I recently was commissioned to do a quick paint-up of the 1/350 Scale Radiant VII resin kit. THis will be on the Starship Modeler table at Wonderfest in a few weeks as a sales display so check it out if you’re there. Same techniques I used for the Millennium Falcon so check there to see a how-to and videos. Very nice kit and a breeze to put together. No major issues of which to speak, except the masking… the paint masking was a pain in the butt and took forever!

After some finishing touches, the Tantive IV is all done. As of now, this kit will be on display at Wonderfest in Kentucky this May (2011). If that changes, I’ll let you know. It’s also making a trip to the guy the commissioned it shortly after. So check it out if you get a chance and let me know what you think. Till then, here’s pics:

Well, I actually finished this model way back in August 2010, but needed to make a small temporary base for it before photographs. In an effort to finish some stuff up, I painted and constructed the small temporary base today and took the pics. This A-Wing will be part of a much larger diorama along with 6-7 other ships in 1/72 scale. Without further adieu…

Okay, I admit I’ve been REALLY freaking bad about replying to emails. I just went back through two months of emails that I flagged to reply to and hadn’t. Why though? Why did I forsake you all so? Well, first off I just had to go and open the Magic Kingdom. Yeah… that’s me and my ladies next to Mickey opening Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in early February. It rocked.

Then when I got back did I start replying to emails or working on models? No… no I didn’t. Because I suck… or something. Unless you’re a client, then I’m awesome because I spent the next month working on product designs, signage and website banners. These were for Uschi van der Rosten’s upcoming model products.

After/during that I was working on another WordPress website for an artist/screenwriter, Blake Clouser.

And now that those are done (for now) I’m back to modeling until Thursday when I get my 3rd Edition Fish subs and start packing them (and Sea Life Photoetch!) up to ship… hopefully by Monday. If you’re on the list, expect an invoice soon. If not and you want one, send me an email!

My next step in a variation on the “modulation” technique. I’m basically using thin oils to blend in shadows, filter panels, and highlight raised areas give the model a more dimensional look. For this I used Faded Navy Blue, Starship Filth, Dark Rust, Yellow (on certain yellow panels based on studio model) and Snow White. Next I’ll apply the modulation to the red parts. I did not yet as I didn’t want to accidentally “pink-up” and of the other parts. And still… NO WASHES! Those will be thin and after the reds and just sporadic at best where the other discoloration and modulation effects did not do enough to make small things or panel lines pop. Gotta apply that window decal too.

Continuing on, I applied medium gray chips to the ships hull using first a small piece of sponge, and later a thin brush for larger areas. Then dry I applied a filter of very thin German Ochre oil paint mixed with odorless turpenoid to warm up the base coat.

After letting that dry overnight I applied the oil paint discoloration technique using more odorless turpenoid and blue, burnt sienna, dark mud, and buff oils. Apply small dabs then blend them in. This makes the surface look varied and worn without resorting to the typical awful looking thick wash of black paint. A pin-wash will be my last step, however it’ll be very thin and applied only to certain panel lines as needed with a very thin brush.

My next step once this dries will be to further enhance the look with more oil paints. I’ll use lighter colors to make raised panels and detail pop and blend some darker blues and grays (The Starship Filth oil paint color by 502 Abteilung works great) Click the “Star Wars” tag below this post to see how I used these steps on other builds. The Y-Wing and in-progress Snowspeeders are favorite examples of other times I’ve done this.

After priming the Tantive IV yesterday, I was able to start painting today. I started off by preshading with a dark gray over all the panel lines and inside of detail areas. Next I sprayed a solid white + a touch of gray mix over that. The preshade barely shows through in the end, but that’s what it’s supposed to do… just be a subtle shade in areas to add more depth to the overall paint.

Once that dried for a bit I began masking off small sections which needed red paint based on the reference photos. I would mask a few areas, sponge on some liquid mask, then spray the red. I’d then remove the masks revealing the chips and move onto the next areas. This took some time, but is done. Tomorrow I’ll do the same for areas needing darker gray panels. Lighter panels will be shaded with oils later on.

Now the red areas look to have excessive chips… for now. This will all be blended in and adjusted later on with oils.

I’m baaaaaaaaaack! Hopefully! Been a tad busy with the kids, a trip to Disney World in Florida, video games, freelance, and projects that I’ve been scratching, but are not finished. No finished model kits for 2011 yet and that’s gonna have to change. Don’t want to end up like a certain “Doctor” I know.

Tantive IV As seen in “A New Hope”

Anywho… a friend hooked me up with a side gig painting up this 1/350 scale Rebel Blockade Runner (Tantive IV) resin kit I had sitting on my shelf as a table display at Wonderfest in Kentucky this year. I’ve been wanting to build it anyway and so it was a good motivation to get something FINISHED.

The kit is decent enough. Some air bubbles here and there that wear easily fixed with some Aves or spot-putty. In fact with this kit you’ll definitely need some Aves. Not that it’s a bad kit. I think it’s decent enough, but due to the nature of the ship-design, kit-master, and the fact it’s resin, you’ll need to fill some minor gaps. Mostly where main fuselage parts fit together, but nothing that affects detail areas thankfully. In fact the only part of the kit that I disliked was that some mold lines were over some round engine parts that made for some difficult to reach sanding.

I decided to save myself some sanding headache and replaced the resin engine pipes with wire/styrene tube. The supplied ones were decent, but I kept breaking them due to their thin nature. Better for my sanity to replace them. I also eplaced the gun barrels with aluminum tube, but I hate sanding round parts. It’s a pet-peeve, I know…. I’m seeking professional help for it.

Because I’ll be shipping/transporting this kit, I made the more fragile parts such as the guns and radar removable via neodymium magnets. Works great and I don’t have to worry about breakage.

So here’s some pics of the kit before primer. I hope to prime tomorrow barring any inclement weather.

Since the last update I’ve gotten through almost all of the weathering steps. Here’s a breakdown of what I did.

First I applied a few tan filters then a gray-brown one. This warmed the color tones and gave it a nice dirty worn start to the finish.

Once the filters had dried I used various oil paint colors in order to highlight panels, alter tones and add the greasy grimy weathered look around panels and the engines. This enhances the worn look.

For some reason the lights look blue-ish in the images where in person they look yellowed. Not sure why this is, but I’ll try to adjust the camera settings for the final images. No matter though as in different movie sceens the engines appeared either yellow or purple.

Once it dried overnight I sprayed on a flat coat of FFA. Tomorrow I’ll finish it up with some pigment powders. I still need to finish the canopy once the new one arrives, but this gives you an idea what the final will look like.

I got this little gem a few days ago from rb26 at SSM. The size of the A-Wing (from Return of the Jedi) as you can see is small at this scale, but the amount of crisp details packed into this thing are fantastic. It looks like an injection plastic Fine Molds kit rather than a resin GK which is awesome. I have to wonder if it was made on a computer and 3D printed, that’s how nice the details are. (UPDATE: Nope, all done by hand. Amazing!)

Anyway, as awesome as it is there’s a few VERY minor things worth noting. The first is that the mold likes on the sides of the hull (at least on my copy) are not as flush as one would like resulting in some rescribing of a couple panel lines in the area. Using a scribing saw and a pin to recreate the rivet holes makes quick work of it however with only a small amount of putty required. The other issue is a few air bubbles in the clear resin used for the canopy. (UPDATE: rb26 saw this and is sending me a replacement canopy. Yay! Thanks man!) Like I said though, those issues are minor considering how fantastic a kit this is otherwise. I would definitely buy another SW kit from him if he were to do one. Here’s some great studio model pics for reference.

Since this build will be for a later diorama I needed to light it up. This part was not too difficult as the sculptor had this aspect in mine with the addition of clear parts to go inside the thrusters as well as a clear dash. I drilled out the holes to place 2 clear white LEDs in the two large thrusters then drilled a hole through the hull to connect the wires and finally a hole in the bottom to mount the craft using a hollow brass rod in which the wires will run through. A little clear golden oxide paint on the LEDs makes them appear more incandescent and yellow as seen in the film.

Painting is a simple affair as long as you’ve plenty of masking tape for all the little discolored panels. My colors are a little cool and bright for the moment, but some filters and weathering will bring it more in line with the reference colors. The pilot included is modeled from the A-Wing pilot costume rather than the studio model fig so it’s got much better detail and accuracy IMO.

Next up is more chipping then the weathering begins.