[This post was originally posted to Otherverse Games & Hobbies as part of a series called Plastic to Painted, or P2P. You may see logos or references to this site and series]
This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.
I have stated it many times in the past, and I am not going to stop now: I feel that there is no practical way that any semi-normal, decently rational human being can argue that Rogue One is not the best Star Wars movie that Disney has produced. Sure, I enjoyed The Force Awakens when it came out. I certainly didn’t love it but I had a fine time watching it and I was excited for the potential.
Insert sad foghorn sound here.
At least I got Rogue One before they moved onto Disney+ TV shows. They are also of inconsistent quality, but at least there are some serious gems in the catalog already. One of them is even relevant to today’s article. The other is related to the Mandalorian post I did last time.
Save the Rebellion! Save the dream.
I had just finished painting Star Wars: Legion models around this time last year and put together an article and a video about the models that I had completed up to that point. It was around that time I discovered that Jyn, Cassian and his bot buddy had models.
Bought them, I did. Following that, I promptly inserted them into my pile of shame for about a year. It’s unclear to me whether they were or were not available at the same time, but it was much later when I discovered the Pathfinder unit. Once I realized that it was a representation of the rebels that went to Scarif and made ten people feel like a hundred, I knew that this article was an eventuality. And here we are.
I cannot be sure if Kera will ever use the Rogue One posse in her games of Legion, but I was glad to paint them up. Of course, mine would be painted up with a desert base and not based like a tropical paradise with blue waters as clear as glass and Empire troops everywhere.
They call it the (Pile of Shame). But they have no idea… there’s a way to defeat it.
With May upon us, it was time for me to dig the Star Wars: Legion models out of my pile of shame, and convert them to a pile of Opportunity and a heap of empty frames. As painting was about to commence, my hand was assaulted with a crippling trigger-finger like Darth Vader himself had shown up and used some nasty force shit on me. It seriously stalled my progress in April, leaving me with many more models added to my shame than removed.
I was already a good portion of the way through May before treatment allowed me to start painting again. It was time to light a fire under my proverbial ass, not my actual ass mind you (I was in enough pain) and apply acrylics to plastic models at an accelerated rate.
The contrast paints were retrieved from the wall of colors. There is a lot of texture to these minis and contrast is perfect for taking advantage of how they are made, as well as making the process rather quick and efficient.
To get Andor, started I applied the black contrast first, and then touched it up with the paint pot version of the primer I used, although I can’t recall which of the two I used. Then I did the same for the tan color, which I watered down a little for the fur on his hood and his gloves. Of course I didn’t have a contrast color that I thought was a good enough match to the jacket Andor is wearing, why would things be easy. I applied Bering Blue from Scale 75 and highlighted with Sotek Green from Citadel: I was happy with the results. For Jyn I used Gryph Hound Grey in two layers to get the grey-blue hue I wanted, followed by Militarum green and Snakebite Leather for, well, leather, her vest and her hair. I used Iron hands steel for the metal bits on Andor’s bag and their guns.
Except for the few examples above, the Rebel characters were almost entirely painted with contrast. The opposite was proportion was to be used to get K-2S0 table ready. To get the metallic black look, I primed him black, drybrushed him with Leadbelcher, and then put a layer of Black Templar mixed with a bit of water over that. I touched a few corners with a bit of iron hands steel to highlight a bit, and then applied it to the joints and his gun, and he was 90% complete. A few acrylics were delicately applied to the eyes, button/lights and eyes.
To paint the squad, I used all contrast again, except for the same metal color for belt buckles and a few bits on the guns. I alternated between Snakebite Leather, Skeleton Horde and Wildwood for all of the brown bits, such as boots, belts, pants and a few vests. Black Templar was applied to guns and the unit leaders vest to make him easy to spot amongst the sea of contrast colors. I used a different skin tone on every model in the unit to make sure there was a good variety to the rebel forces, up to and including the dude with the green skin from the movie. He is one of the two special weapons upgrades, and the other is also a good representation of an alien from the movie. I wish the troopers were less generic, and looked like specific yet nameless characters from the movie. What can you do?
All of the miniatures for this collection of Rogue One characters and miscellaneous Rebel troopers were done in the same way. The bases were first painted with Steel Legion Drab, followed by applying Agrellan Earth. In this way, there was a darker but well aligned color beneath to show through the crackle effect. Once everything was dry, I placed a few self adhesive tufts of dead grass.
I am one with the Force and the Force is with me
First and foremost, I wish there was a Baze and Chirrut model set. I think they would be a fun support squad or something. I have also wanted to paint Ewoks and they have announced them finally so, I guess I will have some little furry fellas to paint up, soonish, at least.
Additionally, I have several squads built and primed as of typing this article. I have wookies to paint up similar to how I did Chewbacca. A unit of Inferno troopers and the special forces character are waiting around to be painted in two finishes of black like Moff Gideon.
Lastly, I am sitting on Sabine and the Clan Wren Mandalorians. It’s unclear to me how many of these units I will finish up while we are still celebrating Star Wars month here at Otherverse. You’ll all likely have to wait until next May for any models I finish after this month.
Hopefully I will have a few more Legion models before the month is complete. I will show them off if I can, and either way I will see you soon with more hobby progress updates and completed projects.
Click here for more Table Ready posts
Tyson
Obsessive and neurotic collector of little plastic men, novels about the same little plastic men and paints to make the little plastic men pretty. Married to Kera, who puts up with him and pretends that she doesn’t hear him speaking to the little plastic men in between making pew pew noises in the hobby room. Requires adult supervision. A menace to himself but rarely to others. More beard than man