Bandai First Order TIE fighter [DONE!]

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Dec 1, 2013
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74
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The newest carnation of the venerable TIE fighter shares a lot with it's predecessor, such as the basic shape, the distinct twin ion engines, and dual laser cannons. Aside from the reversed color palette, the newer model sports a deflector shield, more powerful weapons, and an upgraded sensor array. The kit itself is molded in black and light grey plastic with the usual Bandai precision. Like all Bandai kits, it snaps together in a hurry and the final result is very nice, even without paint.

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I decided to tint the windscreen and top hatch glazing using Tamiya Clear Red (X-27) to mimic the the box art. Of course some people will say, "The glass isn't red in the movie," but I'm not overly concerned with screen accuracy and I don't light kits so this is the next best thing. Also, it looks cool.

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I wanted to go with a weathered look on this TIE fighter because the First Order no longer treats its personnel as expendable, given that their ships are shielded now. It makes sense that these fighters would see considerable action and over time would accumulate wear and tear; this particular TIE is being piloted by a veteran Special Forces pilot and has seen plenty of combat. After priming with Alclad grey primer, I gave all of the hull and wing frames a coat of Alclad Dull Aluminum (ALC-117) and then applied Humbrol Maskol with a small piece of torn foam where I wanted the chips too be. I then gave the entire ship a coat of Tamiya Rubber Black (XF-85), which is a nice near-black color. After the paint cured I used a piece of poster tack to remove the liquid mask, revealing the metallic color underneath. Because Tamiya paint is so matte, the Dull Aluminum was too bright and I decided to give everything a light dusting of Rubber Black to tone it down a little.

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The wing panels were painted with a 12:1 mix of Tamiya Flat White (XF-2) and Sky Grey (XF-19), which is much lighter than the grey they come molded in.

I need to figure out how I'm going to further weather the model. Normally I would do this with oil washes, but given the almost-black color, I'm not so sure that would work out well. I might give everything a light drybrush with some grey oil paint, but I'm not sure how that will turn out. While I think about what to do, I'll start working on the cockpit tub so I can get the main hull assembled.
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

Looks like some pretty good ideas going on there
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

Very cool and logical take on this. I like it.
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

Loving the tinted canopy!

Is there much difference or any common parts with the OT TIE kit?
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

Looks great! Glass looks awesome as does the weathering.
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

NecronautDrummer said:
Loving the tinted canopy!

Is there much difference or any common parts with the OT TIE kit?
Thanks!

This kit is an entirely new tool. Design-wise, they share some similarities like the windscreen and the greeblies on the wings, but the vehicle is smaller than the OT TIE fighter. I really like the cockpit on the newer TIE, mainly because it doesn't have that bulkhead covering most of it and it's easier to see inside.

On a related note, I have the interior painted, decaled, and assembled but I need to upload some of the pictures I took of it. Unfortunately, I didn't take any before I closed it up so I'll have to pop the windscreen and the the top hatch off to get a good look at the inside. I also need to figure out what to do with the base... right now I'm leaning towards a snowy, Starkiller Base-themed base but I'm really not a fan of the way the model is attacked to the base, which is a hexagonal plug that fits into the back. Another option is to drill a hole in the bottom of the cockpit ball and mount it to a clear acrylic rod, but that feels like more work than I'm willing to put into it. (Also, I will probably have to make it permanent and I don't really like doing that).
 
Re: Bandai First Order TIE fighter

And it's done!

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All-in-all, I think it turned out okay. When painting this I remembered how difficult black is to pull off on a model and how annoying it can be to photograph properly. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to invest in some new photo backdrops because this felt-like one I have now pisses me off!
 
Looks pretty darn good to me. The tinted glass and weathering look awesome. Well done.
 
Outstanding work! :eek:
Your idea with the glass tinting paid out a very lot, and I'm digging the "starkiller base"-base too.
Incredible execution. Bravo, man!
 
nicholassagan said:
Ha yeah, white background would set it off. Really nice finish though!!!
I have a white backdrop, I just don't like shooting with it. I might take a few test pictures with it though, just to see how they look.
 
This is a really nice model. Im a bit late to this post - so I might've missed the boat on getting an answer to this but - do you have any tips for masking the clear parts? I'd love to try the window tinting thing. I have messed up masking clear parts before and tend to leave them out. How do you go about getting the non clear parts of the canopy painted, for example?
 

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