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Bandai TIE Fighter


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I've been doing a bit of work on the iconic TIE fighter.

 

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Lots of neat detail getting ready to be covered up. Sorry camera phone pic and it just can't do the detail.

 

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Paint tests - for this and my next planned build.

 

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I was hoping I could just buy in 'TIE Fighter blue/grey' - no such luck, I've spent all morning planning around with paint mixes and I'm still not sure it's 'right' but given the differences across films, studio models and other media I'm not going to worry too much and pick a colour I think looks like a TIE fighter. NB 'not worry too much' in this context means spend all morning mixing paint and trying to somehow reconcile what you see on screen, in photos, on the computer in different light, on a 40 yo model... Blah.. It's bluey grey let's go with that.

 

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What are you into? Modelling Masking! What a hobby so much fun...

This took forever to mask. If it pulls off my Vallejo 'steel' paint (thanks Andy - I'm stealing your ideas) when I take it off I'll not be best pleased.

 

 

 

Edited by BrotherMole
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Great start. The masking's a pain, isn't it! On the Striker, I used paper templates as masks. I cut them a little smaller the the border of the solar panels then used tamiya tape around the edges.

Incidentally, 131 Concrete is what I used for a lot of the detail painting of the small greebles on the Striker.

 

Andy

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Cheers Andy, good to know I'm not the only one finding masking painful. I'll have to go back to your wip and see if I can spot the concrete bits. 

So I've arrived at the idea that the body should be painted with a 1:2:8:1 mix of white grey, US blue grey, light grey, US intermediate blue - I'm pretty sure this is a hard way to mix some Tamiya haze grey...

 

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Finally finished the masking and got some painting done this weekend. Playing about with 'black basing' to get some tonal variety - I like the process and the look. I had actually finished up, cleaned the AB and everything when I thought it might need another coat to 'even it out' and in retrospect this might not have been needed... Maybe it looks ok for what should be a clean Empire ship...

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Colour below is closer to how it actually looks. Also on view the large seam gaps where I thought 'that'll close right up - no need for putty' - lesson learned.

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I'm a bit confused as to the next steps. There are some rather large decals that I won't use -I'll paint instead- that change some panels to a beige/grey colour I'm guessing this is where Andy said he used Vallejo 'concrete' (on his TIE Striker) but the areas look too big for 'detail' work and I'm worried that large amounts of beige will through off the classic TIE look especially as I can't find a reference of the TIE fighters having beige undercarriages/panel so not sure which way to jump yet. Any advice gratefully received.

 

cheers.

Edited by BrotherMole
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The blue tone looks excellent. I think the shading from the black base is showing just enough to give some variation to the tone.

 

I didn't really use the concrete (I may have mixed it with a bit of grey to tone it down) for any of the panels. I just painted it on some of the smaller details to help them pop out more.

I did use an enamel filter (possibly AK NATO filter, can't remember) over some of the panels, which was enough to alter the tone, without it ending up like a patchwork quilt. I was using AMMO engine grime to shade some areas, so I probably mixed that in with the filter as well.

 

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Andy

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Thanks for the advice Andy - I didn't think I'd spotted any cement panels on your Striker! But the decals do have these odd big beige areas - I'll post a pic when I get home just for interest as I won't be using them. Thanks for the tip re filters. I haven't  quite worked out filters yet -I've only got the one- but I plan to picking up a couple more and having a go. 

Cheers. 

 

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Here is the odd concrete/beige colour decals I won't be using... They are clearly based off a couple of screen options (as there are two sets) but I don't remember the colours looking like this.

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Build is moving along - currently very shiny as I weather over the clear coat.

Edited by BrotherMole
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You paintjob comes out pretty fine especially I’m a fan of black basing. 

 

You could try to work with a more blueish grey tone instead of beige? Anyhow I think Vallejo concrete does a pretty good looking job for details. Like in Andy’s TIE Striker.

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12 hours ago, theguardant said:

You paintjob comes out pretty fine especially I’m a fan of black basing. 

 

You could try to work with a more blueish grey tone instead of beige? Anyhow I think Vallejo concrete does a pretty good looking job for details. Like in Andy’s TIE Striker.

 

Cheers - I like the black-basing, as you build up colour slowly, it's easy to get a good look and rather fun to play with. For the details I did a 50/50 mix of the custom 'TIE-dye blue' I'd mixed and concrete - it's come out rather well.

 

First time I've masked anything other than a skirting board but its all nice and crisp - I'm really pleased with it.

 

The solar panels are done in Vallejo Steel and after applying a mid-grey wash I sponged on some darker grey - thanks to @AndyRM101 who ideas I have pinched.

 

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The only (small) issue I have is you can see faint lines where the masking tape has been on some of the panels. Tamiya tape, left on for a week - any ideas how I can clean this up/avoid it in the future?

 

thanks for looking.

Edited by BrotherMole
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