So, I've been so inspired by all the repaints that I talked to my friend Carl, who had planned to give me a tutorial today, but instead he just repainted all my Scyks. They look fantastic and I'll post them later. But after watching him, I wanted to try it. So, I bought three paints - a paint called steel, a flat black, and this funky cool purple color called blue violet, which was too cute not to try. I then took one of my A-wings, and repainted it.

Took me less than fifteen minutes total. I'd have taken longer, but I have a ton of studying to do today. I painted the red stuff purple, and then noticed that there was a spot of red that had been accidentally painted during manufacturing on the top, just outside where the main red stripe was. Since I didn't have white, I decided to borrow Macross' blast damage technique. I mixed the steel color with black and laid down an initial dark metal over the red. Then I put in a bright silver over that. Then I took the black and rubbed the paintbrush on cardboard a few times and swiped it across the top, which I think did the trick. I'm pretty happy with it anyway.

Anyway, I'm kind of pleased for only having 3 paints and one paintbrush.

To any girls reading this who have never painted miniatures before (like me until today), I just want to say that this is SOOOOO much easier than you might think. If you can apply eyeliner and paint your nails, this miniatures business is a total cakewalk. So get some paints and try it out.

Well done. A-wings seem to be many people's favorite starter, including my own.

Also, that's a really pretty purple.

Well done. A-wings seem to be many people's favorite starter, including my own.

Also, that's a really pretty purple.

It really is. I wasn't going to buy anything today, but I couldn't leave without it.

You have taken your first step into a larger world.

And because I like purple...

When I have time, I may clean it up a little, but I think it's cute.

Your first time is always the scariest after that its all about confidence you did a great job!

And if you like it, that makes it 100k times better

Those look awesome! Glad to see you painting for yourself now after all the drooling you've done over other people's repaints

Those look awesome! Glad to see you painting for yourself now after all the drooling you've done over other people's repaints

This board has a crazy amount of talent (though not much is displayed in this thread). Hard to keep the saliva in the mouth sometimes.

keep the good work!

this (like many other things in life) is just matter of practice, I've been painting over 10 years and still I get amazed everytime I come to this forum section

Those look awesome! Glad to see you painting for yourself now after all the drooling you've done over other people's repaints

This board has a crazy amount of talent (though not much is displayed in this thread). Hard to keep the saliva in the mouth sometimes.

Oh I know, ive been right there drooling with you most of the time. As for there not being much in this thread; patience. You're off to an amazing start.

The panel on the top of the A-wing that you thought was accidentally painted red was intentionally red; it shows up on all A-wings, and you can find it in a google image search fairly reliably. That said, painting over it with a blast mark is perfectly fine. It's overall not a bad job for a first repaint. I suggest going over the newly painted areas with a black wash - basically a watered down black paint. That will make panel lines show up and provide a more realistic look. It makes a huge difference and it is super-easy to create the basic effect.

As a 40k expat, I can't stand to have any models that I haven't touched up with a brush in some way. I suggest looking at painting your astromechs (which is easier than it sounds), making up squadron-specific markings (nose art), and painting in more battle damage effects. One thing I do is paint a few panels a slightly different color than the others on the ship, maybe near some other battle damage. This simulates a replaced panel as the result of repairs after battle damage. I usually use a light yellow (kind of like the yellow we see in different areas of the X-wings in ANH) or gray for that effect. Here's a link to a bunch of my repaints so you can see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, what you have here is a good start to developing some good painting skills!

Thanks. I ended up caving and buying some more paints and a wash yesterday, so I've already used that on the Z-95 headhunter I'm working on in another thread. Like it quite a bit. I also really like your different panel idea. I think I will run with this on my Scyks at some point.

It's a nice beginning !

You should create a single thread , so we can see your progress

I tried Babaganoosh's technique for using different colored panels and a wash. I'm working on creating a squadron set. My friend painted a Y-wing and a Scyk for me, and I've painted another Scyk and Y-wing.

My scyk is in the foreground, my friend's is in the background:

Ditto for the Y-wings:

And altogether:

I also tried the wash on the A-wing. It was darker than I expected. Looks like this baby has been through an asteroid field a time or two. The wash also removed a bit of the purple, letting some of the red show through, which I will have to fix at some point.

Still that's pretty good for your first wash job too. And far as the asteroids think of it more like that last instant explosion of the bad guy you had to fly throuh.. A little bit of carbon score never hurt nobody.. Just ask R2

I'm reeeeaaaally liking those Y-wings

These look fantastic! Welcome to the wonderful (-ly time-consuming and dangerously expensive, if you're not careful) world of painting, and we can't wait to see more.

Oh, I like how dirty the wash made the A-Wing look! Whoever is flying that has got some stories to tell.

Might as well throw my new Dunelizard on here. It's not nearly done yet, but I figured I'd show off what the new mini looks like as Mel updated the model. I LOVE the detail. It's so much cooler than the old one, which I was not expecting. Really fabulous. Gets me all excited for Wave 7, as I just know there will be a Dunelizard in it.

Once you go expanded (3d printed ships...) they consume you..

Give into your dark side!

A little bit more work on the Dunelizard. Still a long way to go.

I finished my Dunelizard. Here are a couple of views of it along with the rest of the Red Novas, my cool pirate gang:

Love em

Awesome job!