1/72 & 1/144 Bandai X-Wing Red 5 *Complete*

[JNordgren42]

I picked up the Rogue One 1/72 and 1/144 X-Wing set and am building both as Red 5. I've got the small one based out in Mr. Color Off White (C-69) over a black undercoat. It's seems like it's slightly more neutral than Archive X Reefer White or Tamiya Insigna white, but after weathering I think it will be a good color (plus it seems to me like the film shifted everything considerably towards a cooler color temperature anyway).

On the 1/72, I tried to break it down into subassemblies that are complete as possible while still allowing good angles for paint coverage and minimizing any visible seam lines with some judicious sanding. I've finished the primer coat on the larger one (I may give the upper hull one more coat since a touch of the red is still showing through on the stripes) and will base it out in the same Off White, but I plan on trying to pre-shade for the first time instead of going for an overall dark undercoat. I picked up a cheap copy of an Iwata H-PC and with the .2mm needle the spray pattern seems very fine and controllable. I've also got Luke mostly finished, and am underway on R2. It's nice the kit gives you two copies of him so I'll probably paint both and use whichever comes out better (although I wish whatever Byzantine licensing they have in the U.S. market didn't prevent them from having full unseated figures).

This will be my first fully airbrushed build after getting back into the hobby, I'm trying to ratchet up my game as I go along.

1/144 after base color coat:

Upper hull, pic is slightly out of focus

Use the force, Luke...

R2, that stabilizer's broken loose again...
I need to dry brush the silver and metallic blue to brighten him back up.

All of the subassemblies glued where applicable, sanded, and ready for paint. I left a few parts on the sprues where the gates won't be seen.

Upper hull after two coats of primer. I'm debating on whether to give it one more or not to kill the remaining touch of red plastic.

Blaster canons after priming. The cans are all glued and sanded but the tips are just snap fit so I can remove them later to make the striping easier.

 

[Chrisisall]

Oh, I am watching this thread!

 

[Analyzer]

figures look great! Looking forward to the rest

 

[JNordgren42]

Oh, I am watching this thread!

Thanks! I hope I don't disappoint.

figures look great! Looking forward to the rest

Thanks Analyzer!

More progress from tonight. I spent two hours on the airbrush and got a big chunk of black sprayed for the preshading.

I think it's not bad for my first time, there's lots of room for improvent, but fairly happy so far. The proof will come when I gey the base color on.

I started on the less important bits and worked my way up to the fuselage halves. I still have to do the wings and laser canons tomorrow. I also had a little oops and splashed some thinner on the canopy frame and nose cone when I was cleaning out my airbrush. I'll have to wipe them down, sand if necessary and repaint them.

Fuselage halves:

Engine bits:

Curse my metal body!

 

[JNordgren42]

Last night was an exercise in frustration. My cheap airbrush and the Tamiya flat black were completely refusing to cooperate. I had to give up on preshading the wings and laser canons, and switched to the Mr. Color off white to give the first batch of parts a coat of the base color. That was also and exercise in frustration, but at least I got something accomplished. The fuselage halves will definitely need another voat, but they're starting to look the part.

Tonight was a completely different story. I did some research and determined that my cheap airbrush is prone to air leaks in the nozzle due to poor manufacturing and a cheap tiny o-ring. I gave the nozzle some love with a miniscule little scrap of PTFE tape which fixed the air leak. That, combined with picking up a bottle of Mr. Color black resulted in an enjoyable session and finishing the rest of the preshading.

Despite having a much better time tonight, I'm seriously eying a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline as an upgrade to my Chinese Iwata knock off. That looks like a sweet bit of kit and I've always had an affinity for good German engineering and machining.

 

[JNordgren42]

I got everything base coated last night. I'm pretty happy with how the preshading came out, it's subtle and doesn't show up very well in these pics, but I can definitely see it by eye. Now that I'm getting used to the quirks of my airbrush, it's a much more pleasant experience painting (I still want to upgrade to that H&S Evolution ). Now begins the fun part. Masking and painting color panels starts tonight.

 

[JNordgren42]

I got the majority of the red sprayed on both models with Mr. Color C89 Russet. It's much lighter and more saturated in the pictures than it is in person. I used the negative side of the stickers for the masks on the small one and I still need to figure out a strategy to mask the remaining four stripes on each wing. While the bigger one was still fiddly to mask off, I was able to do it all in one shot. I also used liquid mask for some paint chipping. I'm really happy with how it came out, especially the larger one.

1/144

1/144 wings. I need to paint the remaining stripes and put the gap back into the first ones.

1/72 test fit

 

[JNordgren42]

I got all the basic colors on the 1/72 version sprayed this weekend and assembled the ship. I'm very happy with how things came out and now it's time to weather the hell out of it.

 

[Analyzer]

You've got a great foundation going. Now the fun part, weathering!

 

[thud83]

I never get tired of seeing other people's X-Wing builds. Keep the pics coming!

 

[JNordgren42]

I never get tired of seeing other people's X-Wing builds. Keep the pics coming!

Thanks!

Speaking of more pics, I'm calling the 1/72 model done. I may touch up some of the weathering later on, but I'm pretty chuffed with how it came out. It looks like it's ready to murder a couple hundred thousand pipe fitters, iron workers, and storm troopers on the Death Star.

Now to finish the teeny tiny 1/144 version.

 

[Chrisisall]

Absolutely brilliant. Your weathering is peerless IMO.

 

[JNordgren42]

Absolutely brilliant. Your weathering is peerless IMO.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm really enjoying being back into modeling.

 

[Analyzer]

Excellent work,

I love the nice faded/muted tones rather than the strong contrasted tones you often see

Helps it look more in scale and it blends everything together

 

[Chrisisall]

Excellent work,

I love the nice faded/muted tones rather than the strong contrasted tones you often see

Helps it look more in scale and it blends everything together

That Rebel scum achieved a balance rarely seen.

 

[JNordgren42]

Excellent work,

I love the nice faded/muted tones rather than the strong contrasted tones you often see

Helps it look more in scale and it blends everything together

Thanks! The weathering knocked back the saturation a fair amount. I used a combination of washes and AK Interactive burned jet engine and city dirt pigment powders. The city dirt is a light grey and really helps to blend everything in and give it that "lived in" Star Wars look. I gave it a final base color mist coat that brought it down the rest of the way. I think I went a touch heavy on the mist coat on the nose, but it's a minor thing.

 

[Hagoth]

This turned out great! Never get tired of watching an X-Wing project. Nice project to get back into the craft with.

 

[JNordgren42]

This turned out great! Never get tired of watching an X-Wing project. Nice project to get back into the craft with.

Thanks! This is my second bigger project. My first was the 1/144 Falcon. I hadn't bought the airbrush yet so it's done with rattle cans and decals, but I'm happy with how that came out.

 

[JNordgren42]

I'm making progress on the 1/144 model. I've got about half the colors masked and sprayed. This is the most fiddly masking I've ever had to to, but it's kind of fun. I still need to fix the first red stripe on each wing, but that should be pretty easy.

Parts lined up next to its big brother.

 

[cdyoung]

Both X-wing models look great. Thanks for sharing your paint details and progress.