Best beginner studio scale Star Wars model?

Turdbol

New Member
Hello! I have never done a studio scale model, but would like to try one. I don't have a lot of experience in modeling so I think I would look for a kit that is simple to put together, budget friendly, and has a large network of builders so that when I have questions, I can find plenty of documentation. Does any kit like this exist? Or should I just start with a Salzo V4?
 
The Salzo V4 happens to be one of your best bets to "cut your teeth" in Studio Scale! Just beware recasts on eBay - always best to buy directly from the source.


Any of the X-Wings made over the years will be a nice into to the hobby, be it Captain Cardboard, Salzo, the one that came out of Chile... but the V4 will be "closest" to the hero ships you saw on screen, so why not go for that one.
 
I concur with Jason about the X-wing. A captain cardboard was my first entry into the world of studio scale.

As for Mikes V4 I doubt you can get one of those but you might get lucky.

Korbanth sells a kit on the project runs here on the RPF that people have been very happy with.
 
I received BB-8 castings from Korbanth and sent them back - they were warped, "primed" (with fish eyes) and the masters were from un-cleaned up mid-grade FDM 3D prints.

Ask for CLEAR pics before you buy. He was nice about returning my money but then unfriended me on Facebook, lol.

Stick with an X-Wing from Salzo.
 
I received BB-8 castings from Korbanth and sent them back - they were warped, "primed" (with fish eyes) and the masters were from un-cleaned up mid-grade FDM 3D prints.

Ask for CLEAR pics before you buy. He was nice about returning my money but then unfriended me on Facebook, lol.

Stick with an X-Wing from Salzo.

wow!, he unfriended you lol , did you cry in your cheerio's :lol

there are allot of molders and casters out there, and a few of them are good, mike is really good!!
 
With what "adversaries" have pulled on me over the years, I was like "huh" and moved on.
It took me YEARS to ignore the diva behavior in this hobby.
I like to think: just keep your nose down and be honest :)
 
I received BB-8 castings from Korbanth and sent them back - they were warped, "primed" (with fish eyes) and the masters were from un-cleaned up mid-grade FDM 3D prints.

Ask for CLEAR pics before you buy. He was nice about returning my money but then unfriended me on Facebook, lol.

Stick with an X-Wing from Salzo.

He has pics and Nils received 2 kits and said they were great. I only mentioned this one as I don't think Mike is doing any X-wings for a while as he has not been on his sale thread sense 2016 and I sent emails many months ago and never received anything.

We all know he is extremely busy and I feel lucky to have received many kits in the past.
 
The recommendations for a beginner studio scale SW kit are very good ones, but I will also add a slight wrinkle to the mix. If you aren't particular about going just Star Wars, or want to perhaps try cutting your teeth on something more mainstream before diving into resin, a Moebius models classic Cylon Raider is a good dip into the studio scale pool. It is a studio scale styrene kit, so it gives you a chance to experience studio scale without going full bore into resin just yet. Plus you can practice with painting, weathering and lighting techniques on it. Sure, it is Galactica rather than Star Wars, but many of the same builders did both as Apogee and ILM were running out of the same shop in Van Nuys until Lucas took ILM north.

Second recommendation is if you haven't done a resin kit before, it isn't a bad idea to build a couple smaller resin kits first to get experience with the unique features of resin while not running the risk of potentially wrecking an expensive studio scale kit in the process. Granted the Salzo stuff is of excellent quality, but there are so many other kits out there that are not and it is always a good idea to build one's experience level whenever possible.

Anyway, just food for thought.
 
I also second the Moebius Classic Cylon. Its an easy build as its factory made and relativity cheap ($50?) When finished its a fine display piece.
 
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Id probably say a non koolshade tie fighter. A couple wings, a ball and some hatches. Most simple of builds. Problem is finding one, that seems to be the problem with all good studio scale kits right now.
 
What it really comes down to is what do YOU want to build? What model would keep you excited through the invariably tricky parts. A lot of us have partially finished models just sitting on the shelf because we ran out of motivation. All of the suggestions have been good ones. Go for it! You'll get lots of support here no matter what you build or what your skill level.
 
If you guys want, I can snap some pics. I am very happy with my two kits.

He has pics and Nils received 2 kits and said they were great. I only mentioned this one as I don't think Mike is doing any X-wings for a while as he has not been on his sale thread sense 2016 and I sent emails many months ago and never received anything.

We all know he is extremely busy and I feel lucky to have received many kits in the past.
 
Cool, please do! This is what I got, and returned for a full refund (which was mighty nice of him)

But if this had been my first experience with a resin garage kit I would have been discouraged.

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I'm going to go against the grain a bit here and recommend not going studio scale yet. I'd say put a couple Bandai's together and practice your painting and weathering skills. Any of the Bandai's are awesome kits, with amazing detail and very easy to put together. If you can paint a Bandai and make it look amazing at it's small scale then you'll have no issues painting a studio scale. Get some practice and your techniques down first, because it would be a bummer to buy such an expensive kit and do a poor paint job on it.

FYI don't use enamels on Bandai kits.
 
^ or better yet, pick up some of the larger kits like the Revell 1/30 (sometimes listed as 1/29) X-wing for practice or the 1/39th or so Vader tie or the 1/41 or so Tie Fighter.

As far as I remember they are not too expensive

It is a large model making it big enough to test many techniques you would use on a studio scale model ( I find some of them don;t actually translate in smaller scales )

Don't worry about accuracy or anything, just build out of the box and concentrate on the painting. If you mess it up, it's no big deal money wise
 
My first model coming back into the hobby was the MPC X-Wing. I wanted something that was a 1:1 of a screen used model in the movies, I was pretty excited when I found out about the MPC, mostly because of the cost.
 
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