Efx X Wing

[PHArchivist]

Barry, I'm curious about the painting process...

I know/realize a paint master is rendered and submitted to the factory as a guide, and the run is hand-painted (as stated above).

But, though perhaps not up to the standards of our own master painters (DDymerski, RogueStudios, GunPowder, Ralphee, the list goes on), the factory paint-jobs are really professional, and to the general populus are likely comprable to what one of our own artists can produce. Heck, even my MR Falcon, with overdone airbrushing on the streaks, looks tuly like the original under the proper lighting.

So my questions are this: Besides the paint master, what other guidelines/instruction/parameters/training do the factory painters go through or receive? Are they trained and talented artists in their own right? Is there a fairly rigid selection process?

Have alwas been curious...

--R

 

[ralphee]

Well my name shouldnt even me mentioned in the same breath as the other guys lol, but i will say this, thats a really good question, ive also wondered, these guys on the line, even though we get a few shady replicas now and then.....still have quite a bit of talent!

Would be cool to know the ins and outs on this, are they already good artists, or merely trained for this job...and if so, got a job going mister? LOL.

lee

 

[vaderdarth]

That is good to hear Barry. Quality control will elmininate 99 percent of your painting issues. Just a simple visual inspection.

Dave

 

[eFXBarry]

We send out the paint master and swatches of paints/pastels that were used to weather the model. The factory in China then approach it from the point of view of mass production.

The paint department decide which markings or weathering can be achieved using masks - these can be self adhesive printed masks that lay on the model for things like the "red Five" call sign. Other masks for things like damage markings are often pieces of copper with the shape etched from the surface which are held against the model and a paint pad is applied through it. This is the tampo printing method, used for critical shapes that need to remain constant across production.

Other weathering is hand applied by the artist with brushes and air brushes following a master sample which is kept on station. Not one person weathers a model, the parts are painted at individual stages on the production line. Staff are trained individually, and work on the same sections each time.

Masking the call sign stripes.

Barry

 

[REL]

That's the way to do it. I used vinyl mask's to not only do the markings, but the black dirty marks everywhere on the ship, I drew them directly from the ortho pics of Red 5.

 

[eFXBarry]

Beautiful weathering, Richard.

Barry

 

[vaderdarth]

Wow REL, sweet bird.

Dave

 

[rahman]

Barry,

Please give us a little clue about the release date...

I have to make plans. Like saving my money, preparing the room for it and scheduling my holiday for the arrival of the package..


Please...

 

[propcollector]

I would like to know what this will set us back?

 

[Jedi-72]

From one of Barry's earlier posts:


"In answer to the burning question of the day regarding this model - price - it's $1199. We tried as hard as we could to keep it as low as practicable given these harsh economic times. But in the end we lost our battle to keep it below $1000."

 

[eFXBarry]

Hey folks,

Here are some pictures of a certain Luke Skywalker at the controls of his X-wing. We received a couple of factory samples this weekend so here are some pics as promised.

Luke pilot figure.

Luke and R2.

Right side.

Left side.

On display stand.

Barry

 

[kitbasher]

can't see the right/left pics...

 

[temponaut]

Did you try refreshing your browser? All of the pics are showing up for me.

Looks great, Barry! Can hardly wait to place my order.

 

[vaderdarth]

those aren't working for me either.

Sweet pics though.

Dave

 

[AJK001]

Barry,

The pictures look really great, thanks for keeping us up to date!

 

[Robiwon]

I'm no expert on X-Wings and I'm sure everyone is going to go over this model with a fine tooth comb, I also know this is a prototype. But is it just me or does it look to clean and bright? Yeah I know photo f-stops, exposers, blah blah, but it looks too.......nice and clean.

 

[REL]

Wow! That's beautiful.

 

[vaderdarth]

It is by far, the best commercially available SS replica thus far.

Dave

 

[micdavis]

Lt. Dan!!!!!

 

[PHArchivist]

OMG :lol MAO!

Lt. Dan!!!!!