by Nicholas Sagan

This one started out with Model Addix's 1/72 E-Wing (still available from the SSM Store). The E-Wing has been one of my favorite starfighter designs since I first read Dark Empire and I was glad to find an available kit. There are some inconsistencies with all the different depictions of the ship, from wing width to nose angle, etc, but this kit did a nice job of finding a positive average.

As usual, I like to augment my kits. Brass piping replacements for the cannons, paperclips for the sensor array in the nose, a concussion missile launcher rack on the belly, brass piping for the torpedo launchers; all of these help beef up the look of this craft. I also borrowed the dorsal detailing piece and droid socket from a Fine Molds 1/72 X-Wing kit.

The paint scheme was inspired by the digital camo featured on a F/A-18 Super Hornet and was a bit of a challenge. After the first layer of flat black I layered small rectangles of masking tape and continued through the layers, each layer of masking with random and perpendicular arrangements. Unfortunately, when the masking was removed some of the paint came down to the resin, so I had to go back in and repaint by hand. A couple of light coats of flat clear smoothed the surface where the masks lifted. A little bit of weathering to finish it off and a new E-Wing joins the ranks!

Image: Right/rear view

Image: Top/left

Image: Underneath

Image: Droid, sir

Image: Pilot