Painting Sci-Fi Models

[5Craven]

Hi guys Benc123 opened a thread in the sci-fi SIG group about the best colour call outs to use for his Millennium alcon build. This got me thinking about the whole issue of painting Sci-Fi subjects and space vehicles in particular.

The 'correct' colour choice is an interesting one. To give one example say you decided to build a Viper fighter from BSG you could follow the scheme as it appeared in the programme and have it 'correct' according to canon. However originally there was more than one Battlestar and I imagine each one used its own colour identification pattern for its fighters, you could adapt the original scheme to show a theoretical expansion of the subject background. Finally you might decide the subject is completely imaginary anyway and do say a green splinter camo scheme and place the model in a jungle maintenance diorama.

Given the overall theme of the genre is one more 'correct' than the other? Your opinions would be interesting.

[Gav0909]

I think Sci-Fi is for sure one subject area that you should be able to let your imagination go wild, and nobody should ever be able to question why something is a certain colour etc. Unless you have painted a Millenium Falcon in Barbie Pink, as although its a made up thing, it had a colour scheme associated with it etc. But then again who is to say that there isn't another ship of the same type as the 'Falcon which was painted Barbie Pink.

[benc123]

Barbie pink it is then! Lol

[T3hGuppy]

Very good point.

Depends on the subject really But I always follow my own way when painting anything.

On the BSG front I'm sure at one point when the other battle-star shows up the vipers do have different markings be nice to see some unique designs.

[Lee]

I don't care as long as it looks good and if there is an area where artistic licence can be fully employed it's sic-fi

[EpoxySniffer]

It's time for me to show myself up for being a complete and utter nerd .....

The Falcon was not a unique ship. Lando Calrissian and then Han Solo just heavily modified it's weapons and engines and created smuggling compartments.

I believe that in the Star Wars universe it is a Corellian YT-1300 freighter and there are lots of them flying around that imaginary galaxy. Which means you can create your own imaginary ship or make a replica of the Falcon. Both are cool. I have seen a few different builds of the YT-1300 on Scale Model Addict.

As for the BSG Vipers. Hypothetically I would say that after the Cylon attack any surviving humans dispersed in ships would have been low on resources and used whatever was at hand. Including paint!! So whatever the deck crew had on each Battlestar would have been used to patch up and repaint the Vipers. Though weren't there only the two survivng Battlestars, The Galactica and The Pegasus? I really can't remember what the Vipers from the Pegasus looked like. I think they were the same scheme as The Galactica's birds. Would have to watch a rerun to find out.

There is a guy on YouTube that goes under the nickname of Quaralane. This is his type of thing
he is always kit bashing and scratchbuilding imaginary sci fi ships. What he does is create his own little back story for each model. The guy has a wonderful imagination and I really enjoy watching his videos. You should check him out.

I say either create a replica of the studio model or use your imagination and build it and paint it your way. Both ways are good. You can always create a back story saying there was a third Battlestar that escaped but this was unknown to the Galactica and Pegasus and hence did not featured in the TV show. All they had on board was pink paint so the deck crew painted the Vipers pink.

Use your imagination, have fun and enjoy yourself .. it will be like being a kid again.

Its Sci Fi and an imaginary world so anything goes ....

[Waylander]

Totally agree with the above comments, I think we all do this hobby because we love it and its fun. What fun would it be if everyone decided to build say a Viper and we all built it the same way in the same order and all painted it the same colours. Its the imagination that fires us as we build and the little tweaks that we do either in the building, painting, displaying or weathering stages that makes all the difference to us. If we wanted a pitch perfect down to the last detail model then we may as well go out and by a die-cast replica or a pre-painted snap together job. Not that they don't have their place of course and I do admire modellers that take the time to research their models down to the last detail but can also have the scope to add a little creativity too.
As they say a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

[WebbyNZ]

Epoxy sniffer nailed it in my opinion.
So many of these craft are one of many so if th builder says it is from a different fleet, battalion, pilot than its my job as a sci fi fan to go to that place with them.
Weathering and battle damage can also range from severe battle bam age to fresh outta the workshop which is another great component of sci fi modelling.

The exception, if they say this is Luke's x wing from degobah, in which case I'm looking for more accuracy to the stated scenes.
Or something like a Death Star of which there not dozens so red stripes would not get my vote, under constructn tape on the other hand

[Bagpiper]

I also watch Quaralane and find his stuff incredible. He's not the most accurate but man does he make modelling fun. He's my kind of modeler that's for sure. And none of us paint these models for a job (or maybe some do) so it should be what you feel is right. I don't mean accurate either. I could not care less, or just may not have, the right colour. When I was a soldier who had to paint the darn trucks because the Sergeant Major told us too, you would not believe what we ended up with. lol But they were clean. So my point is this, no matter what you chose, as long as you like it yourself then that is all that matters. Unless you're entering a competition for accuracy that is. But yeah! Go check out quaralane on Youtube if you want to see fun modeling at it's best.

Cheers and not sure if I have Barbie Pink in my stock

Jim

[EpoxySniffer]

Quaralane ... the man with best imagination on YouTube.

I have watched every single one of his videos.

No one else would think to turn a set of wheels into turbo fans for a flying aircraft carrier.

Watch the kitbash he recently did for the Omega 7 Helicarrier.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwu-XAmLzimIBzgToo-AO5g

[Bagpiper]

Quaralane ... the man with best imagination on YouTube.

I have watched every single one of his videos.

No one else would think to turn a set of wheels into turbo fans for a flying aircraft carrier.

Watch the kitbash he recently did for the Omega 7 Helicarrier.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwu-XAmLzimIBzgToo-AO5g

I watched that one too. Amazing man

Cheers
Jim

[Nige201980]

Just watching this series at the mo