WIP: Bandai Star Wars Tie Fighter

 

Here is where I left off with this model.  

 

 

 If you look close, you can see where George Lucas and his crew used WW2 Tamiya models to add to their Star Wars models.  I am pointing to a German tank jack.

 Washes similar to Tie Fighter

 Running wires down the stand and painting them black. 

 Testing the LED

You can see the light through the windows.



WIP: Bandai Star Wars Tie Fighter

Decided to build one of my many Bandai models too.  I have too many projects going on at once.  This time I decided to use LEDs to light the model up.  Got the idea from David from Plasmo on YouTube.  Great guy and great modeler.

 Here is the kit

 3mm red LEDs

 Drilling out light sources

 LED fits!

And God said, "Let there be light!" 

Interior color 

Life size model for inspiration. 

Imperial Assault: Painting Fantasy Flight Game Figures

For Christmas, my mom got my boys (per my influence, hahaha) the game Imperial Assault by Fantasy Flight.  These are the guys that make Descent and X-Wing.  Both GREAT games.  Since we are all Star Wars fans, except my wife, she can care less and thinks we are all geeks, I figured this game would be fantastic for us to all to play. 

When I opened the box, I found a TON of goodies, and especially the figures.  WOW, great sculpts. As soon as I saw them, I KNEW I had to paint them....yes I know, my wife is correct, I AM a geek. 

So before my boys got the box for Xmas, I figured I would paint for them Luke Skywalker and his dad, Darth Vader.  I think they came out great!  Wasn't hard and being there are a ton of reference photos out there, it was easy painting. 

   

 Father and Son.  After this, I repainted the bases a darker grey.  No flock or anything....so liberating!

 Royal Guard Champion

 Royal Guard.  The red on the base means "elite" unit version. 

 Group of 4 Royal Guard

 IG-88.  He was a separate purchase.

 Imperial Officers.  Their ranks are legit!  The grey haired gy, is the highest rank and will be my "elite" model. He is also wearing black gloves (which you cant see in this photo)

 Han Solo.  Separate purchase

 Light Grey primer and then I used a diluted wash on him to "pre shade" a bit. 

He is a Hero character, I forget his name. 

That's it so far.  I have A LOT more models to paint.  Pretty easy so far, and funny enough, the Storm Troopers are the hardest being all white!!!

 

This was the first Fantasy Flight model I painted from their Descent game.  An Ettin.  I painted the base to look like a dungeon floor.

 

FINISHED - Bandai A-Wing Star Fighter

Finished my A-Wing Star Fighter for the Face Book Group Build.  Only 3 people finished their entries.  My A-Wing, 3 droids; BB-8, R2-D2 and 3CPO and a Batmobile. All nice entries.  To be honest, mine had the most work, best paint and weathering.....BUT I didn't win in the polling.  Medal went to the Batmobile.  Oh well, sometimes the best do not win when there is a group vote.  All entries however were very cool.  Glad the modeler won his first "Basement Air Force " medal. 

Below is the finished model.  This Bandai kit was a joy to build, paint and loot at.  Red things in the cannons are
Lasers"

Enjoy. 

 Little Bit of engine glow

 Used Citadel shades to make the engine glow.

WIP: Continuing the A- Wing Star Fighter.

More work on the A Wing.  Decals on, washes on.  I am using Ammo Panel Line washes and a little bit of the Tamiya Wash for the cockpit.  They are visible in photo below. 

 



 Wiping off exess wash.  The Ammo PLW is great!  I don't even need mineral spirits to wipe off dried wash.  Simply rub off with q-tip. 

Here you can see the right side that has the wash compared to the left side that does not.  Very subtle.

Guns on, washes on, decals on pilot in his front office.   All i need to do now is some streaking.  I will not go nuts with the weathering on this model.  OH, I need to work on engine glow also.  I actually also did not like the contrast in the wash on the green parts, so I used darker wash to help it pop more.  



WIP: Bandai Star Wars A-Wing Star Fighter

This kit is a beauty to work on.  Everything fits together like a glove.  You don't even need glue!  I have however applied glue to certain parts.  Amazing kit so far, I am buying multiples!

Masking away!

I must say, this model looks great so far.  I am glad I changed the color form Red to Green.  

 Going to add engine glow to enhance engines. 

New WIP - Star Wars Models from Bandai

I always wanted to build a Star Wars model.  The Revell models available in the US SUCK.  I dislike them greatly.  So, I found out about the Bandai models available in Japan.  I found them on Amazon and order them regularly.  These things are amazing.  The engineering, the quality, the subjects.  Here are just some of them that I have.  Missing from the photo are a Tie Advanced and a Tie Interceptor. 

So I decided to build the A-Wing as my first model.  A FB group I belong to, The Basement Air Force is having a Sci-Fi Group Build, so I chose this model for that build.  This group is a fantastic group for model builders.  Great group of guys from around the world, no jerks, just friends.  The man who started the group, Ralph is a fantastic guy. 

 Pre shading

 All the parts pre shaded

 Final base coats down

Color is a Vallejo Model Air color, (need to get correct color).

 Love airbrushing with Tamiya paints.  Terrible to paint on with a brush, amazing by air brush.  Mixed in retarder (for self leveling) and yellow capped Lacquer Thinner for good mixing and flow. 

Here we are starting to piece the model together in prep for a clear coat to start weathering. 

 Pre shading really looks good, I am satisfied.  Pilot looks pretty good too. Might add some ore details to him.  I free handed the front office details.