In september 2021 I started building this x-wing model. A pretty cheap model kit from revell, 1:57 scale. Inspired by several model makers and of course the original x-wing studio scale models, I dived into all the different looks of the x-wing. My decision landed on the empire strikes back mpc x-wing. A background model that was made out of a consumer model kit that came on the market in 1978. Although the model I was about to make had another size, it was comparable and a good first exercise.
References for building and painting came from the propstore video about the mpc x-wing, Lee Ralph's video about his paintjob and the winner of the archive-x competition dave emmerichs.
The model kit itself is very easy to assemble, but i was intend to add some greeblies and to add lights to the engine, the cockpit and r2d2. Since it was my first project with led lights i had to plan ahead of time how it would all fit into the model and make a scheme for the wiring. it would also be my first time soldering, so i was a bit nervous about that.
Propstore image of the ilm mpc model used in the empire strikes back.
winner of the archive-x competition dave emmerichs
Lee ralph's video about his paintjob on the mpc x-wing.
Adding the lights for the engines turned out pretty ok. I used pink leds, but decided later on to paint the leds with daylight red. i don't think that was the right decision, cause it turned out to dim the lights and make the colours on each engine different.
I used fibre optics from a cheap spiderman toy lamp for the lighting of r2d2 and the cockpit. drilling a hole in the tiny astromech droid was not so easy and i ended up with an extra hole in the head of r2 that i had to fix later on. while these lights worked pretty good when testing, during the assembling it turned out that the lights didn't work anymore. a shame, but i decided not to go back in with the fear of causing more problems.
airbrush painting
The model was painted with archive-x acrylic paints. This company from england is replicating the look of the floquil paints used for the original studio scale models back in the 70's. By researching those models and archive photos, guy cowen developed a whole line of colours for the different spaceships.
What i used was inspired by the mpc background model from esb: the base colour is light grime and the additional colours of the x-wing are sp daylight red, weyerhaeuser green and light earth.
While masking the colour areas i used vallejo liquid mask for the wear and tear spots. engine black was used for the blast marks and engines and a mix of engine black and grime for some panels and general weathering.
the canopy i painted with a mix of light grime and vallejo grey blue.
some spots were handpainted with engine black and the top part behind r2 and the back i dry brushed a little bit with light grime.
a misting of light grime made the fading look of the colours and a slightly darker mix was used to make it blend together. i wanted a dark and aged look like the propstore one, instead the more white based studio scale x-wings.
What i used was inspired by the mpc background model from esb: the base colour is light grime and the additional colours of the x-wing are sp daylight red, weyerhaeuser green and light earth.
While masking the colour areas i used vallejo liquid mask for the wear and tear spots. engine black was used for the blast marks and engines and a mix of engine black and grime for some panels and general weathering.
the canopy i painted with a mix of light grime and vallejo grey blue.
some spots were handpainted with engine black and the top part behind r2 and the back i dry brushed a little bit with light grime.
a misting of light grime made the fading look of the colours and a slightly darker mix was used to make it blend together. i wanted a dark and aged look like the propstore one, instead the more white based studio scale x-wings.
