BanDai 1/72 B-Wing Build

My next project is the BanDai 1/72 B-Wing Starfighter. I didn’t bother photographing the box. I bought the ComiCon Limited Edition and it comes in a black box with no box art. Just plain white lettering naming the kit. So this time my introductory image will be the instruction booklets.

The Limited Edition is just a four panel booklet showing the steps that are to be replaced in the original instructions. The differences are minor. They consist of a couple of panel differences on the lower keel wing and a different pilot. The decals are also different.

The decals on the left are from the kit. The decals on the right are a reproduction set I bought from someone on Etsy. The ones from Etsy are a combo set that has the original kit decals and also from the Limited Edition. I plan on using a combination of both sets. Unfortunately, the kit does not include the replaced parts from the original edition. I really would rather have had Ten Num, a Sullustan, as the pilot figure from the original kit, but a human figure is fine.

The part runners are molded in colors that would allow you to build the kit without painting if you want. I’ll be painting the parts. Here are the unpainted runners:

The first runner above is an example of BanDai’s ability to put multiple color plastic on a single runner. It has dark gray, white, blue gray and clear all on the same runner. By the way, the group of parts on the right in the first image is actually blue gray, not white as it looks in the photo.

I started by separating the different colored part runners from the multi-color runner. I then primed all the parts on the runners. Next I painted the parts while still on the runners. For the white plastic I used Vallejo 71.119 White Gray. The dark gray was painted Tamyia XF-54 Dark Sea Gray. The engine nozzles (the white parts on the multi-color runner) were painted Tamyia TS-83 Metallic Silver. The cockpit parts were brush painted Tamyia XF-69 NATO Black. The blue gray parts were painted Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue (which was very close to the blue gray of the runner). I masked the clear cockpit canopy (inside and out) and painted both it and the open canopy frame with the Dark Sea Gray. Before masking the clear canopy I dipped it in Future/Pledge/Kleer to give it a protective clear coat.

The actual construction began with the cockpit. It consists of four parts. First the pilot pod guns are added to part of the cockpit.

Then I flipped it over and painted the controls NATO Black.

The other parts of the cockpit were painted NATO Black and I drybrushed some silver over the raised areas and painted various controls with some different colors like yellow, blue, green and white. The seat cushions were painted Vallejo 70.819 Iraqi Sand. I also painted the pilot figure. The cockpit is made up of three parts which you can see here.

I put them together and slid them into the front of the pilot pod.

Two of the guns were painted Tamiya XF-6 Copper and I added black dots to the ends of the guns. I considered drilling them out, but they were so small I was afraid I would break them.

I then assembled the back part with the engine. I drybrushed sliver on the turbine vanes. The seams are a bit visible and I did consider filling and sanding them, but I studied the decal positions and realized that the seams each fell on the edge of a decal. Nice attention to detail by BanDai.

I dry fitted the cockpit pod into the main fuselage to check the fit.

I think the cockpit looks good. Now it’s time to start on the wings.

That’s it for now. More to come. Thanks for looking.