Art Model Building - Imperial Walker, Perfect Grade Bandai Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, 1:144 Millennium Falcon, Y-Wings, Macross

[Kamandi]

Thanks. I like the way it turned out but there's a few bits incomplete. It could use some rust colored streaks and I haven't used a dremel to add tiny bites in the paint job. There's no decals. I could go on but my energy would be better spent on the Perfect Grade.

I might come back to this after the Perfect Grade and finish it enough to sell on Etsy or something. There's about 30 hours of paint time on this model so it will be a few dollars - but I could turn that into a 3d printer if it sells.

 

[Kamandi]

Recharging my batteries with a quick one day build. This is day two.

 

[Snake Plissken]

These always look great when they have that look like it's been inside of a muffler of a station wagon that is in desperate need of an oil change.

 

[Kamandi]

I drug this behind a rusted out El Camino for a few miles on a gravel road. Now I'm calling it done.

 

[Snake Plissken]

That fucking Rebel scum didn't care about the environment of the vacuum of space.

 

[RavenEye]

Essentially that's what was Lucas' original concept was. A used universe, dirty, scrappy etc while the Empire remained clean and proper looking while being nasty on the inside.

You captured the heart of the concept in that model.

 

[Kamandi]

"clean and proper looking while being nasty on the inside"

You mean like Star Trek: Picard? Because I just watched the season finale and it sucked.

I digress. Thanks for enjoying the model. It turned out OK for something I didn't really plan out. The body had all sorts of gaps that needed filler, but that meant the wings couldn't be detached to paint inside. I managed to get in there but it required a buttload of masking.

It's difficult finding good reference for Luke's Red 5 from the first film. Empire and Jedi used a different model. I did my best with what I could find. It's a reasonable copy.

 

[Kamandi]

Motherfucker is on the bench.

The Perfect Grade Falcon next to the earlier paint study. My build up of tones is the same but more methodical this time. There's weathering under markings and more weathering over the top, so I'm trying to think though order of application. There's also a process of add a little and knock it back - the Falcon's signature grittiness is accomplished by building layers. There's no shortcuts.

Here's what two evenings looks like. I hope to paint some more this evening.

 

[Kamandi]

More hours this weekend on the Falcon.

 

[Kamandi]

Attacked the engine deck last night, I'm happy with progress. This is such a signature area I really was concerned about fucking up this part. There's a little bit left to this section with some rust and a couple dark spots but I feel like I'm close.



One of my key reference images:

 

[Kamandi]

The apocalypse continues outside so I'm getting some paint time. I still have a ton of shading, streaks, weathering, streaks, interiors, streaks... oh, and the underside hasn't been worked on beyond a base coat.

 

[Snake Plissken]

That smeared grit looks awesome.

 

[RavenEye]

Professional work, the only plus side of this coof is lots of free time to do art.

 

[Kamandi]

Thank you. If I were professional I would've been done long ago.

I'm hoping to at least have the top done by end of month when I return to the office. I'm still keeping regular work hours. I'm lucky that I can do my job with a VPN connection.

 

[Kamandi]

More detailing and weathering. The print is a picture by ILM's Bill George. They wheeled the 5 foot model outdoors to get a daylight shot for all of their personal Falcon projects. It's my master reference.

 

[Kamandi]

This evening I painted shit tons of tiny lines everywhere. It was fucking exciting. Yup.

 

[Kamandi]

More detailing and streaking. Also I built a sturdier base so I could put a nice bank to the side and a more dynamic display. I decided to take a peek at how it will look when finished:





I still need to finish the bottom and sides and add the lights, but the top is about 95% done. All I have to do is not fuck up the rust streaks and I'll be happy.

 

[RavenEye]

When you have that done it'll be one of kind for sure. Looks better than anything we've seen State side with production quality.

 

[Kamandi]

Changing things up briefly:

A small fleet of TIEs I built and used for airbrushing lessons with my daughter:

A Bandai AT-AT. Assembled, primed, and base coat. I'll let this paint cure for a few days before further weathering.

 

[RavenEye]

Nice, she did a good job on Ties.