I picked this one up a while ago and its been in the stash. so its time to sort it out. I did a super slam on it tonight to get photos and figure out what needs to be done. Revell has come out with quite a few of these prepainted kits. Im less than impressed with the weathering of the prepaint and some of the hand paint is just plain sloppy. it comes with ARC figures that stand just under an inch tall in four poses. One is even in the "rest" pose with the rifle near his foot. The figures helmets are not right, each has a bump on top that needs to be cut off and the crest needs to be added. Paint is consistent with THIS painting, but I will be using alternate art with a set of custom decal images that were made for me by a talented artist. I may also do something inspired by the ORIGINAL CW animated series from a few years ago
THIS photo clearly illustrates the differences in an ARC vs. an animated Clone Wars trooper. The trooper in the center is a straight up ROTS clone trooper Phase II with animated style lights added to his helmet. The trooper with green accents is CW animated style-the first I had seen. The clone on the left is a Galactic Marine. As presented the troopers are what we call "shineys' meaning they have no wear and tear and are fresh out of training with no combat expeience. Under Mandolorian custom armor is never cleaned, as each nick ding and bloodspatter is proof of experience. I'll add a wash of grey to each to enhance details.there are holes in the floot to accept the plugs on the soft rubber figures feet. Pilots will need attenion as well.
Fit is typical for these snap together kits and will benefit from 2 things:
1: the kit has MONSTROUSLY GIGANTALOR locating lugs. Pins isnt the right word for this. Pillars is more like it. They are gong to cause problems so just cut them off straight away. Also the wings are a snap -on fit with straight tabs with locking jaws. Snip those off so you can test fit and figure out your repaint job.
2: careful cleanup of the sides and some flash that appears. yes, FLASH! odd, huh? Note that on the underside of the floorboards are these unusual break away knockout pins. They are shown in the destructions being removed in step 1. Sand this flush othewise the operating doors will have a hard time sliding open, and you don't want your shineys getting picked off by a bunch of goons when embattled jedi need them most! In the photo below these show up as white stress lines on the otherwise flat floor underside.
There are a lot of unusual things on this kit. The drawings use unusual angles to illustrate how parts fit together and may be confusing for new modelers. The way the doors work..well it would have driven me nuts to figure this out and translate that to plastic. Tape is pretty much a necessity to hold things together while you get the fuselage halves together, trapping the aft ramp and forward slider door. The wing and nose stations are not clear, they are molded solid. I can see the point in doing so, but I would love a correct version with clear blisters.
Something new i have encountered a couple of times is a screen printed date stamped on a part, it looks to be the date of manufacture. with my Viper MK II there was no mistake that this WAS the date. On this kit DL082509 shows up, 25OCT09, right in line with production schedules to get the kit to market. That same code is ink stamped inside the box. The stand is adequate but boring. More of the stain & wipe theory of prepaint there.
In my honest opinion this kit is fine for a super slam or to dress up to look better. It will take a LOT of work to get this fully corrected with clear and manned blisters. I would really like to start seeing these show up at club meetings and on show tables, maybe my efforts here will help spur that. Im sure that in time and with the success of the Clone Wars series that we will get a more advanced kit, or at lest an upgrade set for this to make a more accurate CW version. Enhancement will bring out a much nicer representation of a great design. a fantastic paint job will really set it off. And remember, in the CW series they are festooned with nose art! Twi'leks rule!
tonihts's super slam build pics. BTW that is an 8 inch ruler as opposed to the typical six inch. guns are NOT installed so add three more inches for that.
note the craptacular paint job on the "tiny tim" rockes
