Disclaimer: I've a severe tendency to fly off on an enthusiastic tangent for a bit, then get bored and start painting something else.
(As a result my hobby closet is chock full of "WIP"s, and by extension my x-wing stuff is also. This is just the less-worser bits)
I have drawn gobs of inspiration from people on here and I vowed to give appropriate credit, a thread link, and a public display of affection to everyone I stole an idea from. But you might have to give me a bit while I dig back through this forum to suss out what I stole from whom. (I had a Hobby Related Original Idea once, when I came to my doctors said dwelling on it would only cause a recurrence.)
Real life has made mincemeat of my hobby time as of late, reducing it to a few hours a week. I'm pleased to notice a detectable improvement in my painting, but due to the paucity of time spent and work done, my improvements have been glacial.
I was much less pleased to note that a mediocre cameraman can turn a mediocre paint job into a really bad paint job.
Anyhoo, here's some of the old stuff, from the first iteration of the X-Wing painting threads.
Backstabber was my homeboy.
Stabby was my favorite Imp pilot in the first core set.
I dressed up a six ship mini swarm with these greys and green jeweling on the glass. In retrospect the glass was "jeweled" too much.. overshot my white reflective dots to the point where they looked more like Great Aunt Opal's favorite brooch than a little spaceship.
The obligatory cloak..
Wish I had added a starfield.
Wish I had arraigned the effect more neatly (the left side is an utter mess)
Wish I had painted the ship itself first
But none of it bothered me enough to fix
Red... uh, Blue fli.. uh
I'm proud of my astromechs and the spiral stripe on Wedge's upper starboard cannon.
I'm ashamed of the squadron markings on the two blues that I never took the time to clean up and the fact that when I bought my first haul of x-wing stuff, before I had any clue what was what, I gushed on my blog about how the T-65 was probably the most balanced ship in the game. #ignorantchild
Bae's Ride
Submitted this one for Cliff's contest when he was running TheMetalBikini.com.. The camera is definately not kind to it, ugh.
This is my wife's favorite ship, mostly because I painted it for her, (asked her which one she would like me to paint and in what colors), and whipped up a bunch of blue rebels to go with it, than any degree of efficacy... she plays to humor me more than to win anyway.
All the cool kids were doing it before there were Aces..
Attempted this paint job because I adore McQuarrie's work.
My wife's second favorite ship, less due to emotional context and more because she kicks my **** with it.
Sloppy paint job with cheap acrylics and I broke the cannons doing it (like my watch winder blasters?)... but one thing I like about it more than the real Prototype pilot... the rear quarter windows. When I finally get around to snagging the Aces, the only thing I wont be able to resist doing is painting on those little quarter windows.
The equally obligatory axis rotation
Yes, the flying crucifix bugged me too... wanted it to match the wife's squads... broke cannons while working on it also.
Just to see if I could
Eh, sorry about that one...
My favorite. (aren't I so kooky and lovably unique?? 
)
Another "in before Aces" repaint. Like most generic fan boys I love me some interceptors (Return of the Jedi is like Christmas for me.... trees and lights and familiarity and presents in the form of things exploding and red and green lightsabers clashing), and Soontir needed a proper ride.
Ugh, sloppy. 
Greebly AF
Very first mod was grinding a hole in that Y-Wing and gluing a bit of floral wire through a bead to make a ball turret... which I then failed to ever paint (as you can see)... scum Y faired a little better with watch parts... still didn't care enough to paint 'em though.... one day. Now that they're here for all to see I'll be shamed into it
She may not look like much but.... well... she isn't.. really
Never used the YT-1300 all that much nor was I sufficiently enamored enough to paint or mod it extensively. Had to add an engine glow, because that was just irritating, then finally couldn't resist spinning that top quad around. Also used it to kinda develop my reflected starfield a bit better. Black, white dots, random blotched dark blue glaze, repeat until desired depth achieved... it either resembles 80's cartoon stars, or kid's toothpaste.
Most recent and favoritests:
Here is where I attempted to "get serious", and for that I want to thank Rodent Mastermind. As I said, my hobby time is limited, but I made a determined effort to stick with this one. Mostly in hour long sessions stretched out over a two and a half month period. I'd get off work (construction), help-ish wife tend to kids (one deaf, one autistic, lotta work, she tends to them and me both. Absolute superhero) and if I wasn't too fragged put a little time in with this ship. Focus on one stage and got it right before moving on.
Which sounds very basic and obvious, (and it is), but it was a far cry from my previous tendency to go "TraLaLa! OOH! Cool Idea!! Cut! Sand! Glue! Glob! Paint! Smear! Ehhhh... Bored now... on to something else". At 32 I finally shed that 13 year old attention span and treated this one almost like work, just constant, calm, determined effort... and found it actually very very pleasant and relaxing. And of course turned out a much better paint job than anything I'd done previously. I realized "Who cares if this is taking a long time? You aren't racing anyone... you aren't under a contract... and once it's done, then what? Just enjoy each brush stroke and let what'll be, be.."
Glib remarks about poor photography aside, this one actually bugs me. I spent much time blending shadows and highlights and the picture eradicated it. 
Gonna have to branch my hobby out into miniature photography too.
A smidge less Royal Guard and a scooch more Richthofen.
And a special thanks to Panz3r for letting me rip his reflected planet motif. Mine came out a smidge potato shaped though... not sure what a Royal Guard Interceptor was doing over Kessel, but there you have that.
Oh! You like those cannon barrels? More watch parts!! Check this out! Greebles for days from Hobby Lobby!
I have to say I love this forum (this part of this forum). Everyone is very supportive and helpful. Us noobs are welcomed and the proper artists are inspirational and positive, good times.
Merry Christmas / Happy Whatever Holiday you prefer everyone.
Edited by juxstapo
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(and not being too uber careful to begin with), but the Interceptor was a difficult-to-find gift from a sibling, so it warranted more particularity. 
Don't know how long it will take, but I'm actually working on one as we speak.
