Sunday, August 4, 2013

Star Wars B-Wing: Painting and weathering


I'm really sorry, but I didn't make any photo during the process of painting, but I have uploaded many photos of the finished model and I'll try to explain briefly how I painted it.

First some photos of the model lighted:


The tiny leds are really powerful, I had to user stronger resistors (500 Ohm) to dim a little bit the light.



I used the same techniques from the previous models, but this time seems the worked much better. To begin, a base coat of light gray and white. All the base colors will be acrylic, applied with the airbrush. I wanted to start with a really light color because I realized that after weathering all colors become much darker. After the base coat, I added white to the remaining paint in the airbrush and highlighted a side of each panel. Adding black color I darkened some zones like the base of wings working all the time with the airbrush.


Over the base coat, and masking the zones, I airbrushed the red circles and dark grey parts. Using a small razor you can remove the paint of the edges and simulate a typical wear or scratches of the ship. If you do it carefully the color of the previous coat will appear. 


The following step is protecting this base color for the weathering with gloss varnish because it will be done with oil paints, and this kind of paints must be diluted with turpentine or white spirit.


In my previous model I used turpentine, but I felt it too aggressive. I made some changes that finished in better results: This time I used white spirit (what we call in Spain "símil de aguarrás"). And I didn't use ear sticks to remove the excess of oil paint, just a soft brush. But let's go step by step. 


First of all I damped the part of the model to weather with white spirit. Not too much, don't let the white spirit to make drops or accumulate too much. In a small recipient you mix white spirit with a bit of oil paint, just what a small brush can hold (0/2 brush size). I used black and white oil paint (to have a dark gray) and added also a bit of burned umber. It must be diluted in a way that it flows smoothly when touching an edge with the brush.


Apply it to all panel lines and zones you want to emphasize. Apply it stronger to dirty zones like motors or weapons. Now be patient and let it dry during 5 or 10 minutes, try to not dirty all the model or you will have to clean a lot later. It's better to apply a second coat, that do it too much stronger at the beginning. Then take a soft brush and damping it softly with white spirit slide it like following the natural "air flow" of the ship to remove the excess of oil paint until you like it. 




To finish it I just added yellow and brown oil paint in the rotating gear wheel of the main cabin.





I hope you liked this B-Wing more than the previous ones. Keep trying, practice will make you improve a lot.

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