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TIE Interceptor 1:90


Mike

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TIE Interceptor
1:90 Revell


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The TIE Interceptor was introduced as a sister ship to the general purpose TIE Interceptor, I guess to add a little diversity to the chase and battle scenes of Empire. It has cranked "wings" like Vader's TIE Fighter, and a long sloped forward wing section that mounts some large cannons. It looks like it's speeding when standing still, which gives the impression of its function. The type didn't see major use other than as background cannon fodder in the existing films, but maybe it'll see some action in the new one. We shall wait and see.


The Kit
This is one of the Level 3 range, and as such is more of a traditional kit than any of the Level 1 and 2 snap-together offerings as it requires glue and paint, and it is quite small too, thanks to the scale, which doesn't seem at all consistent throughout the five kits released so far for no apparent reason. That gripe aside, it arrives in a small red themed box with Kylo Ren (the new baddie) menacing us with a light sabre at the top. Inside are three sprues in a TIE Fighter grey/blue styrene, a clear sprue and instruction booklet, which is printed in full colour on matt stock.

The first thing that strikes you other than the colour of the styrene and size, is that the detail isn't half bad. It's a fairly simple kit in terms of part-count, but it has been designed in such a way to maximise detail in the process. The instructions are of a new style, having plenty of colour, which looks almost inkjet printed on the thin stock they have used. Some of the symbols are carried over from previous Revell offerings, but the overall impression is much less cluttered.

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Construction begins with the pilot, which the instructions show to be a seated Kylo Ren, but the styrene provides only a standard TIE Pilot. His chunky chair has large arm-rests with controls embedded, and this sits in the faceted tray that will be familiar to Star Wars kit builders. The side walls are similarly faceted, and the rear wall also has the engine exhausts attached to the rear. The front "instrument panel" finalises the interior. It is placed in the lower hull on three pegs, and the windscreen (vacuumscreen?) has a grey decal applied to the frames, and slots into two grooves in the lower hull. The upper hull and clear roof hatch hold everything in place, and with a little glue, it should all stay put, although the pegs and their receptacles look very much like they originate from a friction-fit kit.

The wings have three big ejector pin marks on the inner surface, but other than sanding them flush to allow the detail panel that covers them to fit properly, they shouldn't cause any frustration. Another panel sits on top of the first, and on the outer face a central boss is added, after which the wings can be glued in place, and you're done.


Markings
Having just the one decal for the windscreen framing, it's mostly about the paint, which Revell as usual give you details of in their own brand. Fortunately, they have Matt Blue-grey in their range, so there's no mixing as often happens when using Revell's limited range of paints. How easy the decal will be to lay down remains to be seen, but there is no carrier film in the clear areas, so it won't be too difficult with the help of some setting solution.

Conclusion
If these kits had been produced to a consistent scale, they would have appealed to more serious modellers, but they still have some appeal. I would say that they are targeted at the teenager, or the casual modeller, but I'm sure that any modeller would enjoy them.

Highly recommended for what it is.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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if it were 1/72 I would definitely buy one. Reading some of the positive comments on Amazon about Revell SW kits, I do get the impression they are SW fans rather than modellers as we know on BM. They're probably not even aware Bandai have a range of SW kits.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Looks good. I saw these kits in my local Hobbycraft for around £6 each, though I don't recall seeing the Tie Advanced; I'm extremely tempted to pick up a few.

Ross.

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  • 1 month later...

TIE Interceptor

1:90 Revell

This rather excellent little kit, ably reviewed by Mike above, is also availble in Model Set guise. This means you get a handy double-ended paint brush, a selection of Revell's own acrylic paint and a pot of Revell's superb contacta adhesive (my personal choice for sticking kits together). While these sets might be of limited appeal to the serious hobbyist, they are an excellent introduction to the hobby for youngsters. Part count is low, detail is good, ease of assembly is... er, easy, and now you get everything you need in one box. I made one with my four-and-a-bit year old son and he absolutely loved it. What more could you want for Christmas? Highly recommended

tieinterceptorset.jpg

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit logo-revell-2009.gif t_logo-a.png or facebook.gif

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  • 1 month later...

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