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TIE Fighter (20423-1/32 for AMT Studio Scale) 1:32 GreenStrawberry The TIE fighter was one of Star Wars’ outstanding and iconic space craft designs that stemmed from the original film that was released in 1976, but has since become Episode IV of the saga, which still rankles a little bit to this reviewer. Flown by the evil Empire, they were first encountered after the Millennium Falcon came out of hyperspace where Alderaan should have been, and was later encountered in their escape from the Death Star, then again when the Rebel Fighters attacked the gigantic battle station in an attempt to destroy it before it destroyed their base, which they clearly managed. The design carried on through the rest of the original trilogy, and has been seen in different forms at the end of the original trilogy and as updated variants in the sequel trilogy, plus the new TV shows such as the Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. We’ll ignore Kenobi. AMT released their new tooling of the TIE Fighter last year as part of their Studio Series brand, and our friends at GreenStrawberry have wasted no time in creating a new set for the kit to bring up the detail to what you would expect from a Studio Scale kit, as the model has been criticised for being a bit soft and low on detail. The set arrives in a flat package, with a substantial card protector hidden inside the dark grey themed outer layer of cardboard, and inside is a large fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, plus a clear sheet of acetate with various triangular shapes printed on it, and a clear red sheet of foil to assist with lighting your project. The instruction sheet covers both sides of a piece of A4 that is printed in colour, and consists of six steps, although the last two are both marked as No.5. Small portions of the two faceted inner cockpit walls are removed, then several facets of the interior are replaced with PE parts, applying the decals to the clear printed foil to show through the PE part with the same number. This extends to twelve panels, one in the corner receiving an additional PE layer over the top. The coaming that covers some of the faceted windscreen in front of the control columns has the instrument box cut from the top to be replaced by a new folded part, with the two control yokes detailed by adding small levers to the outer sides, removing the top surfaces of the grips, replacing them with small PE parts, with addition levers on the inner side where the pilot’s thumbs would rest. The clear kit floor is laminated together with a PE part that has the same decking pattern etched into it, sandwiching a section of clear red foil between them to assist with lighting the floor, and giving it a red hue. The pilot’s seat is detailed with a new PE head box that is folded up from three parts and applied to the back of the headrest, which will be seen through the hatch on top of the hull once complete. A small instrument box is folded from two parts, and applied to the inner face of the coaming, where it too will be visible through the hatch. Speaking of the hatch, this area is improved by folding up a new hinge from three PE parts, and adding a highly detailed etched rim around the rear lip that is curved to fit the contours of the entryway, gluing the hinge to a flat patch in the centre of the strip, and supporting the hatch itself in the open position. The interior of the windscreen is provided with a new PE inner frame that creates more realistic detail when looking out from the hatch, and another two-part equipment detail assembly is fitted to the bottom rail of the inner octagonal frame. There are eight “clamps” spaced around the external edges of the windscreen, which have their moulded-in texture removed and replaced by small PE rectangles with a crisp pattern etched into their surface, with two spares in case you lose some. The instructions note them as parts 29, but that is the kit part number, and they are in fact part 28. The final part is a honeycomb textured PE insert that fits within the hexagonal exhaust at the rear of the fighter. Conclusion This is not a huge set, but neither is it expensive, and it improves the detail on the kit to a level where it will draw the viewer into the cockpit. The addition of the extra interior details that lend their use to lighting the model will be useful to the modeller with a hankering for some LEDs in their TIE Fighter kit. You can see the set applied to the unpainted kit by following the link below, which gives a feeling for the usefulness of it in improving the kit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

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! 🙂

Star Destroyer Decals (1005 for Bandai 001) 1:14500 GreenStrawberry The Star Destroyer was the first Imperial ship to be seen in the iconic opening scene of Star Wars, that some strange people now refer to as “A New Hope”. To me it will always be Star Wars, because I’m of a certain age. Bandai have been working hard to fill lots of gaps in the available Star Wars kits for a few years now since they took up the mantle from Fine Molds when the Sequel Trilogy began, and they have a huge range of kits now, including the Vehicle range that this set of decals is intended for. They are pocket-friendly kits both in size and cost, but painting details at such a small scale can be taxing to us modellers with normal skills. I’ve had the original Vehicle scale Star Destroyer on my desk since it was first released because I became locked into an indecision-loop on how best to paint it. I’m sure I’m not alone. This set from GreenStrawberry, my favourite source of Sci-Fi detail sets, aims to help with that issue for this kit and they have a new but expanding range that so far extends to the Super Star Destroyer and the Death Star, both of which have complex paint schemes in such a small scale, plus a few others for the two variants of Slave-1. The set arrives in a clear film package with their usual dark-themed card package wrapped around a stiff card insert, a sheet of decals and instructions on where to put them. The decals are very well detailed with multiple colours, lines and greeblies that will bring out the best in your model, with the visual guide showing you where each individual part goes. The printing is crisp with good registration, colour density and sharpness, and will look best when laid down on a light greyish coat of paint that has been glossed to obtain better adhesion. My go-to Star Wars paint is Xtracrylix XA1137, so that’s what I’ll be using once I find the bloomin’ model! I intend to use this set to demonstrate the effect of the decals, as I think they will do a better job than I ever could with my shaky hands and poor eyesight. Although the decal printers aren’t named on the sheet, the colour of the backing paper and style of print reminds me of the decals often used by the likes of Special Hobby or Eduard, who are also in Czechia as the Czech Republic is now known. They will doubtless settle down well with the use of your preferred decal solution, and as long as you don’t try to rush it and apply more decals in one session than is sensible, the results should be excellent. Conclusion I got quite excited when I saw these sets in GreenStrawberry’s recent newsletter, and was very keen to try them out. I went looking for my completed Star Destroyer kit and found it, and hope to show you the results when I’m done. There is also an alternative set for the personal Star Destroyer of Admiral Thrawn, who appeared in some of the well-loved books that are still considered canon under Disney’s ownership, and had a rather fancy scheme applied to his ship to pick him out from the crowd. I’ve added a link to that below. Highly recommended. Star Destroyer (1005) Admiral Thrawn's Chimera Star Destroyer (1001) Review sample courtesy of