Hi everyone,
I’m putting together a TIE fighter and interceptor. While I’m tempted to just leave the solar panels black (or paint with flat black), I want them to look a little more interesting and maybe give them a bit of a sheen (like how solar panels look in real life)
What would everyone suggest? If I thin down Alclad greatly, would it give me a semiopaque sheen over the black base? Is there another line of paint I can use?
Thanks,
Jeff
How about black metallic?
Earth folk solar panels have a somewhat puple hue over black look, but that is just in our galaxy.
Folks in another galaxy may use completely different materials, so you can’t be proven wrong however you paint them. Do a google image search for that bird and you can paint it according to how the movie showed it.
On the standard TIE I used flat black, gloss clear, then a semi-gloss clear final coat. This and the molding of the panels gives a nice effect IMO. I haven’t built the interceptor yet, but it has a different pattern on the panels.
Whoa! I came to this pary WAAAYYY to late! I’m sorry that I didn’t see this sooner. Hasn’t anyone here ever heard of SATIN ACRYLIC? I use KRYLON brand and it will be black without any type of hue. The original TIE fighters didn’t have an alternate colouration to them - just solid black with Kool-shade over it. This gave it a slightly satin look to the TIE fighters’ wings. I hope that this will help someone in the future.
~ Cobra Chris
Also, isn’t there a ‘glittery’ product that is intended to be added to paint to provide a pearlescent aspect to the finish? Ah, it is mentioned in the May FSM! Page 74, the Daphne figure that Matt Mrozek build, he uses a ‘pearl powder’ . No brand is mentioned, though…
Regards, Robert