Randy Cooper Blockade Runner - to buy or not to buy

[FuseNova]

I'm considering the purchase of a Randy Cooper Blockade Runner and hoping someone can help me decide if this is right for me.

I wouldn't say I'm an advanced modeler but I understand how to trim, fill, and paint. The pictures of the model pieces look fairly clean with a minimum of small intricate parts.

Appreciate any input you have!

 

[propologist]

< just do it......blow the money , let it sit for awhile and then sell it around the holidays if you need to.

you can do it..i have faith in you. If some of these guys can do it , surely you can put paint to kit and do it....come on just do it.....

 

[Shadowknight]

Did you do a search to see if anybody here or on any other boards that you post on built one? If so, you can learn a lot about a kit from a build thread or pm'ing the person building it.

 

[ralphee]

My two penneth, its not a great kit at all, the casting is about average, the fitment of parts, not good at all.
May be better off going for the SSM kit, sure its smaller, but better in all areas, the engine section is also way more accurate.

Lee

 

[moffeaton]

Cough cough!

http://www.therpf.com/f13/1-350th-blockade-runner-97310/

:lol

 

[ralphee]

As if by pure cosmic luck eh J :lol
Seriously, this is the better kit, the larger kit, just not quite up to scratch IMO.

Lee

 

[moffeaton]

Yeah, heh!

 

[hugescale]

There is good and bad with this kit.
The good things:
My kit is an excellent, crisp casting without any warp and only a very small number of bubbles. I am totally happy with it. I have seen a finished model build by Stefan Hacker (Hackore). It looks absolutely awesome. And the size is very impressive too.
So yes, I have an excellent kit, that can be turned into a magnificent built up.
The bad things:
As stated by Lee and by Jason, this kit is not absolutely accurate. It really depends on your desire for accuracy. For me the blockade runner is not one of my favorite designs, so I can live with these inaccuracies.
I have heard, that building the engine section is quite difficult. To allign all 11 engines is a challange.
What worries me most, is the circumstance that people keep telling me that the quality of Randy´s kits is not consistent. I have 4 kits from him and all 4 are excellent. But I have talked to people saying that their kits have many issues.
My conclusion:
When buying this kit, it is a little like gambling. If you receive a kit in the same condition as I have received mine, and if you can tolerate some inaccuracies, you will be happy.

Michael

 

[Stu Pidasso]

I say buy the SSM one. But of course, I'm biased.

 

[Nwerke]

Hugescale is dead on re consistency; for example my RC BR kit has quite a few issues. You can see that parts of the master were lifting or broken when the moulds were taken so silicone has crept under panels and resulted in warped and/or separate surfaces. There are a few places where the mould had torn and a bit of actual torn rubber too, so the next casting must have been worse unless mine was the last pop from that mould. There's a lot of grinding and filing and puttying and fitting required. A few bubbles here and there, nothing major, and some of the engine parts have oval sections instead of circular. The pluses are size and generally good outline/proportions, oh, and I got a discount on this kit.

The negatives don't put me off but it's a builder's model and that does mean a fair bit more work vs. the SSM kit. I have seen a beautiful buildup of it recently and it really can look top notch if you put the work in.

 

[IEDBOUNTYHUNTER]

I bought the Radiant VII about a year ago. when i opened the box, the parts were warped, and the fit was bad. sold it a month later.


Just my 2 Pesos.

 

[Jedi Dade]

I have this kit and my castings are pretty near flawless. Not a bubble or warp to be found.

Is it absolutely dead on perfect accuracy wise... No. To my knowledge none of Rady's kits try to be studio accurate, but do capture the essence of the subject. To me (not an officiando of the BR) its a great model, of course I did nto have the fit and warpage issues others seem to have had. This kit of all the RC kits seems to be the toughest to build due to how the engine assemblies were parted. lining all those engines up perfectly is a PITA, but doable with time and patience.

My review is that its a very good kit, but not perfect. Nobody except us nuts here on these boards could tell that its not 100% accurate studio detail wise. It looks like the BR, and is VERY good size at almost 2.5 feet.

The SSM kit is smaller, but more attention to the finer details of the studio model were stuck to... In a smaller scale. It does build into a spectacular ship though no doubt. As does the cooper kit.

In truth I don't think that you can't go wrong with either of them.

Jedi Dade

 

[FuseNova]

Thanks for all the input!

In the end, I think I'm going to hold off on this mainly due to the reviews here. The SSM model looks nice but its just too small because I need a model in the 24"-30" range to fill a display space. I may give the 1/350 NX-01 a shot along with a lighting kit. I won't feel too bad if I frak it up.

 

[weatherbeaten]

I'm considering the purchase of a Randy Cooper Blockade Runner and hoping someone can help me decide if this is right for me.

I wouldn't say I'm an advanced modeler but I understand how to trim, fill, and paint. The pictures of the model pieces look fairly clean with a minimum of small intricate parts.

Appreciate any input you have!

I built mine from Scratch. I've seen photos of the Randy Cooper model and it looks great! Go For it man!:thumbsup

 

[Muzza]

I have resently seen this kit built up and displayed at our local Model Expo and it looks great. The modeler even added lights to the engins an the cockpit and had the radar dish revolving. And it looked fantastic. He did mention that the engin alignment was a little difficult but when finished it is a very impressive kit.

 

[Muzza]

Buy it..... Buy it now!!!!!

 

[eimb1999]

I'm building two of Cooper's kits right now for a customer who provided the kits. The big Star Destroyer and the Blockade Runner. As many of you know here I'm an experienced builder. Both kits are utter crap when you consider what they cost. I'll post some pix to prove it....


http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/2.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/3.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/4.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/6.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/7.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/8.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/10.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/11.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/12.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/13.jpg
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/DSCN8199.JPG
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/DSCN8200.JPG
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/DSCN8202.JPG
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/DSCN8203.JPG

And there are a lot more flaws which are difficult to photograph to get the idea. Parts misalignment is terrible. It's clear the molds on this kit were way overworked and could not have been backed up with a matrix (hard shell) to keep them from distorting or stretching on the large slab parts that make up the Star Destroyer's hull. The models are practically unbuildable.

The mastering of the parts is very good and Randy should be commended on his excellent skill in making the original parts, but the castings are absolutely wretched. No way those should have escaped "quality control".

For the Star Destroyer I am building a full armature similar to the one the FX guys used to build the original 3 footer in ANH.

Here it is as I begin construction. More stuff to add for strength yet.

http://www.smallartworks.ca/Crap/Armature.jpg

I might be able to force some of the warps out of it by doing so. The resin 3 piece armature that came with the kit just isn't robust enough.

 

[IEDBOUNTYHUNTER]

Oh man. i stopped looking after 4 pics. I would of sent that back. thats total Crap. I cant believe that even got shipped. No Quality control what so ever. Just throw into a box and give me money. I know hes the only deal in Town for some models but at what price.

good luck fixing that. might be easier to just scratch those parts. but then again its almost the whole model.

 

[Talkierg]

Ive purchased Cooper's ISD kit long time ago,seriously poor service,bad casting.
Its good to ask before you decide to purchase:thumbsup

 

[eimb1999]

Uh yeah. All the major parts have major flaws. Pure junk. I will just have to make the thing work somehow. Customer has been told and knows the situation. I will make the model work I think, just a lot of extra work. I won't be recommending any of his kits to anyone that's for sure. The amount of extra work too means that it'll take so long to "fix" that I won't make much money on this, yet another under quoted job. Sheesh.