Star Wars Imperial AT-ST Walker - Bandai 1/48 Scale Plastic Model Kit [Completed]

It's done! Yet another iconic sci-fi vehicle checked off my ever expanding list of must-do hobby projects. Even as this little vignette of Imperial presence in the land of Ewoks sees completion, more then one new project is rushing to fill what is already an extremely cluttered worktable. Akin to a magpie (read hobbyist) who's attracted to that new shiny thing (an erroneous folklore ... for the bird, not the hobbyist and his new kit), I'm adding more stuff onto the worktable than I can get off it. But I digress. Here then are photos of the recently completed Imperial All Terrain Scout Transport Walker.

Bandai 1/48 scale Star Wars Imperial AT-ST Walker [Completed]

Pilots and cockpit interior are fully painted; just not visible from here

Opened entry hatch improves lighting hence visibility of the cockpit interior  

This version of the Imperial AT-ST Walker actually has a fully painted cockpit interior as well as pilots. One of the reasons I glued the entry hatch and both command view ports in a permanently open position was to allow more light inside hence increasing visibility of the interior and pilots. To a certain extent this works, especially when the AT-ST is viewed with the naked eye. But neither the interior nor pilots are visible under diffused photography lighting as you can see in the shots here.

AT-ST hull has subtle chromatic variations created using oil dot filters

Every edge on the AT-ST is defined via panel lining and washes

Back view of the Imperial AT-ST walker

Weathering has been central to this project and it was applied onto a hull that had received a light grey basecoat as well as panel lining on its nook and crannies. Techniques used in the weathering process include oil dot filters, washes and micro paint chipping. For a better appreciation of the resulting subtle chromatic variations in predominantly light grey hues, please check out work-in-progress closeup shots in a previous post. In addition, mud weathering with enamel paints was carried out on the Imperial scout walker's footpads and the base it stands on. 

Footpads on the base have been 'muddied' with enamel paint

Plain vanilla version on show here; variants will come in the future

Imperial AT-ST Walker on a clearing in the Forest Moon of Endor

Color scheme is largely influenced by (but not an exact copy of) a version of the AT-ST found in the Star Wars Battlefront video game (see below), specifically the first iteration of that franchise's recent rebirth in eighth generation consoles such as the PS4. Personally I don't believe there should be a 'one true color' for the AT-ST. This is because the light grey hull will inevitably reflect the color of the surrounding environment that the scout walker is operating in. This in turn allows the artist creative freedom to add chromatic variations to the hull, within reasonable parameters of course. 

As I was saying at the beginning of this post, the fact that my existing project pipeline is already close to bursting doesn't seem to be deterring me from adding more complex builds to the worktable (i.e. paint many individual parts separately before assembling kind of project - suffice to say it will be Gundams other than grandpa RX-78-2). But as I'm already at the early stages of assembling the King Tiger and still working up the nerve to airbrush flesh paint on the Race Queen, I'm in need of a quick-to-build and little-to-paint project. A sort of calm before the storm if you will. That will come in the form of my to-be-revealed next Star Wars project. Until then, be happy and be well.