by Marco Scheloske

Stand by ion control...

After the destruction of Alderaan the rebel leaders saw the need of massive planetary defense systems. A solution was required quickly, and so the rebels used giant planet-based ion cannon systems, a well-known technology. While not capable of destroying enemy vessels, these huge guns were at least powerful enough to disable them long enough to evacuate a planet under attack. The system prooved its reliability at the Battle of Hoth“, neutralizing an entire star destroyer with just a few shots.

The Model:

This is a resin kit produced by Scale Solutions, from Australia. I had to eliminate some seams and a bit flash, especially around the gun barrel. I added a few tiny bits to the spherical body of the cannon to get some anchorpoints for the weathering added later.

The entire model was primered with a middle gray basecoat, followed by misted layers of flat white. At a certain point I masked the cannon itself and added a few more white layers to the planetary surface, so at the end the gun is very light gray. Well, there are opportunities when white is just not white enough, so I used a little trick here: A layer of light blue, covered by thin layers of an automotive color called „iceblue" (a more or less clear laquer with a very, very, very small amount of white and light blue in it). That way I got a really bright white and cold looking surface, especially compared to the light gray ion cannon. I didn`t dullcoat the surface, it looks like ice just the way it is (semigloss to gloss, depending on whether or not the surface is rough or smooth).

Time for the detailing now: I used a wash with artist oil colors for the weathering of the cannon, followed by a drybrushing with flat white. The drybrush method was also used for some details of the surface where tips of rocks are watching out of the ice, but I used it a different way than usual: While normally working with layers of color that become lighter with every single one I did it reversed here: Darker greys for every drybrush layer. That way it creates the effect of small edges of rocks coming through the frozen surface.

The last part I painted was the base. A flat middle brown was used as the basecolor, followed by a wash with a dark brown oil color. Because I used a flat color before the area was stained completely, becoming darker than before, with subtle darker lines that creates a nice wooden look.

Image: Front view

Image: What the stardestroyer saw