Luke Skywalker Snowspeeder

In October of 2004 I was contacted by Master Replicas to provide two Paint Masters for their second Stuido Scale model replica, a Snowspeeder in 3/4th scale (to the filming miniature).

This time I was receiving raw castings of the ship, and the photo reference taken at the Lucasfilm Archives.

Unlike the AT-AT, this was a replica of a specific vehicle - the grey-striped Snowspeeder that Luke piloted, so the weathering and coloring had to match exactly!

I received the two Snowspeeder castings and set to work.

The casts were packed well - but they still suffered damage, so I lost a day to repair work.

Chips and shattered peices were re-glued and re-sculpted.

An entire corner was missing...

And some chipping was subtle, but I wanted to get it right for MR!

Colors were mixed to match the reference data. Hint - XF-19 is great stuff to start with!

I was given dry transfers of the orange/red markings, which saved a lot of time.

Some (like the diagonal striped transfers) were too large, but for these paint masters woudl be okay to use.

Grab handles were painted - it was a good idea to detail the inside of the Snowspeeder first, as it would be hard to get back into once assembled.

These "SS" markings were printed backwards as "ZZ", so I hand painted the diagonals.

Cockpit colors were matched to the screencaps from the film, as the interior was modeled after the 1:1 set.

Hand painted striping here, as the dry transfers woudl not have worked well in the small recesses.

Looking down into the model, from the underside.

Again, the canopy control readouts mimic the crude red animations of theSnowspeeder in the film.

The Graflex red buttons even make an appearance!

This is the one area that was simplified enough to "get to me" - there should be a set of joysticks/control column back here.

Here it is, painted but not distressed or weathered.

Underside, prior to weathering and scratching...

Scratching and distressing of panels has begun - literally in this case, the paint was scratched away from the model to reveal the base coat.

Each scratch was matched to the original prop, exactly.

Even the underside was matched - scratch for scratch.

Dry transfers were present here as well.

Weathered with powdered pigments, the Snowspeeder suddenly came alive!

The original model painters loved to suggest a history in their paint jobs - apparently this white panel is new!

The grill fins were much easier to paint and weather while off the model, so they were attached at the very end.

The final effect is really convincing.

White weathering scratches were added, finally, as seen on the real filming miniature. A strange choice for the model makers perhaps, but that is how Luke's Snowspeeder was painted!

It does a really good job in "popping" off of the grimy hull though...

And the back comes alive when weathered.

All in all, my favorite paint job done for MR.

Both were painted in a week... a very busy week!!