X-Wing Showcase : Gold squadron Y-Wing repaint

Rule 34 : If you're leaving scorch marks, you need a bigger gun!

After my failure at the 2016 French national championship (3 losses out of seven games) I realized that I needed a new list. The swarm is still playable, but you can no longer afford any mistakes and the fickle green dice can always derail the best laid plan.

With the new X-7 title defenders have almost Soontir like defense and with twice the health they are much less vulnerable to crackshot. They are also very resilient to my main advantage: blocking. I was able to take down shields and leave a few scorch marks, but not destroy them.

What I needed was a bigger gun, able to reload and go the distance while keeping the same output. In other words, a Y-Wing with twin laser turret!

Armada : X-Wing half-squadron painted

Hello guys, just a quick post to show you my progress on Red squadron.

Armada : First X-Wing painted and laser canons pin tutorial

Hello everyone,

I just got my copy of Armada last week and I could not wait to see what I could do with the fighters.

At around 14 mm long the X-Wings are about 1/3rd the size of X-Wing miniatures X-Wings and of course much less detailed. However with a bit of detailing and freehand you can get a pretty convincing result.

X-Wing Showcase : VT-49 Decimator repaint

When I saw the wave 5 ships, I just knew I needed to repaint the Decimator. With it's sleek lines, aggressive angles and overall badassness it just begged for a good paint job.

X-Wing Showcase : Dagger squadron B-Wing with folding foils

For my latest repaint, I was a bit late for my club monthly painting challenge (read : I still had not painted anything on the evening of the last day...) so I decided it was the right time to try a new B-Wing mod : folding S-Foils. Nothing like trying something new and superfluous when you're short on time!

I think it turned out OK, but not as good as I would have liked, the port wing especially is a bit crooked when folded.

Lock S-Foils in attack position!

If you've seen a lot of B-Wings, something should be strange by now. Try to find it or scroll to see the answer.

I used exactly the same techniques as on my first B-Wing for the rotating cockpit and paintjob, you can find the tutorial here.

For the foils it was a pretty simple mod all considered. 

It's just that when I glued the wing back on, I glued the wing inverted! I'm so used to my other B-Wing that is inverted that I glued the wings with the same side up only realizing my mistake when I had to paint the squadron markings. If you try the mod, don't make the same mistake!

You will need: 

- superglue

- a thin paperclip

- a sharp x-acto

- a hand drill of the diameter of your paper clip

Here is what you're aiming for:

First remove the bottom wing ( try to wiggle it off the main peg, applying pressure alternatively on either side, you should hear a small crack when the glue breaks, then just pry it off).

Next remove the foils, they form a single wing.

Now's the hard part: using your X-Acto, make 2 cuts on each wing to separate them from the central core (forgot to take pictures, so this where to make the cuts, just imagine that the wing is separated):

When the wings are cut, drill a hole in the wing for the paper clip :

And 2 corresponding holes in the core of the wing:

Now take the paper clip, cut to size, bend it and glue:

Here is the finished model with my original (notice that the wings have the same side up...):

I was a bit pressed for time and did not strip the paint, now that the model is painted it definitely shows, especially around the cockpit and the engine where the original model had a heavy coat.
It was not necessary on the lambda, but it really makes a difference for the smaller ships.

Time to reload,
Ica

Public Service Announcement : for my Parisian readers, there are 2 tournaments coming soon.
1) The Paris Open on the 6th of December 2014: registration and info
2) Uchronies games tournament on the 14th of December 2014 (full already) : info

X-Wing Showcase : Imperial Lambda Shuttle Repaint

I don't know, ...  fly casual.

The best ride to infiltrate a heavily guarded shield generator, the lambda shuttle is one of the most iconic ships of the original trilogy. I really enjoyed painting it.

With such large surfaces compared to the other ships in the game I had to increase the color modulation on each panel to keep it interesting across the table.

I went for a slightly non canon paint job, adding small red areas to the wings and giving a red tint to the cockpit.

No leds in this one : after trying for half an hour to pry it open, I convinced myself that it wasn't worth it...

I used a new idea for the ball joint with a ring magnet and a ball magnet, expect a tutorial soon!

I kept the folding wings for ease of transport:

 Hope you like it!

Last month I played a bit with the layout of the blog and I added a new page : http://rule37-ica.blogspot.com/p/hobby-links.html that you can access from the top toolbar with a few hobby ressources and links (tutorials and repaint blogs or threads). If you like those I can add more!

Time to reload,
Ica

Follow blog updates on twitter :  https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=Icareane37
or on facebook : https://www.facebook.com/rule37.ica

X-Wing Showcase : Anakin Jedi Interceptor

So what I told you was true. From a certain point of view.

Following Obiwan craft, I painted Anakin ETA-2 interceptor from Revenge of the Sith. It sports as expected R2D2 in the droid slot.

As the close ups of Obiwan fighter revealed a grain texture to some panels, I tried to weather the craft differently to hide/decrease the apparent roughness.

Here is a group shot of my 3 latest ships, the Millenium Falcon and the 2 jedi Interceptors:

Time to reload,
Ica

X-Wing Showcase : Obiwan Jedi Interceptor

My first model from Shapeways!

This is an ETA-2 Actis class light interceptor, as seen in Revenge of the Sith piloted by Obiwan Kenobi.

The ship is to xwing scale (1/270), but the size of the actual craft is about half that of an X-Wing, which means that the model is 20mm long. Due to process limitations it came pretty bare in term of details, but it's a good base for painting. Thanks to Mel_Miniatures for designing this model!

You can find it on shapeways under the name lledi interceptor (2 ls for some reason instead of the J): http://www.shapeways.com/model/984898/interceptor-lledi-1-270.html

Here is a side by side comparison with the raw (cleaned and undercoated) model, as you can see most of the details where free handed.

I tried a new technique on this model : the plastic engine exhaust as proposed by:
http://www.afewmaneuvers.com/_/afm-articles/add-some-bling-to-your-a-wing-r161

Hope you like it. As usual you can click on the pictures for bigger shots, just keep in mind that the model is 20mm long!

Time to reload,
Ica

X-Wing Showcase : Millenium Falcon Repaint

You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!

When I started repainting my X-Wing models, it was all in preparation for this : the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy! The level of details on the YT-1300 is nothing short of amazing for such a small model (on the top side anyway) and it was big enough for an engine light mod.

The repaint took me about 2 weeks from stripping to converting to the last varnish. I used all the techniques developped on Luke X-Wing and then some, with most of the weathering done with oils.

The engine light is made with the classic leds+ hot glue diffuser, with a switch hidden on the belly of the ship. I should post a couple of tutorials soon, for the engine lights and for the oil weathering, I also changed the magnet joint for the Falcon as the weight of the model and the size made a ball joint unusable.

I'm really happy about how the ship turned out, hope you like it!

Time to reload,
Ica

Showcase : Tie/In Royal Guard repaint with winglets

The latest addition to my fleet : a Royal Guard Interceptor!

The Royal Guards defend the Emperor flying heavily modified Interceptors, adding shields and light speed drives to the standard chassis while keeping the legendary agility of the interceptor.

This sleek craft was a blast to convert and paint, using the standard Tie Interceptor and adding sculpted winglets.

For this model I changed my usual ball magnet technique for a steel ball bearing and circle magnet. This gives a better point of contact, needed because the model is heavier than a regular small craft.

The winglets were sculpted in green stuff with instant mold for the pattern, expect a step by step soon!

As befitting an aggressive craft, I went for a slightly more glossy finish compared to my Ties, this should help it stand out.

I used my usual airbrushed base color, oil wash and brush highlights technique to paint the red areas.

The inside panles were kept darker on purpose as they should receive less light.

Hope you like it!

Time to reload,

Ica