1:79 Bandai X-Wing Red 5

[Marko@Rockvoice]

Hey everyone!

I couldn't resist buying the new Bandai kits...
The X-Wing kit is a great build, nice crisp details, proportions really close to the ANH X-Wings.
My calculations have shown that is about 1:79 instead of 1:72 scale.

However, with some minor modifications, here it is:

next to the Fine Molds Red 3:

And here the 2 R2 units next to each other (left: Bandai; right: Fine Molds)

You can follow the building progress here:
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1143

Thanks for looking,

Marko

 

[StevenBills]

Wow, these things look pretty slick with a nice paint job!

 

[Jun Austria]

I have 7 of this already on my stash ( and 6 Finemolds ). Hope to start with the ANH squadron after I finish my neverending Revell AT-AT.
1/75 you say? I hope this wont cause a riot here. hehehe
Anyway, as always. Fantastic work on your X-Wing. I always admire your work on the Finemolds 1/48 X-Wing.

Cheers!!

 

[32buds]

Great job, one of the best x-wings I've seen.
The panel lines look fine. I know some reviewers had been critical about the width and depth, but I don't see any issues at all.
What were your "minor modifications"?

 

[Marko@Rockvoice]

Thanks guys!
I'm starting to really like the new Bandai kits, although I was extremly critical at first...

1/75 you say? I hope this wont cause a riot here. hehehe

No, the Fine Molds 1:72 X-wing is actually something around 1:74 while the Bandai is something like 1:79,2 - almost 1:80.
But the good thing is - Bandai got the scale of the Tie Fighter right. The Fine Molds Tie's were waaaay too small to be in scale with the X-wings.
Here a comparison of Fine Molds and Bandai Tie X-1:

What were your "minor modifications"?

- The canopy frame was thinned out - the kit part is a little tooo chubby.
- the engine nozzles were replaced with Fine Molds nozzles. The kit parts... ehm... don't look good
- the nose was sanded to correct shape
- some smaller things like drilling the lasers et.

 

[Hunk a Junk]

Marko, I've always loved your paint jobs. You really nail the colors and the weathering! Can you walk us through your color choices and techniques? What's your base color? Do you use pastel chalks, do you use washes, etc.? In other words, I want to be you.

 

[Marko@Rockvoice]

Can you walk us through your color choices and techniques? What's your base color? Do you use pastel chalks, do you use washes, etc.?

Thanks!

I basically try to get as close as possible to the color variation that I want for the model. In some cases that is close to the "real" colors of the model, in some cases it is more the colors like "seen on screen"; for example I didnt want my Red 5 to be as beige/tan-colored as the studio model, so I picked the colors to match some studio light exposure photos.

Most of the time I use Vallejo Model Air Acrylics. For primer I used German Panzer Grey. The base color is a mix of white and aged white (which only works best over dark primer). I spray the base color in different stages and vary the opacity on areas with more details/shadowed areas for a besser 3D-effect.
For the red tone, I chose Ferrari red, although Fire Red would be closer to the red used by ILM; but I felt the lighter Ferrari red matches the on-screen color better.
The canopy blue is always a tough one... Stormy Sea Blue was the color used by ILM which is quite sensitive to lighting - sometimes it looks pale blue, sometimes is appears just grey... I chose a mixture of pale blue, light blueish gray and aged white.
After all paints are dried, I use a light wash of a dark brownish grey, applied very carefully.
In case of Red 5, I used some brown rust marks and some dark grey spots.
I get the most striking effects with chipping (maskol applied with a small sponge) and spraying the smoke and dirt with a thin airbrush needle.

Does that answer your questions?

 

[Hunk a Junk]

I get the most striking effects with chipping (maskol applied with a small sponge) and spraying the smoke and dirt with a thin airbrush needle.

Yeah, the chipping is really great! Is that the gray primer that we see when the maskol is peeled away or do you put down a lighter color before hitting it with the sponge? On ILM's models (in this example, the Falcon), they seem to have a dark gray undercoat followed by bright white followed by the top coat color. https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=B9FE0AEBDC25FDBC&id=B9FE0AEBDC25FDBC!4264&v=3

 

[Jun Austria]

Most of the time I use Vallejo Model Air Acrylics.

Marko. Any tip on using the Vallejo Model Air? I never use them before but I ordered a lot of them this week from Hobby Link Japan when it became available this week.
I hear stories of airbrush clogging using this paint. But I still want to try. What is your thinner paint ratio?

Cheers