Imperial Star Destroyer. 1/5000 Bandai or 1/2700 Revell????

[Dmitriy311]

review of Bandai&Zvezda(Revell) - I did this review when I purchased an ISD Bandai. I'm of the same opinion as Invar.

 

[Moska]

Well, my decision has already been made and the Revell kit is on the way to my house.
I'm concerned with the issue of side trenches and their low height. It's a detail that I can't ignore and I don't know how long it will take me to solve that matter. But it's not something that should concern me at the moment, for now I have other projects underway and I don't know when I will undertake the work with the Star Destroyer. That may depend on how far I can be seduced by the kit parts.

Regards.
Rafa

 

[Jedi Dade]

The low trench height is one of the differences between the star destroyer from the beginning of ANH and the Avenger star destroyer at the beginning of TESB. Its one of the reasons I decided to build the Zvesda/Revell kit as the ANH SD.... and I'm quite happy with it

Jedi Dade

 

[INVAR]

I'm concerned with the issue of side trenches and their low height. It's a detail that I can't ignore and I don't know how long it will take me to solve that matter.

I added 2.5mm styrene strips to add extra height to the trenches to match the ILM ESB Avenger and not the Rogue One digital element that Zvezda used for their proportions.



Of course I had to strip away the inner wall and shave or cut out the ridge so that I would not have to attempt drilling .30 holes through two layers of hard plastic for the fiber optics for lighting.



Then I had to go and fill the space with custom cut greeblies, most of which I approximated from high resolution pics of the 8 foot ILM Avenger model. Approximate because the Zvezda is not accurate to the filming model and there is no way to do some of the details without say - 3d modeling and redoing the entire trench from scratch. I wanted to just use the model as a foundation and add details of my own on top of it.



Which gave me the look I wanted in terms of trench height - which to me, was the most grievous issue with the Zvezda/Revell kit. But if you like custom greebling like I do - it was a tedious but rewarding experience.

 

[Guns Akimbo]

Get both.

 

[Jedi Dade]

Yep - that's a Star Destroyer

I think you've hit the right amount of greeblies too... any more it wold be too much.

Jedi Dade

 

[StevenBills]

Has anybody tried downloading one of those accurate SD STLs and scaling it to 2' (or however long the Zvezda is), and then just printing the trench pieces with holes already in them for FO? That way you'd save a TON of scratch-building work...

SB

 

[Moska]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to light up the SD with the same system that is usually used for Star Trek models; Filling its interior with LED strips and putting only small bits of fiber optics in the windows.
I have not yet received my model so I cannot analyze its parts in depth. And I don't know the complications that I could find to use this system.
The traditional lighting system with large bundles of fiber optics strikes me as a bit cumbersome.
What is your opinion?

 

[Haui]

Has anybody tried downloading one of those accurate SD STLs and scaling it to 2' (or however long the Zvezda is), and then just printing the trench pieces with holes already in them for FO? That way you'd save a TON of scratch-building work...

SB

Which files

 

[INVAR]

I have not yet received my model so I cannot analyze its parts in depth. And I don't know the complications that I could find to use this system.
The traditional lighting system with large bundles of fiber optics strikes me as a bit cumbersome.
What is your opinion?

I have seen some SDs lit by LED strips.

Go with fiber optics, not the LED strips. Having lit the Bandai 1/5000 using the LED method, I am totally unimpressed with that technique. I had to go back and fill all the holes with white glue to limit the burn-out you get with open holes, and still the effect is not what I was hoping it would be on the Bandai. I thought the LED method would work better on the smaller scale, but it just does not look right. It comes off looking more as a toy and less like a representation of the ILM filming model.

Given the Zvezda is much larger in scale, there is PLENTY of room inside for the mass of fiber and other internal lighting components. In fact, my SDII is internally powered, and it holds the AA battery pack and the infra-red sensor system inside with room to spare.

Yes, it is tedious to drill holes and thread fiber. However, if you are wanting to equate the look seen on-screen, fiber is the best way to achieve that.

 

[SwedishChef]

Here’s what I did the the Revell kit with the ridiculous landing gear. Added a lot of detail and layers of painted weathering, and it didn’t take months or years to make it look half-way decent. Not too big or too small IMHO, and I finally have a good Star Destroyer added to my Star Wars collection!

 

[Millenniumf]

I would love to know how you get the right trench height while also dealing with the engine cavity. Raising the height is no problem, clearly. But if you do that, the engine cavity will be too short.

 

[INVAR]

I would love to know how you get the right trench height while also dealing with the engine cavity. Raising the height is no problem, clearly. But if you do that, the engine cavity will be too short.

 

[Millenniumf]

That doesn't really answer my question as the primer has covered up any mods you've done to it and I don't really know what process you used to get it to match the trench height.

 

[Madhatter]

You can see white styrene on the lower edge of the engine plate on the bottom picture. He has raised the height by adding styrene. Also to the top edge as well looking at it

 

[INVAR]

That doesn't really answer my question as the primer has covered up any mods you've done to it and I don't really know what process you used to get it to match the trench height.

As I noted in my build thread, the 1.5mm height I added to the trench via square styrene rod had to be carried through to the engine bay. I initially thought about evenly splitting the 1.5 mm to .075mm square rods top and bottom of the engine block to flush with the top and bottom hulls - however I could not obtain square rods at that height so I simply added the 1.5 mm rod to the bottom engine block and flushed it with the bottom hull and added .010 rod bits in struts to connect the flaps to the bottom of the engine block. It is why the primed photo looks seamless in appearance. It's an illusion. The bottom build pic shows you the 1.5 mm rod at the bottom of the engine block glued to the hull bottom. The top of the engine block sits flush with the top hull per the original build instructions.

 

[Millenniumf]

Ah, okay. I don't think I'd want to do that because the asymmetry would bother me. I'd want to add it to the center of the engine bay, so I'm going to have to experiment with cutting the cavity in half and trying to add in the vertical height that way.

 

[INVAR]

Ah, okay. I don't think I'd want to do that because the asymmetry would bother me. I'd want to add it to the center of the engine bay, so I'm going to have to experiment with cutting the cavity in half and trying to add in the vertical height that way.

If you can find and acquire .075 mm square rods, you can split the difference in the 1.5mm height of the trench lift for the top and bottom of the engine block for a more uniform and less noticeable alteration. There were none available in my area or online when I was working on that part of the build and so I opted to just add the 1.5mm strip to the bottom of the hull and block.

 

[Millenniumf]

Well, I also don't want the lip of the cavity to be that pronounced. I think cutting it in half would work the best for me, after thinking about it. I appreciate the help, though.

 

[jdalianis]

I bought the Zvezda kit when it first came out from an online dealer in Russia for $75. I added some stuff from Shapeways and I have been procrastinating since then because I'm afraid I will screw up lighting it