teddylindsey Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) 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! Edited July 31, 2018 by teddylindsey 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 (edited) WOW ! ... Thats a very nice looking X-wing. Edited July 30, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 A lovely job. Keep them coming, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Great work, love it Must get building some of these Bandai kits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddylindsey Posted July 31, 2018 Author Share Posted July 31, 2018 On 7/30/2018 at 5:38 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: WOW ! ... Thats a very nice looking X-wing. Thank you! 3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said: A lovely job. Keep them coming, please. Thank you! I will certainly post future builds. I'm currently on travel and I have a number of Bandai Star Wars kits awaiting me upon my return. 2 hours ago, Dermo245 said: Great work, love it Must get building some of these Bandai kits! Thank you! The Bandai kits are quite fantastic. The level of detail has really impressed me and I'm hoping that Bandai sees fit to release a B-Wing soon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted September 19, 2018 Share Posted September 19, 2018 Fantastic work. Keep them coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Moore Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Fantastic looking build, especially so given the tiny size. Very neat work with the details. It's things like the red intake triangles that really sell the finished model. Also masking between the yellow nose stripes. I know how hard that was in 72nd so I can only imagine how fiddly it must have been in 144th. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddylindsey Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 On 9/19/2018 at 10:49 AM, Hockeyboy76 said: Fantastic work. Keep them coming! Thanks, Hockeyboy76! On 9/20/2018 at 7:07 AM, AndyRM101 said: Fantastic looking build, especially so given the tiny size. Very neat work with the details. It's things like the red intake triangles that really sell the finished model. Also masking between the yellow nose stripes. I know how hard that was in 72nd so I can only imagine how fiddly it must have been in 144th. Andy Thanks, Andy! I'm a big fan of your work and your 1/72 build of the "McQuarrie X-Wing" inspired me to give this 1/144 rendition a go. The masking was indeed tricky at this scale but a steady hand and reading glasses prevailed in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwik Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 (edited) Hi! That's a really nice little Xwing! I'm planning on building the same version and your build is an inspiration! Great work! Ciao IWik PS Maybe some fake reflection (or at least some clear varnish) of light on the windows? Edited September 22, 2018 by iwik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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