The only problem is, sorry to beat a dead horse, but we are back to box scale. Using Round2's 1/32 kit, the existing TIE and TIE interceptor are 1/72. Compared to Bandai's 1/72, they come out to about 1/60.
Round2 Acquires Star Wars License
- Thread starter edge10
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Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
That's why I think they should just ditch the idea of an accurate scale and make the bomber a "studio scale" kit using the original X-1 kit's dimensions as the starting point. I know "box scale" is a heresy among modelers -- and I agree that when possible to at least attempt to achieve some kind of standard scale -- but scale in Star Wars (and most fictional spaceships) is a moving target. I value accuracy and proportional correctness over scale any day of the week. I don't care that my Bandai PG Falcon is 1/72, but I DO care that the proportions and details are finally correct to the 5' studio model. A "studio scale" bomber would be a nice sized kit that is large enough to get great detail but small enough that it isn't going to be (I hope) over $100.
TazMan2000
Master Member
I get what you're saying, but those molds are old and making a copy of those wings, will result in a sloppy recreation. In addition the interior of the wings would have to be altered in addition to having to make extensions. At this point, it would be better to start from scratch, in my opinion.
TazMan2000
Analyzer
Master Member
Excited for the Tie Bomber, and congrats on being the first styrene commercial kit of one!
Also looking forward to the 1/12 landspeeder and really just about anything else they bring out that is a new tool (the repops do not really interest me apart from maybe the Vader Tie, the AT-AT, N-1 and the Pod Racer)
regardless of what scale it winds up being, I hope the Tie Bomber has the same cockpit windscreen size as either the larger or smaller Tie Fighters
The cockpit windscreen seems to be the "standard candle" of the original trilogy Tie Fighters (i.e. they are always the same size/diameter)
So as long as that matches either the larger "1/32" tie or the smaller "1/51" tie then doesn't really matter what it officially scales out too as it will at least be sized appropriately to one of those two
Also looking forward to the 1/12 landspeeder and really just about anything else they bring out that is a new tool (the repops do not really interest me apart from maybe the Vader Tie, the AT-AT, N-1 and the Pod Racer)
regardless of what scale it winds up being, I hope the Tie Bomber has the same cockpit windscreen size as either the larger or smaller Tie Fighters
The cockpit windscreen seems to be the "standard candle" of the original trilogy Tie Fighters (i.e. they are always the same size/diameter)
So as long as that matches either the larger "1/32" tie or the smaller "1/51" tie then doesn't really matter what it officially scales out too as it will at least be sized appropriately to one of those two
modelerdave
Sr Member
I know this is a Star Wars thread, but is the Enterprise-D show in the Round 2 segment in the video above a new kit?
curiouslysophie
Well-Known Member
Apparently it's a reissue of the 1/1400 kit, either in clear again or possible the translucent white they did the Voyager in. I'm quite excited for it as it's my favourite Star Trek ship and the clear kits go for silly money on ebay!
modelerdave
Sr Member
It looked like a smooth hull without the Aztecs scribed into it. At least I hope it has a smooth hull and nacelles.
curiouslysophie
Well-Known Member
That would be great!
I'm definitely getting this one. They are also reissuing the aztec decals too.
star-art
Sr Member
RE: Star Wars kits, the issue of scale is a bit confusing. According to my calculations, the old MPC DV Tie is roughly 1/2 studio-scale. If you assume SS = 1/24 (as the current data from LFL suggests) that would make it roughly 1/48. But, the "establishment" opinion is that it's something like 1/36.
I can only go by what I know. The scale of the new TIE kit is 3/4 studio-scale and that means it was assumed this was 3/4 of 1/24 or 1/32. So, if they ask me I will recommend they release a TIE Bomber kit at the same size as the old MPC DV kit and label it as 1/48 scale. That will also make it studio scale, so it seems like it would be a win-win all around.
I can only go by what I know. The scale of the new TIE kit is 3/4 studio-scale and that means it was assumed this was 3/4 of 1/24 or 1/32. So, if they ask me I will recommend they release a TIE Bomber kit at the same size as the old MPC DV kit and label it as 1/48 scale. That will also make it studio scale, so it seems like it would be a win-win all around.
Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
^ works for me!
I gotta say, I love the speculation/debate following a new kit announcement. Especially if the kit is still early in its development where perhaps the discussion could help improve (we all hope) the final kit. Given R2's improved track record of getting donor kit parts right on their 1999 and Trek kits like the K'tinga, I'm very excited for a bomber with accurate details, regardless of scale.
I gotta say, I love the speculation/debate following a new kit announcement. Especially if the kit is still early in its development where perhaps the discussion could help improve (we all hope) the final kit. Given R2's improved track record of getting donor kit parts right on their 1999 and Trek kits like the K'tinga, I'm very excited for a bomber with accurate details, regardless of scale.
TazMan2000
Master Member
I knew R2 was mulling over whether to release the TIE in 1/24, which would have been great in my opinion, but probably a very poor decision business-wise, as it would have been prohibitively expensive for molds, and despite quite a few of us here would actually spend the money on it, it wouldn't have been a great seller in the stores, mostly because of it's size and the room that people have.
So a "reasonable" scale of 1/32 was decided upon. But, when you open up that can of worms, don't you set a precedent that you "should" create the adversary model in that scale as well, or perhaps an entire line of that scale?
TazMan2000
So a "reasonable" scale of 1/32 was decided upon. But, when you open up that can of worms, don't you set a precedent that you "should" create the adversary model in that scale as well, or perhaps an entire line of that scale?
TazMan2000
The current official TIE sizes are keyed to the cockpit set, built to Joe Johnston's drawings. The scale of the filming model was always fudgeable, due to the practical considerations of model-building. The pilot figure used wasn't even painted, let alone detailed to look like the Imperial pilots' costumes. It wasn't meant to be seen clearly, just imply there was someone in there if glimpsed. Just as with the A-Wing. Bandai's kit is 1:72. It's only 1:48 if one goes by the oversized pilot ILM modelers stuck in one of the filming models that they intended to be able to animate for head movement, but never used that feature. If that pilot were accurately scaled, he could have no lower body. It would be hanging out in space, due to the ship's ventral recess.The only problem is, sorry to beat a dead horse, but we are back to box scale. Using Round2's 1/32 kit, the existing TIE and TIE interceptor are 1/72. Compared to Bandai's 1/72, they come out to about 1/60.
The cockpit window seems to be the key metric. All three OT cockpit balls are the same size relative to it, give or take error margins. The Bomber's tube hull seems to be a bit larger relative to the viewport, but, given it's not a ball, I don't expect them to adhere to a differently-shaped component's dimensions. Between that and the alterations to the MPC x1 wings (which weren't accurately proportional to the rest of Vader's fighter, anyway), I'd stick with the viewport being the main scaling referent, moreso than wings or hulls.
That makes Bandai's Interceptor problematic, as the viewport is a teensy bit smaller than their Fighter's -- by less than a millimeter, but still. Close enough, I'd say, to be 1:72ish. I don't know what you mean about the "existing TIE and TIE Interceptor". If you mean the 1:48 AMT TIE Fighter than was released in the '90s, it's a skosh smaller than the scale listed on the box. Analyzer was correct in the 1:51 he cited. And the MPC snap TIE Interceptor is the one that's more like 1:60, but none of those snap kits deliberately hewed to a scale. The fact that the B-Wing was accidentally 1:144 was pure serendipity (what I mean is, they probably realized fitting it in the box made it about that scale, so they just made it that scale). Neither claimed to be 1:72, and their sizes relative to the new 1:32 kit seem appropriate for all the scales being discussed...
Good lord, those raised panel lines... It would have been one thing if they were scribed. Easier, I feel, to fill and sand smooth than file those stupid things off. Especially because the injection dies were mis-machined -- I got eight kits from their original run, to make Nebulas and the BoBW kitbashes, and every one had the aztecing on the top and bottom saucer pieces offset about a sixteenth of an inch to one side.Unfortunately, Jamie made it clear (pun noted), that no changes were made to the molds. Still the same raised aztecing detail.
And all scales are still missing the recessed window bay just forward of the Captain's yacht, inside the lower sensor array ring.
My point is simple: If the new TIE is 1/32 at 13.5 inches tall, the old TIEs, at 6 inches tall, are 1/72. Simple math.
You can't have it both ways.
Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
The issue of scale in sci-fi modeling should be universally understood as irrelevant -- because it is. Fictional vehicles are fictional. They are as big or small as whatever the scene requires for dramatic purposes in that moment. The interiors are almost never the same scale as the exteriors. Live action sets are scaled using the constraints of studio space and lighting requirements and actor comfort. Filmmakers "cheat" angles and details. There is rarely continuity between shots, let alone between films or episodes shot days or even decades apart. We're not military modelers. Sure, it's convenient when ships are close in apparent scale if someone is making a diorama, but otherwise it's trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Sci-fi ships are in sci-fi scale.
