See, for me, the Bandai kits are still just an ever-nicer foundation to work from. I still get the Green Strawberry PE sets (not all elements of which I use), I painstakingly and with much cussing recreate those details neither of those adequately capture, and there's no end of more-obscure subjects that haven't been tackled yet (if they ever will). I've got the conversion kit and have nearly finished turning one of my Bandai TIEs into the droid fighter. I found a lovely second life for my FM TIE Interceptor (unfinished as I worked on superdetailing the cockpit) wings and wing panels, drastically re-cut, and with scratch-built mounts, as the winglets on the Royal Guard TIE Interceptor from Galaxies. I took the cockpit cone, corridor, back wall, floor, and pilots' seats from my cutaway
Falcon and the unused clear-plastic viewport from that droid fighter conversion and they're (with alterations already underway) forming the basis for my TIE Sentinel build (aka the non-cloaked base for the Phantom project).
I kinda feel like, because I have to spend less time fighting to get things to just
fit, correcting soft/wrong/inadequate detail
everywhere, etc., I can spend that time and effort, rather than getting a travesty up to acceptable, getting something that's actually decent stock up to gorgeous. And I agree with the sentiments a page back: I still have all my old Star Wars toys, going back to my 1978 Kenner action figures (alas, only fifteen of the original twenty, plus the very-
non-rocket-firing Boba Fett I mailed away for), and I still collect the Republic/Imperial forces, Mandalorians, and astromechs.
...But all that's largely just an exercise in nostalgia. Up until recently, the only Star Wars models I had were the old MPC
Falcon and X-Wing, the Snowspeeder,
Slave I, and the ROTJ snap-kits of the TIE Interceptor, X-Wing, A-Wing, and B-Wing (was never able to find the Y-Wing locally). I've been drastically inspired by
jake88's build of that
Slave I and have busted ageing glue joints to have a newer go at it. The Snowspeeder got re-purposed as a Space Marine hover-tank back in the First Edition of 40K. And all the others ended up getting cannibalized for parts -- I was just never satisfied with them as their subject matter, past the initial rush when you open the box. FineMolds' offerings were nice, but after getting the TIE Interceptor, I couldn't shake the feeling that there were...
issues. Others have since enumerated them, so I don't need to here. But Bandai, now... I'm excited and inspired in ways I haven't been with any Star Wars kits prior.
It's funny. On the one hand, I'm seeing everyone posting their wish lists, and I'm like, "Guys -- they
just released that 1:72 B-Wing you/we have been clamoring for... A little gratitude? Impatient much?" But at the same time, I recognize the excitement of having truly quality kits to work with for largely the first time ever (barring some high-end and seriously $$$ offerings), and it's like a dam has broken -- yes, this is awesome, now we want more.