New Squadron Attempt! - C&C always appreciated

By D.Erasmus, in Star Wars: Armada Painting and Modification

Ever since I got Armada I knew I would have to paint my squadrons. The underwhelming monochrome plastic of the squadrons just looks out of place next to the showstopping big ships. Now I'm finally dipping my toes into the world of mini-painting after months of lurking, reading, and watching tutorials. Big shout-out to Drasnighta btw - his squadron painting tutorials are a life-saver.

After I explain what I did, I'd ask that you please share any critiques or tips that you might have. Keep in mind I'm entirely new to mini-painting so I have a very shallow pool of knowledge to draw from. Any help is appreciated!

I'll begin with the TIE fighters from the Core set (as well as those found in Imps Squadrons I). Pics will follow in the comments.

Supplies

Brush : Winston & Newton University series sizes 0, 1, and 2. I picked these out at a local art supply store after eyeballing them only. They seemed like the right size for painting squadrons.

Palette : I used a wet palette that consisted of tupperware with wet paper towels and parchment paper

Paints : Since the local stores near me stock Citadel that's what I went with. It also helps that Citadel has very accessible youtube tutorials and an app.

TIE Fighter miniature

  • Chaos Black spray primer
  • Equal parts Thunderhawk Blue and Russ Grey for the TIE body (I wanted a more blue-ish hull à la Empire Strikes Back )
  • Abaddon Black for the wings & cockpit
  • 'Ardcoat for the cockpit glass
  • Moot Green for the laser ports
  • Mephiston Red for the namesake twin ion engines (also for decorative flourishes on my aces)

Squadron Stand

  • Chaos black spray primer
  • Moot green applied on the damage indicator arrow

Technique

Step Zero was to remove mold lines from my TIE squadrons using a hobby knife. While I managed to get most of the lines from the inside of the TIE fighter panels, I missed some mold lines on my interceptor panels that caused me grief later on. I then soaked the minis in soapy water and did my best to swirl them around and clean any mold release agents off them. Then I submerged those TIEs with especially out of shape wings into hot water in an attempt to re-shape them. I eliminated the most egregiously mis-formed wings but I still could've done a better job at this step.

Next, I began cutting the ends off of hollow plastic q-tips and inserting the TIEs into them individually. This allowed me to paint the ships without fear of smearing paint on their stand. To ensure my squadrons wouldn't fly away while spraying them, I used painters tape to adhere each q-tip base to an empty egg carton. I then held the far end of the carton, and sprayed my TIEs with Chaos Black primer (outside of course). I reapplied from other angles to ensure I didn't miss any obvious spots.

Once the primer dried (~20 minutes) I removed the q-tips from the egg carton and inserted them into a block of styrafoam. This was my painting staging area.

The first actual painting involved me mixing Russ Grey and Thunderhawk Blue together, thinning it down, and then fully painting the TIEs. In retrospect, I probably didn't need to paint the interior of the wings since they ended up black anyways. Oh well.

Next I used Abaddon Black and very carefully applied the black paint to the wings. As I painted more I managed to control where the paint was going a little better. I made lots of little messes and didn't stay inside all the lines. As a result I then went back for a round of touch-ups where I used my blue body mix to paint over errant black spots. After my blue touch-ups i needed to apply even more black paint since i could still see blue coming up beneath the black paneling. I suspect I internalized the “Thin Your Paints” mantra a little too much since I needed to apply black nearly four times in some cases.

With the body and panels mostly done, I applied small amounts of black paint to the cockpit. Once dry, I used small amounts of 'Ardcoat to provide a lil gloss on the cockpit class. Blue body was then used in small, controlled brushtrokes to ensure the spokes encasing the cockpit glass matched the rest of the body.

Nearing the end, I used tiny dabs of Moot Green to paint the laser nubbins underneath the cockpit. I then used similarly tiny dabs of Mephiston Red for the engine glow. For both the lasers and engines I only used one dab of paint (I was afraid multiple applications wouldn't end up in the same spot). Whenever I made a mistake I simply waited for the area to dry before re-touching it up with either black or blue.

Squadron bases were easy. I simply applied Chaos Black spray and then painted on several thin coats of Moot Green on the damage indicator.

Takeaways

1) This is fun! Painting away for hours at a time is relaxing. It is extremely satisfying to see your progress right before your eyes since each mini gets more "complete" every time you pick it up. Every Armada player should try it!

2) You can thin your paints too much and it is a pain to keep filling in black panels over and over and over and over...

3) One handy thing about painting oodles of TIEs at one time: at the end of it all you can identify your worst three models and group them together. This a) makes any TIEs squadrons you field in the game look that much better since the worst are culled out and and b) gives you a handy test-group that you can experiment on

Questions

How would you handle any varnish/lacquer? I really really don't want to ruin these guys by using the wrong product in the wrong way with the wrong technique.

How would you approach the dials and activation switches? I'd like to eliminate the visible cardboad but I'm unsure of how best to approach this. I'm considering painting the edges of the ship dials with the same blue as the TIE body. That way there is a little bit of visual interest beyond "all black everything."

Has anyone tried painting the activation switch anything other than black, such as red or blue? How have those turned out?

Has anyone found a way to consistently paint the interior of the TIE wings? Every time I free-handed it the results were sub-par at best so I painted over all of them

Edited by D.Erasmus
layout fixes

Sweet. The font is insanely huge. Sure would be fun if there was a way to change that ?

Edit: found it! should be easier on the eyes now

Edited by D.Erasmus
update
13 minutes ago, Foba said:

Nice work ? wondering if this picture is the same as the second one? ?

Good catch! Ive updated the link

11 minutes ago, D.Erasmus said:

Good catch! Ive updated the link

Now we talking, the black could be deeper, otherwise very nice ?

23 hours ago, D.Erasmus said:

Has anyone found a way to consistently paint the interior of the TIE wings? Every time I free-handed it the results were sub-par at best so I painted over all of them

I did mine (well, seems I missed one or two), what I found the easiest was to start from white base, and free-hand painting black triangles in the centre of each panel, with a wide margin both side at first. then adding a black side line to that triangle, repeat until you find your white markings are thin enough. As you already have a more or less straight central figure, and the hexagonal summit of the panel is easy to see, broadening your black triangle is quite easy, and if your first line is quite "wavy", you have a pair of tries to straighten it with your lines, without any damage to your painting

tried the reverse, but as putting white on a black base is real hard, I never had a clear contrast, as I had to repaint 3 or 4 times each line to get white-ish

42 minutes ago, D.Erasmus said:

Woah! Those look sick! Is that the citadel gem paint on the cockpit? It looks fantastic whatever you used.

8 hours ago, Atromix said:

Woah! Those look sick! Is that the citadel gem paint on the cockpit? It looks fantastic whatever you used.

Great eye! I’ve really enjoyed using the gemstone paints to make my cockpits pop a little more. They look especially slick on A-Wings. I’ll have to post some pics later this weekend.

21 hours ago, D.Erasmus said:

Great eye! I’ve really enjoyed using the gemstone paints to make my cockpits pop a little more. They look especially slick on A-Wings. I’ll have to post some pics later this weekend.

Oh Definitely, I'd love to see more. I may have to make a trip to my local GW to try out those paints on cockpits myself...

I didn’t do the interior wings if my TIEs. I just painted the black.

I toyed with the idea of painting the interiors all black then painting the edge of a matchstick or something similar, then transferring the paint that way, like a stamp. No idea if it would actually work...

Cloaking TIE Phantom

I painted up two new squads of Phantoms. For the first I tried the gradual cloaking technique I’ve seen other people use. I used Lothern Blue and White Scar (both Citadel paints) for the lightning effect. I then used an old brush to splatter globs of White Scar on the cloaked portion to mimic a star field. Overall it turned out way better than I expected!

For the regular Phantom squad I used my typical mix of Russ Grey and Thunderhawk Blue for the body with Thunderhawk Blue on its own used as a highlight. I laid on some ‘ardcoat on the cockpits to create the reflective glass. For the engine glow I used Mephiston Red as a base and Fire Dragon Bright to brighten the center.

Painted Decimator Squadron

for my Decimator I painted the red lines with Mephiston Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet (with a touch of Fire Dragon Bright in the center “grill”). For the cockpit areas I painted Stormhost Silver topped with Soulstone Red . I then used Mechanicus Standard Grey and Fenrisian Grey to break up the flat black and highlighting of some edges - notably the top window spokes.

This took about two nights to complete although I was also painting some rebel squads and folding laundry.

I was inspired by this repaint I found online although I did try to put my own spin on it.

Thanks for looking!

Edited by D.Erasmus

Maroon Squadron

This is my 7th painted Y-Wing squadron and one of my favorites already. I took inspiration from a user (I think on this forum) who used two different shades on his Ys to spectacular effect.

I basecoated with Rakarth Flesh and then shaded with Agrax Earthshade followed by Nuln Oil. For the engine glow within the nacelles I tried to create a rough gradient of Retributor Armor (close to the ship) leading into Abaddon Black at the far end. I then added a steak of Auric Armor Gold in the middle for extra brightness. I then applied Bloodletter glaze over the nacelle interior to complete the warm engine glow.

The squadron markings are relatively plain with variation only on the cockpit area. They were made with Khorne Red which was then carefully shaded with Carroburg Crimson to deepen the red into maroon.

I used Citadel metallics ( Stormhost Silver , Leadbelcher , Hashut Copper ) to paint the piping on the ship’s body. They were then shaded with Nuln Oil.

Droids were simply Celestra Grey with blue, red, and black paint domes gently painted on. The rear faces of the nacelles were painted with Celestra Grey and layered with Evil Sunz Scarlet. I then put smaller circles of Yriel Yellow and finally White Scar in the middle of the rear engine faces. I then glazed the rear with Bloodletter to complete the effect.

Goldenrod Squadron

I am very satisfied with the rear engine glow with this set of Y’s. I cribbed the recipe from @Drasnighta ’s painting guide for the Rogues and Villains expansion. I applied the below paints in smaller and smaller concentric circles. I thinned them down and applied two coats of each - except the base scarlet which took about four coats.

Evil Sunz Scarlet

Wild Rider Red

Troll Slayer Orange

Yriel Yellow

Flash Gitz Yellow

I then used a goldenrod and blue color scheme for the livery. Any questions please feel free to ask!

Edited by D.Erasmus