Armornut, no apologies needed.  I love to hate on Fake Star Wars.  It’s like a hobby to me.  

But I honestly think Lucas did it on purpose to annoy the old fans.  No physical proof.  I just can feel it...

     It is unfortunate that Lucas played to a younger audience in the prequels, like you Episode4 was my intro into Sci Fi. I was around 6 so... If he wanted to tap imto my inner child with the later releases he succeeded, however it would have been nice for the story to mature as well.

   Do you have a bad feeling about it??

When Star Wars came out, I was the target audience at the age of 13 in 1977. Action figures, model kits and bed sheets. I had it all. Well, not all the figures.

Empire Strikes Back was the biggest surprise in sci-fi history, especially if you read Splinter of the Mind's Eye as a kid. Luke & Leia had a few moments in that book that are really creepy now that it's known that they are twins.

Then they cut off his hand and Vader is his son? Han kisses Leia? Nooooo!

The Return of the Jedi was the one that first catered to the kiddies. Teddy bear army (was originally going to be wookies) defeat a garrison of storm troopers. Okay, I get it; I'm no longer 13, but now almost 20.

My son loved Jar-Jar. He was six when the movie came out. We bought him a Jar-Jar Binks bicycle at the Fort Dix BX/PX on clearance. I treated myself to a massive clearance aisle purchase of model kits for me and a bike for him.

Personally, I think Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie since Empire. It retconned the biggest plot hole from the original movie. "Why build this high tech space station with a big hole that allows it to be blown up?"

   I agree Rob, Rouge One is only seconded by ESB. Empire was to me like 2 movies in one the first was the gritty disshoveled rebels fleeing the Imperial might with a budding Jedi Knight. Then you have Bespin...all clean and sleek. Not to mention I think that ESB is the perfect lenght as well. It had a solid start middle and end.

    I love how Rouge brings to light the development of the Death Star, which is hinted at in The Clone Wars, and how one can almost play Rouge One and A New Hope literally back to back.

I think one thing Rogue-1 did brilliantly was to show just how truly frightening the  Death Star was.  When you think about it, it was as scary as the atom bomb in 1945.  In Star Wars, it was just a cool weapon the bad guys had.

When I saw ESB in the summer of 1980, I didn’t like the ”to be continued” ending.  The SPFX was ambitious, but was at the limit of the technology.  The AT-ATs and Snowspeeders were amazing, but the Tauntauns were jerky, and the space slug looked like a hand puppet (oh wait - it WAS a hand puppet!).  But in retrospect, I can understand why serious fans consider it the best of the 3 original films.

I got the engines of the Blockade Runner oil painted last night.  Will do some touch up today.  Getting close to finishing.  Better signal Admiral Raddus we are preparing to launch!

   Don't forget your diplomats, wouldn't wanna make Vader anymore angrier than he already is. Betchya he gets itchy with that suit

I agree with the above posts - ESB is the best of the earlier movies, and Rogue One is the best since.  Yeah, some of the effects in ESB haven't aged well, but they were state of the art in the 80's.  The end of Rogue One though - Darth Vader at the height of his power is an absolute demon cutting thru the Rebels trying to get to the Tantive IV before they can take off with the stolen data tapes.  There is no better representation of an angry Sith Lord than right there.  

The original trilogy endures because it had great moments and did a lot with what they had.

For example, Yoda was a Muppet with Grover’s voice, yet had a significant impact on the story and characters.  I liked him best in his serious moments, when I forgot that he was a kind of fake looking puppet.  The lines he delivered during those moments still resonate with me today.

My favorite is “No!  DO.  Or do not.  There is no try.”  I am no Jedi, and I never owned a light saber or bought any spin-off mechandise except for the models.  But that line has always inspired me to be better.

Speaking of doing, the Blockade Runner is now drying.  A flat clear coat will follow, then off to rendezvous with Admiral Raddus.

Vader’s ISD is already on the bench geting its first oil paint wash.  Pics to follow when I can get to a real computer.

Live long and prosper.  Oops, I mean may the Force be with you!

I was a Saturday afternoon Star Trek fan before I was a Star Wars fan.

I got to be Mr. Sulu. My first Star Trek kits were the K-7 Space Station and the Romulan Bird of Prey. Of the original Star Wars kits, I had R2-D2, Vader's TIE and Luke's X-Wing.

Here in Hawaii, TOS Star Trek was aired in the early evening.  We used to watch it to stay out of mom’s hair while she made dinner.

My first and only TOS kit was the Enterprise.  The warp pylons had this terrible design where they failed almost immediately.  My neighbor’s kid had all the kits, so we went to play Star Trek at his house.  

We could never figure out what episode the 3-headed snake Spock was phasering came from.  

My first Star Wars kit was the MPC X-Wing.  It was a crappy kit, but I was a crappy modeler, so it was all good.  But MPC provided me with lots of SW kits through high school.  My faves were the X-Wing, AT-AT, Slave-1, and the Speeder Bike.  I built one of the big Falcon kits, but it was for a friend.

My Grail kit back in 1977 was a 1/48 Y-Wing, but that has not materialized yet, even after 40+ years.

Oooohhhh a 48th Y-wing yes please.

I guess I'm weird, the first time I saw 'Star Wars' it was on CBS TV. I'm old enough to have seen it in the theater but my parents wouldn't take us to see movies unless both I and my sister wanted to see them. And she thought it was 'some silly space crap'. 

Yes it did warp me for life... 

I remember two resin 1/48 Y-Wings; one by Blue Moon and the other by AMT. Both long out of production.

http://www.scalemodeltechnologies.com/

http://starshipmodeler.com/starwars/jj_ywing.htm

And we continue to wait for an injection molded 1/48 Y-Wing.

Star Wars was a game changer for me - on the way home from the theater in a dream-like state, I told myself that this was the kind of movie I wanted to see from now on.  I am so glad to have been there to see it when it all began, so long ago in that galaxy far, far away...

OK the Rebel Scum are almost ready to go.

The engine modules have since been toned down by removing excess oil paint.  I'm only getting the hang of it now.

And just in time, as Vader is preparing to go into pursuit!

The main engines still need to be painted - I forgot to do them when I was painting the hull.  

And as if the Rebels don't have enough to worry about.

"All wings, we picked up a new group of signals - enemy fighters, headed your way!"

Star Wars is on my mind, so I pulled this out and - BANG - it was assembled!

The infamous seam line on the aft hull was filled with stretched sprue from the kit.  A tiny sliver of sheet plastic was used with tweezers to sand the area down while avoiding molded in details.  Hmmm, I might need a little putty to level things out.

My friends have been telling me to try these Bandai mini kits to get me back in the game.  It took me literally years to listen, but I think it really worked.

   NO WAY IS THAT A BANDAI KIT?  That thing must be HUGE!!  Even in the 1/5000 scale.

  Gee thanks Real G TWO kits I wanna gather in my stash

Armornut,

The Super Star destroyer is about 7 to 8 inches long, so not all that big.  The way Bandai crams detail into all their Star Wars kits puts the other SF kit makers to shame.

Thinking about what color to paint it, I thought it was a bluish grey.  But as Obi-Wan said, "Your eyes can decieve you, don't trust them."  Looking at movie stills and production photos show it to be grey.  I think the blue lighting from all those windows made me think the hull was that color.

I need to roll out the airbrush to finish painting the ISD's engine bells, so the SSD will tag along.  I'll try varying the greys to make the details pop.

   Excited to see this one loom over the rest of the Imperial fleet.

   Vaders on that ship...

    Relax there's alot of Capitol ships, keep your distance but DON'T look like your trying to keep your distance......I DON'T KNOW fly casual.

Hmm, cool! Looking forward to seeing you paint the SSD. I always thought of the shipas a bluish-grey too. 

Love how you did the SD, the light grey seems like a pain to get shaded and weathered correctly. 

armornut

   Excited to see this one loom over the rest of the Imperial fleet.

   Vaders on that ship...

    Relax there's alot of Capitol ships, keep your distance but DON'T look like your trying to keep your distance......I DON'T KNOW fly casual. 

Yeah, such a nonsensical move.  Best lampooned by the “Family Guy” parody of ROTJ.

Gamera,

Nah, just have to remember not to use black on a white subject.  I used light and medium greys, tinted with purple which seems to complement white.  And use as little oil paint as possible, and place it only where you need it.  I am finding oils are more forgiving than Vader or the Emperor. 

I picked up that same little 3 TIE set at Hobby Lobby and got a set of aftermarket decals for it. Haven't got to it yet though.

Rob Gronovius

I picked up that same little 3 TIE set at Hobby Lobby and got a set of aftermarket decals for it. Haven't got to it yet though. 

Oh, do share a pic of the decals please!

I got them from a seller on eBay in January, but he doesn't list this particular set any longer. Here is what he does have https://www.ebay.com/sch/yogurt80/m.html?ssPageName=&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2654

Oh nuts, more stuff to buy!  Thanks for the link Rob.

Black basing of the SSD is on!

The detail for such a small kit is insane.

The purchase was back in January and all I can get to call up is a thumbnail:

It came in a greeting card sized envelope backed with a piece of cardboard. Total delivered was just under $8. Shipping was 55¢.

Thanks for the pic Rob!  Well, the TIE does not have any absolutely necessary markings, so it's not a big deal.  I am tempted, however, by the "wallpaper" decals for the ISD and SSD.  The Snowspeeder is one I definitely want to get.

Well, I apologize to your wallet for pointing out these decals. I'm glad you see things you like.

I ordered the wallpaper decals for the ISD and SSD, plus the Snowspeeder.

Dang.  I’m supposed to be the one making people buy stuff.