Kitchen Modeller Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Hi folks - I see there’s been a lot of A-wing related content on here recently so I hope you still like Rebel starfighters that have that particular designation😂 I’m building this Bandai kit in an effort to do something different. I’ve just built ww2 fighters since I got back into the hobby and wanted to do something that didn’t have camo on it. I’ve had this kit in my stash for months so this fit the bill... Instead of doing an A-wing with that colour scheme (you know the one) I wanted to do something that was abit different- as in not necessarily canon - so mine is going to be a blue a-wing - more in line with a war wary F 16 crossed with a P 47... if that makes sense... it will still be an A-Wing with those sweet sports car lines but just a bit funky. I saw this colour scheme displayed at a model show and thought that it looked amazing... so this will be my take on it... it's basically going to be blue and cream with a steel metal finish on the engine nacelles. So started ripping bits off the sprue: After a brief clean, they were ready for priming - gotta love Bandai 👍 I used tamiya fine primer for this - sprayed from an airbrush... After 20 minutes these guys are ready for paint. Constructed and painted the cockpit tub: Nowhere near as nice as other people’s efforts I’ve seen on here but it does the job... Forgot to take pictures of this next bit but basically I started with the main shell - upper and lower airframe and preshaded the panel lines with tamiya sea blue - which is a very dark green blue colour... then put down a very thinned cost of the base colour which was white with a tiny drop of tamiya medium blue - and a tiny drop of flat earth... for the blue parts I did the same process using a mix of tamiya medium blue and flat blue... I was really happy with the blue tone I got here - it’s a very nice colour - deep but vibrant. I was happy with the cream colour too - it came out more a grey blue but it works... The following night I masked some bits off and started on the metal finish parts. I used Vallejo metal colour for these - colour is steel. I tried to highlight the panel lines with dull aluminum- used tamiya x21a to thin it but it didn’t work particularly well... To judge how I was going I put the bird together- as it’s a snap fit, I can do that... Coming along but really I wasn’t happy with those engine nacelles- it was the colour I wanted but not the result. I wanted them to shine a bit more. So the next day, I hit them with some Alclad airframe aluminum... just focusing on the centre of the panels... Much better - really like how these turned out - pretty much exactly what I was after - which almost never happens so... result👍 That's it for now. Amazing how quickly you can advance these kits - basically no build time - just painting happiness 😀 More coming soon... Cheers John 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Have to agree, that blue tone is sweet. Nice color scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulf Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 I like your approach with the aluminum engines. It goes very well with the blue. The A-Wing is one of Bandai's best kits, imo. It's a joy to paint and assemble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 16 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: just painting happiness I'll second that, Great result. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 Thanks for the nice comments guys - I've progressed things a little - mostly just a few tidy ups here and there. I was wondering what to do about the engines - the kit is equiped for a LED light insert however I won't be opting for that - as cool as it would be - This A-wing will be sitting on its legs, just like all of my other fighters. But I wanted to do something other than just painting the engine exhaust black... This is the piece that sits at the back of the engine nacelle - I painted it black, then sprayed a white dot in the centre - then went over that with Tamiya clear red... Here it is with the window included in the kit... Not sure if this works or not - The idea is that the engines are cooling down after a flight but you can still see some residual heat... It actually looks almost passable in real life but you can kinda see a faint glow in the photo above... I put the model together again to see what else I need to do before I put on a gloss coat.. So still a few tidy ups to do before I put on any clear coats but it's nice to get an idea of what the finished model will look like... I'm happy with the colour combinations - I need to decide if I'm going to mask off some panels and paint them different colours as per the canon version - I like the idea but also like the clean look of this thus far, Suggestions are welcome Thanks for checking in Cheers John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 She's looking awesome in those colours John! Great painting as well, very smooth. For the engine glow, how would the clear part look with some clear red on the back of it? Would that be too much? 3 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: I need to decide if I'm going to mask off some panels and paint them different colours as per the canon version The clean lines on her and the painting you've done make me want to say keep her as is. Maybe as a commanders personal fighter? But it's Star Wars, everything looks beaten up and repaired dozens of times, go for the different panels! It's more painting fun! Will be fun, whichever way you go! Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 11, 2019 Author Share Posted August 11, 2019 16 hours ago, Bugle07 said: For the engine glow, how would the clear part look with some clear red on the back of it? Would that be too much? Hey ya Geoff! Yeah, I did play with that idea but thought it would be too much - just wanted to hint at the fact that the engines had been recently used as opposed to currently engaged... I quite like what I've done so I'm at the stage where I do want to mess with it 16 hours ago, Bugle07 said: But it's Star Wars, everything looks beaten up and repaired dozens of times, go for the different panels! It's more painting fun! Yep, I'll probably fill in a couple of panels - not as many as the canon version but maybe 2 - just to break up the scheme abit and also acknowledge the original... just a slightly different colour to the base coat. It's looking quite sleek and nice at the moment but I'm hoping the weathering will give it a really beaten up look - going for a 'well used F 16' type of feel. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulf Posted August 12, 2019 Share Posted August 12, 2019 I would just discolor some panels with a filter/wash like on the sequel A-Wing: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 12, 2019 Author Share Posted August 12, 2019 10 hours ago, Wulf said: I would just discolor some panels with a filter/wash like on the sequel A-Wing: Thanks Wulf - I think you're right - I am going to discolour a few panels - however I'm just going to do this at the weathering stage so it will be done with oils as opposed to the airbrush - I'm hoping it will be even more subtle this way. Re. the new A-wing - I was kinda disappointed with the design of the new one - it lost the slick lines of the old one I think... Instead of a Porsche, it became a Volvo It's a shame as I love the new X-wing design - This will be the next sci fi model I think So I made a little progress on Blue Leader (which is what it's called now) It got a clear coat - I used Alclad Aqua gloss for the first time - I'm always nervous using a new clear coat of any type - but this stuff is really nice - was easy to apply, it dried super fast and the finish was spot on. I used this because last time I tired to weather a natural metal finish using alclad paints, the enamel thinner in the washes completely destroyed the alclad - I'm hoping aquagloss will stop that happening again... With a nice smooth finish I threw on some decals - There are decals included in the kit but to be honest they looked pretty horrible - as in very very thick - most were decals that discolour panel lines so they weren't needed... I thought about not using any decals at all - but then looking through my stash of unused, decals from previous kits, I found a few that I that could be used on this. So I applied a few - plus a few stincils decals - they all came from spitfire and hawker typhoon kits so I think they're appropriate:) One of the ideas I had was to have an open cockpit - the kit comes with 2 canopies - so I thought I could have a crack at sawing one of them into 2 pieces - the windscreen and an opening section - I thought if I made a mess of it, I could always use the other one - so using my brand new razor saw, I made the cut and it came out nice:) However, a new problem was then presented - I didn't make a huge effort with the cockpit - especially the seat which would now be very visible to the viewer... So I took it out, stripped it, removed the middle bit of plastic that holds the pilot and re gave it a repaint... I actaully ended doing this 3 times as I wasn't happy with the result - I was going to go with a brown leather look on the back plate - kinda like the millennium falcon but couldn't get it to look right - I ended up with the result seen above which was as good I I could get it. With the modified canopy: The seatbelts are Photo etch from Eduard... WW2 spitfire seat belts but I think it works... So just need to give put some gloss over those decals, then its time for washes... Thanks for checking in... Cheers John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Very very nice! I just got my first Banda (the 1/72nd X-wing), I can see already that she won't be the last. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenBills Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Very nice! Love the blue tone you've got going on here. I actually just ordered a thing of Aqua Gloss. Glad to see it's good stuff. Did you thin it at all? If so, with what? Can't wait to try it out. Looking good! SB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 10 hours ago, Hook said: Very very nice! I just got my first Banda (the 1/72nd X-wing), I can see already that she won't be the last. Cheers, Andre Thanks Andre - I'm the same - I want to build up a nice collection of these gorgeous kits - X-wing, Y-wing, Tie fighters - so many nice ones - so hard to choose:) Got on with a spot of weathering last night - first up was a general wash - I made up a dark wash of dark grey using Black and white oil paints heavily thinned - this went on the blue areas - then mixed up another batch of dark blue - Ultramarine blue, mixed with white and a little brown for the cream areas - I made the washes quite thin as I didn't want to over empathise the panel lines - I think they are quite prominent already: These washes were applied all over, allowed to dry and then wiped off with a dry paper towel and some cotton buds. Once the model was dry I weathered parts of the model with uncut oils... The above photo shows the engine nacelle with Abteilung Black smoke applied around the panel lines - this was allowed to dry for about 10 minutes - then I went in a blended it with a dry soft bristle brush - and then finally wiped the centre of the panel lines with a cotton bud to remove paint from these areas: This gives a nice subtle effect - it dirties things up while making it shine more at the same time I then went to work on the upper side of the model - I wanted to discolour some of the panels so used some Abteilung Industrial brown mixed with white and applied this to some panels - I used this to add shadows to the some of the blue areas also - this was applied as before - I used I clean brush dipped in thinners to remove paint I didn't want... Each time I did this, I left a subtle effect as seen above - so the idea is that when you do this multiple times you build on the last one creating a nice effect that is layered... I also added some highlights to some raised panel areas or areas I wanted to empathise - I used a very light blue and then white for this... This was left to dry overnight - I've found that it's good to take a break and let the paint cure as it's only then that you'll see the actual effect - it changes quite alot after drying... Here it is this morning: You can see the effect is nice and not too harsh - so I'll keep building on this until I'm happy with the overall look - this process is time consuming but it must be said, it's great fun and a nice relaxing way to spend an evening - the best thing about it is that if you are not happy with how it looks you can easily remove all the paint and start again - it's very forgiving. Thanks for checking in John 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 34 minutes ago, StevenBills said: Very nice! Love the blue tone you've got going on here. I actually just ordered a thing of Aqua Gloss. Glad to see it's good stuff. Did you thin it at all? If so, with what? Can't wait to try it out. Looking good! SB Good timing SB:) I found Aqua gloss to be pretty easy to use - no thinner and don't shake the bottle - apparently it doesn't like it:) I applied it as per normal - a misty light coat first - let that dry which only takes a few minutes, then a full medium coat, allow to dry and then another medium coat - Best thing I've found is that it didn't dull the aluminum at all really... One thing to watch out for is be careful using lacquer based clear coats over aqua gloss as this can cause cracking - so no testors dull coat for example - any acrylic matt varnish will work fine... (or so I've been told!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenBills Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 19 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: Good timing SB:) I found Aqua gloss to be pretty easy to use - no thinner and don't shake the bottle - apparently it doesn't like it:) I applied it as per normal - a misty light coat first - let that dry which only takes a few minutes, then a full medium coat, allow to dry and then another medium coat - Best thing I've found is that it didn't dull the aluminum at all really... One thing to watch out for is be careful using lacquer based clear coats over aqua gloss as this can cause cracking - so no testors dull coat for example - any acrylic matt varnish will work fine... (or so I've been told!) Good to know! Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 The weathering with oils looks awesome John, this is pretty much how I go about it but on this one in particular I think you've absolutely nailed it! Aqua gloss gets a thumbs up from me too though decals have silvered a bit on both my f35 and harrier, I guess because the surface isn't smooth enough. Maybe I'm not laying enough coats down, shooting too close, wrong pressure? so many things to get right! The A-wing looks ace, will have to get myself over here soon, I can hear a half finished enterprise-d from my youth calling! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 17, 2019 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 4 hours ago, SaminCam said: The weathering with oils looks awesome John, this is pretty much how I go about it but on this one in particular I think you've absolutely nailed it! Aqua gloss gets a thumbs up from me too though decals have silvered a bit on both my f35 and harrier, I guess because the surface isn't smooth enough. Maybe I'm not laying enough coats down, shooting too close, wrong pressure? so many things to get right! The A-wing looks ace, will have to get myself over here soon, I can hear a half finished enterprise-d from my youth calling! Thanks Sam I sprayed the aqua gloss pretty much as normal - light coat, 2 medium coats - high enough pressure - I think about 15-20 psi and spray about 6 inches away from the model... when it's dry I might try sanding it down a little - just to make sure you've got a smooth surface for decals - I know the thought of that might be kinda scary but as long as you use high grains you'll be fine - finish with polishing grades and it will be as smooth as a baby's... You can do this with any gloss coat as far as I know. Hope that is of some help:) So I've been tinkering away at the A-wing - did some additional oil weathering just to build up the layers a bit more... just did as I did before using the oil paint neat and using a dry brush to blend it... In some places I removed the paint completely as I wasn't happy with the tone or the colour - but as much fun as this process is, you have to stop somewhere - so I'll let this dry off for a few more days and then look at putting the final clear coat on. I started work on the base - I'm doing as per my usual method, using plaster of paris in a lego and sandpaper mould. The sandpaper is low grain (about 200) and is waterproof - very important! The little box in the corner was made with sheet plasticard - this is going to be a maintenance hatch on the landing pad... It's attached to the sand paper with blu-tac. I poured in the plaster... When that had dried (about 8 hours) I removed the lego: My cunning plan worked Then I just smoothed out the edges... Hopefully the makings of a nice landing pad... I also painted up the guns These were sprayed with aluminum (Alclad) then I went over it with very thinned black - once dry I used a hard bristled brush to knock away some of the black paint revealing the silver underneath - Not sure I like these to be honest so might have to do some more work on them... So that's it for now - thanks for checking in...! John 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Well that was a catch up worth seeing. It's coming on in leaps and bounds yet very subtle at the same time. The plaster base came out very nicely too. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugle07 Posted August 20, 2019 Share Posted August 20, 2019 Really like the subtle weathering, it's built up into a great effect now. Drybrush some aluminium on the guns maybe? Go from one direction for a light effect? Good use of old decals as well! Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 21, 2019 Author Share Posted August 21, 2019 On 8/17/2019 at 6:00 PM, Pete in Lincs said: Well that was a catch up worth seeing. It's coming on in leaps and bounds yet very subtle at the same time. The plaster base came out very nicely too. Pete Thanks Pete On 8/21/2019 at 6:42 AM, Bugle07 said: Really like the subtle weathering, it's built up into a great effect now. Drybrush some aluminium on the guns maybe? Go from one direction for a light effect? Good use of old decals as well! Geoff Thanks Geoff - I did a little more on the guns as you'll see below - just highlighted some areas with aluminium paint. Continued work on the base - I cut some lines using the back of a blade to create the concrete slabs - then went about adding some scratch built details... I created a "step" in the maintenance hatch - then added in the copper wires, some bits of an old sprue and some leftover PE... Then I put down some paint... Some preshading with straight black - I went heavy with this as I need to make sure no white was showing through the cracks. Followed by some coats of dark and light grey - I used a few different shades here to build up some variation Then some weathering with some light coats of brown... Finally some details were painted and some oil stains added using Mig Engine Grease enamel. I also put down some light brown pigments - again to add some more variation in colour. So at this point, she's more or less done - she had a matt coat applied a few nights ago - I used Tamiya XF 86 for this - I didn't go too heavy with this as I wanted a semi satin finish - last night I added the canopy pieces - and super glued the opening section after masking it and painting the sides and bottom. Apologies for the poor photography - I'll get round to doing some beauty shots in the coming days. The canopy didn't come out a nicely as I hoped but other than that, I'm pretty happy with this. The kit was amazing - there was no glue used outside the opening section of the canopy - being able to take it apart for painting was a huge time saver. This resulted in one of my quickest ever builds - as a airplane modeller, it was a bit of a revelation - being able to build and paint in sections instead of the usual, construction, primer, paint build process. I really enjoyed the oil paint weathering and feel like I improved over my last effort. The NMF engines came out very nicely so was quite pleased with that also. I suspect a few more star wars bandai kits will make into the stash shortly. Thanks to all who followed along with me and for your kind words - all appreciated. I'll post some pictures in the RFI section soon... Cheers John 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Love that base! Great trick with the sandpaper. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 Both are brilliant. Keep them coming! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted August 22, 2019 Author Share Posted August 22, 2019 Thanks for the kind words @Hook @Pete in Lincs - I've posted some nicer pics in the RFI section: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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