A LONG TIME AGO…

The first time I saw the X-Wing Miniatures Core Set, my eyes were immediately drawn to the Tie Fighters. The detailed sculpt, the black wash on the grey scheme, the glossy cockpit window, they genuinely looked as though they’d been hand painted with care. As my gaze shifted over to the T-65 X-Wing, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. The sculpt was nice, impressively detailed, but the factory paintjob left a lot to be desired. This was supposed to be Luke Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter, Wedge Antilles, or another heroe of the Rebellion. Why did it have to look so bland?

Of course this did not stop me from picking up 2 core sets, a Millennium Falcon and a Slave One. But I never quite got over how boring the T-65 looked, to the point where I didn’t even want to use them in the game. Over the years, FFG’s factory paintjobs have improved. My God, have you seen the details on the Jumpmasters? Even the T-70 X-Wing was a vast improvement over the T-65, but still, my heart ached for a proper Red Squadron X-Wing. Surely the namesake of our favorite game deserved better. I waited and waited until I finally decided that FFG was probably not going to release a repainted version of the T-65 that would meet my expectations. I’d have to paint one myself.

A NEW HOPE

One problem, I’m pretty lazy. I didn’t want to go through the whole process of priming, basecoating, washing, highlighting, etc… I do enough of that for my Imperial Assault figures. I wanted a simple fix without investing too much time and effort. Then one day while browsing Instagram I stumbled across a guy that was simply painting over the factory paintjobs.



Source: https://www.instagram.com/starwarsdiggy/

Brilliant! The original paint job was horrid but it served perfectly as a base coat. A light wash for depth, a few highlights and we’d be good to go! I knocked out a couple in the past 2 weeks and thought I’d whip together a quick step by step for anyone else who loathed the original paintjob:

A BETTER T-65 STEP-BY-STEP

For this touchup we’re going to try a Wedge Antilles scheme. I used the following paints:

Boltgun Metal (Citadel), Heavy Grey (Vallejo), Elf Flesh (Vallejo), Nuln Oil Shade (Citadel), Blood Red (Citadel), Zamesi Desert (Citadel), Sunburst Yellow (Citadel), Chaos Black (Citadel), Skull White (Citadel), Mithril Silver (Citadel), Enchanted Blue (Citadel)

Step 1: Notice you T-65’s bland factory paint-job. Find some old X-Wing pegs you don’t mind getting dirty. You’re going to want something to hold while you paint so you don’t smudge the paintjob.

Step 2: Paint the Mechanical Bits, Engine, and Laser Cannon Tips with Boltgun Metal

Step 3: Wash the crevices with Nuln Oil to add a little more depth. Paint the cockpit cover Heavy Grey, leaving the windows black.

Step4: Mix Heavy Grey (40%) and Elf Flesh (60%) and highlight the edges on the ship’s hull and wings

Step 5: Mix in a little more Elf Flesh and highlight just the corners. Use Mithril silver to highlights the metallic parts including the astromech. Paint the laser cannon barrels black (I know they’re supposed to be the same color as the hull but I like the contrast)

Step 6: Use Blood Red to highland the side stripe and wing markings. Pick out the details on the astromech with blood red, chaos black and skull white. Paint the nose Zamesi Desert and highlight the edges with Sunburst Yellow.

Step 7: I painted the cockpit windows using the gem technique found here: http://www.miniwargaming.com/content/painting-gems-easily

Real simple. The whole process only took about an hour. Now I finally have a squad I’d be proud to take to a trench run:

SHAMELESS PLUG

If you have any questions, feel free to comment. If you liked these painted X-Wings, please follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitchentablegamer/

Oh and thanks to R5Don4 for suggesting I write this 🙂