Tie Fighter & Tie Advanced kit to go with 1/51 Tie Fighter?

Raven Morpheus

New Member
Hello

New-ish to TheRPF, I have only 1 thread and that was a while ago...

Anyhoo I'm looking for a kit of a Tie Fighter and Tie Advanced (Darth Vader's from ANH) to go with an existing 1/51 Tie Fighter that I already have.

Logically I'd go for the 1/51 Tie Fighters kit, from which I obtained my 1/51 Tie Fighter (I bought 1 of them from a guy on another forum), however I can't find a set of those 2 for a reasonable price.

Also I have little clue as to what kit of the Tie Advanced I should get to fit with the Tie Fighters?!

I plan on putting them on my ceiling chasing an AMT 1/43 X-Wing, kind of like the trench run scene...

I'm in the UK so I need to bear that in mind, import charges and all that...

Please can anyone here help me out with suggestions of kits I could get to use, with little to no conversion/scratchbuilding required?

TIA
 
By 1/51st I assume we are talking about either the old AMT two TIE Fighter set or the FineMolds one (which Revell recently reissued). The FineMolds is listed as 1/48, but they are pretty close that we are only talking a millimeter of difference in the width here and there.

As for the source of a Vaders TIE in that size, Estes did a flying model rocket of Vader's TIE which had a plastic model (serving as a fin unit for a long body tube that allows it to fly straight) which was almost bang on to the AMT/Ertl TIE scale. All you had to do was alter a couple areas to slim down bloating in the rear fuselage for the engine mount and mount a cockpit (and windscreen) from either an AMT TIE or an MPC TIE Interceptor and you had the makings of a proper TIE in that size.

The link below shows what can be done. Here a resin casting of an Estes TIE was used, but he shows the unmodified Estes TIE next to it to show how relatively good the core parts are.

http://www.starwarsmodels.com/tievadere.html
 
If you would rather not go the route of converting the Estes tie, an alternative I might suggest would be to use the Revell tie kits.

They will look closer in scale to the MPC X-wing and Revell also has a tie advanced in that scale as well
(just make sure your not getting the smaller tie kits, there are two versions of each ). I have seen the larger tie kits in Toys-R-US and Hobby Lobby

Here is a size comparison of the Revell ties and X-wing (I'm not finished painting yet)

 
The Estes TIE X-1 is a nicely done model barring the enlarged aft 'engine deck' that mates to the rocket tube. The main body is blow molded so some of the detailing was slightly soft. The wings and associated detailing panels are injection parts, sharply molded. Same for the view port. It is a size that matches the AMT TIE dual kit perfectly and to my eye an excellent match to 1/48 scale X-Wings.

Blakeh1's suggestion is another way to go to achieve visually compatible models; the tricky part is identifying which Revell kits are the right ones. Revell seems to have issued the same kit in multiple boxings. The only way to keep them straight is to use the kit numbers and the model sizes (the TIE X1 Advanced for example should be the one that is 6.5 inches long...)

R/ Robert
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[Actually, the main body is not blow-molded but injection molded as I found when I looked at the parts again. Some of the detailing is not crisp; perhaps it is just a poor molding. I have three copies so I can check if all are the same, since it is only the top half that has the problem.]
 
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Of course the other alternative is pick up a Revell/Fine Molds 1/48 X-wing to go with the AMT twin pack and Estes Tie Advanced. That would be closer in size to the ties
 
Yup; either the Bandai or Fine Molds (aka Revell reissue) X-Wings would work with the smaller TIE models...
R/ Robert
 
Thanks guys. Yes I do mean the ERT/AMT/MPC 1/51 kit. I'll bear the info in mind but I've hit a financial roadblock so will have to put this idea on hold.
 
I was re-visting this and have further info RE: the Estes X-1 TIE Advanced model. First, the main wing panels have an 'inverse' grid pattern molded where instead of the pyramid shape being a depression, they are molded as projections. Also, the spacing is too small when compared to the filming miniature, Strangely, the larger Revell X-1 kit (85-1875) has a grid that is a perfect spacing for the Estes model that if trimmed down to fit would have the correct number of points(!) I am looking into possibly converting the Revell parts to fit with the Estes body, since the Estes wings also suffer from being too thin and having incorrect leading & trailing edge angles (not terrible but obvious when compared to the Revell model.)

The cockpit viewport from the AMT double-TIE kit fits the Estes kit perfectly and is of the correct configuration. The oversized rear body of the Estes kit is accurately detailed & so is a good basis for correcting. Removing the section using vertical cuts allows the removed pieces to be reduced in height, glued together and then slotted back into the original position, using plastic sheet as a shim to replace the saw kerf.

The last hurdle is correcting the incorrectly shaped cone area to the rear of the cockpit "ball", which is a tube to accommodate the rocket body that enters through the viewport & passes to the rear. I haven't decided yet how to handle it although just substituting a shaped block of plastic comes to mind.

After that, just general detailing remains.

R/ Robert
 
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