INVAR
Sr Member
Ever since July 4, 1977 when I saw that massive ship sail over my head at an old Cinemascope theater in Chicago - I was hooked on the franchise and that capital ship has been my favorite in the entire saga. I bought the old AMT kit when it came out in 1982 and built two of them. Then another one during the dark years in 1995 and then again when they included 'fiber-optics' in the kit. I never finished that one due to my frustration with the proportions and dimensions of the hull. Sadly I never had the funds or talent to get or build one of the Aningrand or Cooper resin kits, so I have been waiting patiently for some genius to do one in the medium of Styrene that I have a modicum of experience working with.
Since it is become evident we have a wait before Bandai's Star Destroyer offering (glimpsed in one of their promo videos) becomes available for sale in Japan,
I went ahead and ordered the Revell snap kit toy that was not released on Force Friday, and it arrived over the weekend.
I was ready to settle on the fact that the Disney Die Cast SDII was going to be the best retail representation we were going to get until that Bandai video was released and all of us have been chomping at the bit for them to announce a release date. To tide me over until then, this kit will have to do - and I am very impressed with it upon opening.
It was a very fast build, (30 minutes if that) since this 'toy' is indeed targeted to kids, but I have to say…. WOW. WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT over the old AMT kit! I have built 4 of those over the last 3.5 decades and it always grated on my nerves that the proportions, angles and details were non-existent in that kit. THIS toy actually gets the proportions correct and the details are far better than the old AMT kit. I do dig the rotating turrets along the superstructure.
This kit is a great base for upgrading and polishing it into a finer model. I actually am going to attempt to light this one later I think. There are pretty good size areas to lay LEDs and fiber optic cable. The build creates almost box-like compartments that may actually help in deciding where bundles or batteries will go.
Here are shots of the raw build straight out of the box. I got close as I could so you can see the raw details and it is not too bad. Anyone that is on a budget that has talent to 'fix' the landing gear areas and where the electronic lights and sound module goes will undoubtedly have a fantastic and superior model of my favorite ship in Sci-FI.
Since it is become evident we have a wait before Bandai's Star Destroyer offering (glimpsed in one of their promo videos) becomes available for sale in Japan,
I went ahead and ordered the Revell snap kit toy that was not released on Force Friday, and it arrived over the weekend.
I was ready to settle on the fact that the Disney Die Cast SDII was going to be the best retail representation we were going to get until that Bandai video was released and all of us have been chomping at the bit for them to announce a release date. To tide me over until then, this kit will have to do - and I am very impressed with it upon opening.
It was a very fast build, (30 minutes if that) since this 'toy' is indeed targeted to kids, but I have to say…. WOW. WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT over the old AMT kit! I have built 4 of those over the last 3.5 decades and it always grated on my nerves that the proportions, angles and details were non-existent in that kit. THIS toy actually gets the proportions correct and the details are far better than the old AMT kit. I do dig the rotating turrets along the superstructure.
This kit is a great base for upgrading and polishing it into a finer model. I actually am going to attempt to light this one later I think. There are pretty good size areas to lay LEDs and fiber optic cable. The build creates almost box-like compartments that may actually help in deciding where bundles or batteries will go.
Here are shots of the raw build straight out of the box. I got close as I could so you can see the raw details and it is not too bad. Anyone that is on a budget that has talent to 'fix' the landing gear areas and where the electronic lights and sound module goes will undoubtedly have a fantastic and superior model of my favorite ship in Sci-FI.
