Colonial Viper Mk1

[aur0ra145]

Wow, that's looking really good so far!

[Hawkmoon]

Looks good to me Neil and nice work

[RangerNeil]

As ever - thanks everyone for the kind words.

Decals are now complete. Next stage is to give the Viper a good Gloss coat all over before starting on the wash - yet another first for me. I have the Vallejo wash but nosing through YouTube it seems to me I would do better getting hold of one of Ultimate's washes - probably their "Dark Earth" wash as, for a beginner, it seems a lot simpler to work with. I also need to work on the canopy and get rid of the paint bleeds before it gets fitted.

[BigWall]

The decals are looking great!

Don't be afraid of the wash. If nothing else, find something to practice on.

[aur0ra145]

Great decal work. Like BigWall said, practice on a crap model if you're worried about the washes. I personally have used the Ultimate Winter wash and loved it. Getting the rest of their weather wash line is on my to buy list.

[LWWales]

That looks amazing mate! Would look great with a wash. Weathering is scary, especially when your model looks as great as yours

[RangerNeil]

Still trying to summon up the courage to have a go with the wash. Been nosing on YouTube on how to use that particular wash and I'm getting there slowly.
For now though - all the parts are fitted including the landing gear bay doors. The rearmost section is still dry-fitted to allow the option of using the wireless power connectors. Looking at the side view its rather obvious the laser cannon are somehow out of alignment with the nose - they should be parallel not downward pointing. So I am thinking a bit of gentle, localised, heat at the wing support to allow a slight twist to bring them up into alignment will be necessary. So - before I can call this closed I need to:
* Do the wash.
* Align the laser cannon.
* Polish the canopy properly.

This is how the Viper looks as of now:

[aur0ra145]

wow, cool video!

[Parker]

loving the green cockpit.

[BigWall]

Very sweet! Nice work.

[digger303]

Do the wash it will look good. It will really lift it to the next level which you have already set fairly high.

[Stokesy44]

wow, cool video!

Absolutely

[RangerNeil]

Summoned up the nerve to have a go at the wash today. I'm in two minds as to how it turned out. Never done it before and the Vallejo wash, despite having applied 2 coats of gloss finish to the Viper, does not like coming off. I dug into YouTube and found a couple of ways of using it - neither was, to me, overly successful. The "best" one was to apply the wash to the panel lines and immediately wipe off the excess with a damp sponge or tissue. Which also removed most of what was in the panel lines.... Leaving it on to dry then wiping it off was a no-go. Once dry it wasn't coming off without serious effort. In fairness it seemed to work better on the Pegasus - perhaps because that is a darker colour... I am not overly happy with the finished result. - the camera flash makes it look worse than it is but even so....
Anyways - this is the finished effort. Rest of the pics will be in the final reveal thread.

[BigWall]

Very nice job!

I see why you don't like the result of the wash and I think i have an answer for you as to why it did what it did. Acrylics make for a much harder wash to clean up as compared to oil/enamel washes. If you use it again maybe try thinning it down more and then cleaning up any excess from where you touched the brush to the model right away? It's always easier to add more than clean up too much. Congratulations for having the nuts to try it out on such a great model. Maybe try to weather it in some for the whole model?

[RangerNeil]

Very nice job!

I see why you don't like the result of the wash and I think i have an answer for you as to why it did what it did. Acrylics make for a much harder wash to clean up as compared to oil/enamel washes. If you use it again maybe try thinning it down more and then cleaning up any excess from where you touched the brush to the model right away? It's always easier to add more than clean up too much. Congratulations for having the nuts to try it out on such a great model. Maybe try to weather it in some for the whole model?

That's what I was thinking as regards the weathering - again though its something I've never done before.
The method I used for about 95% of the Viper was as I ran the brush down the panel line I followed it up with a damp piece of kitchen towel to wick up the excess - but even that left residue. I'm told the Vallejo wash is a pig to use unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing. - and as you can see - I quite clearly didn't. Quite upsetting really and I really, really, wish I hadn't tried it now.

[aur0ra145]

I sort of like the look of it based on your photos. Looks kind of like it's had heavy fleet usage.

Though I do agree with the Vallejo being difficult to work with. My snowspeeder and some issues much like yours. I may try the tamiya panel line stuff next.

[Stokesy44]

I've only ever used water based washes, first by making my own using ground down chalks then Ultimate's washes.

Ultimate's washes are, IMHO, superb. Applying them onto a kit that has been glossed, you are guaranteed to be able to wipe them as clean as you choose depending on how much water you apply to whatever you are using to clean up the wash.

I'd never use anything else now.

[RangerNeil]

I've only ever used water based washes, first by making my own using ground down chalks then Ultimate's washes.

Ultimate's washes are, IMHO, superb. Applying them onto a kit that has been glossed, you are guaranteed to be able to wipe them as clean as you choose depending on how much water you apply to whatever you are using to clean up the wash.

I'd never use anything else now.

Thanks for the recommendation sir. I was torn between the Ultimate and Tamiya ones. So I will gor for the ultimate when moneys is in! The Viper had 2 good coats of Humbrol Gloss acrylic and still it would note come clean with the Vallejo. It seemed to work OK on the Pegasus though so I'll just keep the Vallejo for very dark colours.

[digger303]

I use AK enamel pin washes mostly, let them dry then wipe off with a bud lightly dipped in white spirits for clean up. I'm really sorry to have urged you on now.

[RangerNeil]

I use AK enamel pin washes mostly, let them dry then wipe off with a bud lightly dipped in white spirits for clean up. I'm really sorry to have urged you on now.

No worries mate - I had to start somewhere!!