Richard Baker

The LEDs are very overpriced for what you get IMO- The Photoetch set looks good- here is a link to the company which makes it and descriptions of what you get- http://www.paragrafix.biz/product_detail.asp?PPartNum=pgx199 I plan on scratch building my own Pod interior- one which will have stuff visible through the upper windows. That will be fun since almost anything following the set design style will look appropriate...

The AT-ACT is a bit confusing to me- it is described as being larger than the AT-ATs we saw in TESB but it seems to be the exact same design as before, just with a orange box in the mid section. In attack of the Clones we saw a cargo variant of the Republic Gunship LAAT which could carry an AT-TE into battle and while it shared some of the design features it was physically different.

Sadly Birmingham, Alabama is still full of idiots. I think an increased Klingon presence would solve a number of problems...

This is a 'Science Fiction Discussion' Forum, not a spaceship forum- cool prototypes should be welcome. I wouldlike to see this aircraft in some different angles- the side view looks great but the straight on top view is rather uninspired.

Not going to expect art or a realistic plot, this sort of movie I watch for the visuals and big explosions. I showed my twelve year old son the first film last month and he liked it. We watched the trailer for the sequel after that and he asked if the funny guy (Will Smith) was in this one since he wasn't shown. I told him no, the actor wanted more money than they were willing to pay. He shrugged and said that's a shame, I really liked watching him. Does Smith's involvement save a movie?- well not if the film is completely horrible, but he does give you something fun to watch in between explosions. Moebius is going to release a couple of model kits from this movie last I heard, I do want one of those hybrid fighters for my shelf. There is a chance Moebius may just eat the licensing fees and save on tooling costs though- if the film bombs big time there may not be much demand for a model kit of something nobody has seen on screen. Anybody remember 'Titan A.E.'? and the Drej model kit?

The sequel had potential and I was encouraged by the fact much was made of having them to wait until they had a great story first. I still want to see it, but I am going to wait for streaming on this one. Theaters are just too expensive for a mediocre movie

I don't care for A-Wings that much but after seeing the Bandai kit it is now on my short list.

The Bandai bases with the Death Star Tiles and the A-Wing gun Tower are a totally different scale to the model kit- some say 1/144, other say 1/288. I know you see W-Wings flying around them so they are pretty big. Those guns you got look wonderful! Scratch building a gun tower should be fairly easy. They also made several types- different heights cut at the reveal where the angle changes.

A 16" or so ISD is in the same realm as their 1/1000 Yamato 2199 kits, just wider. I am pretty certain Bandai knows their kits are selling well outside Japan even with the restrictions. Overall sales numbers are what is important, not if they were purchased by proxy or through eBay. We have no idea how long it takes for a kit to be prototyped for production, but they are determined to make things as accurate as possible before doing so.

What I really love about the Bandai kits is the attention to detail and engineering that goes into them. Areas which are covered up or almost impossible to see are just as detailed as the rest of the kit- no short cuts anywhere. I am currently working on the Special Forces TIE and it is amazing how much is molded in fine detail with the interior- if that existing kit were upscaled to 1/48 it would still look fantastic. I used to think FineMolds held the high water mark for kits, but Bandai has eaten their lunch and is still preparing a banquet dinner. It does look like a good ISD kit is in the making- I hope it releases around the first of the year because I will need to start saving up for it now...

I like the Battledroid options- standing. folded and two where parts have been swapped with C-3PO. Bandai was actively discouraging the taking of photos this time, thanks to Samuel McGuire for making that one available!

Rouge One being a prequel of sorts, I am hoping for a old era Y-Wing with full plating (or partial plating removed).

Not plans, but I have a fair number of good screen shots of that plane I made for Allen over at Fantastic Plastic when he was gathering info for that master. They are still on my photobucket account, if they can help let me know and I will send you the links.

I'm patient. I sold my resin 1/72 B-Wing to another builder last week. It was a nice kit but I have so much ahead of it to be working on that a Bandai kit would probably be issued before I could get to it anyway.

There are a lot on non-canon variants of the TIE series- the one above I like because it is so odd looking which adds to the pragmatic military approach to vehicle adaptations. It would stand to reason the First Order would have it's own variants in addition to the Special Forces TIE - a fun project until the next movie comes out and we see something new (like their version of a TIE Bomber).

As far as I know, the X-Wing might be accidentally close to 1/144 scale, but all kits in this series are just a random box scale. The F-Toys X-Wing is 1/144 http://www.rebelscale.com/scale-lists/f-toys/ Expesive in this eBay listing but you can see details http://www.ebay.com/itm/F-Toys-Star-Wars-Vehicle-Collection-5-2-Rebel-X-Wing-Starfighter-Red-Leader-/361203375483?hash=item5419661d7b:g:TaMAAOSwcF9UWzk3&_trksid=p2349526.m3874.l7936

How about solid blood red? If having one of the pantaloon engine fairings painted red is a Special Forces designation, a full red craft could be a Special Forces Commander version. Adding a couple of extra antenna would also help enforce that distinction. Another alternative would be either jungle or dazzle camouflage (but that is mostly due to my fondness of seeing fictiona spacecraft painted in terrestrial military warpaint)

I really like the color change to Red Leader!- very refreshing after seeing so many traditional schemes.

It's a great kit to have fun with. Movable parts, front module separates as a smaller runabout vehicle. I have two in my stash waiting for a rainy day...

Great news!- Bandai really did their homework. I do hope a B-Wing appears as well- they never could film it right in RofJ and just gave up on it's appearance in the battle scenes but that is a wonderfully bizarre craft to see in a dog fight (according to the Cutaways book the craft Leia shows up in had a recycled B-Wing MkII cockpit at one end so the ship is still out there somewhere...) Does that photo of the A-Wing have something missing from behind the cockpit?

I work in a sign shop with access to all sorts of equipment. I usually add vehicle graphics denoting access ports, navigation/nightvision cameras and such in a style after Blade Runner and military transports. I sometimes have to park in rough neighborhoods and following the logic that most good car thieves know their way around common security systems I make some professional appearing details of a fictitious firm to sow doubt.

What I love about the SPV is that it has a very logical purpose behind all the features. The driver faces backwards for maximum crash protection, the rows of wheels provide great traction and weight distribution at high speeds, the drop down rear tracks give extra traction and stability if needed and the aerodynamic shape is just plain beautiful. I was a fan of this vehicle since the sixties and when I got my first car that was it's designation, although I did redefine it a bit on the interior plaques to read "Special Projects Vehicle" I customize and rebuild my cars as need arises- they can do some fancy Bond-style tricks occasionally. Below is my current transport- SPV-7 http://i.imgur.com/m1sc1sg.jpg Roof Graphic: http://i.imgur.com/m1sc1sg.jpg With tent pod: http://i.imgur.com/tHdht6K.jpg Security logos I printed up to confuse bad guys and add to the inside joke- one on each of the doors: http://i.imgur.com/favSRGJ.jpg AS you can see, I am a bit of a fanatic about this sort of thing...

I have the Product Enterprises diecast still- the model kit I owned is gone now. This is still one of my favorite Andersonesque designs of all time. Such a brilliant concept for a ground based assault vehicle.

Problem with movie era Trek kits is that that stupid Aztecing is so important to the right look of the ship. If you want to make a Reliant look like the Reliant you have to do something, either wallpaper decals or a lot of masking (which is problematic on the smaller kits).

Some reference pictures: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/slave01.jpg http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/mc_slv1.jpg http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/jb_slave.jpg http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/refpix/ms_1979.jpg If you have an image program like Corel you can pull a CMYK/RGB number from the Pixels (just take a number of them and average to compensate for lighting...)