Blue Leader - Bandai 1/72 X-Wing

[Ventsislav Gramatski]

Hello everyone!

 

Another recently finished build, along with my Rebel T-65 X-Wings of Red Squadron - this is Bandai's 1/72 kit of the T-70 X-Wing from the sequel (Disney) Star Wars trilogy. The less I say about my opinion of these movies, the better, and while I did find most designs bland and uninspired, the new X-Wing was very nice! I got this back in 2015 when it was released and I've only managed to completed it a few weeks ago. The build process was very fast, two afternoons and it can be completed even faster if you do not paint or weather.

 

Painted with a 50:50 mix of Mr. Color H338 Light Gray and H11 White, practically the same color as the kit plastic, over a preshaded surface done with black washes. I didn't want mine to be Blue-3 from the movies (the only paint scheme seen), so I decided this would be a New Republic squadron leader, Blue 1. The squadron markings are placed similar to the older Rebel ones, I've added some paneling of various colors, most of the chrome plating decals weren't used opting instead for the fuselage color, and I've replaced BB-8 with an R5 droid taken from one of my Fine Mold's T-65 kits. Weathered using enamel washes, oil paints and soft pastels. Finally, sealed up with a few thin coats of 50:50 Mr. Color Clear and Clear Flat.

 

I may have overdone the weathering a bit but it was difficult given the light base color - unfortunately, the photos turned out too dark but it's a lot lighter in person!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Criticism and feedback welcome!  

 

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Ventsislav Gramatski

[HoolioPaulio]

Amazing finish, looks great.

[Nev]

Cracking looking model.  I'm no photography expert, but it may look darker because you have a white background, maybe the white model would show up better against a darker background?