X-Wing: Krassis Trelix Firespray Repaint

I've been on an X-Wing kick lately with 12 games under my belt and purchases in the 3 digit figures in the last 2 months. Like a true plastic junkie I'm collecting both factions!

I've had a blast with X-Wing as a gaming system. However one thing I do miss is the hobby aspect of miniature gaming. X-Wing pre-painted ships are great in that it is ready to play out of the box. However as you invest more into the game you begin to accumulate multiples of a unit to give yourself options in list building. This leads to your collection looking very samey. I currently have two Firesprays and two YT-1300 and they look exactly like everyone else's Firesprays and Falcons!

This is a travesty that had to be remedied ASAP.

I really like Firesprays despite doing horribly with a Krassis and mini swarm build I used in a recent tournament (click here for the tournament report). As such, I decided that my first repaint will be the bounty hunter extraordinaire Krassis Trelix and his badass yellow-patterned Firespray-31 patrol and attack craft.


The Repaint

My personal philosophy when it comes to hobbying is to leverage off existing knowledge where possible. Why go through the effort of reinventing the wheel when someone has already done it. So before I put brush to model I scoured the internets for pictures of Krassis repaints.

Most repaints coming out of my Google searches were....shall we say less than inspiring. Luckily there was one that caught my attention and my oh my is this guy good. You can check his Krassis on his blog here. I was so inspired by his repaint that I borrowed it. And when I say borrow I mean plagiarise. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.

Read on to find out how I did my repaint.

Undercoat

Blu (white?) tac was used to block the clear plastic flight nub

White was airbrushed all over both Firesprays

Front and back

I didn't bother with stripping the existing factory paint job as I didn't see the point and I was way too lazy for that carry on.

With my trusty airbrush, I undercoated the Firespray with VJ Model Air White. I went over it twice as I wanted a clean looking white finish.


The Basic Colours

Paints used for the basic colours

The Yellow Bits

For the yellow bits I used GW Iyanden Darksun. I watered down the paint a bit and applied two coats to ensure no nasty brush strokes were visible given how flat the surface is.

The Grey, Blue and Orange Bits

I painted the stabiliser fin housings beside the cockpit with VJ German Grey. For the machinery at the back and along the fins I used VJ Base Grey. I then picked out a few details with GW Fortress Grey and VJ Plague Brown. The blue parts were painted with two coats of Enchanted Blue. The guns were painted using VJ Sombre Grey.

The Washes

Once all the base colours have been applied I wash the model with several generous coatings of GW Badab Black.

I then followed up with a more precise application of the same Badab Black wash along the joins between the panels. I painted the cockpit window with several coats of GW Abaddon Black.

The Highlights

The guns were highlighted with the base colour Sombre Grey followed by another lighter highlight of 50:50 Sombre Grey and GW Ceramite White.

The orange bits were highlighted with the base colour Plague Brown followed by 50:50 Plague Brown and Ceramite White. For the bits that looked like energy coils I applied a generous coating of GW Lamentors Yellow glaze. The grey parts were drybrushed with Base Grey.

The stabiliser fin housings were highlighted with the base colour German Grey while the blue parts were highlighted with GW Ice Blue followed by a glaze of GW Guilliman Blue.

The yellow parts were carefully highlighted with Iyandan Darksun. Together with the black wash in the joins between the panels the highlights really made the yellow pop.

Finally the white panels were painstakingly highlighted with Ceramite White. This required surgeon level steady hands and zen level patience. It was a pain in the backside but the result was more than worth it!

The Engine Glow

I didn't have any masking or painters tape so I improvised with cling film to block most of the ship from potential over spray.

Using the airbrush, I started with VJ Model Air Blue and gradually added white to the mix until I was only spraying white in the middle of the engine. I adjusted the pressure to around 10 psi to get that hazy look to simulate the energy glow. There was some over spray but overall I was very happy with the result.

Varnish

All that was left was to protect the paint job with VJ Matt Varnish. I used GW Ardcoat gloss varnish on the cockpit window for that nice shiny effect. I'm not entirely happy with this bit given how I can't for the life of me get rid of the visible brush strokes.


The Reveal

Well I hope this project has inspired you to repaint your own Krassis or a bounty hunter of your own invention. X-Wing is a great game but it definitely could do with more repaints.

I have more X-Wing repaints in the pipeline so watch this space.