X-wing color help.

T

talktalk

New Member
Hi everyone,

this may have been asked before,but I'm new to this site?,I'm currently starting a build on a pro shop x-wing,I was wondering what the main color of the ship is,I've read on here that people have sprayed the ship black,then gloss white and buffed down,and I've also read on other sites that the main color was camo grey.?,has there ever been a article from the ILMer's regarding the x-wings color?.

Any help would be great,

Regards,

Rob.
 
Prime it black, spray it white, youll be happy trust me, i used gloss on mine and rubbed the hell out of it, you could go for something less brutal and semi gloss it, then scuff and rub.
Ive never gone with the camo grey theory, even on Red 3 (very dirty bird) there is white evident, its a matter of weathering IMO.
What X are you painting? please dont say Red 5 lol.

bests.....lee
 
Not trying to be an ass here but....why gloss or semi? if your end result is a dull white then wouldnt flat white be better?
Im asking not saying, Trying to understand the use of the gloss white. Secondly...what does the black serve?
Keep in mind....im not being a smart ass. just wondering why.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralphee @ Mar 10 2007, 02:38 PM) [snapback]1436746[/snapback]</div>
Prime it black, spray it white, youll be happy trust me, i used gloss on mine and rubbed the hell out of it, you could go for something less brutal and semi gloss it, then scuff and rub.
Ive never gone with the camo grey theory, even on Red 3 (very dirty bird) there is white evident, its a matter of weathering IMO.
What X are you painting? please dont say Red 5 lol.

bests.....lee
[/b]
Click to expand...
 
OK well the reason for gloss, i have no clue other than ILM used it and its more durable to rubbing, if you look at these birds, there all pretty scuffed and scratched, even my own build has small surface rubs in the paint now. This all adds to a better replica IMO and adds a touch of what really went down in the ILM shop.
As for black, thats obvious, you rub down to it in some areas, it forms great chip marks to the undercoat and rubs away leaving a metallic effect.
Its possible some X wings even had other colors as an undercoat i places to get a gradient of various wear and tear.

lee
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralphee @ Mar 10 2007, 12:22 PM) [snapback]1436772[/snapback]</div>
OK well the reason for gloss, i have no clue other than ILM used it and its more durable to rubbing, if you look at these birds, there all pretty scuffed and scratched, even my own build has small surface rubs in the paint now. This all adds to a better replica IMO and adds a touch of what really went down in the ILM shop.
As for black, thats obvious, you rub down to it in some areas, it forms great chip marks to the undercoat and rubs away leaving a metallic effect.
Its possible some X wings even had other colors as an undercoat i places to get a gradient of various wear and tear.

lee
[/b]
Click to expand...


Wern't only a few ILM x-wings done this way?
 
You tell me. Im not saying all were done via this method, various ways were used to make them look beaten up, Red 3 seems to have had a drillbit ripped up and around the paint work to me lol.
It works for Red Leader anyways, its up to the individual really, ive seen a lot of pics of T65's in process at ILM of late, they all seem to have the black undercoat, sometimes not shot over the whole model.
Im not sure if gloss white was used on all of them, but then i was only 3 when ANH launched and dont know many of the ILM guys :lol

lee
 
I have a kit built up and been holding off on the painting trying to decide which route to go.

I though maybe I would try both methods on a much smaller cheapy model just to see which I liked best.
 
That sounds a good idea cessna, wouldnt hurt to do a test run, im not a fan of the grey usage on them though, to me all X wings are white and dirtied down with every trick in the book lol.
Even excessive washes seem to make them look to "model" like. Ive used washes VERY sparingly on my build, i went for simple rust orange and used the speckle method to dirty the detailed areas like the R2 strip and buttplate and it just feels and looks right to me.
I was looking at the Revell show pics of Red 5 as it goes, even the original paint on that bird looks to be a white basecoat and a lot of dark airbrushing.

lee
 
Wow,thanks for all the info.

Ralphee,I have seen your work on your x-wing,it looks awesome,i think I'll go down the same route as you (painting wise),I don't know what version of x-wing to do yet,Red 5 does not seem to have many reference piccy's available...,I'll have to see what paints to get,as I'm based in the UK,so it's tamiya or humbrol mostly,i've never had a problem with these paints though..

Can't wait to get cracking on the x-wing though,I thought I'd try the pro shop one first,before attempting spending anymore money on a studio scale,a little bit of practice does'nt hurt.

Thanks again,

Rob.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CessnaDriver @ Mar 10 2007, 08:39 PM) [snapback]1436785[/snapback]</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralphee @ Mar 10 2007, 12:22 PM) [snapback]1436772[/snapback]
Click to expand...
OK well the reason for gloss, i have no clue other than ILM used it and its more durable to rubbing, if you look at these birds, there all pretty scuffed and scratched, even my own build has small surface rubs in the paint now. This all adds to a better replica IMO and adds a touch of what really went down in the ILM shop.
As for black, thats obvious, you rub down to it in some areas, it forms great chip marks to the undercoat and rubs away leaving a metallic effect.
Its possible some X wings even had other colors as an undercoat i places to get a gradient of various wear and tear.

lee
[/b]
Click to expand...


Wern't only a few ILM x-wings done this way?
[/b][/quote]


The black/white was done as a test and, thus, not used to do all the models. This process was described in one of the archive books and has been assumed to be the way all of the hero ships were painted, which is why it has become the most popular way to paint the models. The fact that this process generates a nice, white/weathered appearance to the eye is a good reason to use this technique, though there are definitely other ways to achieve the same results.

Scott
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CaptCBoard @ Mar 10 2007, 10:21 PM) [snapback]1437024[/snapback]</div>
The black/white was done as a test and, thus, not used to do all the models. This process was described in one of the archive books and has been assumed to be the way all of the hero ships were painted, which is why it has become the most popular way to paint the models. The fact that this process generates a nice, white/weathered appearance to the eye is a good reason to use this technique, though there are definitely other ways to achieve the same results.

Scott
[/b]
Click to expand...


I I think I read the somewhere as well. The majority of photos that I have all show models being primed black. When we spoke to Lorne Peterson....he said they painted them black with gloss white as a base coat. Whether they did them all like that, I have no idea. But I take Lorne's word any day of the week.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(talktalk @ Mar 10 2007, 11:49 PM) [snapback]1436896[/snapback]</div>
Wow,thanks for all the info.

Ralphee,I have seen your work on your x-wing,it looks awesome,i think I'll go down the same route as you (painting wise),I don't know what version of x-wing to do yet,Red 5 does not seem to have many reference piccy's available...,I'll have to see what paints to get,as I'm based in the UK,so it's tamiya or humbrol mostly,i've never had a problem with these paints though..

Can't wait to get cracking on the x-wing though,I thought I'd try the pro shop one first,before attempting spending anymore money on a studio scale,a little bit of practice does'nt hurt.

Thanks again,

Rob.
[/b]
Click to expand...
Rob im in the UK too buddy and its not impossible to get hold of some other paints. The Tamiya range will serve you well though, i use them a hell of of a lot, though on my current build up im using floquil, pollyscale and tamiya. Theres a place in Tamworth that stocks Floquil buddy, not much as its tricky to get here, but not impossible, though i did have to wait around 6 weeks to get my Caboose red lol.
Keep us posted with your progress :)

lee
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralphee @ Mar 11 2007, 09:39 AM) [snapback]1437179[/snapback]</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(talktalk @ Mar 10 2007, 11:49 PM) [snapback]1436896[/snapback]
Click to expand...
Wow,thanks for all the info.

Ralphee,I have seen your work on your x-wing,it looks awesome,i think I'll go down the same route as you (painting wise),I don't know what version of x-wing to do yet,Red 5 does not seem to have many reference piccy's available...,I'll have to see what paints to get,as I'm based in the UK,so it's tamiya or humbrol mostly,i've never had a problem with these paints though..

Can't wait to get cracking on the x-wing though,I thought I'd try the pro shop one first,before attempting spending anymore money on a studio scale,a little bit of practice does'nt hurt.

Thanks again,

Rob.
[/b]
Click to expand...
Rob im in the UK too buddy and its not impossible to get hold of some other paints. The Tamiya range will serve you well though, i use them a hell of of a lot, though on my current build up im using floquil, pollyscale and tamiya. Theres a place in Tamworth that stocks Floquil buddy, not much as its tricky to get here, but not impossible, though i did have to wait around 6 weeks to get my Caboose red lol.
Keep us posted with your progress :)

lee
[/b][/quote]

Hi Lee,

getting hold of certain makes of paints can be a problem in the UK,I'll have to start doing some major hunting over the next few days,I'll keep you all posted on the build up.

Once again,thanks to everyone for your input,it's much appreciated.......................and Lee,get that x-wing finished,it's looking totaly awesome so far,I was looking at your build up again this morning.......Mmmm nice.

Rob.
 
Cheers Lee,

I've just checked the link,looks like they have a few colours i need in stock,thanks again buddy,you've been a great help,I'll get on the blower tomorrow and order a few bits..

Rob
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CaptCBoard @ Mar 11 2007, 03:21 AM) [snapback]1437024[/snapback]</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CessnaDriver @ Mar 10 2007, 08:39 PM) [snapback]1436785[/snapback]
Click to expand...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ralphee @ Mar 10 2007, 12:22 PM) [snapback]1436772[/snapback]
Click to expand...
OK well the reason for gloss, i have no clue other than ILM used it and its more durable to rubbing, if you look at these birds, there all pretty scuffed and scratched, even my own build has small surface rubs in the paint now. This all adds to a better replica IMO and adds a touch of what really went down in the ILM shop.
As for black, thats obvious, you rub down to it in some areas, it forms great chip marks to the undercoat and rubs away leaving a metallic effect.
Its possible some X wings even had other colors as an undercoat i places to get a gradient of various wear and tear.

lee
[/b]
Click to expand...


Wern't only a few ILM x-wings done this way?
[/b][/quote]


The black/white was done as a test and, thus, not used to do all the models. This process was described in one of the archive books and has been assumed to be the way all of the hero ships were painted, which is why it has become the most popular way to paint the models. The fact that this process generates a nice, white/weathered appearance to the eye is a good reason to use this technique, though there are definitely other ways to achieve the same results.

Scott
[/b][/quote]

To add to Scott's comments, I strongly feel another MAJOR contributor to the amateur modeling world's belief in this process was Bill George's article on the very popular Starship Modeler web site, regarding his Maxi-Brute build up.

To quote Bill, "I first primed the model with black primer, and then painted (with the exception of the cockpit interior) the model with a gloss white enamel. After the model had dried for a week, I dulled the surface down using a fine grade Scotch Brite pad. Over that I used floquil railroad colors for the detail paint. The aging was created using a variety of techniques. An airbrush was used to dirty down large areas with a dark grey. I also like to use black acrylic paint thinned with water. If you moisten the model with a spray bottle of water, you can drissle (sic) and splash this mixture and get some great effects. The best part is if you don't like it, it washes off. With the hard white surface underneath the Floquil, you can use the Scotch Brite pad to distress raised detail and an X-Acto kife to chip away the detail paint."
 
The majority of the ANH models were painted using the black/gloss white method. The Falcon, Blockade Runner, Escape Pod, all the X-wings and Y-wings. It's described in a couple of old publications. What Bill George describes in that article is basically the formula described back in the day.

It's instant depth/dirtying down with the black, the gloss white once burnished gives a dulled/metallic believeability to the surface etc etc.
 
A good few opinions on this one,It seems that the general feel of the paint scheme is gloss white over black,but at the end of the day,It's what's appealing to each individuals eye that counts..
 
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