Star Wars GB Episode II CLOSED

Stephen..ah, yes, the venerable AT-AT..I got that in 1980 as one of the biggest xmas surprises ever..my siblings convinced me that the big box was a 'family gift' so I didn't focus on it...it blew my mind!! Those TIEs were remarkable. I usually reserve judgement for ERTL stuff, but, they really aced these molds. Highest quality I've ever seen for them.

Octane,

If I remember correctly, Anakin was looking under the controls. I'll have to watch the movie again to see, which by the way isn't a bad idea, I can study the hovertank's.

Thanks Stephan, it great to finally get it. The Boba didn't sell on E-bay, but I think I will wait until next month as things are a bit tight and have to curb the spending. I defiantly plan on adding the trooper as a second build for this GB.

Nice find there as well. But did I read that right, those toys were your wife's. Now there is a keeper for sure, a wife who is a Star wars fan.

I have had some good news tonight. Just checked the tracking and the Trooper is now on UK soil. The invasion has begun.

Yes, I am blessed with a wife that understands Star Wars. She is supportive of my recent dive back into Star Wars collecting and I am starting to acquire quite a bit,lol. Ebay is my friend!

I've been so busy with my 10 week old kid that I haven't had time to do any updates, but I have a small update today.

Finally got all the lighting installed and glued down. She's ready to close up for good.

Checked for light leaks.

Then realized that I needed a 2.1mm plug connector between the gooseneck stand and the ship itself, or else I wouldn't be able to separate the ship from the base (which would be handy if I transport it). So I spliced in a connection and glued the female connecter inside the gun well.

Glued on the sidewalls, which pretty much means I'm glueing the model together for good. I hope those LEDs last a good long while and there are no short circuits!

Then realized that I'm missing a piece! E33. It goes here...

Looked high and low and it's nowhere to be found. So I decided to scratch it. Found some references and I'm currently working on that.

Time to mask some sections off and prime her up! Really looking forward to painting her.

Thanks for looking.

That Falcon lighting is fantastic!

That Falcon is looking amazing, that's some work on the lighting.

Senor, it's looking great!! I hope everything goes as planned and you have no wiring issues once it's closed.

Well, it has arrived.

Its such a joy to finally have this kit. Not only to have the trooper, but to have a genuine Screamin kit.  The Vader figure I built last year was a replica which missed a few parts that I had to scratch and had its feet at a funny angle, and thanks for Nuc for the  info I needed to correct that. This kit feel very different from the other one, the vinyl feels a lot thicker. But most importantly, its all there, including the blaster.

I was going to add a second build to this GB later on if I had the time. But now I have this in my hands, its being added to the roster. Its not often I build a kit so soon after getting it, but this just has to be built.

Cool looking kit Bish.

Can't wait to see you build it.

Any Stormtrooper looks cool to me, they are by far my favourite Star wars character, if you hadn't already guessed.

Nuc, would you mind posting a pic or two of yours.

Congrats on getting the Stromtrooper, Bish! Looking forward to seeing the build pics!

18" of Stormtrooper-y goodness!!

Thanks, Rob, Bish, and Nuc, for the comments.

Awesome Stormtrooper, Bish. Can't wait to see that.

Rob congrats on a very cool build, I especially loved the crews and cockpits. Real nice and getting on the board first, awesome start .

Bish, I'm not familiar with Bandai Kits and I see they make a Y Wing Fighter too. But comparing the Fine Molds to the Bandai kits, it appears that the detail and overall appearance of the Fine Molds model is outstanding. I haven't picked up the kit yet and I know they're both a little pricey but I don't mind spending a couple extra dollars for a much better kit. Am I right the Fine Molds is a better kit?

Terry

Thanks jib...an excellent kit made for a dream build!!

Jibber, I think Fine Molds has been the "gold standard" for plastic Star Wars kits for awhile. Other than them all you had were the old mpc/ertl kits and newer Revell releases. I liked the Revell and MPC kits but they did not compare with what Fine Molds had (Plus having ships in the same scale was a nice advantage also). I have not had the chance to get my hands on a new bandai kit, yet; so I don't know how well they will compare. I'm looking forward to see what appears here though.

Bish, here are the photos of my screamin Stormtrooper.

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-Stephen

Stephen thanks, FM it is. I've checked with what photos I've found and FM's look fantastic, just to expensive…Terry

Stephen I just checked the stormtrooper who looks fantastic BTW, but that Mountain Ogre type thing, monster beast whatever looks awesome….very cool job with that ugly, snarly, menacing, mole faced  Shrek thing or whatever. It almost looks like the Monster from the Id from Forbidden Planet but not quite. Now that must have been fun!

Jibber, I only see the prices for Fine Molds increasing now. Get em while you can. Thanks for the compliments on the Stormtrooper. The ugly monster is a Rancor, seen in ep VI, an old MPC vinyl kit. I recomend that kit if you can find one. Goes together well and is nicely detailed.

Terry, I have not seen the Bandai kits myself either. I am waiting out on a comparison. To be honest, apart from the falcon, I have all the 72nd FM kits I had wanted, so FM losing the rights is not an issue to me, but I am curious to see how they compare. Stephen is right, FM are indeed the gold standard. I built the TIE In a couple of years back and off that build I got the X and Y wing, Darths TIE, 2 TIE fighters and Slave 1. I do like the old kits mainly because of the large size, apart from Slave 1, to my surprise the FM kit is bigger than the old kit, but the detail on the FM kits is hard to beat. they were pretty expensive before now for the size, but defiantly worth it. Defiantly get them while you can. I think the falcon will certainly be out of my price range now, it was expensive enough already.

I just have the impression that the Bandai kits will be more toy like, I hope I am wrong, but they have a lot to live up to.

Stephen, thank you for posting that. He really does look very nice, I just hope I can pull it off, I often have trouble when painting white. My 70mm trooper came out ok, so fingers crossed I can match that. And the Rancor looks really nice, don't think I have seen that before.

You are welcome Bish, I liked the Stormtrooper kit. It went together well. the only problem I had was attaching the helmet to the body. I didn't understand their directions. Ended up cutting the tip of an old garden hoe, glued that to the body, put some epoxy putty around the base and smoothed it down. This gave a good representation of the neck of the bodysuit, then I glued the helmet to the top of the stick. Came out okay and is pretty sturdy.

Painting the white is not a big problem, you just have to be careful when you polish the armor. If your layers are not thick enough, especially on sharp edges, you can quickly buff down to the primer.

Thanks for the tips. I am a bit confused about the instructions as well. It says to remove the pour stub from the bottom of the helmet and then put it in the helmet. I also noticed you have to removed the stubs from both legs and torso but on Darth, you had to leave one of those to attach it to the other half.

I had not thought about polishing the armour, but that sounds like a good idea. I was thinking about doing several light coats of white, maybe 5, rather than one or two heavier ones.

Make sure you have enough paint! I'm sure you have a good ideaof how much you need from building Darth Vader, but have a little extra as white does not cover as well as black. Speaking from experience here(almost ashamed to admit), I thought I had enough but one of my bottles was an enamel instead of an acrylic. Mixed the two together and started spraying. Don't have to say what a mess that was. Can laugh about it now, but boy was I mad at myself at the time.

I will do that. I always have a few tins/jars of each colour, but I will make double sure before I start.

That's not something you want to do to often is it.

Ah, yes, the ole enamel/acrylic debacle....been there too....

Well, that makes me feel better, perhaps I'm not such a bone head after all.

Went to the LHS tonight and lo and behold they had a Revell Y-Wing snap kit. I had it in my hand ready to go but it was $27, which to me is way to pricey for a prepainted snap kit (they also had the Millennium Falcon and AT-AT kits for $50 each!). I put it back figuring I could get it cheaper online, but as it turns out the only one listed on Ebay is $50, and it's out of stock at the online stores I checked. So tempting, but at that price I have to pass. Very disappointing.