A Star Wars Father

One of the more controversial aspects of the Prequel Trilogy was the introduction of Jango Fett as the clone father of Boba Fett. Whether you like this story point or really hate it, I think we can all agree that the Fetts are a cool looking Father-Son duo. Since my last post was about Boba Fett, it only seemed right to follow that up with a little about his dad. Plus, two days ago we celebrated Father's Day here in the US. All signs point to this post being as convenient as a too-neat little plot point about an iconic bounty hunter and his clone dad...

The model kit pictured above is the 1/144 scale version of Jango Fett's Slave I. I have always liked the color scheme of Jango's ship, and I built a version of Boba Fett's Slave I many years ago (albeit a much lower quality kit). In addition, this ship is a great compliment to Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter, which will someday look great in a little asteroid field diorama. As with Boba Fett himself, the weathering was the biggest challenge on this kit.

I ultimately decided to paint and weather a lot of this kit in smaller chunks because everything has a different look and color scheme. For the blue skirt, the gray body, and the green parts of the ship I used the liquid mask technique extensively for the first time. To accomplish this, I first airbrushed a layer of lighter color, then spread liquid mask in the areas I wanted to show through, then added a coat of the darker paint on top. Once the paint was dry I chipped off the mask to reveal the lighter shades underneath. Overall, this method is fairly time consuming but looks great once finished.

I finished off the kit with a dark gray wash and some drybrushing on the back. Then,  a few touches of rust with weathering powder and this kit was finished.

I am glad I took up the challenge of weathering this kit because the Slave I would not look the same if it were in good condition. In addition, for those who like to light their kits, there are clear engine parts on the back that would look great with some LEDs.

I am still planning on turning this into a diorama someday in the future with Obi-Wan's starfighter, but for now I can enjoy it as is.