Squadron Markings & Colors

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Looking for a good resource on Rebel Squadron markings and colors.  I did some digging, and was only able to find information on X-Wing markings for the Battle of Yavin.    I am trying to get at how the community sees this. I am not as concerned about Canon status as I am about there being a bit of rhyme and reason to the system.  I/E: anyone looking at my finished minis should be able to tell squadron and fighter number ( for Rebs).

 

I am also interested in techniques for applying these tiny markings to our Armada minis.  While the minis are quite small, some micro pens should do the trick.

 

 

To start things off, I have found several systems for denoting squadron number for X-wings.  All are a variant of "tick" or "hash" marks on the trailing edges of the wings. 

 

1. For Rebels, trim color often designates squadron
   • At the battle of Yavin, Luke was in Red squadron.  His and the other X-Wings were trimmed in Red.
   • Gold squadron appeared to be all Y's, which were trimmed in a yellow/gold
   • One source states X-Wings were to have been "Blue" squadron originally, but the blue paint and blue screen technique created technical challenges
   • "Known" squadron designations: Courtesy of Extropia
     • http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rebel_Alliance_starfighter_squadrons
2. Less questions for Imperials:
   • Rank and file Imp pilots can choose any color for their fighter, so long as it is Imperial Grey
   • Named Aces may display a Scarlet Pentagon: see image posted by Extropia below
   • Emperor's Guard pilots are Scarlet
   • Soontir Fel and the Bloodstripe:
     • Soontir Fel earned the right to display the Correlian Bloodstripe -- the same honor Han Solo displays on his pant leg
     • Correllians have been known to kill pretenders who display the stripe
     • However, there is Legends material to indicate Bloodstripes in use on other TIE/In's in Fel's 181st Squadron
3. Repaints and Touch up Work
   1. See Justin Read's response to Painting the Toys thread in Imperial Assault Forum, or his excellent Blog series, sporadic paint flailing
   2. This is a great resource for paint colors, and Star Wars painting techniques

 

 

That leaves several questions: 

1. How do other Reb fighters indicate fighter number?  Is it different for different types of fighters?
   • How about Y's, B's, & A's?  
   • Do Aces get special markings?  If so, what?  (See the X-Wing minis Rebel Aces -- red trim on B-wing, Blue on A)
     • I seem to recall seeing a "spade" on the nose of an A wing
2. Imperials -- less questions here...

• Do Rank and File TIE's have any type of designator, at all?
• What is everyone using for Imp Grey?

Techniques:

1. Rebels:
   • Spray a light base coat of white primer, a very light brush coat of white or Ivory: 
   • All details with Sakura Pigma Micron pens or similar
   • http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=pen+micron&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=31591393477&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11139177232367286220&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5hrny8brs6_b
   • Pen size to be determined once starfighter models are in hand
2. Imperials
   • Spray a light base coat of black primer, a very light brush coat of black, & finish with a medium drybrush of "Imperial Grey"
   • Aces to get a stripe of Scarlet -- Sakura Pigma Micron Red over a white base
3. Sealer
   • Dull Coat or Matte -- possibly a "dot" of gloss over the view-ports (?)

Tons of questions here!  Your input and assistance would be much appreciated.

 

Since this is pretty dense stuff, links to source material work fine for me.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Commander Kahlain

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Thanks to Millenium Falsehood over at X-Wing Minis Forums for this excellent piece of work:

 

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/98158-detailed-decal-set/page-3

[CobaltWraith 229]

Great link, thanks for keeping us posted on your efforts!

[Extropia 1,475]

I can add a little to this:

 

Known Rebel Squadron names:

Grey

Blue

Red

Green

Gold               Colour schemes for this lot pretty obvious

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rebel_Alliance_starfighter_squadrons

 

This is a much more comprehensive list. Many of them (most?) d not have established colour schemes however.

 

 

Fighter designations I think are either done through the "tabs", or done individually. It all depends how organised that particular Rebel command is. I think following the tab system that MilleniumFalsehood has done decals for is a good guide for "coloured" squadrons though. Ace squadrons are probably more individual.

 

 

Imperial squadrons are usually just grey or blue. Some had squadron markings of various sorts, and some aces were known to have personalised schemes and kill markings.

 

Here is a full list of known Imperial squadrons:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Imperial_starfighter_squadrons

 

Here is a Tie Fighter with either a sqadron or ship marker, and you can see these in the original trilogy:

 

 

and a better, no movie image:

 

 

On that note, the red stripe is not for aces in general. it is specifically Soontir Fels marking, which he passed on to his command (the 181st Fighter Wing).

 

 

I cant help with the painting side yet, but i'll be doing the same and will share notes later. Hopefully this helped a tiny bit!

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Extropia -- Yes, thanks -- the above is very helpful.

 

I have been searching for pictures of the original production models.  A bunch of those are documented, though the images can be difficult to find.

 

I will also research the squads compiled in the wiki lists.

 

Thanks!

[Gundog8324 440]

 

On that note, the red stripe is not for aces in general. it is specifically Soontir Fels marking, which he passed on to his command (the 181st Fighter Wing).

 

 

It primarily applies to Interceptors, however one of the X-wing books has Wedge shooting down a Tie Defender with the Red Stripe so it could be used for any ship as long as your "fluff" has them as a graduate of the 181st (technically I think it is the Corellian Bloodstripe, so it could be passed onto Rebel Pilots too as long as they are Corellian, I.E. Han, Wedge, Corran etc)

[Extropia 1,475]

Han actually wears Bloodstripes on his trousers. Wedge won't use them as he was never in the Corellian military. Ditto with Corean, who was only in CorSec.

Under Corellian law, any Corellian is legally allowed to kill anybody wearing them falsely. They take them....quite seriously.

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Mini - Prep : Stripping Minis:

 

For "goofs," or re-dos of pre-paints

 

Winsor Newton Brush Cleaner & Restorer

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2585439519&feature=iv&src_vid=Q5STn5ejyyw&v=YpD0Sm5NXvg

 

Not as caustic as some of the other methods out there

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Adding a Blood Stripe:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUr9BuXPfw

 

This technique is also useful for other linear features.  Liquid Mask may be used instead of tape.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw0kyZvYb0Y

 

If you don't have an airbrush, can be done with a standard brush as well.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Commander Kahlain

[Commander Kahlain 237]

X-Wing : Unit Numbers Higher than 6:

 

http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/kg_blue-12.jpg

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Edited summary to include links to reference Forum member Justin Read's response to Painting the Toys thread in Imperial Assault Forum, See also his excellent Blog series, sporadic paint flailing  These are great resources for paint colors, and Star Wars painting techniques

 

See Repaints and Touch up Work section added to summary post

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Updates coming soon: those will appear over in the painting sub-forum at Squadron Markings & Colors: Take 2

[JimmyMethod 74]

X-wings typically displayed their call number with the 'ticks' along the back of the S-foils.

 

 

 

i.e. This is Red 5

 

 

This is Red 2

[Commander Kahlain 237]

JimmyMethod: how are you inserting your images please?

[JimmyMethod 74]

In the 'Reply to this topic' segment, I click on the little 'Tree' image below and to the left of the 'Smiley', and enter the URL for the image. 

[Commander Kahlain 237]

Ok, thanks.  That confirms my suspicion that I have to host the image elsewhere.

[Vetnor 297]

Will Photobucket work?

Yes it does. :-)))

Still haven't worked out how to place a pic under my name yet :-(((

Edited April 5, 2015 by Vetnor

[Vetnor 297]

I have to say though you must be careful with markings from the movie models.

I mean the Millennium Falcon had a Route 66 sticker over the cockpit windows with a pair of fluffy dice hanging as a tribute to American Graffiti and the Death Star had an dotted line with a pair of scissors on it courtesy of a model makers sense of humor.

[Commander Kahlain 237]

I have to say though you must be careful with markings from the movie models.

I mean the Millennium Falcon had a Route 66 sticker over the cockpit windows with a pair of fluffy dice hanging as a tribute to American Graffiti and the Death Star had an dotted line with a pair of scissors on it courtesy of a model makers sense of humor.

 

I had forgotten about the fuzzy dice.  Now, I must figure out a way to represent those in/on my Falcon models!