As with my
X-Wing Painting Tutorial, I wanted to keep the workload to a minimum when it came to dressing up the TIEs. Initially, I only painted the outer solar panels, but that just would not to! The iconic frames forming the segmented hexagonal solar panels just have to be there for a TIE to be a TIE. So bear with me! This will be a bit more involved than the X-Wings, but the end result is so worth it!
The Tools!
Thankfully, not much is really needed to knock these guys out! I went with el cheapo paints from a local hobby store, though Vallejo or anything else would be fine. I did not even bother priming the fighters (though I did hit them with a matte varnish at the end to protect the paint). The bottle in the top left is the best wash I've ever used. It's a product called Magic Mudd by
CGR painters.
STEP ONE
To get things started I Simply paint small green dots on the weapons. While a bit exaggerated, I think it gives the right effect.
STEP TWO
Then I flip the fighter over and paint two red dots for the engines. Dead easy- both of these steps take seconds!
STEP THREE
Next I paint the circular ionization reactor black. You might be able to skip that with a heavy wash of the body (which we'll get to), but in my tests it was easy and paid off to give it additional depth.
STEP FOUR
Here comes the tedium. Now I block paint the 6 individual panels that comprise the solar array wing. Honestly, I'm a bit sloppy here, as it just won't be noticeable from 4 feet away in the heat of battle! This takes a while. Don't let the math scare you, but at 2 cores each with 18 TIEs... that's 36 TIE fighters each with 12 individual panels.... that's 432 individual little panels. Don't let that scare you, just put on The Clone Wars on Netflix and rock and roll!
STEP FIVE
Now you want to paint all of the non-textured inside areas of the solar arrays black. I used my medium brush for this.
STEP SIX
Next I used the medium grey to paint the 6 internal struts. You COULD skip this step, but honestly- it's not very difficult. Dip the brush, paint 2 lines, repeat many times.
STEP SEVEN
Finally, I hit the internal body with a wash using the Magic Mudd. While that is drying I clean up any solar array edges with the medium grey. Last, I hit the cockpit with a second wash just to really darken it up.
And that's it! The end result is pretty dope!
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