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!

Here’s a duo of 1/72 Fine Molds starfighters for the upcoming Death Star 2 diorama. Wedge’s Red 2 X-Wing and Gray Leader’s Y-Wing. These were painted just like the Millennium Falcon whichg is why there’s no how-to’s or in-progs. The markings were all painted on. The only decals I used were for the R2 units. These were lit with white 5mm LEDs dipped in Red for the X-Wing (which has a pinkish hue) and Red-Orange for the Y-Wing. The wires will be hidden in tubing when applied to the final diorama.

EDIT: Forgot the yellow on the X-Wing thanks to Fine Molds incorrect instructions. Added it with yellow oils. Added a new image below and the rest to the gallery. Here’s the updated pic + one with all 4 Rebel ships.

I’ve had these 1/48 scale Fine Molds Snowspeeders almost done for a while now, but just needed to paint the pilot figures. I started painting them last week since I needed to paint a couple 1/72 Rebel pilots as well and finished them a few days ago. These were painted with Tamiya Acrylics, 502 Abteilung oil paint, and Pigment powders. Basically the same techniques I used for the Millenium Falcon.

The two orange speeders are for a client’s diorama. One will be in flight while the other is downed with a pilot being rescued. The two grey “Luke” speeders are for sale if anyone is interested. I can sell them as-is or make a small Hoth display base with the Rebel Turret kit I mastered. Just send me an email if interested for a quote.

As seen in a few of the images, the canopies don’t want to stay completely closed as-is. This can be easily fixed by gluing them shut, but I wasn’t sure how potential clients might want them, so for now, they’re unglued and open-able.

Here’s pics of all four speeders:

You’ve watched the build up, so now I present the completed images. Hope you guys enjoyed the process. The kit seems very intimidating at first, but aside from the lighting it’s very simple to put together… it’s just big. Hopefully I’ve managed to demystify some of the techniques I use and have helped some of you learn and improve upon your techniques.

And here’s the last part of the Falcon painting and weathering tutorial. I hope you guys have enjoyed it. This last step is the application of pigments to enhance the engine grime and add blaster marks.

Here’s an animation showing the pics from start to finish. This shows the gradual application of grime and darkening of the kit. No need to start with a dark paint to get dirt.

Been a few days since the last update, but the individual panel discoloration takes a bit of time, both in application and in drying. However the results are fabulous. Here’s the model with the panels completed.

Once they had dried it was time to apply the streaking. Here’s the tutorial followed by a few notes below.

Once the tutorial was over I worked on the rest of the model and decided to add some more defined dark streaks. These are done almost the same way. Paint them on very thinly with thinned oils then blend them with a dry or damp brush. Simple, but effective. Here’s the completed streaking. Next up: pigments.

I needed to let the kit rest another day since it’s been really humid and dank here. That tends to make oil paint take longer to dry and I don’t have a large enough “hot-box” for this kit. (wood crate with a lightbulb for heat… speeds drying time) This next step will take me another day or two to complete not including drying time, but I wanted to show the video now.

This step is painting indevidual panels much like I did on the Tantive IV. This adds depth and dimension and a whole lot of visual interest. Here;s the video tutorial…

And here is the photo of what I did during and immediately following the video to provide more detail.

Part three of this tutorial series covers painting the gray panels with oil paints. Pardon the stutters in the video. This was take two after a mishap involving oil paint on my favorite jeans and a screw-up trying to use liquid mask which the thinner involved apparently works great at removing.

Here’s the completed vessel.

For most of the painting I was able to simply paint an entire panel using the panel lines as a guide. For some however I needed to hand-paint the edge. This sounds difficult, especially with the blending, but after you blend, you can clean-up the outside edge with a 1/4″ flat brush dampened with turpenoid. This removes the edge oil paint since it’s still wet. Another fantastic feature of painting with oils… easy mistake fixes!

For different gray panels I used different mixtures of oil paint. Some had “Starship Filth” used instead of the “Dark Mud”. This makes for a more realistic and visually pleasing look.

This same technique, while not videoed was applied to the two yellow panels on the underside using 502 Abteilung Luftwaffe Yellow.

Now my workshop has been a little cool and damp the past day or so which makes the oils take longer to dry. Hopefully they’re dry enough tomorrow, but if not they will certainly be the next day to continue on. I’ll also take a photo of my pallet so you can see the paint colors used in case you need to mix your own.

Today I applied my second layer of the Discoloration Technique to the Falcon. Usually I only apply one layer, but I really want this to have a lot of depth and a lot of age to the look. First off is part 2 of the video tutorial:

And again, here’s a close-up image of the area I worked on before applying it to the rest of the kit.

Here’s the kit with the full application of the 2nd discoloration.

Another close-up. While my primer and preshade darkened the visible engine areas, I’ve bee adding extra dark mud and starship filth to those to get them nice and grimy.

After this dries for a day I’ll begin the modulation (adding light and darker tones) to the various panels as well as painting the gray panels in oils.

Moving right along, it’s time for a tutorial on discoloration. I’ve talked about this technique on just about every weathered model I’ve done for the past 6 years or so. It’s fantastic and really gives the surface a beautiful worn appearance. All of these steps add layers of detail, color and weathering to the model enhancing the finished appearance. Experiment with different colors over different base coats. First off, my first voiced tutorial video… [shudders] You may be able to get the HD version I uploaded by clicking the link.

Here’s an image of that section completed to show what the video may not. Note that the parts to the left and right were not discolored yet, only filtered.

Now here’s the entire Falcon with the discoloration applied.

A close-up…

And a battle droid? No, wait… (He’ll barely be visible once the gun is mounted. Chewie is operating the lower turret. LOL!

And finally, here’s the clear replacement engine parts. I painted them with Tamiya Smoke then a flat coat so that they’ll light up nicely, but not be too visible when the light’s off.