My Bandai AT-ST

[Zuiun]

I know I don't post a lot of builds here, so let's try to change that...

My last two proper builds were the Bandai Snowspeeder (which I did post awhile ago), and a Finemolds Y-Wing (which I only have finished pics of, but have yet to post). So this time I decided to tackle the Bandai AT-ST.

The way I approach my Star Wars models is that unless it's an iconic ship, such as the Falcon, I'm less concerned with accuracy to any specific screen model, but more just trying to make it feel (in my mind) like it belongs in the world. So that being said, here we go...

Before I did anything, I gave all parts (while still on the sprues) a light primer with Tamiya Fine Surface Light Gray.

First up, a test fit of the cockpit. As with my experience with the Snowspeeder, so far everything was fitting flawlessly.



As those of you who have built this know, the cockpit really won't be visible at all once the model is complete. Even so, I couldn't help myself with painting it up -- if for no other reason than the practice. I looked up a few images of what the cockpit looks like... and then just decided to have fun with it.



And assembled...



And now for putting together the rest of the kit. But first I paused to dirty some stuff up. I knew that I wanted the bed between the head and the legs to be really dirty, so I figured I'd use some browns to pre-shade it. This plan would be foiled later when I decided to black base the model.... oh well.



All assembled. You have to admire the engineering of the Bandai kits, but if I'm being honest, I found the legs to be a bit tedious. I wound up splitting them up into two days.



As I said above, I decided after assembly to black base this one. Normally I pre-shade panel lines, but with all of the large, flat surfaces, I thought the black base / marbling technique might work pretty well. Unfortunately, between this and the gray base coat, it covered up most of my brown pre-shading.

For both this and the main gray coat, I decided to use Testor's Aztec airbrush paints. These are pre-thinned to nearly the consistency of water, so really lend themselves well to the black basing technique, where I want a lot of transparency with the coverage. Just a couple of things to note with them, though: the paints do tend to have a bit of a glossy sheen to them, and they aren't really well suited for complex masking. They work great for covering large surfaces and then protected with a gloss or dull coat, but sometimes masking tape can pull up the paint if used for detail work.



And now for the marbling... I did this in several thin layers, starting off with a mix of black and white, and then progressively adding more white to create the brighter highlight areas. Also, I intentionally wasn't super careful with my spray technique here, in some cases letting the paint spatter, which I was hoping would look like a water stains when the gray coat went on top...



And finally, the gray base coat. I created a light gray from the Aztec black and white, and then added just a couple of drops of yellow to the mix to create a slightly warm gray. The effect of the marbling under the base coat creates a very subtle, but nice color variation to the gray -- I boosted the contrast quite a bit in the below image for clarity. The actual in-person effect is very, very subtle.

I feel like this will give a great real-world worn effect when combined with the rest of the weathering.



And here we are with a light gloss coat in prep for weathering...



That's it for now. Hopefully more to come soon.

 

[Sindariel]

I like your color choices and weathering on the interior. Gives it the "muddy" Endor look.
Too bad,you don't see much of it, once it's assembled.

 

[adphill]

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the weathering.

 

[gedmac66]

Like how the different base and marbling/ splatter coats leave the larger surface areas with an uneven , slightly dimpled ‘ cast iron ‘ effect/ look
It really gives your model a sense of ‘ weight ‘ , of being heavy duty if you know what I mean .

Ged

 

[Zuiun]

The final paint / weathering is now done. So I decided to take a few beauty pics outside in natural light. I still need to build a base for it, so final final pics are yet to come...

 

[Sindariel]

Looks beatiful! The weathering is perfect. It absolutely needs to be placed in a litte diorama.

What did you use for the base coat and weathering?

 

[Zuiun]

Looks beatiful! The weathering is perfect. It absolutely needs to be placed in a litte diorama.

What did you use for the base coat and weathering?

For the base coat, I outlined most of that in my first post. It started with black, with mixes of gray airbrushed on top of that in a marble pattern. Then the main coat was a custom mix of gray -- basically I just eyeballed it until it looked right. Mostly white with a few drops of black and then a drop or two of yellow to warm it up a touch. I wish I could tell you the exact mix, but like I said, I just eyeballed it.

(Note to self: It would be helpful to write down the recipes of these kinds of mixes so I could match the colors when I do my AT-AT.)

(Also note to self: *laughs* Nice try.)

The weathering was a mix of several different techniques -- mostly to try some new things out.

The basic streaking and initial rust work was done with oils. I was a little nervous about this, as I've heard horror stories with reactions to Bandai plastic, but most of my research suggested that odorless terpenoid was pretty safe. I pre-tested this by literally soaking a piece of sprue in some terpenoid, letting it dry, and then testing for brittleness. I didn't notice any difference between a non-soaked piece of sprue.

After sealing the streaking with a gloss coat, I did a wash with some Nuln Oil -- my favorite substance for "dirty" washes. Most of this was wiped away to just leave grime in between panels, etc.

Then I used some dark gray and a small brush to create some paint chipping along edges. In some of these, I then used silver to further "chip" down to bare metal. I also dry brushed some silver along many of the edges, specifically around moving parts such as the joints of the legs to give the impression of long term wear-and-tear (this isn't super visible in photos, but is apparent in person).

Specific areas of rust were created with Mig Streaking Rust.

Final weathering was done with pastels. I really hit the undercarriage hard with the pastels -- browns, blacks, and rusts -- in order to create that "dirty engine" effect. Pastels were also used to darken the barrels of guns, create blaster burns on the hull, and heat discoloration on the vents on the back.