Eta-2 starfighter

[fubar]

Thought i'd have a crack at this kit just as a bit of fun and a good chance to practice my weathering techniques.

The kit itself is ok, its one of the pre-painted Revell easykits, this is Obi-Wan's fighter. It went together in about an hour, there were a few problems getting the wings to fix in place and the whole cockpit assembly isn't the greatest tbh, lots of big gaps which needed gluing, but as this is just a practice kit i'm not overly bothered.






I'm half tempted to buy another of these kits and do the job properly, strip the paint, glue instead of clip together and fill all these aweful gaps....i'll see how much i like the kit when i'm done, i'm not a great fan of Episode's I-III but this is like a forerunner of a TIE so i do kinda like this ship. ;D



These are the products i'm going to be trying out on this project, first step is an overall dirtying up with a very thin wash of black/brown oils....then i'll take it from there.



So far i have touched up the areas of missing paint, some spots missed by the makers of the kit and others where i had to cut coloured parts from the sprues it left a spot showing the plastic colour.

One annoying thing with the kit though is it comes with no display stand so i'm going to have to find/make something if i decide to keep the kit when i'm done. :

Any tips or advice on wethering are more than welcome.

Thanks for looking.

TTFN Matt

 

[Grendels]

The only advice I have to give is that oil paints will take a week or two to cure. This is both good and bad. The good thing is that if you don't like it the next day, just wipe it off. The bad part is that if you handle the kit for those two weeks, you can smear the results. I have used oils quite often and will use them again.

I have never tried any of the AK products. One day soon....

 

[Igard]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with those AK products. Like Grendels, I've not used them, but hope to one day.

For an easy display stand, check ebay for acrylic risers. You can sometimes get a good deal. I got a 5x5x5cm clear riser for about £1.50. I use it for my droid tri-fighter.

Or you can just get a block of wood. Or hang it from the ceiling.

 

[fubar]

Ooh i didn't know oils take up to two weeks to dry, the youtube vid i got the idea from said 24 hours!

Oh well ;D Would a coat of future seal it up ok or does it still need the curing time?

The stand needs to actually support the body as the solar panel wings fold up so it cant rest on the body itself, i have it balanced on an egg cup atm. :

So i started weathering tonight, first stage was a thin wash of brown with a touch of black oils applied over all the model except the clear parts, never used oils before but i have to say i love the control you have over the colour when you mix it yourself from oils on a palette, so much easier for me than measuring out parts of one colour mixed with another colour....always struggle with that.

Once i'd washed the whole model i let it dry to the touch then i did a pin wash, using a much darker wash that was more black with a hint of brown, around all the raised detail parts and all the panel lines including the cockpit frames.





I'll see how dry the oils are in the morning (oh wait it is the morning now lol ) and try a tester on a small part to see if the oils have cured, if so i may seal up with klear then have a go with the AK streaking grime and pigs. Have to say i enjoyed getting 'dirty', making the model was always the part i enjoyed most but i am slowly developing a love of painting as well. 8)

Thanks for looking.

TTFN Matt

 

[Quaralane]

The weathering is helping that kit out a lot.

 

[Igard]

Yip, looking good.

Matt, have you sealed up the cockpit? I ask because you might want to do some washes inside there. Even a light wash on Obi Wan, give him a bit more depth.

 

[Grendels]

The best way to see if something is cured is to smell it. But with oils, I am not sure if it works.

I did an oil wash on a piece of styrene card about four days ago and it is pretty much cured up.

One thing, if you seal up before cured, I don't think it will ever cure. You are trapping in the solvents that allow it to cure.

 

[Igard]

Isn't there a way to increase the speed of oils drying time? It involves dabbing it on cardboard to remove some of the 'oiliness'. Don't quote me on any of that, but I'm sure someone around here can explain/confirm or deny this. :-\

 

[fubar]

@Quaralane Thx mate. Hoping this will be good experience for my A-Wing as they are both a similar shape, size and colours.

@Igard Nope the cockpit isn't sealed up, the Obi-Wan figure is a horrid rubber piece but i am going to try giving him a very light wash, i'm just not sure which paints to use on rubber? ???
Thats spooky you mention the cardboard, i remembered watching a youtube video, by Ken Abrams i think?, where they said to use cardboard as your 'palette' to soak up some of the oil.....so thats what i did and i can tell you that it works ;D
Had no idea so much would soak out of such small amounts.....worse than the Kebab House special.



@Grendals Well patience is a virtue so i'm told , so if its not cured i have plenty of other things to get on with. If the oils are at least touch dry i may give the AK pigs a try! It's hard to tell if the paint has stopped smelling...i got the smell of white spirit 'up my nose' yesterday and now everything smells of it. ;D I was tempted to try the artists acrylics but then i thought whats the point as 90% of the paints i already own are acrylics.

Prolly gunna be busy most of the day so may not get a chance to experiment again until tonight. :

Take care dudes.

TTFN Matt

 

[Igard]

I'm sure I watched that same Ken Abrams video, Matt. ;D

mmmm.... kebab. Just kidding, I hate kebabs.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

I did mention that in one of my videos, placing the oils on cardboard leeches out the linseed oil and leaves mainly just the pigments behind. This will do two things, speed up the drying time and allow the oils to dry flat and not glossy.

It will take a little while to cure completely but it can be affected by many things such as temperature, humidity, thickness of application etc. Sealing this up with anything prior to it curing could cause problems as the oils will continue to gas out under the clear coat and will cause it to react by either splitting or bubbling etc.

Thing is, you really don't need to seal it up prior to using the AK stuff. If you are gentle with the application and don't flood the surface with white spirits, you don't have to seal it up every time you want to apply a new layer. When using the white spirits just dip the brush in and wipe it on the bottle neck a few times letting most of the liquid fall back into the bottle, then blot in on a rag or paper towel, you want the brush damp, not soaking wet. Not only will you have more control and lessen the chance of removing everything you did prior but you wont go through that bottle of spirits in three models.

Giving the oils (since you let them leech on the cardboard) 48 to 72 hours should be fine for what you want to do. Apply your streaking grime, let it dry for about 5 to 10 minutes and stump them with a damp brush. Only flooding the model with spirit and aggressively brushing the surface will cause a problem with the underlying layer of oils, if you are gentle and use a bit of finesse, you should have no problems at all.

Practice on the underside first.

 

[fubar]

Thanks for the advice Ken, i shall be sure to leave this alone for at least 72 hours i think. Then i shall try the AK products without sealing it up....see if i can use my brush delicatly! lol
I think i shall buy a pipette or something similar as i'm going through that AK white spirit like a hot knife through butter.....nearly half a bottle gone already and this stuff aint cheap. :

@Igard. I gave Obi-Wan a very thin wash of oils, a mix of buff with a little umber, and coated his robes with it, i also gave the cockpit interior a wash of black/brown to....i'll try to post a pic later when its dry enough to handle.

TTFN Matt

 

[noc5659]

I also beleive if you add Liquin to your oils it will speed up the drying time.

 

[Grendels]

@Grendals Well patience is a virtue so i'm told , so if its not cured i have plenty of other things to get on with. If the oils are at least touch dry i may give the AK pigs a try! It's hard to tell if the paint has stopped smelling...i got the smell of white spirit 'up my nose' yesterday and now everything smells of it. ;D I was tempted to try the artists acrylics but then i thought whats the point as 90% of the paints i already own are acrylics.



TTFN Matt

I tried artists acrylics once, and it only took that one time. I will never let those things come near one of my models again, never.

They behave nothing like oil paints do. I mean nothing. If you do decide to do this, use a scrap piece of plastic, or a part from your spares box.

I am sure others have done this and gotten good results, but I won't touch them.

Here is what I found wrong:

*The colors do not mix well (That might have been the brand, but doubtful it was Liquitex.)
*Dried very fast
*couldn't thin them, but then again, I didn't try too hard to figure that out. Once I found that they didn't mix well to get the color I wanted.

 

[SLW45]

Nice looking
I have this kit but the cockpit has a big crack in it
Haven't decided what I am going to do with it

 

[panzerace007]

FUBAR ,

Rockin on th weathering !! Ken is th Man ! He's a wise Modeling Sage ;D ... "Sage Modeler" - in a Ringo Starr accent.

This is lookin cool !!

 

[fubar]

Thanks dude, i'm gonna carry on the weathering soon....once i've got a little more of my Cromwell done.

I been watching the Mig video on pigs and i'm thinking of getting some of that 'metallic' pigment that goes shiny when rubbed to weather the edges of the panels and wings.

P.S. LMAO.....Ringo Starr, have you ever seen the kids show Thomas The Tank Engine?

TTFN Matt