I picked up the Super Tactical Droid set when it came out, but was on another genre painting binge and set it aside with my other Legion minis for safe keeping. Well, a game of Legion and I am back on the Legion painting train and using the burst of motivation to catch up on my outstanding CIS models. Well, that meant that I needed to pull out the Super Tactical Droid and work on it. Along the way, I also picked up the double set of IG-11 and IG-88 Assassin droids. As the latter were very easy to do, I decided to work on them at the same time.
My first decision was how was I going to paint the Super Tactical Droid. I opted for Kilani, as he is represented in both Clone Wars and Rebels. I was dreading the good leaf trim (which is probably the real reason I set him aside originally…), but it was time to step up!
I had already assembled all the kits some time ago (model building and movie watching is a great past time!). Since the IGs are mostly silver, I just sprayed them with some chainmail paint. I sprayed Kilani with white. The three bases were separately sprayed dark brown.
I jumped between the droids, as I waited for a given to paint or washes to dry. This was a nice way to keep going and not waste any time or get distracted and not finishing. The IGs were very simple. I hit both models with a black wash. Once that dried, I hit the weapons and the straps with black contrast paint. I then hit a few spots with some aged bronze. Next was highlighting in silver and gray. The bodies were drybrushed up with a lighter silver. The weapons and IG88 straps were hit with gray. I then hit IG11’s straps with dark brown. The white eyes were the next steps.
Jumping back and forth, I worked up Kilani as a straight up paint job. I hit all the gray areas with London Gray and all the green areas with German Dark Green from Vallejo. Next came a black wash over the entire model. After drying, I highlighted the green and gray areas with the original colors and edge lighted each with a lighter shade. I then hit the weapon with GW contrast black, followed by a grey highlight. Next was the red eyes. Last was the gold trim. I longer have the skill (or eyes) to do such tiny lines. Frankly, I am not sure anyone would see them anyway. So, I opted to do some stylized brass trim to give an effect that would be visible on the tabletop. It took a little while, but I got it done.
I finished with my using standard Agrarian Earth basing, dry brushed tan and with a spiky tuft for each base. With that, some more droids scratched off the to do list. The IG droids are a bit of a cheat, as I cannot use them with either of my current painted armies. However, they look good on the shelf and will just remind me to start on my next army in the future
- Manteuffel