Tuesday 21 February 2017

Star Wars BB-8 [WIP - Head]

What became clear from the very beginning when working on the Bandai BB-8 plastic model kit was that I wasn't going to use any of the decals provided. Instead I decided to paint the sections for which decals were provided, most notably the coloured sections of the antenna and surrounding areas of the lenses. As for the rest of BB-8's head I either left it alone (e.g. lenses), carried out a complete repaint (e.g. metallic parts), applied a semigloss clear coat followed by some weathering effects (e.g. the white and orange coloured body plates/chassis) or used an enamel wash for panel lining work.

Bandai Star Wars BB-8 plastic model kit - work-in-progress (head)
Area surrounding lenses were painted dark grey while the lenses themselves were left alone

While a complete repaint of the BB-8 entire model kit would presumably result in a more realistic piece, I nonetheless felt that parts of plastic kit (e.g. white and orange coloured pieces) were a good enough base to work from sans a total repaint. Left alone the said parts did admittedly look toy-like and plasticky. But a combination of semi-gloss clear coat and weathering effects has the potential to counter this unwanted feature and increase BB-8's level of realism.   

BB-8's orange and white chassis parts were treated to a semigloss clear coat and weathering effects 
More details were brought to the fore through panel lining with an enamel wash
Black coloured sections of BB-8's antennas were painted on as opposed to having decals applied

If there was something I would do differently up to this point in time it would be to apply a thicker clear semigloss coating before applying weathering effects. That being said, the beauty of mistakes is getting the chance to learn from them. So hopefully things will turn out better with the body.

Plasticky look could be further dampened by applying yet more layers clear coat and weathering
Weathering effects were done using the Tamiya Weathering Master sets A and B
Tinted lenses are arguably the key components of Bandai's BB-8 model kit

I've gone on record singing the praises of BB-8's tinted lenses. It's a key component that allows this model kit to achieve levels of realism which would otherwise elude it. Once BB-8's body is completed and fixed to the head, I'll have to touch up existing weathering effects on the head so as to achieve a consistent overall look. Other than that, the astromech's head is more or less complete.     

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10 comments:

  1. Nicely done and I think the right decision to paint the details rather than use the decals.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Michael. Using the decals were a bit impractical in that painting the parts were much easier.

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  2. You take all this to another whole level. I'm buying a hat only to say hats off to you!!

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    Replies
    1. Ha ha ha Suber. Now that is a super nice thing to say. :)

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  3. Impressive work, it's quite an unforgiving piece and you're doing a great job.

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    1. Many thanks! Bandai did a great job with its version of BB-8 and I just came along for the ride.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you Phil! I just love the tinted lens Bandai provided with this model kit.

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  5. Looking brilliant already. Quite a challenging project I guess. All those flat areas don't make for an easy paint job.

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    Replies
    1. The white and orange parts were actually quite easy in that I took a shortcut and sprayed on a semi-gloss clear coat and then weathered the surface.

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