I'm new to Star Wars modelling and I'm looking to buy some kits.
Should i go for Bandai or Finemolds?
I've read some recent posts said that Finemolds are better, but how much are they better than Bandai?
Since they are much more expensive so i just want to make sure whether it's really worth to pay the extra.
Depends what you want to build, doesn't it?
Fine Molds no longer has a licence to sell Star Wars models. But three (I think) of their kits have been rebranded and resold as Revell's "master series."
So there's not a ton of overlap there. But I think the general consensus has been that Bandai's products are far superior to Fine Molds' were, on the whole.
If you're new to SW modeling, keep this in mind. When FM started making SW stuff, we finally had models that were about as good as models could be, in detail, quality, fit, and accuracy (there were, though, accuracy issues, mostly minor, but some puzzling). In this way, I would say that FM stuff was "far superior" to almost anything. However, they moved rather slow, producing something like 10 subjects in 10 years or so. It was so slow that there were often rumors that they were not going to make any more. Bandai has moved at a much faster pace, and maybe had 10 subjects in the first year. Bandai seems to have corrected some of the accuracy issues, and in this way they are seen as superior. However, most of the accuracy issues of FM kits are so minor most people would not notice them, especially if they weren't using references with very specific angles and measurements. (That's my take.) This is why I say that Bandia's stuff is mostly an improvement over FM, but not "far superior". FM stuff was already just that good. There wasn't enough room left to make something "far superior"--at least for most subjects. I have lots of Bandai and FM stuff in the stash, and I haven't seen any reason yet to get rid of the FM stuff. And since a lot of modelers have a favorite, they might have stronger opinions about certain ships.
Last I checked, it was still somewhat easy to get FM SW stuff, at least most kits at decent prices. If I started seeing FM kits selling regularly for "collector" prices, I would indeed start offloading some stuff to replace with Bandai, but I'm not selling a 72nd FM X for $25 to buy a Bandai 72nd X for $25. Too much hassle and not worth it. So that should show you whether I find Bandai far superior. I would recommend when you go looking, buy either and you'll be happy--probably (I don't really know your tastes).
One issue that some have with Bandai is that they are seen as "over-engineered" because of the parts breakdown. Consider the 72nd scale X-wing. The red stripes along the fuselage are separate pieces molded in red. And because different versions in ANH had different striping variations, there are several separate pieces for many of these options. Most of us would be just fine if the whole upper fuselage was one piece molded in whitish or light gray. And Bandai doesn't have red plastic for the wing stripes so you're still dealing with decals or painting stripes--and finding paint to match the other red plastic if you don't paint over it. If you ask me, I think Bandai did a very good job of producing this so that the separate pieces really do fit very well. I would prefer they didn't have all these separate pieces, but at least I'm satisfied with the way they fit together.
As was said, it has a lot to do with what you want to build and what you can find at what price. If FM stuff reaches collector prices, there's probably no reason to go for that. I haven't tracked what the Revell Master Series (reboxed FM stuff) is going for, either. By the way, there may be stuff from the other manufacturers to consider. Someone's got a nice TIE fighter (Revell?) but I could never find one when I looked. And I may get run out of the room for saying this, but I really like the original MPC/AMT Snowspeeder.
Mike Todd
