Nebulon-B (Medical Frigate) - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

I happened across this on eBay a couple of months ago. This ship is probably less known out of Star Wars vessels, but to me it holds a special place in that it is the final thing we see in the absolute best Star Wars movie ever made. It shows up in Return of the Jedi as well, and might have been one of the ships in the big attack at the end of The Rise of Skywalker. No scale, but it measure about 9" in length.

I painted this with Squadron’s starship colors. Starship Gray #3 seemed to best approximate the almost white gray the original model builders used. I picked out panels with Starship Gray #1, a slightly darker grey. The engine lights are clear yellow painted atop a base of white. Weathering is a mix of AMMO’s starship wash and metal slag (a pigment applied around the engine nozzles). I also mixed white paint with a touch of sky blue to paint various windows to match what we see in the movie, including the big window where Luke, Leia, and the droids are standing behind watching the Millennium Falcon’s departure. The stand is an acrylic base I picked up from a guy on eBay who makes them for spaceship/scifi miniatures.

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I’ve never really liked the look of that starship in the movies. What was George Lucas and ILM thinking?
My biggest gripe is the long thin “neck” between the two larger portions of the ship. All an enemy has to do is destroy that and you’re toast.
I can’t help but wonder if ILM took inspiration for designing this ship from looking at the STAR TREK Klingon D-7 battlecruiser which also has a thin “neck” between two larger hull sections.

It’s definitely a strange design.

Star Wars vehicles/vessels don’t always make a lot of sense. Take the AT-ATs, which are clearly able to be “tripped” but also have that awful weakness in the “neck” area. Still, a really cool looking vehicle.