Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Since I am between commissions right now (I just finished some Stormtalon gunships for a fellow Dakkaite), I managed to get some work done to some personal projects. After completing the TIE/Ln fighter, I wanted to tackle something a little more complicated (in terms of painting at least). For Darth Vader's personal starfighter, I decided that a "factory fresh" paint job was inadequate for the Dark Lord considering that his fighter has surely seen plenty of action against the Rebellion. For this model, I primed everything in white and gave it a base color of Tamiya Sky Grey and Flat White mixed at a 1:1 ratio. I then used Vallejo Masking Fluid to apply chips along corners and panel edges and gave the model a preshading of VMA Black followed by a coat of Tamiya Sky Grey. After I removed the liquid mask I sealed everything with a couple of coats of Future and gave it a wash with 502 Abteilung Starship Filth. After I cleaned up the excess, I began to discolor individual panels using 502 Abteilung Faded Grey, Faded UN White, and Faded Navy Blue followed by a couple of coats of matte varnish. The black wing panel interiors were masked and painted with a 6:1 mix of VMA Black and VMA Arctic Blue metallic to give them a metallic sheen. The kit instructions call for the hull to be painted Air Superiority Blue, but the craft never appeared bluish to me when watching the films so I went with the Sky Grey like a standard TIE from A New Hope. Also, this being a 1/72 scale kit, it is pretty tiny. The cockpit "ball" is about 1.25" tall and the wings are about 3.5" long. The whole model fits nicely in the palm of my hand.

Comments and criticism are always welcome!

For the "weathering" looking like paint peeling off (say off the solar panel frame) did you use a masking material you tease off later?
Very well done, has that nice look of detail without being too busy.
It looks "right".
I have heard of people using oils for models and getting good results, glad to see someone's work to point to.
How are those paints to work with opposed to acrylic on models?
Does it need more of a "gesso" finished surface or no different?

Yeah, really nice looking.

You can't tell its 1/72. looks bigger. But its because you detailed it nicely

 Talizvar wrote:
For the "weathering" looking like paint peeling off (say off the solar panel frame) did you use a masking material you tease off later?
Very well done, has that nice look of detail without being too busy.
It looks "right".
I have heard of people using oils for models and getting good results, glad to see someone's work to point to.
How are those paints to work with opposed to acrylic on models?
Does it need more of a "gesso" finished surface or no different?

Yeah, really nice looking.

Thanks for the compliment!

I talked about how I did the paint chipping in the little blurb I wrote... I used Vallejo Fluid Mask dabbed on with a piece of torn foam. Then I used a ball of poster tack to peel it off after the the top coat of paint had dried.

As far as the oils goes, they are awesome to work with. You can paint them directly on top of cured acrylic paint, but I like seal everything with a matte varnish first. The extended work time of the oils is a big part of their draw. Looking at the rear of the craft, yhe long narrow panel on the right of the rectangular part of the hull was painted with Faded UN White; the oil was thinned so it gives the panel just enough of discoloration without making it too drastic. The thin panel near the wing on the left was given a Faded Navy Blue filter; if you zoom in on the picture it is more noticeable. The underside of the ship has a bunch of off-color panels too, but I didn't take a picture of it.

Cool, nicely done!