Thanks for that because that is an angle of possibility I did not consider and YES you are correct about the 'unfinished' nature of the starboard side of the entire ship. The high res ILM 8-footer reference pics and all the Identities Tour pics I have of the Avenger confirm this fact in spades.
I noted this in my own Zvezda build and simply added my own greeblies that mimic areas of the Port side to fill out the empty and blank areas that exist on the studio model. I understand that this approach was done on the EFX Devastator Star Destroyer that was sold in very limited quantities for $16,000 US. Much of that 3 foot ship was completely blank on the top and starboard side altogether. The details were on the bottom, the hangar bay, the rear engine area, and some on the port side trench. EFX just added a bunch of greeblies that are in concert with what is on the Port side to the blank areas to 'balance' out the model.
Do we think that maybe Bandai would attempt the same thing before possibly releasing this 1/5000 kit into a larger scale? Something along the lines of a PG Falcon? I have doubts about that unless you want to consider that the 1/144 and the Vehicle Model kits of the Falcon were precursors to the release of the 1/72 PG Falcon.
How sad to see.
Do you think someone at Lucasfilm might give one of us a call here at the RPF to come down to Skywalker Ranch to fix it? I would love to come down, have a look at it myself up close, take a zillion pictures and then suggest someone with more skills in restoring old kits to glory receive the commission.
I think it all depends on how well the next star wars film does. Rogue one seemed to be really popular in Japan as was TFA, but the last jedi and Solo seemed to cause the hype and excitement to decrease a lot. Kits from the prequels and last jedi/solo clogged the shelves at hobby shops all over tokyo. Kits from the original trilogy are harder and harder to find. Scout trooper, y wing, x wing, tie advanced, etc are really hard to find in stores around Tokyo. At the same time, last jedi phasma is found ten to 20 deep.
So, I think if Rise of Skywalker does well in the Japanese market both in ticket sales as well as cultural impact, bandai might pull the trigger on some larger kits.
Another thing is that Japanese young people are increasingly losing interest in western media. On top of that, Bandai as a whole is moving toward making more smaller kits and toys. The gundam line has been hit hard by this in the last two years with so many reboxes, small or "cute" kits and fewer ver ka or PG kits. The PG Falcon came out just before the last Jedi and sold well. The 1/2 scale BB-8 is regularly on clearance over here and often gathers dust on shelves.
If I had to make a prediction, I would say we get 1-2 new kits for the next movie and the rest are reboxes or slightly retooled to match the new film. I only see them putting a larger star destroyer out if and only if Japanese excitement returns to the franchise. They already have highly detailed scans of the filming miniature.
I would be shocked if they extrapolated or added their own details. They don't tend to do stuff like that on star wars kits. They seem to want to recreate as much accuracy as they can at the time they make the mold.
I have been visiting Japan for the last 5 years and I have to say, based on my last visit, I wouldn't be shocked if the bandai star wars line is dropped after the next movie. 5 years ago, bandai star wars kits got their own aisle in stores. Now they are lucky to get an endcap if the store carries them at all. The new bandai star destroyer seems to be doing okay. Yodobashi had about 5 lighted kits when I was there and other hobby shops tended to have one or two. They seemed to be moving and not clogging shelves, or at least I hope.
I would never want to try and fix that damage. Matching the colors to 40 years of built up wear and tear would be hard to do. Having said that, I know they have a team of model builders that repair the ships when they get back. A few other models likely got damaged as well since they were in the star wars identities companion book but not on display in Japan. Maybe that or they didn't get sent to Japan for whatever reason.
