STAR WARS modeling. Questions on Building, Collecting, etc

[WhatIfRebel]

May the 4th be with you!
(Or if you’re an Imperial, tomorrow will be Revenge of the 5th.)

Let’s talk STAR WARS models. I’m just curious on the following:

1. What have you built in the past? Show finished model pics if you have them.
2. What STAR WARS models, if any, are you currently working on?
3. Do you have a collection of finished or unbuilt STAR WARS models? How big is your collection?
4. What is your favorite or not favorite STAR WARS models?
5. What STAR WARS models do you hope get manufactured for release in the future?
6. Do you prefer building Rebel models or Imperial models? (Give in to the Dark Side!)

[WhatIfRebel]

As for myself, I haven’t built any STAR WARS models in the past, though I’ve wanted to. The only two kits I have are the following below which are pretty rare I think. I want to combine them into one big diorama hopefully. Not sure when I’ll get around to building them as I’ve plenty of other projects on my plate so to speak.
I used to have a Jabba’s Throne Room model kit set that I got when a fellow model club member passed away a few years ago. But I changed my mind on keeping the kit and put it in my model club’s auction about a year or two ago.

[pr154]

A great topic for today!

I love the Bandai Star Wars kits. They have parts with excellent fit, rich details and designed to be near impossible to assemble incorrectly. I have a few as “activity fillers” for those hobby-centric weekends where my main projects might be stifled by curing times.

The only thing to be wary of is the depth of detail becomes a vacuum for washes, so care needs to be taken to keep the model from looking too dark.

My offerings as follows in order of production:

Bandai 1:350 Millenium Falcon

Bandai 1:72 TIE Fighter

Bandai 1:144 TIE Fighter Adv X-1 & TIE Fighter

(WIP) Bandai 1:14500 Imperial Star Destroyer

(Stash) MPC 1:54 AT-ST

There’s a considerable bias here for Imperial craft, but the wife likes a little peace, justice and security in her Empire I wouldn’t mind a more even spread, but all of the Star Wars kits to date have been gifts

I grew up on the Star Wars: TIE Fighter PC game, so am inclined to think the Imperial kit is objectively cooler (especially the capital ships with dem angles ) even if most of their fighters are left a little vulnerable without shields. I don’t believe there are licensed kits out for TIE Defender or the Assault Gunboat yet, but I really hope Glup Shitto’s ship makes it into production

[RealG]

I was an avid Star Wars modeler, and built most of the vehicle kits from the OT. I think the only kits I didn’t have were the Hoth, Dagogah, and Jabba’s Throne room diorama kits. Oh, and the small Y-Wing, big Death Star, and the infamous “breathing” Darth Vader head. And the kits of DV and the droids. OK I guess my collection was NOT all that extensive!

For the OT kits, I liked the big X-Wing, Slave I, the AT-AT, and the Speeder Bike best.

My least liked kit has to be the Star Destroyer. It had wonky proportions and just plain lazy surface details. The Death Star kit was meh, and the DV breathing head was a terrible idea from the get-go.

All that was a long time ago in a childhood far, far away. The kits were given away, blown up, or just thrown away.

The new Bandai kits are all fabulous in comparison, and I have collected quite a few of the vehicles, but again no DV or droids. The big Millennium Falcon looks awesome but I already have the older Fine Molds kit.

I only finished the mini kits of the Star Destroyer and Blockade Runner so far. They did go together well and were a lot of fun to build.

As far as kits I’d like to see Bandai put out, it would be awesome if they did a 1/72 TIE Bomber, 1/72 Bespin Cloud Car, a 1/144 Sandcrawler, and a 1/12 Imperial Probe Droid.

As far as Light Side / Dark Side, this is the one genre that I have no bias. I find them all to be cool looking, Rebel and Imperial!

[WhatIfRebel]

Some models I’d love to see produced by BANDAI (if possible) are:

1. Ahsoka’s T-6 Jedi shuttle
2. A larger Rebel blockade Runner ship at least anywhere between 12-18" inches long.
3. A 1/72 or 1/48 scale Rebel Hoth tower gun turrets that you saw in the snowfields defending the Rebel base. Also add in a bunch of Rebel soldier figures for it too. Might be neat to build something like that for a diorama.
4. Maybe an 18" inch long kit of a Rebel transport and/or a Mon Calamari cruiser.

[NucMedTech]

Ooh weee! Those are some good questions

1. I have built something from every major model company(MPC, AMT, Revell, Finemolds and Bandai), some of the smaller companies (Screaming and JPG) and models I have printed. I will save images for the collection part.

2. Currently I am working on the Bandai 1/72 Falcon.
   

   

3. Yes I have a large collection, but not just models, I also collect Black Series figures, lightsabers and helmets; a good collection of Star Wars Legos, some older Kotobukiya figures and a budding Hot Toys collection. We have turned my upstairs game room into the Star Wars room. Let me see what pics I have on my phone:
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. They are all my favorite and I have as yet found one that I do not like.

5. There is so much that could still be done, however; I fear that there are few companies that will bring them to life. One of the reasons that I got a 3D printer.

6. Yes lol

[Ranger_Chris61]

Well if we are discussing kits we would like to see then the ones I think should be near the top are the TIE variants, (Bomber, Advanced, Defender, Phantom, etc.) We have, to the best of my knowledge, never gotten production kits of these in any scale from any manufacturer.

[MR_TOM_SCHRY]

I also have that Rebel Base diorama kit along with the AMT diorama kit of Luke and Yoda on Dagobah. I also have a selection of the new Bandai kits too. I’ve built the AMT Snow Speeder and several of the Bandai figure kits. The Badai Staw Wars kits are great as “slump busters”

[WhatIfRebel]

Today is Revenge of the 5th! Let’s talk Empire model kits.

I don’t remember, but was there ever a Emperor Death Star Throne Room diorama set?
Another neat diorama set that could be produced might be a Death Star docking bay diorama model kit.

[Aggieman]

From 1977 to 1984, I built the X-Wing, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, C-3P0, R2-D2, Darth Vader, Millennium Falcon with lights, Snowspeeder, AT-AT, Star Destroyer, Slave One, Speeder Bike with Scout, smaller scale X-Wing, TIE Interceptor, A-Wing, and B-Wing. I’m pretty sure there was some goofy Luke Skywalker van that I never built. Might have been a similar kit but with Darth Vader. Never built the small scale Y-Wing or the Scout Walker. All of these were MPC kits. Never built any of the diorama kits from Empire or Jedi.

In the mid 1990s when I returned to the hobby, there was a Star Destroyer kit released by AMT (I think) that came with fiber optic lighting. I never did get that thing finished, and then it didn’t survive a move I made after buying my first house. Somewhere around that time I was gifted a vinyl Darth Vader figure and another small scale X-Wing. I still have both although I don’t believe I have any photographs. The X-Wing I built into a Death Star attack diorama (from Jedi, not the original trench run) which featured a bunch of big and small pipes and bulk heads to represent their run through the interior of the Death Star.

In my stash I currently have Fine Molds’ X-Wing, TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, Millennium Falcon, Slave One, Y-Wing (all 1/72) and Snowspeeder (1/48), as well as Bandai’s Star Destroyer (1/5000 with lights), R2-D2 & C-3P0, AT-AT (1/144), AT-ST (1/48), and AMT’s TIE Fighter (1/32).

I’m not currently working on any Star Wars kit, nor do I have any plans to build one soon.

By far the kit that I’d like to see is a Rebel Blockade Runner. Yes, I did build the tiny Bandai kit, but I want one in a bigger scale, big enough to allow for adding lights. I tried to put lights in that Bandai kit, but there just wasn’t enough room to allow for the fiber optics that I wanted to use.

My favorite is probably the old MPC X-Wing (the larger scale, original release in 1977). I had to have built that thing 5 or 6 times. I don’t really have a not favorite kit. I’ve enjoyed building all of them, even the one that I didn’t finish mentioned above.

I’ll build any Star Wars kit, regardless of affiliation.

[MR_TOM_SCHRY]

aggieman, fantastic collection of Star Wars vehicles & figures. I do remember that Luke Skywalker van kit. I think it was by either AMT or MPC.

[PhoenixG]

• What have you built in the past? Show finished model pics if you have them.

ROTJ AT-AT
ROTJ Shuttle Tyderium
Hoth Rebel Base - Only thing that survived was the Millenium Falcon which I repainted upon getting back into the hobby

Battle of Hoth
I think they were the AMT X-Wing & Darth Vader’s Tie
AMT Star Destroyer
Old Millennium Falcon
Bandai 1/144 Darth Vader’s Tie

Bandai 1/144 X-Wing

Bandai 1/144 Y-WIng

Bandai AT-M6

• What STAR WARS models, if any, are you currently working on?
  None

• Do you have a collection of finished or unbuilt STAR WARS models? How big is your collection?
  Bandai Tiny kits: Star Destroyer, Super Star Destroyer, Death Star II, Tantive IV, Millennium Falcon, X-Wings, Y-Wings, Tie Fighters, Snow Speeder + AT-ST, U-Wing, Trench Run
  Bandai: Slave I, X-wing, Y-Wing, Clone Trooper, AT-ST
  MPC B-Wing
  AMT Star Destroyer w/Fiber Optic Lights

• What is your favorite or not favorite STAR WARS models?
  Haven’t found one yet

• What STAR WARS models do you hope get manufactured for release in the future?
  Too busy thinking about all the ones that are now available to consider anything they don’t have yet.

• Do you prefer building Rebel models or Imperial models? (Give in to the Dark Side!)
  No preference I have fun building them all.

[Jared_Finkenbinder]

It would have been even better if Han Solo had a can of Rustoleum or Krylon instead of the Tamiya spray paint.

[Mustang8376]

I’ve built the MRC 1/72 Millennium Falcon and the Jedi Starfighter. I am looking forward to building a couple MPC X-wings, the Republic Cruiser and Bandai’s Y-Wing.

[Cbowling]

Wow! Those are some amazing builds. The lighting that you’ve added is icing on the cake. I feel that spaceships are the hardest things to weather. I’ve tried my hand at it, but didn’t get anywhere near the results that you have.
Congratulations on a killer collection.

[veedubb67]

Been a Star Wars fan since 1977 and have built just about every Star Wars kit available. You’re correct about the Bandai kits - expertly engineered and fun to build! We used to teach a Scit-Fi Modeling School at WonderFest and Star Wars kits were always popular subjects.

Rob
Iwata Padawan

[gomeral]

Rob - I love those models, but the K2 and trench run dioramas are just fantastic!

[fxsti03-42]

Although I love Star Wars, the models have never really intrigued me. Not really sure why. However, after watching Mandalorian last year, I love the Razor Crest. I bought the AMT 1/72 Razor Crest model. It’s on my to do list later. I want to learn how to lighting, etc. before I tackle the Crest.

[veedubb67]

Thanks! The K2S0 build was inspired by a scene in Rogue One. I used insulation foam to sculpt the backdrop, and scratch built the control panel.

Rob
Iwata Padawan

[Cloudboy]

Here’s my X-wing, the small 1:112 scale model by Revell.

In 1976 Los Angeles, a special effects company completes a filming model for “Star Wars episode IV, a new hope” prior to it being shipped to Elstree studios.