My Take on Red Squadron X-Wings from ANH using BANDAI's 1/72 Models

[DevilYan]

Introduction

I know it's 2024 and this has been done to death, but I never had the money to get everything to make one and where I'm from (Venezuela) there was not even a chance to get them, but this is my take on the Red Squadron from A New Hope.

I got an A-Wing, Y-Wing, X-Wing, B-Wing, TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced and Boosted Poe's X-Wing from TLJ in late 2017 through early 2018, and ended up getting an Airbrush, several Plastic Model tools like the cutter, small Dremel, files, masking tape, washes, paint, brushes, etc in like 2020 just before the pandemic, but ... I had no shelve space as I didn't have a place of my own, but now that my wife and I bought a House, I WILL have one day the shelves up, but nothing is stopping me to put them together, so I went I researched for weathering and paneling techniques and found Ozzman78's post and felt inspired after how Luke Skywalker's Red 5 turned out and was completed.

Preparation

So I learned right away a few things, I would need to mix my colors, which meant I needed containers to mix enough to reuse for more than one Model to keep consistency among all birds, that is if I was going to be serious about making the whole Squadron, so I found on Amazon some empty bottles of the same size of Vallejo Model Air paints I could use for that.

Regarding paint, the next step would be to decide how to paint them, I knew that for a first-timer brushing was not going to get me the clean finish I wanted and the easier way to achieve it would be airbrushing, so got an Iwata Eclipse and an Anest/Iwata Ninja compressor.

I would also need to learn how to properly do weathering, so I figured I would need one of those powder Tamiya Weathering kits, with Snow, Soot, and Rust plus some washes, I had to watch a few YouTube tutorials, too many to list, on how to use it and how to apply washes properly.

Finally, I noticed the panel lines were highlighted and there was no way they had to be handpainted with brushes, I found the paneling technique and got some Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color, I learned the hard way Black is not good for White Gray bases jejeje, so I ended up getting some Grey, and Light Grey ones.

Luke Skywalker's Red 5 (My First Bird )

So this is how my first try ever went:

1.- This is assembled without paint



2.- Applied Primer for the first time, I didn't know how to operate the Airbrush properly and ended up applying too much in some areas, if you look closely you can see the inconsistencies jejeje



3.- Learned how to Mask and paint some of the other colors that were not the White Gray base, the canopy in particular was so cool to remove the tape and see the result






4.- Noticed how in the previous step I said "Paint some of the other colors that were not the White Gray base", I am a moron and never painted the base LOL, so I learned how to remove all the paint and primer easily, and without damaging the model by using 90% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol, if you're ever on a similar situation, acrylic paint gets off easy by just submerging the pieces in alcohol for a few hours the part then wash with soap. So it was back to applying Primer, and base paint (Vallejo Model Air White Gray 71.119) to redo all the masking done so far and more.

I mixed my own Sand, Blue Grey, Light Grey, and Black Gray colors, then I used Vallejo Model Air Yellow 71.002, Aggresor Grey 71.724, Gunmetal 71.072, and Game Air Red 72.710



6.- Then it was time for the Pilot, dang these things are tiny, it took a lot of patience and a few tutorials on how to properly thin paint to use with a brush and how to use very fine brushes, I don't have the resulting picture but this is a semi-complete Luke painted



7.- I couldn't resist and had to assemble it to see how it would look, not a great idea, even though with enough patience disassembling for the next steps was not that bad, thinking at it back now, it was unnecessary jeje, also you can see I used a Liquid Mask to achieve the "chipped paint" effect, but was not effective as in this size of Model, at least for me, it was impossible to apply in the very small size needed, I'm also missing the 5 insignias as I had no idea how to approach them



8.- Got a Cutting Mat a very sharp Hobby Knife and a Metallic Ruler, and measured the gaps between the insignias and the insignia base, I cut stripes of that thickness and carefully placed them between the insignias and the insignia base then between the insignias themselves, with a lot of tries until the measured just right and matched the opposite wing I was not happy to start painting

BTW if you are paying good attention you can see I inverted left and right but got top and bottom right for the wings in step 4! so it was back to remove the painting and redo all of it again, but this time just both wings, props to you if you noticed that 4 steps ago jeje



9.- Painted the laser stripes, and yes I messed up the lower right one, I know it should have been inverted, maybe one day I'll fix it



10.- First try at decals, and I messed up horribly, thank god the Model brought like 6 Rebel Alliance Insignias, but I got it looking OK for the Pilot's Helmet details



11.- Damage and Wear, at first I didn't like how the black damage details looked, but the tutorial I was following kept just saying to have faith that in the end after all the process was done it would look good, and it did, at this step I had assembled the model 4 times and dissembled it 3 times jaja



12.- Last time assembling it and the final grease and soot applications, also added some rust to the engines and the exposed under parts of the wings and back of the canopy



Final Result

Finally in all its glory here's my take on Luke Skywalkers's Red 5 from ANH, my first try ever at painting a plastic Model Kit of anything, hope you guys all like it and enjoyed my adventure doing it



Next Red Squadron

Currently, I can't afford any more Models, but I do have one extra, and I'll be doing Jek Porkins's Red 6, then after that, as I'm able to afford more I'll be doing them in order, starting with John D. Branon's Red 4 and finishing with Garven Dreis's Red Leader, so keep an eye on the thread it'll have updates.

Bye!

 

[Analyzer]

Great work and good luck on collecting and completing the squadron

I almost made it all the way through, only have Red 10 left and then a couple of guesses for ones never seen on screen like Red 8 for example

 

[DevilYan]

Jek Porkins's Red 6 (Second Bird!)

This turned out so much better, I think I did all the basic painting in one day, then washed plus weathering the next day, so like maybe 10 hours total:

1.- Painting disassembled parts, I used a combination of Vallejo Model Air for Brown 71.105 and Red 71.269 for the Dark Red, the same Game Air Red 72.710 for the Insignias and the Canopy Stripe, and the same leftover Sand color custom Mix I did for Red 5 using Vallejo Model Air Yellow 71.002, Aggresor Grey 71.724, Used the same color Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal 71.072 for the Engines, Turbines, and Mechanical Stripe where the Astromech goes:



2.- I can't help but keep assembling them before finishing just to see how they look jejeje, risking them by having to disassemble them again, for this one I did it only twice, this time, and for the finished version:



3.- For Red 5, I mostly used the base paint and a very thin brush to add the damage or to correct the patches I overdid using the Liquid Mask, for this X-Wing I used it very little, and most of the wear was done with a very very soft fingernail file on the details that protrude and would have most likely lost paint first, I also used the same powder Tamiya Weathering kit for snoot and rust on the engines and the grease/burns details on the wings/canopy:



Final Result

I took some artistic liberties, mostly using Ozzman78's post as a reference:

• The Sand Color on the Top Left Turbine Cover should have been Grey, but honestly in most of the almost nonexistent photos of the ILM references looks more like the Sand color
• The Red Stripe on the lower left engine turbine cover, I love it, and I think it just looks better because of it
• The Red and Sand color on the almost Triangle-Shaped Parts to the outside of the engines on both top wings, the Red one should have been Grey and the Sand one without color at all, I don't particularly like it I might repaint it, and get rid of the right one and paint as Sand Color the left one
• The Dark Red Panel close to the Red 6 Insignia on the Top Right Wing, to be honest, I don't like it and I will repaint it too, plus the artistic liberty on the previous point just makes the Wings look too busy
• The Sand Color Details on both Top Wings, I think it would look just perfect if the Dark Red Panel is removed, and the the Top Right Triangle-Shaped Part as well

Bonus

Pic of both Birds together :

 

[Analyzer]

Great work!

 

[StevenBills]

You did Porkins justice! These are looking good!

SB

 

[DevilYan]

Thanks!

In a month I might be able to afford 2 more, so hopefully Brannon's Red 4 and Biggs's Red 3, will come in the next couple of weeks

 

[Analyzer]

I think Red 2 and Red 4 are my favorite ones. Most basic one I think is Red 1. Although lots of subtle details even though it looks relatively plain compared to the others

 

[cdyoung]

Awesome work! Thanks for sharing your progress and the photos.

 

[DevilYan]

Poe Dameron's TFA X-Wing

While I wait for the next 2 X-Wings from the ANH Red Squadron to arrive, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing with all the models I had purchased, so here's a peek at one of them:

1.- Priming and painting different parts, this is my first try using different primers I used Light Grey for the Black pieces, and White for the Orange ones, which posed a problem later on, as when masking on Black to paint Orange over for the Insignia's Stripes the tone was not the same, it required using White Gray first then the orange on top of the black to match the tone.



2.- Then we go to advanced masking, probably the most difficult I have done, even though not necessarily more complex than the Red Squadron's X-Wings, the engine's front portions were challenging, and the lasers Dark Silver and Black combinations.



3.- Decals were by far the most difficult and longer part of this build, even when I try to paint myself as many details as I can instead of using decals, there are so many small details that are just better off with the decals, especially Poe's Helmet decals were hard to pull off.




Final Result

There's no weathering on this one, as I have no idea how to do it, and being a CGI model there's no physical ILM model for reference, the only material to use as a guide is essentially the BANDAI Manual, and the 1/1 Replicas in the Disney Parks or the Smithsonian, is it worth Wash Grey for the Black parts? I can do some light sanding for the orange parts to show the black underneath as weathering, but how would the weathering of the Black parts look? Black is supposed to be the base color, so how does weathering look on such a dark color?



P.S: Question for more Experienced Modelers

I realized I needed a way to protect what I have done so far, I don't want them to get shiny by doing so, and I don't want them to get damaged, which I have read can happen if you don't know what you're doing.

I bought a Tamiya TS-80 Clear Flat Spray, in your experience would this that will work to seal well all of my 3 current X-Wings without damage? Any technique or information I need to know before I try?

And that's it!

I probably won't be able to resist making more of the ones I already have while I wait for the other 2 Red Squadron Birds to arrive.

 

[DarkKnight]

each successive model looks better than the previous, I think thats the hard thing, when building a set, you build your favorite first, then want to redo it. great work! you mentioned "first try ever" is this the first try at this model, or the first time you have ever built a model? I would not clear flat it at this point you risk damaging what you've done already. brush off with soft brush occasionally or store in a glass cabinet

 

[DevilYan]

I put some models together as a child (30+ years ago), I remember a couple of cars that required glue and had stickers, but this is my first painting them, Red 5 was my first try ever painting and weathering on a plastic model, I also had never used an Airbrush before.

 

[Analyzer]

Poe Dameron's TFA X-Wing

While I wait for the next 2 X-Wings from the ANH Red Squadron to arrive, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing with all the models I had purchased, so here's a peek at one of them:

1.- Priming and painting different parts, this is my first try using different primers I used Light Grey for the Black pieces, and White for the Orange ones, which posed a problem later on, as when masking on Black to paint Orange over for the Insignia's Stripes the tone was not the same, it required using White Gray first then the orange on top of the black to match the tone.

View attachment 1856485View attachment 1856486View attachment 1856487View attachment 1856488View attachment 1856489View attachment 1856490View attachment 1856491View attachment 1856492View attachment 1856493View attachment 1856494

2.- Then we go to advanced masking, probably the most difficult I have done, even though not necessarily more complex than the Red Squadron's X-Wings, the engine's front portions were challenging, and the lasers Dark Silver and Black combinations.

View attachment 1856495View attachment 1856496View attachment 1856497View attachment 1856498View attachment 1856499View attachment 1856500View attachment 1856501View attachment 1856502

3.- Decals were by far the most difficult and longer part of this build, even when I try to paint myself as many details as I can instead of using decals, there are so many small details that are just better off with the decals, especially Poe's Helmet decals were hard to pull off.

View attachment 1856503View attachment 1856504View attachment 1856511
View attachment 1856509View attachment 1856510

Final Result

There's no weathering on this one, as I have no idea how to do it, and being a CGI model there's no physical ILM model for reference, the only material to use as a guide is essentially the BANDAI Manual, and the 1/1 Replicas in the Disney Parks or the Smithsonian, is it worth Wash Grey for the Black parts? I can do some light sanding for the orange parts to show the black underneath as weathering, but how would the weathering of the Black parts look? Black is supposed to be the base color, so how does weathering look on such a dark color?

View attachment 1856505View attachment 1856506View attachment 1856507View attachment 1856508View attachment 1856538View attachment 1856533View attachment 1856534View attachment 1856539View attachment 1856536View attachment 1856535

P.S: Question for more Experienced Modelers

I realized I needed a way to protect what I have done so far, I don't want them to get shiny by doing so, and I don't want them to get damaged, which I have read can happen if you don't know what you're doing.

I bought a Tamiya TS-80 Clear Flat Spray, in your experience would this that will work to seal well all of my 3 current X-Wings without damage? Any technique or information I need to know before I try?

And that's it!

I probably won't be able to resist making more of the ones I already have while I wait for the other 2 Red Squadron Birds to arrive.

Hopefully this helps

Black is a tricky color to weather. I think the best way to approach it is you start with pure black at the primer level, but for the base coat you add layers of something that is dark, but not exactly black. This could be a grey black with a hint of green like Tamiya Nato Black, or you can mix in some brown to give it a warm tone or blue/white for a cooler tone

Another useful thing I find for black is to use a something like the Tamiya Weathering set, in particular the gun metal powder to rub on the sharp raised edges. For me this stuff is so useful I rarely do a build where I am not using at least the gun metal or silver. IT is perfect for rubbing on consoles, gun barrels etc... to bring out the edges on dark details. The rust is also very useful for SW stuff. If in the states you can find them at Hobby Lobby

It gives a nice sheen and you get the effect like you see on the edges of the nose below

Below are some of the best refs I have found

Notice that while the overall tone appears black, it really is anything but straight black. Compare it to say the actual black border and you can see how light it actually is. It is kind of a dull greyish black with only some of the most recessed areas actually being black.

To try to achieve the look of above refs pics I primed it black, then use Tamiya Nato Black and mixed in just a hint of brown and a tiny tiny bit of white

I then weathered with Black, Raw umber, and burnt sienna oil paints and then kind of "burnished" the edges with the Tamiya Gun Metal and Silver weathering powders.. In a few select places I also used some silver and gun metal paint to create chipping.

It is also really hard to pick up the effect with the weathering powders on camera but in person if is a nice effect. Most pics just turn out too dark to see the subtle weathering, but these below are closer to what you see in person

and here a similar technique, but skipping the browns from rust and just sticking with black primer, Nato Black base then lightened just a hair with some mist coating here and there and then black oil wash and finally a rub down of raised areas and edges with the Tamiya Gun Metal powder

 

[DevilYan]

OMG that looks amazing! I'll give it a try with that Weathering Kit, I have the same one which is the one I have been using on the Red Squadron X-Wings, but has Snow, Soot, and Rust.

Very much appreciated your advice and those reference pics are incredibly helpful.

 

[DevilYan]

John D. Brannon's Red 4 (Third Bird!)

This one took about 15 hours, I messed up one of the Wing symbols and had to redo some of the painting, I like the contrast of the colors a lot and how it's more simple in patterns than the first 2 I did, I also forgot to take some pictures of the process so for this one there are fewer pictures than we have for Red 5 and Red 6:

1.- Painting disassembled parts, The colors are from the same Sand Mix Color I did for the other 2 to keep consistency among all Starfighters, the same Game Air Red 72.710 for the Insignias and the Canopy Stripe, and Vallejo Model Air Yellow 71.002, Aggresor Grey 71.724 for the Yellow and Grey Details on the Canopy, Turbines, and Lasers, again I used the same color Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal 71.072 for the Engines, Turbines, and Mechanical Stripe where the Astromech goes:



2.- Masking was slow for this one, some of the places to mask the canopy had curvatures in them, so I kept redoing them until I felt they were good to paint, I love the details with the Yellow on the Lasers for these:



3.- This is where I usually post before weathering Pictures, but for some reason, I forgot and did not take any

Final Result

I again took some artistic liberties, and again mostly used Ozzman78's post as a reference, even though this time they were not as many as I didn't agree with some of Ozzman78 ones, and I liked the X-Wing closer to the original Reference:

• Just like Ozzman78, the Grey Engine Band is a reference to the Pyro Red 4 Model
• The Second Sand Colored rey Engine Band in the bottom
• For the Inner Wingsm the upper ones seemed way too simple compared to the lower ones, so now they match
• I might also use a Yellow R2 or a Green R5 Unit instead of the Astromech in the Reference, I don't like it very much, and it doesn't look consistent with other Astromech Droids, that's why it's not painted yet as I might just do the original one later.

Bonus

Pic of all Birds so far together :

P.S: Question for more Experienced Modelers

If I were to make the proper Astromech for Red 4, how do you suggest I do it, I saw a guy making it with putty but I don't think I'll ever manage to make it look decent, and the kit only has an option for R2 or R5 units.

 

[Analyzer]

John D. Brannon's Red 4 (Third Bird!)

This one took about 15 hours, I messed up one of the Wing symbols and had to redo some of the painting, I like the contrast of the colors a lot and how it's more simple in patterns than the first 2 I did, I also forgot to take some pictures of the process so for this one there are fewer pictures than we have for Red 5 and Red 6:

1.- Painting disassembled parts, The colors are from the same Sand Mix Color I did for the other 2 to keep consistency among all Starfighters, the same Game Air Red 72.710 for the Insignias and the Canopy Stripe, and Vallejo Model Air Yellow 71.002, Aggresor Grey 71.724 for the Yellow and Grey Details on the Canopy, Turbines, and Lasers, again I used the same color Vallejo Model Air Gunmetal 71.072 for the Engines, Turbines, and Mechanical Stripe where the Astromech goes:

View attachment 1860151View attachment 1860152View attachment 1860153View attachment 1860154View attachment 1860155

2.- Masking was slow for this one, some of the places to mask the canopy had curvatures in them, so I kept redoing them until I felt they were good to paint, I love the details with the Yellow on the Lasers for these:

View attachment 1860156View attachment 1860157View attachment 1860158View attachment 1860160View attachment 1860161View attachment 1860162View attachment 1860165View attachment 1860164

3.- This is where I usually post before weathering Pictures, but for some reason, I forgot and did not take any

Final Result

I again took some artistic liberties, and again mostly used Ozzman78's post as a reference, even though this time they were not as many as I didn't agree with some of Ozzman78 ones, and I liked the X-Wing closer to the original Reference:

• Just like Ozzman78, the Grey Engine Band is a reference to the Pyro Red 4 Model
• The Second Sand Colored rey Engine Band in the bottom
• For the Inner Wingsm the upper ones seemed way too simple compared to the lower ones, so now they match
• I might also use a Yellow R2 or a Green R5 Unit instead of the Astromech in the Reference, I don't like it very much, and it doesn't look consistent with other Astromech Droids, that's why it's not painted yet as I might just do the original one later.

View attachment 1860187View attachment 1860166View attachment 1860167View attachment 1860168View attachment 1860169View attachment 1860174View attachment 1860170View attachment 1860175View attachment 1860176View attachment 1860173

Bonus

Pic of all Birds so far together :

View attachment 1860177

P.S: Question for more Experienced Modelers

If I were to make the proper Astromech for Red 4, how do you suggest I do it, I saw a guy making it with putty but I don't think I'll ever manage to make it look decent, and the kit only has an option for R2 or R5 units.

I'm not sure which Poe X-wing kit you had, but if you have the Bandai Poe Dameron 1/72 Last Jed "Boosted X-Wing" kit, it had a choice of Astromech heads to use, similar the the classic X-wing kits.

The other astromech head there is a good option assuming you use the BB-8 head for Poe's X-Wing

I myself 3D printed one with a file I got off of thingiverse.

It was not a great model and lost so much detail shrinking it down to 1/72 but I was able to compensate with a paint job that looked the part
Can't promise anything, but I could take a look and see if I had any spares left since I tended to print out extras in various support configurations and sizes hoping one turns out ok. I do remember the body almost always failing to print, but that did not matter since I only needed the head

 

[DevilYan]

This is genius! it's the Boosted version I got, and you were right there!

 

[Jkirkon]

I think Red4 is my favorite. I built a studio scale version of it a few years ago.

Nice job on yours!!