used in the movie.

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Have you seen the ParaGrafix X-wing photoetch set? It has two ladders: one that reaches the droid socket and another for the pilot. From what I can tell, they're pretty spot on to what was used in the movie.

Yes, I have seen that although, to be honest, I'd forgotten about it. In this case, I want it to look a bit different anyway, as it's not a Rebellion ship

I got the white stripes done on the upper wings and nose this afternoon. I went with the hairspray in the end, and it came out reasonably well. I still keep getting the impression that I should be adding a flashing blue light above the cockpit (and a woolly cardigan on the seat)

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I've now started on the somewhat long-winded job of adding paint chips to the red. I'm doing this with a warm, pale grey

26351714103_dac97e949a_b.jpg

This is just the first stage of chipping. I'll be adding a second round of chips to represent deeper scratches. These will either be in a dark grey or aluminium, depending on whether I want it to look like it's constructed from metal or some kind of composite. At the moment I'm favoring the dark grey, purely because I think it will give better contrast to the pale grey chips, and add a bit more definition to the ship

Andy

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