Painting X-Wing Miniatures Models

Many years ago I used to paint pewter figures (badly), and more recently I’ve done some painting on HO scale buildings for my model train layout. I never really thought about painting X-Wing Miniatures models but after seeing some pictures of what others have done, I really wanted to get some custom paint schemes on my ships.

Firespray-31

The first ship I experimented on was the Firespray. The factory paint doesn’t look that great, particularly the reddish parts on the base. I did a couple coats of green on that area but didn’t thin the paint at all. It was also the first time I used a black wash on a miniature. I was just trying to paint the wash into the crevices and it didn’t quite look right. I don’t have a steady hand either, so I didn’t do the best job of keeping in the lines. One of these days I need to go back and redo this ship’s paint…it just looks messy.

Jumpmaster 5000

My next repaint was on the Jumpmaster. I just wanted to do the curved section and did several thinned coats of red, trying to match the red that was already on the model. This worked much better than my first attempt on the Firespray. I also added some small highlights but otherwise didn’t do a whole lot else. Since the red coats were really thinned, the original paint underneath kind of shows through which gives it more depth and looks better than if it was just a solid coat of red.

Protectorate Starfighter

I decided to paint Protectorate Starfighter in a style for my 5 year old son so he would have his own ship to fly when watching me and his uncle play. Since he was into Finding Nemo at the time, I chose orange and white as the paint scheme. I don’t think I thinned the paints enough and I should have done a better job with the black wash. I did try adding a little weathering and highlights but it could be better.

Kihraxz Fighter

The next ship I repainted was the Kihraxz Fighter. I went simple on this one – just a solid gray with red highlights, a more liberal use of the black wash, and some dry brushing afterwards. Again, it looks okay but could be better.

M3-A Interceptor

As I do more repaints, I feel like I’m getting better. The next ship I tackled was the M3A Interceptor. I was going for a very well used/run down look but I may have gone a bit overboard dirty-ing up the white areas.

TIE Phantom

I love flying Whisper in the TIE Phantom, and after seeing repaints of the Phantom cloaking I knew I had to try it myself. It was actually a lot easier and faster than other repaints that I did and it’s also my favorite. I wish I took more time adding the white dots (the stars) since some of them are too thick while others aren’t really dots and one is more of a ring than a dot.

This Phantom is also the one that I broke off one of the guns when I was magnetizing it. This one was chosen for the repaint so that I could hide that missing gun as part of the cloaking effect…the other gun is visible since that side of the ship hasn’t cloaked yet. 😉

Painting the miniatures is pretty fun and as I do more I learn more skills. My goal is to try doing a repaint at least once a month but as I’ve learned in the past, I’m more than likely going to miss that goal and end up doing one every few months. Or probably more like 3-4 in a month and nothing for a few months after that.

I’m also hesitant to do the big ships like the Lancer-class Pursuit Craft or the YV-666 because I don’t have an airbrush, and hand painting those large surface areas seems like it would be a chore. But I really dislike the factory paint on both of those models, so I may just have to sit down and force myself to do them.

Decimator

I did get around to repainting the Decimator, but it’s not a full repaint. I just added red highlights to different panels, as well as some darker gray and a dark wash. The wash was kind of rushed and it looks splotchy in some areas, so I’d like to fix that eventually. It could also still use some highlights but it’s not bad. Since it’s a large ship, I didn’t want to repaint the whole thing. Doing it this way was quicker and it still looks decent.

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X-Wing Miniatures Models

• Magnetizing the pegs
• Magnetized Scum and Villainy ships
• Magnetized Imperial ships
• Magnetized Wave X ships
• Magnetized Wave XI ships
• Magnetized Rebel ships (coming soon)
• X-Wing Miniatures Repaints (current page)
• Storage for X-Wing Miniatures Models