Right. I'm still working out fluff for the fuzzballs, but that'll come soon enough - for now, a few images that should give an idea of the scheme I'm going for. The small scale of these models is going to make painting them a challenge - even with the original paint stripped! I'm already having trouble with the X-wing, and I have an A-Wing stripped, just awaiting magnets. I also have a Y-Wing on the way, as well as an awesome alternative E-Wing model by Mel Miniatures. The idea is for an off-white fleet with orange markings and dark grey mechanical details, a little silver mixed in to spice things up a tad. Alternatively, I could yank my Tau's color scheme, with green instead of white.




It's really crappy, but here's a 5-minute recolor I did in Paint.net to give an idea what the green scheme might look like:

Someon on Advanced Tau Tactica suggested a Sa'Cea-style paint scheme - pale blue-grey with orange markings - but I lack the colors for that.

What do you guys think so far?

Right, so after being stripped AGAIN, I took another crack at the X-Wing. I tried white primer, but - as always - the stuff fuzzed up thanks to the humidity (I really, REALLY hate Louisiana). I started documenting my painting process - though my stripped adn primer shots were seriously washed out. So, my process is:

1: Soak the model in brake fluid to strip the paint. Purple Power eats through GW paints, but barely scratches X-wing models; brake fluid is the other way around.

2: Remove the peg from the bottom of the craft I wish to work on. usually a little wiggling and pulling, and it comes out, giving me a pilot hole for step 2.

3: Drill a hole for a 1/8" by 1/16" rare earth magnet. When the magnet is placed, I cut the peg off the stand and use sandpaper to rough it up, as well as one sid eof the second magnet so that the super glue adheres better. I also glue in the bottom half of the stand (leaving the base unglued).

4: Wrap the stand (detached from the base) in masking tape, and attach the model. Spray it with black primer on all sides, then dust from above and at downwards angles with white.

5: Give the model a solid coat of GW Celestra Grey. though it's a abse paint, some of the shading from step 3 shows through.



6: Follow up with an airbrush of GW Ceramite White from above and the sides, as well as other select areas. This leaves the Celestra Grey in the recesses and on the underside.



7: Apply watered-down GW Eshin Grey to areas that won't later be painted silver, and the start painting the orange areas.



That's all for now! I'm going to try resisting doing too much more until the Tamiya masking tape I ordered comes in. Once that arrives, I can really go to town without having to worry about screwing up the white anymore!

Remember how I said I was gonna wait?

Welp. I lied.

HOLY CRAP was this thing hard to paint! I'm hoping that the lack of S-Foils on the rest of the fleet will make them easier...

I need help, guys - I'm stuck on which scheme I need to use for my A-Wing!

Here's Option #1:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34731726/X-Wing/A-Wing%203.jpg

Option #2:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34731726/X-Wing/A-Wing%203-1.jpg

And Option #3:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34731726/X-Wing/A-Wing%203-3.jpg

Which do you guys think would be the best approach? if none of these, then feel free to erase my shoddy work and draw up something cool!

Option 1

Deepstrike from Advanced Tau Tactica recommended taking Option 1, but swapping the grey/orange on the body of the craft, which gives us this:



I think he may be on to something! What do you guys think?

Also, my custom E-Wing by Mel Miniatures is coming in the mail today; I am SO excited to work with it!

Well, lookit what I got int he mail today, kudos of Shapeways and Mel Miniatures!

After a little TLC with an X-acto knife (very little, in fact) and a little drilling to make the engine intakes and exhausts more open/better-defined - and a two-tone primer coat - we end up with this little beauty!

Not gonna lie, your update made me WAY happier that I had clicked on this thread after seeing the first post. Your painting came along nicely. I know all too well that blocking out colors looks terrible before a wash is applied to draw out the details.

Excellent work! I also love seeing pics of the 3D printed models up close before paint and after, so as to better make an informed decision on buying any.

How much was that custom e-wing? Do you have a link to it, I might want to do one like it!

Not gonna lie, your update made me WAY happier that I had clicked on this thread after seeing the first post. Your painting came along nicely. I know all too well that blocking out colors looks terrible before a wash is applied to draw out the details.

Excellent work! I also love seeing pics of the 3D printed models up close before paint and after, so as to better make an informed decision on buying any.

Thanks man(?)! I'm glad you enjoyed the results - I put a lot of work into the X-Wing, far more then should have been necessary for one figure! And yeah, I was honestly a littler nervous about the E-Wing. However, I'm thrilled with it now that I have it!

How much was that custom e-wing? Do you have a link to it, I might want to do one like it!

Sure thing! I recommend doing more then once to save on shipping - this costed about $20 with shipping for Frosted Ultra Detail (which was woth paying the extra for, IMO!)

http://www.shapeways.com/product/CBZ5SVBCM/e-wing-variant-1-270?li=search-results-1&optionId=43023426

wow very good job on the exhaust glow, looks great as the rest of the ship, the color selection works very well too

I agree, the X Wing looks great! I'm going to have to consider buying one of those E Wings as well. The detail is brilliantly done!

A little preview of what's coming soon:

X wing looks smashing. Contrast of colours really makes it pop

Thanks! I'm holding off on any more painting for a bit though; my light grey and white paints are acting up in the airbrush no matter how I thin them, and my orange paint isn't wanting to stick or cover like ti did before. So I'm going to invest in some Jokaero Orange paint from GW soon, as well as one of their white paints and a fresh jar of grey. I MAY just grab a can of grey and a can of white spray paint, skip that airbrushing step altogether!

looking great, love the scheme and nice clean paintjob on the X-wing, any progress on the A-wing?

Unfortunately not. my white paint has been extremely uncooperative, and the X-Wing itself has been a nightmare to paint. Even with primer, paint does NOT want to stick to it, and the panel lines are so shallow they almost completely fill up with just the basecoat. The Y-Wing is having similar panel line problems; I'm going to look into skipping the black primer and white from above for just using a grey primer with white from above, skipping the airbrushing step completely.

Right, so, on the good side I finally got my white paint to cooperate with my airbrush. On the other side, though...

I have GOT to find a better orange paint, and find a way to get my brushes to cooperate. My previous shade of orange isn't wanting to cover larger areas whatsoever, and this shade is way too dull and the paint's too thick. Any other painters out there have any suggestions for good orange model paint?

I have GOT to find a better orange paint, and find a way to get my brushes to cooperate. My previous shade of orange isn't wanting to cover larger areas whatsoever, and this shade is way too dull and the paint's too thick. Any other painters out there have any suggestions for good orange model paint?

Well, if you want to stick with Citadel, then you might want to try the Troll Slayer Orange. I've found Citadel paints work a lot better with a touch of thinning down, not much at all - just dipping your brush in water before the paint is usually enough. If you want to try something else, the Vallejo Light Orange is quite nice.

I have GOT to find a better orange paint, and find a way to get my brushes to cooperate. My previous shade of orange isn't wanting to cover larger areas whatsoever, and this shade is way too dull and the paint's too thick. Any other painters out there have any suggestions for good orange model paint?

Well, if you want to stick with Citadel, then you might want to try the Troll Slayer Orange. I've found Citadel paints work a lot better with a touch of thinning down, not much at all - just dipping your brush in water before the paint is usually enough. If you want to try something else, the Vallejo Light Orange is quite nice.

That's the other shade of orange I was having trouble with! However, after snooping around online, I found these - and they look VERY promising!

http://www.hobbylinc.com/ak-grey-acrylic-primer-60ml-bottle-hobby-and-model-acrylic-paint-175

http://www.hobbylinc.com/ak-white-acrylic-primer-60ml-bottle-hobby-and-model-acrylic-paint-177

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tes/tes9443.htm

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tes/tes9463.htm

That last one in particular is the perfect shade of orange - that nice bright, high saturation, in-your-face shade:

I may invest in a new airbrush soon as well, since mine's...not exactly top-of-the-line. I'll be starting another thread asking for input/people's experiences using them with X-Wing figures - anything good for them should also be good for my 40k stuff, too. it's hard to find good reviews on what's good for what, but from what I've been able to gather, this SHOULD be a good one:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/bad/bad105.htm

Very cool! Looking forward to see the rest of your custom squadron

Thanks! I plan on ordering a Rebel Aces pack soon, so hopefully I'll have a B-Wing to replace my Y-Wing with.

Also, I'm thinking of giving my Y-Wing a more detailed turret; anyone have any suggestion for any model pieces that I could fashion a nice little turret out of?

P.S.: Just noticed you're using a Y-Wing icon too. Nice choice.

Very nice but... how do u strip paint ??

Very nice but... how do u strip paint ??

"U" isn't a word. You have a full keyboard, man - use it!

For my first ships, I used DOT 4 brake fluid - but for the E-Wing, I tried rubbing alcohol and within an hour or so it was practically spotless.

Kepora,

A couple of suggestions for airbrushes. Badger 150 with fine tip, or a Paasche VL. Both are double action internal mix brushes. Depending on your hand size, the Paasche is fatter (bulkier) than the Badger. Badger is more pencil-like and it's a gravity feed. Needs less pressure than a siphon feed to work. External mix brushes are cheaper but don't give as fine a spray pattern. Internal mix brushes, with acrylics, are going to need a retarder added to the paint. The paint will dry on the needle tip screwing with the spray pattern.

There are other brushes out there that will give a finer line but for model work and masking either one mentioned should work well for you.

You might also try adding a retarder to the paint you're using now. Liquitex makes two that I find useful. Also try dropping your pressure.

On YouTube look at Ichiban Studios and do a search for Ammo by Mig. Both sites will give how tos on using airbrushes and painting techniques. Ichiban actually repaints several X-wing models.

Hope this helps. I got my first Paasche in 69 and it still works fine. Had to replace a couple of seals but nothing major.

Forgot to say how much I like your repaints. Nice color combo. They'll stand out on the table for sure.

U have a good day. (Sorry, couldn't resist :-).