Profile Photo
Paul sutton
21 articles

TIE interceptor vs X wing

June 4, 2020 · in Sci-fi · 13 · 2.1K

Hello all.
This is a small Starwars diorama showing a brave TIE interceptor pilot defending the space lanes from rebel scum.
The kits used were the Revell snap together kits.
There is a slight scale difference between them but In this context I don’t think it’s a big deal.
Painting and weathering were fairly straight forward using Tamiya acrylics and oil washes.
I painted the Interceptor with the red stripes of the 181st Imperial fighter wing.
The explosion effect was made using several LED lights and cotton wool sprayed black, yellow and orange.
I used several LEDs as while these lights shine brightly they only really do so in one direction and I wanted to show the light within the explosion coming from several directions.
The parts of the X wing were mounted on a simple frame of brass rod onto which I attached the LEDs and then wrapped it in cotton wool until I had a shape I was happy with.
It’s the first time I tried something like this and I was surprised how easy it was to get a nice explosion effect.

Hope you like it.

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


13 responses

  1. Very cool layout! I’m always for models in “context.” You pulled off the black of space And the action like a pro.

  2. Profile Photo
    Walt said on June 4, 2020

    That is really an awesome little display. I think you got the exploding X-Wing just right. Great work.

  3. Wow ! terrific job on this but somehow I can't cheer on the TIE fighter pilot destroying the X - wing , it's like watching a 109 shooting down a Spitfire ,it just aint right . I'm only joking of course but you know what I mean...
    Great work Paul.

    • Lol, slightly OT but my son maintains the Empire was the good guys. If you Google it, there are some interesting articles. All in good fun.

  4. Great stuff! Would you make this into a shadow box dio so you can keep the black space feeling?

    • Tempting idea but room is an issue. It wouldn’t fit in my display cabinet. Also the whole project was a sort of challenge to build a diorama as cheaply as possible (hence the use of the very cheap Revell snap together kits). All the other bits were from my spares collection or, in the case of the cotton wool, my wife’s makeup box.

  5. Paul, your diorama is very creative. Nice job! It's also just plain cool.

    Cheers,

    Scott

  6. very cool! Like it.

  7. Hi Paul!
    Your diorama is fantastic.
    The explosion effect most creative and innovative.
    A joy to watch.
    All the best!

  8. Brilliant dio! The explosion is quite a thing, almost a still from the movies

  9. A very imaginative build!

  10. Poor Red 3. Biggs never had a chance.

    Nice Star Wars dio.

  11. Love it. Great dio

Leave a Reply