So I'm not a painter, but I do have the gall to post a thread of my own in the painting sub-forum anyway - and I'll tell you why.

I have a crazy plan to have a painted ship to represent every pilot card in the game. Well, the small ships anyway. Who the hell wants to own 4 Ghosts.

They're not all going to be perfect 1:1 representations - I mean that would result in like 4 Red A-Wings and 2 Blue ones which is boring. But I do want to have 6 A-Wings, one each for Tycho, Jake, Arvel, Gemmer and Green and Prototype Sqns. So that's the idea. To that end I've commissioned artists from across the globe (although leaning heavily on English speaking countries) to help me achieve my dream. Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Italy and of course the good ol US of A are all represented down below.

Rather than post these in any kind of intelligent order, I'm going to post them chronologically, in the order I received them. Once again, I didn't paint any of these - (I've tried, I'm really doing the world a favor by abstaining). I'll try to credit the artists as I go along. You should be able to click on any of these to enlarge them.

Rear Admiral Chiraneau - Painted by "Testa", an ebay artist who specializes in LED mods. This one has red lit engines and some forward facing white lights that don't show up too well when you take a photograph in bright daylight like a knucklehead.

Han Solo - Same artist. I asked for heavy weathering and he delivered. The blue light banding for the engines on this one is really spectacular.

Bounty Hunter - painted by ebay user jasonf22

COL Jendon - also painted by ebay user jasonf22 - just some very light weathering, otherwise untouched.

CAPT Oicunn - painted by ebayer revolverhelden19, I thought the weathering made it look distinct enough and the red stripe was a nice touch too.

CAPT Jonus & MAJ Rhymer - Both of these were painted by the ebay user Rik_Beal. I worked with Rick quite a lot last year and he did a number of subtle but innovative paint jobs for me. His battleship grey for TIEs really works and he did a fine job with the cockpit gemming effects I requested.

Darth Vader Also painted by Rik_Beal. Red seemed the right color, some how

More to come in a bit.

Testa is doing armada customs for me also. Small world.

Rexler Brath & COL Vessery - Also by Rik_Beal - I wanted some jewel effects and some color stripes to distinguish the two ace pilots for this class of ship.

Howlrunner, Night Beast, Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse, Backstabber, Winged Gundark - I thought the best way to distinguish all of these would be different colored viewports - Howlrunner's orange inspired by the cloud cover over Bespin on her card art and Mauler Mithel's white hull based on the super light coloration of the TIE's in A New Hope.

Royal Guard Pilot - painted by Chardaan Shipyards off ebay.

Binayre Pirates - my first commissions by www.imagereplicas.com - this guy is capable of some of the finest detail I've ever seen someone put into an X-Wing.

Drea Renthal - Another image replicas - this one featuring the detailed cockpit, including pilot, that makes him so distinct!

Whisper - Also by image replicas. He did actually manage a tiny pilot here too although you can't see it thru the opaque viewport.

Corran Horn - Likewise, image replicas - heavily modified E-Wing based on a MacrossV1 design.

Fel's Wrath, Tetran Cowall, LT Lorrir, Avenger Sqn Pilot - Painted by Winterdyne of these very forums. A series of TIE Interceptors with unique little kill markings and squadron identifiers to help distinguish them from their counterparts.

Keyan Farlander - This is the creation of marinecorpsart, another ebay seller who created a really neat ship here. A magnetized B-Wing with folding S-Foils and a rotating cockpit.

Blackmoon Sqn Pilot - Painted by another forum member here who I can't remember the name of sorry

Airen Cracken - Painted by the same as above!

Tarn Mison, Rookie Pilot & Eaden Vrill - This is a bit of a stretch, but these were some pilots I needed ships for so I figured I could just slot these awesomely painted themed ships in together. The YT2400 is sporting some magnetized cannons from Warhammer I believe.

Tala Sqn 1, 2 and 3 & LT Blount - Painted by Rik_Beal as well.

Gray Sqn Pilot - Also painted by Rik_Beal - this one has a magnetized turret!

Leebo - Painted by Testa, with LED engines!

Jan Ors & Kyle Katarn Found these in a random E-bay auction. They're supposed to be brown, probably, but I think they look pretty good!

Wedge Antilles, Biggs Darklighter & Luke Skywalker - Painted by Rik_Beal. These ones are supposed to be clones of the ANH ships, with appropriate hash marks for unit identification.

Dace Bonearm & Palob Godalhi - Painted by the forums member here and Rik_Beal.

N'Dru Suhlak - Painted by marinecorpsart.

Mandalorian Mercenary - Painted by Rik_Beal (After a Krassis Trelix got lost in the mail )

Black 8 Sqn - Painted by Rik_Beal

Turr Phenirr & Kir Kanos - Painted by marinecorpsart on ebay. He created a really neat system where the magnet is hidden entirely inside the ship - and did a great job with the winglets on the Royal Guard interceptor!

Tantive IV - Painted by Testa, this is a really neat ship based on the paint design of one of the CR-90s in Star Wars: Rebels. The bridge lights up as do the engines!

Wes Janson - A folding S-Foil X-Wing based on Corran Horn's X-Wing painted by Rodent Mastermind. This was made by image replicas. The folding S-Foil was achieved via a custom 3-D printed hinge.

Esege Tuketu Painted by Rik_Beal to match the card art for this focus throwing K-Wing.

Red Sqn Veteran Painted by Rik_Beal - it never made a ton of sense to me why a Red Sqn ship wouldn't be Red, so this is it!

Graz the Hunter and Black Sun Ace Painted by Rik_Beal.

Laetin A'Shera & Tansarri Point Veteran Painted by Rik_Beal

Prince Xizor & Guri Painted by Rik_Beal - with folding wings!

Horton Salm Created by image replicas, with pilot and rotating turret.

Kavil Same as above. He's really the best at Y-Wings in the biz.

Dutch Vander - My final Y-Wing of the moment. He did a really nice job weathering this one down.

Talonbane Cobra Painted by a very talented New Zealander off these very forums! One of the best browns I've ever seen in person.

Serissu Same as above.

Black Sun Vigo As depicted on the card. Same artist as above.

Bossk & Nashtah Pup Painted and created by marinecorpsart.

Kaa'to Leachos & Nashtah Pup The first was created by the NZ dude and the second is a folding wing Z95 created by marinecorpsart for use with the YV-666 above.

Miranda Doni Painted by image replicas - it has magnetized turrets and is a design inspired by Crimson Skies.

Sentinel Landing Craft - this one was a creation of the very talented MacrossV1. I'll likely use it in place of the Omicron Group Pilot in future games.

Tycho Celchu and Prototype Pilot - Painted by this forums premier British artist, DWRR. The Tycho A-Wing is based on a design I found online in a design doc. Heavy weathering as per DWRR signature.

Ten Numb & Dagger Sqn Pilot Painted and magnetized by DWRR as above.

Guardian Sqn Pilot Really like the Rebel Insignia DWRR added here.

Dash Rendar DWRR does an amazing job on weathering, some of the best I've seen to date.

Green Sqn Pilot, Gemmer Sojan & Jake Farrel And with this post we introduce VYKES who has been easily one of the best and the most fun painters to collaborate with. I met him on the Armada sub forum and he's been kind enough to paint up quite a few ships for me, as you'll soon see.

Arvel Crynyd - As you might have noticed, these are all patterned off Phoenix Sqn from Star Wars Rebels. Vykes and I are both fans so you'll be seeing a few more paint jobs inspired by the show as things go on.

Wampa, Scourge, Youngster & Chaser Four more TIE/ln's to represent the Gozanti TIEs

Ibtisam and Nera Dantels Painted and magnetized by Vykes.

Etahn A'baht Another heavily modified E-Wing, done to Vykes own design. The original design just falls short in a lot of ways imo.

Warden Sqn Pilot A desert pattern inspired by WWII B-17s over Africa. Vykes also relocated the front ball turret to the rear, where it makes more sense.

Academy Pilots Some ESB blue TIEs with some distinct markings to set them apart.

Sabine TIE This one will fly as a stand-in for Black Sqn since I don't really have any specific ships picked out for that purpose. Another excellent Vykes creation based on Star Wars Rebels.

Chewbacca YT-1300 "Sabaton" based on a similar paint job Vykes put together for an Armada fleet he did for me. Really incredible weathering and detail work, some of the best I've ever seen.

Red Ace I basically told him to paint up his own version of a Red T-70 without being too cliche and he came up with this little masterpiece. Note the starry reflection in the canopy.

Gold Sqn Pilot More of a Red than a Gold, but I figured branching out a little would be a good idea here.

Obsidian Sqn Pilots These are your standard grey TIEs, ready to stand in wherever.

Zertik Strom This one was one of the last commissions from marinecorpsart. A fairly standard TIE/x1

Kath Scarlett By Testa, with lit engines.

Boba Fett by marinecorpsart, with airbrushed canopy inspired by the excellent card art for the scum version.

He did an excellent job with the back as well.

All the rest of these have been posted previously in the old general painting thread, which I guess didn't make the transition to the new forum. The ones below this point I don't believe I've posted before.

Blue Ace My last commission from image replicas, this folding wing T-70 has a really unique and intriguing paint job that the artist came up with himself. Really a fine piece of detail work.

Ello Asty by an Italian painter who goes by Il Nano Nefasto. Really top notch work.

CMDR Colzett by the same artist above, with the orange canopy reflecting the card art.

Knave Sqn I like the darker look for E-Wings as it turns out, generally speaking.

Emon Azzameen Same artist as above, did a stupendous job with the pin-up art and the canopy.

Echo Final paint job by the Italian master - a blue tinted solar array actually looks amazing, as it turns out!

CAPT Kagi My latest commission from Testa. A lit Lambda shuttle painted in an homage to Rodent Mastermind's work.

This post is in dedication to my second X-Wing collaboration with Vykes, who heroically painted about ten billion TIEs for me over a short period of time, testing his sanity and patience to the limits, I'm sure

Saber Sqn I like the wider stripe Rodent Mastermind came up with so I asked Vykes to try and pull that off, and he did!

Baron of the Empire Replete with heraldric markings, similar to that of the Citadel Battlegroup Vykes put together for me in Armada.

Alpha Sqn A well used, some might say disused, TIE Intercepter meant to represent a rear echelon unit away from the fresh paint and supplies of a more favored detachment.

CAPT Yorr I asked Vykes to put together a Lambda that looked as if it had been sitting on a forrest floor for quite some time. What do you think?

Cutlass Sqn A dazzle camo arctic themed Punisher, to go with some arctic themed TIE/fo's later on in the post.

LT Colzet I also asked Vykes if he could try some fancy reflective cockpit work, this one was meant to show a deployment over an arid world.

Delta Sqn A simple no frills TIE/D, meant to represent one of the Empire's most lethal weapons of war.

Gamma Sqn Some unit markings to set apart the famous TIE/sa squadron.

The Inquisitor We decided it would be best if the Inquisitor was a standard looking TIE Advanced Prototype - sort of the archetype of the breed.

Juno Eclipse This one was painted in the ESB blue that Vykes does really really well, with a blue canopy to match.

Redline I saw a similar red paint job on ebay and figured it fit the name of this pilot too well not to use.

Deathrain This pilot has some of the neatest card art of any ship - and I think Vykes captured it perfectly.

Vykes, continued.

Carnor Jax The famous Royal Guard Pilot in his RGP TIE/in, with added winglets.

Valen Rudor Based on his pilot ability and his ignominious defeats at the hands of the SW: Rebels, I figured this TAP would be a little beat up.

Scimitar Sqn A more bone stock, ANH white looking bomber.

Storm Sqn Meant to represent a front line fighter group with a bit of weathering to show signs of action, and a battle standard for recognition.

Sigma Sqn Like Scimitar above, this one was supposed to be a sort of run of the mill TIE/ph, if such a thing could be expected to exist.

Onyx Sqn Another TIE/D, this one with accents on the innumerable guns the ship carries.

Maarek Stele I always liked the yellow lasers depicted on the card art for Maarek, so I figured a yellow canopy would go well to distinguish him.

Sienar Test Pilot An ESB blue TAP, if you click, you can see some ID numbers on the wing one might expect on a prototype.

Tempest Sqn This one was supposed to be a clean, new production TIE/x1 - like the parade squadron you might see assigned to the Death Star, for example.

Senator's Shuttle I had this WSF Shapeways model kicking around forever, despairing of finding anyone capable of painting the unimpressive material. Vykes came thru though, as I knew he would!

Epsilon Leader, Ace and Pilot These TIE/fo's were supposed to represent jungle service, alongside the Lambda above. Moss and water staining abounds, and the center FO is actually an olive drab, as opposed to the gloss black of the others.

Omega Leader, Ace and Pilot These represent an arctic deployment - with dazzle camo setting O'Leader apart, for recognition on the tabletop.

Zeta Leader, Ace and Pilot Your more standard black & white FOs. These have been done up in a superb gloss black which more closely reflects that seen in the film. They also have colored viewports to keep them distinct.

Shadow Sqn I always loved the card art for this ship, and I think Vykes recreated it here with aplomb.

Sabine Wren The only direction I gave was 'paint up a shuttle the way Sabine would' and I think the results speak for themselves!

Hera Syndulla This one has a subtle but significant mod - the inclusion of Chopper in the astromech slot this ship lacks. I figured one Assault Shuttle ought to be updated to match the one currently seen on the show.

OK! Well, that's a lot of ships. There are more to go still and FFG never lets up with the releasing of new product so my quest may never truly end. Stay tuned hopefully for some posts by Vykes himself - if you have any questions for him that is! I'm sure I'll be adding to this thread as I check more boxes off my list as well

Simply amazing man! I will check some of the painters you mentioned here. Can you say how much on average it costed you to paint small and medium ships? Don't need to mention specific artists and prices, just the ballpark figures.

OP, that is an ambitious project, my friend! Would be very cool to have the time/money to do that, haha! Love it so far. Think I'll settle for a few custom jobs on some of mine, though.

Testa is doing armada customs for me also. Small world.

You thought these were stock paintjobs? Nope! Chuck Testa!

My name is Macross_VF1 and I approve of this thread. And not only because one of my creations is featured here!

I really like seeing so many good painters featured side by side, it helps bring out everyones personal style of painting.

This is really cool, how much repaint of the small and large ships costs on average?

To the admin - I haven't registered in this community few days ago just to be waiting 2 days to be able to write something. Move the post restriction already!

Chewbacca YT-1300 "Sabaton" based on a similar paint job Vykes put together for an Armada fleet he did for me. Really incredible weathering and detail work, some of the best I've ever seen.

I'd expect him to take down 40 TIE's before succumbing.

This is really cool, how much repaint of the small and large ships costs on average?

I actually have an enormous spread sheet tracking the ridiculous amount of money I've spent on this game. Cost for commissions ranges wildly between artists - suffice to say I think the majority are between $30-50 per ship, but I have people as low as $7 a ship and as high, on average, as $140 per ship.

Obviously LED lights and stuff cost more and I didn't bother making distinctions between large and small base ships so prices are a bit skewed there

I'm the New Zealander. Glad you liked the brown on Talonbane. I'm humbled to be next to some of these painters. You've got an amazing collection!

Hey there! Sorry, in my little spread sheet thing I only recorded your real name and I figured it would be rude to just throw that out there haha

What. The. Heck.

You are totally obsessed man!

Any shots of the whole fleet?

I'm thinking of doing a shot Wave by Wave but I'm still missing a few pilots per ship even from the early stuff.

Turr Phenirr & Kir Kanos - Painted by marinecorpsart on ebay. He created a really neat system where the magnet is hidden entirely inside the ship - and did a great job with the winglets on the Royal Guard interceptor!

Vykes, continued.

Carnor Jax The famous Royal Guard Pilot in his RGP TIE/in, with added winglets.

Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to do the interceptor winglets?

I'd love to duplicate this look.

Those interceptor winglets in both those pics look scratchbuild, but the easier way is to buy some from Mel's miniatures shapeways store and just glue them on and paint them, pretty straight forward, your other option is mucking about with plasticard/sheet styrene but that requires a bit more time and effort

Those interceptor winglets in both those pics look scratchbuild, but the easier way is to buy some from Mel's miniatures shapeways store and just glue them on and paint them, pretty straight forward, your other option is mucking about with plasticard/sheet styrene but that requires a bit more time and effort

Pointed me in the exact Direction i needed

http://www.shapeways.com/product/75R4VPCW9/8-royal-tie-interceptor-wings?optionId=56088868

Thanks!

I ordered two sets (enough for four Interceptors) last year. They worked fantastic with just a little bit of filing to get a nice fit. The best part is that they include extras so I got enough to do at least two more ships than I planned.