SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Y don't they make more kits like this?

5088 views
15 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Earth
Y don't they make more kits like this?
Posted by DiscoStu on Thursday, September 23, 2021 11:54 AM

This is my finished Bandai 1/72 Y-Wing (I say finished knowing full well I need to add an R2 unit)

These Bandai Star Wars kits are fantastic, easy to build and flawlessly detailed.  I added an LED lighting set for the engines and cockpit.

 Y-wing by Stu George, on Flickr

 Y-wing by Stu George, on Flickr

 Y-wing by Stu George, on Flickr

 Y-wing by Stu George, on Flickr

 

 

"Ahh the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel" -Homer Simpson

  

 

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Thursday, September 23, 2021 12:09 PM

Wow nice job.  I like the weathering a lot.  Need a pic in the dark to show of  your lighting.  I haven't tried one of these but that sure is lot of detail.  How big is the finished kit?

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, September 23, 2021 12:19 PM

I was a passing aquaintance with George Lucas because believe it or not he hung out at my old LHS in San Rafael. He really loves models, and had a number of boat and car models hand built on commission that the Owner brokered for him.

 

That is a good looking model. Size

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Earth
Posted by DiscoStu on Thursday, September 23, 2021 12:54 PM

GMorrison

I was a passing aquaintance with George Lucas because believe it or not he hung out at my old LHS in San Rafael. He really loves models, and had a number of boat and car models hand built on commission that the Owner brokered for him.

 

That is a good looking model. 

 Now that would be a surprise to see him chatting up the owner behind the counter when you walk in!

"Ahh the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel" -Homer Simpson

  

 

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Earth
Posted by DiscoStu on Thursday, September 23, 2021 12:56 PM

keavdog

Wow nice job.  I like the weathering a lot.  Need a pic in the dark to show of  your lighting.  I haven't tried one of these but that sure is lot of detail.  How big is the finished kit?

 

Not very.  The kit is 1/72 so I'd say it's about the size of your standard 1/72 WW11 bomber.

If you can find one of these I highly recommend picking it up.  

Actually, any of the Star Wars kits that Bandai makes are awesome.  I did their 1/72 A-Wing for my son a year or so ago.  They're just great.

 

"Ahh the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel" -Homer Simpson

  

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by ddp59 on Thursday, September 23, 2021 2:46 PM

i made 1 of those back in the late 70's with a solid fuel rocket engine. i got 2nd prize at a rocket meet in Toronto, Ontario at that time period. i think i still have it.

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Thursday, September 23, 2021 4:22 PM

DiscoStu

 

 
keavdog

Wow nice job.  I like the weathering a lot.  Need a pic in the dark to show of  your lighting.  I haven't tried one of these but that sure is lot of detail.  How big is the finished kit?

 

 

 

Not very.  The kit is 1/72 so I'd say it's about the size of your standard 1/72 WW11 bomber.

If you can find one of these I highly recommend picking it up.  

Actually, any of the Star Wars kits that Bandai makes are awesome.  I did their 1/72 A-Wing for my son a year or so ago.  They're just great.

 

 

 

WW 11??  Confused Kidding...Great build Yes 

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Thursday, September 23, 2021 5:13 PM

Well, Bandai decided they were going to make the best SW kits out there, and they had the financial muscle and engineering talent to pull it off.  I give their corporate suits credit to be bold enough risk a high cost (Disney licensing) line of products they never did.

To be honest, the sci-fi stuff coming from the other companies look like molded soap bars by comparison.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, September 24, 2021 3:29 AM

Real G

Well, Bandai decided they were going to make the best SW kits out there, and they had the financial muscle and engineering talent to pull it off.  I give their corporate suits credit to be bold enough risk a high cost (Disney licensing) line of products they never did.

To be honest, the sci-fi stuff coming from the other companies look like molded soap bars by comparison.

I beg to differ. Fine Molds made Star Wars kits in the early 2000s. While their line wasn't long, because only five Star Wars movies were out, they made a handful of high quality 1/72 scale kits along with a couple of 1/48 scale kits.

They made Luke's X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE fighter, TIE Interceptor, the very nice Jedi fighter Obi-Wan uses against Jengo Fett, two different Slave 1s: Jengo's and Boba's which comes with a white metal Han Solo frozen in Carbonite. And one of their finest ones, the 1/72 scale Millenium Falcon. All in 1/72 scale.

In 1/48 scale, they did the X-Wing and snowspeeder. I've got all of them but the 1/48 X-Wing and Falcon.

Revell of Germany also produced some very nice box scale kits. A lot of the smaller ones were sold in foil bags in the US. They were snap together, but highly detailed with most kits based on the TV series The Clone Wars. The Revell Republic Star Destroyer is a topnotch kit. It dwarfs the old MPC Star Destroyer.

Most of the original MPC (later AMT/Ertl) kits are forgettable. The Gungan sub and twin pack of droid fighters were really decent as was the Naboo fighter.

Don't get me wrong, I've got over a dozen Bandai Star Wars kits. They are great model kits, but they are not the only ones that put out high quality Star Wars models. Revell's Kylo Ren command shuttle is a very nice kit, but Revell's scales are all over the place.

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Friday, September 24, 2021 12:23 PM

Rob,

OK I flat-out forgot about Fine Molds.  Shame on me.  But while they put good SW kits on the map, it was Bandai who turned the quality dial up when they scanned the props for maximum accuracy.

The soap bar comment was meant for the US-based companies.  Heck, many of their kits are molded in a soft translucent plastic that looks like wax or soap.  Granted I am over the moon that we can now have modern 2001, Space 1999, and ST kits.

Revell Germany's oddball scale still eludes my understanding, and although they made OK kits, a lot were simplified to cater to less experienced builders.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Friday, September 24, 2021 9:38 PM

Fine Mold's Falcon (probably the best model of that ship ever) and the Slave 1s are superb models. In 1/72 scale, I don't think Bandai has visited those two ships.

Yes, Bandai's newer kits are better for the most part, they are not 20 years better than the Fine Molds kits. It's not like everyone should ditch their Fine Molds X-Wing and Y-Wing and TIEs to buy the Bandai kits.

Towards the end of AMT/Ertl's run of Star Wars kits, a handful were very good models, but were soft on detail since the final kits were based off of CGI versus actual scratch built model kits. Definitely not in the same category as Fine Molds, Bandai or even the "true" Revell of Germany Star Wars kits.

  • Member since
    June 2021
Posted by rocketman2000 on Saturday, September 25, 2021 8:13 AM

We are in a golden age of modeling.  I can remember when we had three brands of plastic kits ,no model paints except model airplane dope, which plastic did not like, hobby shops did not import kits, there was NO aftermarket.  I am now surprised but the number of brands of kits, and overwhelmed by the brands of paint.  The molding is so crisp, fit is excellent, and what happened to flash?  PE is so abundent.

 

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Saturday, September 25, 2021 10:26 PM

rocketman2000

We are in a golden age of modeling.  I can remember when we had three brands of plastic kits ,no model paints except model airplane dope, which plastic did not like, hobby shops did not import kits, there was NO aftermarket.  I am now surprised but the number of brands of kits, and overwhelmed by the brands of paint.  The molding is so crisp, fit is excellent, and what happened to flash?  PE is so abundent.

 

You are so correct. When I was a teenager, all we had were the old AMT Star trek kits, then the MPC Star Wars kits, and when Monogram released the Battlestar Galactica kits, those were probably the best mainstream sci-fi kits from television and movies.

If you slide on over to Hobby Lobby on their bi-weekly 40% off sale, you can buy one of these awesome Star Wars kits for a song. I'd suggest Luke's Red 5 X-Wing.

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Earth
Posted by DiscoStu on Monday, September 27, 2021 11:16 AM

castelnuovo

WW 11??  Confused Kidding...Great build Yes 

 

 

Well, It does take place a long time ago, yet somehow in the future......So who knows.

"Ahh the Luftwaffe. The Washington Generals of the History Channel" -Homer Simpson

  

 

  • Member since
    April 2020
Posted by Eaglecash867 on Monday, September 27, 2021 12:23 PM

Rob Gronovius

Fine Mold's Falcon (probably the best model of that ship ever) and the Slave 1s are superb models. In 1/72 scale, I don't think Bandai has visited those two ships.

I have the Bandai Perfect Grade 1/72 Falcon, and every pipe, tube, vent, and thruster on it is molded as a highly-detailed separate part.  Its definitely an excellent kit. 

"You can have my illegal fireworks when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers...which are...over there somewhere."

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Monday, September 27, 2021 12:59 PM

The Bandai Falcon is the most accurate kit of the type available.  Note that it represents the 1977 Star Wars version, based on the 5 foot prop.  The Fine Molds kit is based on the smaller 32" prop that was made for Empire Strikes Back, the one with the additional forward landing Gear boxes.  There are proportional and lots of detail differences between the two.

Not going to go into the mandible toe-in debate, as it never bothered me.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.