This week I started working on my first repaint featuring the HWK-290. I wasn't going for anything radically different since I was mainly aiming to change the base color of the Moldy Crow to a lighter greenish-grey color, but I did repaint all of the accents and details after going over the entire ship with two thin coats of a pastel green.

Since this was my first repaint, more than anything I was using this project as an exercise in practicing and applying techniques like keeping the paint thin/consistent, detailing the accents (those stripes on the nose were a pain in the ass), and weathering/using a wash. I still need to paint the rear thrusters and highlight a bit around the ship as I only just applied the black wash to it last night after getting the base colors down. I also might add in some light blaster damage here and there before finally adding the matt varnish layer (I'll be using a gloss varnish on the cockpit glass).





These pictures don't show the turret very well since the lamp is directly above the mini - I just took these really quickly before heading off to work. Feedback welcome!

Looks great! I like it a lot.

love the contrast

Yeah that turned out just fine!

Awesome job! I thought it was stock until I remembered how ugly the stock model is. Yours is what the stock model should have been. Nice, nice work.

For a first repaint it's certainly not bad. Keep up the good work!

What colors did you use? I very much want to de-brownify my own HWK.

Thanks guys!

What colors did you use? I very much want to de-brownify my own HWK.

• I base coated the entire thing with Vallejo Pastel Green
• For the reddish accents I mixed some Vallejo Orange Red with Vallejo Flat Red
• The grey color I used for the wing frame, antenna/spikes, turret barrels, and cockpit frame was about an even mix between Vallejo Pale Grey Blue and Vallejo Stonewall Grey
• I did a heavy washing pass using Vallejo Black Wash . It took quite a few coats to darken the Pastel Green to a level that I was satisfied with, so in a lot of ways I was using it as both a Wash and as a glaze for the green sections. You could probably choose a slightly darker base green color if you don't want to go as heavy handed with the wash as I ended up going

I plan to go through and highlight a bit. Does anyone have any tips for highlighting X-Wing ships? With a small brush should I take a slightly lighter green color and paint some thin highlight lines along panel edges all over the ship; a slightly lighter red along the wing and fin accents; and a lighter grey to make the antenna and frame pop a little more? Is dry brushing something to consider at this stage or would that effectively ruin the effect that I got with the wash/glaze?

Also just a note, the pictures make the green color look brighter than it actually is. I plan to get better screenshots at some point to more accurately show the color.

I did more work on my Moldy Crow and am pretty much done. I added a bit of highlights and shading, painted in the engines, and tested out a couple of different weathering affects/battle damage (these probably aren't too noticeable). All that's left now is to varnish it. I am planning to gloss varnish the cockpit and the metallic parts (the wing frame, wing antenna, and turret). I read somewhere that gloss varnishing the engines make them pop a bit, has anyone here had good results with this? I was planning on matt varnishing the rest - is that enough protection for X-Wing models? I have been reading of a common technique called "bulletcoating" which from what I understand, is a full coat of gloss varnish (for protection) and then a coat of matt varnish over that to remove the glossy finish. I'm assuming that's mostly for metal miniatures though since they are more easily chipped, but I was curious as to what was the standard for many painters here when it comes to protecting X-Wing miniatures? Would one or two coats of Matt Varnish be enough, and then I can just add a thin layer of gloss varnish over the bits I want to be a bit glossy?

Also please note that the lighting conditions when taking these pictures had the mini directly under a table lamp that I use to see clearly when I'm painting, so everything looks a bit brighter than it looks under normal lighting conditions, but at this time it's the best I have to work with for taking pictures:

Never heard it called 'bulletcoating' before, but it's a fairly standard technique to protect your figures if you abuse them, like taking them to tournaments and the like. If you do, it could be a good investment to protect your paint jobs. If you only play casual games at home, a coat of flat varnish should be fine. I haven't done either to any of my X-wing miniatures, but then I've only washed my Millennium Falcon (still yet to do the engine, so it's hasn't been varnished).

How heavily did you work the wash on? Did you do it all in one pass? Mine has come out quite dark and splotchy, even though I used a brown/black wash instead of pure black. I see yours has some pooling on the big, flat areas underneath, but your sides and top came out better.

The very first time I washed it, it was very thin since I was worried it would darken it more than I wanted it to, but it ended up not darkening it as much as I wanted. From there I just started targeting the black wash wherever I wanted it to get darker, trying to not overdo it, but I ended up putting on a few more layers of wash by the time I was satisfied with the amount I darkened the base color. After that I highlighted a bit by VERY mildly dry brushing certain areas of the fuselage and upper dorsal wings.

I'm still torn as to whether or not I should matt varnish my ship. I'm really worried it will darken the colors or mess it up somehow, but I would hate for the paint to rub off over time...so I guess I might try to varnish it soon, I'm just nervous. Does anyone here have any experience with brushing on Vallejo Acrylic Matt Varnish? Any tips or feedback on how much it ends up darkening the colors (if at all) would be really appreciated.

I find a 50/50 mix of acrylic black and water, splodged on then immediately dragged off with good quality tissue/toilet paper pretty much replicates the FFG factory 'oil/weather' look perfectly.

Cracking repaint.

Might be your first xwing repaint but you clearly know your way around a brush

Looks great, and nice engine glow!