WIP: Bandai's Resistance X-Wing(s)

[DefiantWorkshop]

Couldn't decide if I wanted to do a "standard" Resistance X-Wing or Poe's X-wing....so I got two to do both! Problem is I'm going cross-eyed trying to paint the pilots, and since I can't use the kit decals to do Poe's X-Wing (it only comes with the blue decals), I'm painting on the markings for BOTH ships. So, needless to say, I have my work cut out for me.

First things first, I have to completely do the cockpit and pilot before assembling and painting the fuselage, so I got to work on those:





While I'm at it, going ahead and painting up the droids. For some reason it comes with BB units and no other options, even though most of the pilots fly with some version of an R4 or R5 unit, so I painted one up in blue on a whim, since there's no real standard for other BB droids yet. I didn't get crazy on the detailing, b/c when they are in their slot, just about only the head pokes out:



From there I started assembly! Unlike some of the other Bandai kits, this one didn't come molded in the color plastic every piece would end up being, so I made logical sub assemblies for later masking. Started with the wings (8 sets of them!):



Now that my eyes won't uncross, I'm going to assemble the top fuselage half as one piece, and the bottom as a second, and leave the backs as another piece as well. I might have bitten off more than I can chew.

[DefiantWorkshop]

Next up, priming the subassemblies! I thought I was being smart building two X-Wings. Turns out, I might not finish either of them...this is a lot of work.

Primed the Resistance fighter in Tamiya gray, and Poe's in Citadel's black primer:





I then mixed a paint combo up of about 2:1 tamiya white and light gray, which is almost the exact same shade as the primer, so no real difference in appearance. I base coated Poe's in Tamiya's NATO Black, which is almost black, with maybe a touch of green? This gives me a way to still shade down in the panel lines of the kit, as straight black wouldn't show shading as well. I sprayed half a wing to show the difference. Straight black on the left, NATO on the right:



Next up is the masking nightmare of putting markings on them!

[Grim123]

Straight black on the left, NATO on the right:
!

Here I am! Stuck in the middle with you

[kevtk135]

Very cool!
Hope you continue building them.
All of a sudden I'm seeing a lot of guys using NATO black for their primer... Hmmmm

[DefiantWorkshop]

Kev, who else? i've used it a lot recently instead of just "black" for a lot of my kits.

As for continuing, I have some progress shots I'm about to post, but shelved them from burnout for a bit and moved on to the Glottkin (in the miniatures section) as a change of pace til I can get back to it.

[DefiantWorkshop]

Masking at this point, is what's taking forever. Lots of individual panels that alternate in color, and some stripes that don't adhere to panel lines at all. That's been extremely slow going, especially doing two of them at once. I am not using the decals to "paint" my X-Wings. Colors don't quite match between the plastic and the decals, and its just not as potentially accurate or will it looks as good. So we're painting the blue/orange parts. I started by putting Tamiya tape over the decals for the stripes, tracing them out, and cutting a mask.



Once the masks were (tediously) laid down, I sprayed, and here's the end result of the Resistance fighter! Haven't started the orange paint on Poe's yet, but we're getting there.

[kevtk135]

Kev, who else? i've used it a lot recently instead of just "black" for a lot of my kits.

As for continuing, I have some progress shots I'm about to post, but shelved them from burnout for a bit and moved on to the Glottkin (in the miniatures section) as a change of pace til I can get back to it.

The one guy that I can think of off the top of my head (b/c I watched one of his builds last night) is the guy building kits on YouTube in the Andys Hobby HQ channel.
I'd have to look for the the others, I'm addicted to the YT model builds and prolly spend too much time on there.

Well, I guess it's good to step away from time to time. Just as long as you make it back one day.