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I had a taster flight out of Duxford a while back with Classic Wings. The aircraft was a Cessna 150L Aerobat. When I got back I had a quick look and found a Bandai kit in 1/48 - my usual scale. So as a change from the usual military jets I would have a go at painting it to look a bit like G-BCDY. This is how she turned out This was the kit The faired over wheels had to be fixed. The wheels in the kit are only half moulded so whole new wheels needed. The colours are not quite right. The blue is too dark. I had to loose some of the engine detail to stuff in enough lead for her to not tail sit. I should have used some fine 1mm tape for the lining but just tried cutting some. And the serial number is in the wrong font and too big. 8mm high letter when I think 6mm would have been better. But she will do to remind me of my first time on the controls! Thanks for looking

It only took a few days of construction and painting to have a cheeky little table decoration. Bandai boxed the Death Star II with a Star Destroyer, originally I wanted to build the warship, but the superweapon got me. It can be put together in just half an hour, I haven't used glue anywhere. Sure, the joints could have been sealed here and there, but I didn’t deal with it. The base color is Tamiya XF-19 sky gray lightened with flat white. I painted the panels with artistic oil, as I could safely wash back on the acrylic base and repair it with thinner. The colors I used: Abteilung snow white + Rembrandt Payne gray. I hope you like it! 🙂

I've taken a small delivery of Star Wars Bandai,/Revell Kits to test the water as I don't normally do Film, TV and SciFi. Feedback appreciated https://testvalleymodels.com/products/slave-1-gift-set-05678 https://testvalleymodels.com/products/boba-fetts-starship-06785 https://testvalleymodels.com/products/outland-tie-fighter-06782 https://testvalleymodels.com/products/death-star-star-desdtroyer https://testvalleymodels.com/products/razor-crest-06781

Hello all, This is my rendition of Bandai's 72nd scale T-70 x-wing painted in blue squadron markings as seen in Star Wars episode VII TFA. Overall this was a pretty fun build, there were some mishaps along the way, but I managed to finish it in the end, and am really pleased with the results. Here's the link to the WIP I did on it (this was my first wip, and I also think it turned out well): Here are the pics of the finished model: Hope you enjoy it! Oompa Loompa

Hi all and here's my first finish for 2022, Bandai's 1/72 Poe's T-70 X-Wing from Ep. 7 The Force Awakens. I'm going to try and build more Star Wars stuff this year. Not much of a build thread as it went together so quickly! The fit of the parts is a joy and I only used glue in a couple of places. You could build and decal this straight from the box and have a lovely kit on your shelf. But I decided to repaint the orange markings with a custom Tamiya mix of red, orange & yellow. The hull was painted Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black My first time weathering with a liquid mask and I learned a lot - will do better next time. Rest of the weathering was a Flory Models wash and some oil streaking. Most of the kit decals were used. Thanks for looking and happy modelling. All the best, Dermot

Hello all, This is my first WIP, so I’m going to be learning as I go along; I chose to build Bandai’s lovely 1/72 T-70 X-wing, this isn’t my first x-wing (I’ve already built a T-65 in “Red 5” scheme) and this certainly won’t be my last as I’ve got 2 more in the stash. The kit itself is as good as any Bandai kit, which means that the detail is crisp, everything fits together without any glue needed, there isn’t any flash to be seen and the clear parts are beautifully moulded without any defects. I’ll be doing this ship in Blue Squadron scheme as seen during the attacks on Takodana and Starkiller Base in episode VII The Force Awakens. I have already cut off the cockpit parts which I painted in Ak real colors RC261 Neutral Grey, and I also cut out the pilot and droid which I proceeded to prime with Tamiya XF-2 flat white. Here are some sprue shots, I know this has been done before, but I thought it would be nice anyway.Note: I cut off the clear parts sprue section from the main sprue to avoid damaging the canopy. Box Art Instructions Bandai decals and stickers Sprue A with fuselage Clear parts sprue section, cut off from main sprue A Sprue B with s-foils Sprue C with silver coloured parts Sprue B2 with BB model droid Sprue with base for The Last Jedi version Sprue with base for The Force Awakens version Here's what I've done so far: The seat was painted with Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey I don’t know how long I’ll take to finish this kit as I’ve got other projects going on, including a P-51D Mustang GB with my dad; I hope to finish before the end of the year but I doubt that will be possible. I will also try to take some comparison shots to show the difference between the T-65 and the T-70 x-wings using both Bandai kits and hopefully by next week I will have painted the cockpit, and maybe done some sub-assemblies.

Hi all, After almost a month of work I finished Lord Vader’s ship. This was a very fun and a relatively quick build and, like all Bandai kits, it fits together perfectly. The model was painted with AK Real Colors Acrylics and weathered with Abteilung 502 oils. I hope you enjoy it, Comments welcome! A picture with the enemy.

Hello everyone … Ive been working on this for a few days. My wife has been collecting “Hello Kitty” since she was a kid. I saw that Bandai had released a “Hello Kitty” Gunpla in 2020. Now I never thought Id see one in real life but surprisingly found six in August at what counts as a my local hobby shop. I bought this for my wife's birthday which is actually in August. Sadly its taken me three months to actually clear my desk off enough to build it. The large Head is interchangeable with the little gunpla body. I hate stickers so painted the yellow, reds, silver, some of the whites on the feet, and the pink. I chose to put this here as its more of Sci fi/anime vs figure. Please feel free to ask questions post comments or thoughts. Dennis

I've a thing for the original Macross Anime kits from IMAI that appeared in the early 80's. The kits were available in the UK even though Macross or even the bastardized Robotech version from the the US wasn't. This a 2010 repop by Bandai of the orginal IMAI kit of probably the coolest looking mecha in the series. The boxart is particular captivating and adds a lots of character to a machine that only appeared occasionally in the series. Had great fun building this and rather pleased with the finish. I enjoyed experimenting with weathering techniques chipping (airspray and painted) and oils. The dull weather and basic photography skills means a the pictures don't show it all. Painted and partially weathered with Humbrol Enamels which suit the early 80's origins of this kit. Even in my late 40's I still think this looks as freaking awesome as I did in my teens 😁

This my first sci-fi/space build: a Bandai X-Wing for a friend. Stay on target.

Just a quick build of Bandais 1:144 Tie Fighter crashed on a desert planet, undamaged solar panels scavenged for scrap.

This is a project I started last year that has been on and off the bench since then. I had initially not planed to make any WIP for this one, but as I have been taking some photos during the process I've changed my mind. May be this will give me enough motivation to complete the model. The Bandai kit of the Super Cub was initially released way back in 1973, togehter with 5 other general avaiation types. Nice kits for the time, but not quite up to modern standards. But as general aviation types are not on the priority list of current kit manufacturers, these oldies have to do. I bought the kit second-hand, and here is what came in the box: I plan to build the model as "LN-RTC" as used by SAS Flying Club around 1980. Decals are from Lima November. Her I have started playing with the parts. The cockpit is not bad, but I decided to add a bit of extra detail. Here, I have added new rudder pedals and control columns, as well as knobs that I guess are throttle levers along the port cockpit edge. Seat belts are made from strips of Tamiya tape and buckles comes from a generic photoetched buckle set I have had for ages. Made by Reheat sometimes in the 90-ties I think. The exact colours used in the cockpit of LN-RTC are uncertain - my guess is light grey overall with dark blue seats. Floor with seats mounted in the port fuselage half. A light wash and gentle dry-brushing brings out the details. Regards, Ragnar

This is the Bandai 1/72 B-Wing. Built from the box and added the lighting unit for the engines (at £2.50 from HK it was not a hard desision). The paints I used were mixed so they "looked about right". The photos make them look a little darker than reality. A fun build. Tim

Hi all, I am calling this done, not quite got it across the line for the May 4th Star Wars day, mainly due to shipping delays getting the last of my 1/144 Stormtroopers from Shapeways. I have 76 Stormtroopers in total in this hanger bay, 40 of them together with Darth Vader came last Saturday morning, thanks to Keith at Cozmic Scale models. The other 36 had a different pose and Shapeways had those. Anyway I got them on Tuesday afternoon. Darth Vader seems to have almost disappeared amongst the black flooring and lighting, but I have tried to show him best I can. I have continued the tradition of ILM by placing characters from other movies that they had worked on into the build. In the mother ship from Close Encounters they added an R2D2 on the edge of the ship just for fun. So, can you spot the Star Wars character from a later movie? I have placed it in the unlit photos to make it easier. I intend to display both this hanger bay and my recently completed Imperial Shuttle Bay together in a bookcase unit. Thanks for all the great comments and may the Force be with you always! Mystery Character Update Hi all, first of all thank you so much for all the wonderful comments on this build, it's very much appreciated. Just goes to show what you can do with a few old kits and a bit of imagination. Congrats to those of you that found BB8, yes it was staring at you in the face all the time! BB8 was in the Bandai Force Awakens Millennium Falcon kit and it sparked my memory for what ILM had done with the Close Encounters mothership. Let's see if I can hide another character in the next build. Bye for now, and may the Force be with you!

Hi guys, this is going to be another Star Wars diorama. This time it will be a scene from the first movie A New Hope, which is when we get the first view of the Death Star. The Millennium Falcon got caught in a Tractor Beam and is pulled into hanger bay 3-27. My diorama will be based around this hanger bay. This kit of the Falcon is from the later movie and has the wrong antenna dish shape, so I have ordered the correct round dish from Shapeways. The first task was to build the hanger bay floor with the 8-sided elevator lift shaft; I bought some 2mm gloss black acrylic sheet in A3 size which had to be trimmed to fit my intended hanger bay box. I part built the Falcon up to get the basic proportions of the lift shaft and get the correct scale of the floor chevron markings. I had some clear Perspex from an old display case that I used to make the side walls of the shaft, this allowed me to mask up the lighted segments. I used old kit parts, zip ties and some photo etch to detail the walls with. My initial plan was to use some mirror coated styrene sheet to give depth to the shaft, but the position of the Falcon meant this was not possible due to the cockpit over hanging the shaft and its reflection would be seen. I have enough spare Perspex to build a 2nd layer to give me the required depth. I masked and sprayed a light grey onto the acrylic to give me the floor chevron markings. Next will be to drill the holes for the floor lighting, that's all for now folks.

Hello everyone! Another model to add to my growing Star Wars collection, another RFI - this time it is Bandai's 1/72 A-Wing that I completed last week. I finally understand the hype surrounding Bandai's Star Wars kits, even more so than the T-70 (Resistance) X-Wing that I completed last year, this kit was an absolute joy to build! The engineering is brilliant and it can be completed in an afternoon without needing a drop of paint or glue, while still being not only a faithful representation of the studio model from Return of the Jedi but also a very solid build, without any loose parts falling off. Everything from the multicolor sprues, the box art, even the instructions, is top notch quality. The Death Star gun tower is an added bonus! Having decided that I won't be building an exact replica of the studio model but another similarly colored A-Wing that fought at Endor. I started by masking several of the odd out-of-place red panels (molded in colored plastic) and sprayed them with an enamel Revell matt white, then I pre-shaded the panel lines and sprayed the white-molded parts to get the same shade everywhere. The red panels just received a good panel wash. I sprayed the inside of the engines with Mr. Color RLM 04 yellow but several small streaks went around my masks and onto the white tail surfaces; so, I masked again and carefully resprayed the white panels. Incidentally, it resulted in a nice, gentle yellow gradient that looks like a decent representation of engine glow! Overall, I went for a decidedly less weathered look than my Fine Molds X-Wings using only a small brush to simulate paint chipping on the red panels, and I masked several panels and sprayed them grey as if they were changed due to battle damage. One small mishap was caused by my airbrush when it splattered a black flake of paint on the starboard panels during the final matte coating process; the black dissolved and looked like a blast mark. Not being content with having a blast mark on a Star Wars model (...), I gently sanded down the affected panels, sprayed them matt white and redid the entire weathering. There's a barely noticeable difference in the shade of the panels if you look closely but I decided to stop trying to fail myself and accept it's a Rebel fighter - they always look cobbled together! Still struggling to get good photos with my old camera and poor lighting... hope you enjoy, comments and criticism welcome!

Hi ! here I go again with another bandai SW model. this time is the rebel ship Bwing as seen on the return of the Jedi. for me is one of the most badass ships in the SW saga. once again I looked for some tips and I find an amazing step by step tutorial https://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/11/build-guide-andy-moores-172nd-scale-b.html thank you @Andy Moore ! -I removed the canopy for the pics to better show the cockpit details. -this kit can be improved with the bandai Led unit. ( I will buy soon ) here's the pictures :

This is a “what if” I just finished with an AT-ST from Bandai in 1/48th scale. To me it’s quite clear the influences used to create the Empire aesthetic in the Star Wars universe, so instead of doing it with the usual light grey scheme as seen in the Forest Moon of Endor, I thought to be more interesting to run my imagination free and place it in the eastern front during the second world war. I used some Tamiya 1/48th German Infantry figures and I made this simple vignette with some snow melting and mud. The Bandai kit is really detailed and fit perfectly without the need of glue so I totally recommend it!. To give it a WWII look I give a cast steel texture to the armour plates and I added some big bolts. Colour use was panzer grey from Tamiya and a combination of oil paints from MIG and Abteilung 502 to create the weathering. Cheers and I hope you guys like it! Jorge “Somewhere in the Eastern Front” as usual, any comments are welcome and thanks for looking!

Hi all and here's some Falcon for a Friday. Really enjoyed this one which I started earlier this year but got distracted by group builds. The build thread is here but to recap: Kit: Bandai MillenniumFalcon 'Lando Calrissian' version Scale: 1/144 Build: Out of box Decals: From kit Paints: Tamiya black as primer, Tamiya White, Klear, Flory Models wash, pastels, finished with W&N satin varnish. Extras: Engine & cockpit lighting kit by https://www.captainjacksmodels.co.uk/ Thanks for looking, stay safe and happy modelling! Der Bandai_Lando_Millennium_Falcon_1 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Bandai_Lando_Millennium_Falcon_4 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Bandai_Lando_Millennium_Falcon_6 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Bandai_Lando_Millennium_Falcon_5 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Bandai_Lando_Millennium_Falcon_2 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr (Click for video) IMG_8947 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr

Finished ! These little Bandaï models kit are superb. Very fine détails and very easy to build. As this Tantive IV is the very first spaceship seen in the first movie, this model must be done !! I hope you will like it. Alain.

I have been a bit busy getting my push iron ready to start a new job in 4 weeks, it's close to home so will be cycling to work, 7 miles each way..... Gulp. As I was rummaging through box's I came across this old kit I built years ago when it was first released, its the OVA version and I though it was time to show it some love. I have lost all the extra parts like the other unicorn horns and amo packs and the horn I have is bent and broken but we will see what I can do with it. The plan is to paint in a few shades of white and grey and re color the pink phycoframe green to match the 1/35 bust I have the same kit. Over the last few day I have dismantle the kit and painted the pink frames parts black and then a few parts clear green over silver. The parts I have finished seam to be going back together so I will carry on with the rest of the parts. What I have so far.

Hi all, I started building an MG Gundam kit recently - the Hyaku Shiki 2.0. It's the one with all the gold plated armour parts. Not much to show yet - I spent a few evenings cutting out and cleaning up pieces, and this week I've painted all the frame and detail parts. It took five airbrushing sessions - partly because I only have enough clips to do a few dozen pieces at a time, and partly because it just takes *ages*. Almost everything is painted with decanted TS paints over the plastic (no primer) and there are a few bits and bobs in Alclad. Hopefully that'll give a robust base for the rest. I haven't shaded the frame yet as I don't think it'll be that visible behind the bling bling gold, but I'll need to shade the panel lines and things at least. Sorry there's not much to see so far, it'll be more interesting when I start putting things together. Cheers, Will

"What a piece of junk!" This is my build of Bandai's 1/144 Millennium Falcon from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Weathered with acrylic and oils. I also installed an LED strip and battery box inside.

One of my quickest ever builds at five hours total, here's the Bandai 1/350 Millennium Falcon which I've just finished. A snap kit, which was perfectly moulded with no fit problems at all, only let down by the thick and unsticky stickers. Tiny little thing, less than four inches long, but I've photographed it with a single directional light source and fiddled with the backgrounds a bit, to give it a more suitable setting... Cheers, Dean

Visiting Australia last year I happened to walk into a toy shop in Brisbane and found they were selling the Bandai Star Wars kits. I treated myself to a Star Destroyer and the Millennium Falcon, the latter for the princely sum of AU$29.99: As a palate cleanser between more involved builds, I decided to have a go at it today. It's a pretty simple snap together kit: I'm always impressed with Bandai's mouldings. They may be expensive, but there's no flash anywhere and the fit is no less than perfect. Consulting with a knowledgeable party (cheers Rich) about colours, I decided that the kit was already moulded in the appropriate colour, so I decided to go full retro in this build and do it without painting it, and even use the stickers! 🙂 I applied a grey home made pastel wash to the bare plastic, and it took perfectly: The amount of detail on this kit is amazing- the whole spacecraft is less than four inches long in this scale: Stickers next... More when it happens, Dean