Search the Community

X-Wing & TIE Fighter Collector Set (06054) 1:57 & 1:65 Revell I think we’re all aware of Star Wars and its attendant raft of fabulous space craft, characters and nine films plus a host of spin-offs in the cinema, TV, comics, books and games, both computer and board. Revell have the licence for merchandising in Europe and the Americas, and have been popping out kits of various types over the years since the initial announcement of The Force Awakens in 2015. The Kit The set arrives in a deep end-opening box, and contains four sprues in a bluish grey styrene, six in an off-white, two clear sprues and two tiny sprues of vinyl figures, a rebel pilot and R2 unit, and a TIE Fighter pilot, plus a bag of paints, brush and glue. The decal sheet covers both models, and the instruction booklet covers both models, but we’ll separate them out for ease of dealing with them. Each kit is quite well-detailed for the type, and have been released previously as Easy Kits, as is evidenced by the friction turrets within the parts that allow them to be put together without glue. X-Wing Fighter The good guys come first, starting with our pilot. We’ll call him Luke. He’s supplied as a vinyl figure that is quite well-moulded, although you could argue that his helmet needs pulling down a little. He’s painted and fitted into his cockpit tub, which is then inserted into the upper fuselage after painting the simplified instrument panel. The canopy is trapped in place by the rear glazing, which permits it to open and close after. The wings are moulded in full-width pairs, and are slotted together so that they can pivot to and from attack position later, then the engine units are made up to be put in place with the intake inserts, and the lower nacelles having optional open gear bays. The tip-guns slot into their nacelles, which press into the friction cups at the wingtips, then the completed wings are inserted between the two fuselage halves, with the rear bulkhead a separate part. Artoo is also vinyl, and a detailed set of decals are provided with four diagrams showing it from all angles, after which he is inserted into his cubby behind Luke. The last job is to insert the landing gear if you haven’t opted to pose it in-flight, with the parts painted with dark grey and silver oleos, and if you are going for in-flight, the nose gear bay is covered by an insert as the last step. Markings It’s Luke’s Red-Five, which most of us will be familiar with, and it even includes the blue candy-striping on two of the guns, and a dark grey decal for the twin gun troughs under the fuselage. Decals are by Zanetti, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. This is a collector’s set, so includes a number of paint pots, a bottle of Revell Contacta with fine-tip applicator, and a size 2 paintbrush, for those without the necessary tools. It might be a little large for the detail painting, but you either use the tools available, or buy a smaller brush! TIE Fighter Construction begins again with the pilot, who is predominantly black, so you could probably just leave him as is if you don’t like painting vinyl. His seat has a C-shaped console attached to the back, and the pilot slots into place before it is in turn fixed into the floor with the various side facets installed around him. The V-shaped front has a set of controls and instruments added, and the whole interior is provided with decals to detail the area. The top hatch has a series of slots in it, with a clear insert and L-shaped hinge, which secures inside the top fuselage with an insert. The underside is outfitted with a pair of blasters, then the two halves are brought together around the cockpit, with the Ion engine exhaust inserted into the aperture at the rear. The pilot is protected from space-bugs between his teeth by the circular windscreen, then the solar-wings are made up from the hexagonal main panel, which has frame moulded into one side, with the other side having the frames separate, which will ease painting of at least one side per wing. There are two wings to stop it from flying in circles, and each one is locked in place by a nicely detailed peg that slots through the centre. Because the TIE Fighter is a little hard to park without assistance, a stand is included that fixes into the bottom of the central “knot” of the TIE, cupping it so that it doesn’t topple off. Markings There are no external decals on the spaceframe, just some detail painting that is called out in the accompanying diagrams. Conclusion These little kits aren’t designed to be super-detailed, and their intended audience won’t mind the slight difference in scales, especially as they’re capable of being made without glue or paint, so they could be a great introduction to modelling for a youngster. Highly recommended. Currently, Revell are unable to ship to the UK from their online shop due to recent changes in import regulations, but there are many shops stocking their products where you can pick up the kits either in the flesh or online. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Star Wars Snowspeeder (05679) 1:29 Revell Star Wars. I can remember sitting down to watch The Empire Strikes Back as a kid and being awed at the diminutive little Snowspeeders that were sent out looking for Han and Luke, then as a recovered Luke stepped into one with the ill-fated Dak, tasked with hurling themselves to near certain death in the fight against the AT-AT walkers, which were another jaw dropping moment for young me. Those were the days! It’s now 40 years since Empire, which is a scary fact. The Kit This kit is a 40th Anniversary re-release of a former Click-Fit kit of 2007 vintage, but don’t let that necessarily put you off, because the detail is actually quite nice if you ignore (or fill) a few sink marks here and there, most of which are caused by the attachment turrets inside. It arrives in a themed end-opening box with a picture of a finished model performing a very tame straight-and-level manoeuvre, with four sprues and two hull parts in grey styrene, plus two clear parts on a linked tree, and two grey vinyl crew figures with a forest of overflow spruelets everywhere. I cut those off immediately so you can see the figures, and because they were a swine to sit up with them on. The instruction booklet is in colour, there is a small irritating safety sheet that went straight in the bin, a good-sized decal sheet, and a bag of paints, brush and glue to complete the box, this being a gift set of course. Construction begins with the vinyl crew getting a lick of paint, and as they’re vinyl it might be worthwhile googling the best method to get the paint to stick long term before you proceed. The figures are well-detailed, but perpetuate the truncated torsos of the old MPC kit of yore. Perhaps it’s a product of the optimistic depth of the hull that causes this, so can we blame the original model makers at Lucasfilm? The cockpit tub is painted up and has the divider inserted to create two seats back-to-back, then you can place the two pilots in, securing them by the pegs sticking out of their butts. The two instrument panels have tons of fictitious detail on them that you can paint up and decal, and they too are slotted into grooves in either end of the cockpit tub, before it is inserted into the upper hull from below. Before this it would be an idea to check the sink-marks on the upper hull (or should I call it fuselage?) to see whether filling them would be necessary once the guns and their upstands are in place. It’s possible they’ll be at least partially covered, and who doesn’t like less filling? The coamings are moulded into the upper hull, and each one is covered in raised circles, which I suspect might irritate the purists, who would be tempted to remove them and put something more realistic in their place. The canopy will cover much of the detail however, and this is provided as front and rear sections with a hinge on the canopy that is clamped to the rear by a small bracket, which allows it to be opened and closed. The completed assembly is then attached to the hull on two pegs at the rear. The blasters on a Snowspeeder take up the full length of the kit, and these are built from a long section with a short insert added at the muzzle, then these are fitted to the wings and joined by the upstands, which also slot into grooves in the wings, with the engine nozzles fitted to the rear of the big upstands, and the little spoilers that afford some degree of control over flight are moulded flat into this section. The lower hullelage (??) is fitted after the rear bulkhead and huge cooling vanes are assembled onto a bulkhead, with lower spoilers either side, and finally the single piece harpoon gun is pushed home without glue to leave it posable. Because this is a giftset, you get a pack of six acrylic paint pots (thumb-sized), a #2 paint brush and a small bottle of Revell Contacta Professional with a long precision applicator. As usual with these brushes, being bagged without a protector is not good for the bristles, and they ended up perpendicular to the ferrules. I managed to coax them back to somewhere near a decent shape eventually though. Not only but also… you receive a nice A3 reproduction of the film poster, which would look good on the wall if you have any space. If I unfolded it, it wouldn’t fit in the booth, and I don’t have any wall space for a full pic, so there. Markings The decals are very well presented and appear to be quite detailed when compared to older kits, having the red stripes over the upstands and down the front, lots of stencils, and even some grey accent panels here and there, most notably the underside. If you wanted to weather the stripes you’d be better off painting them and using modern chipping techniques unless you can scuff up the decals by some means. From the box you can build Luke’s speeder with grey stripes (or none in some shots), or a generic scheme in the reddish orange that I’d convinced myself was Luke’s. Isn’t the mind a weird thing? Decals are by Zanetti, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a big Snowspeeder of recent heritage, and on balance it gives a better impression than the old MPC kit, which incidentally is getting harder to get hold of. While the hardcore Star Wars modeller might not be all that interested, the modeller that looks at it as a base to improve upon, the younger modeller or casual Star Wars fan would be quite pleased with their new acquisition. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

I just finished up my build of Bandai's 1/72 X-wing, painted as Luke Skywalker's Red 5. This model was commission by a friend of mine as part of a trench run diorama with Vader and his two wingmen. This was my second go at Luke's X-wing after I did a Fine Molds version for my personal collection last summer. The Fine Molds version of this kit really doesn't compare to the Bandai one; Bandai's is superior in just about every way. The only real downside is how Bandai's plastic reacts to thinner, which is something I'll take into consideration on my next Bandai build. In my short time building models (three years), this has by far been the most fun I've had working on a model. It's just a shame that it won't be living in my display case! Comments and criticisms are always welcome!

Millennium Falcon and X-Wing Revell EasyKit Pocket The Falcon and Luke's X-Wing need no introduction, but if you're looking for a stocking filler for your son, daughter, nephew, niece or family friend that just happens to love Star Wars, look no further. The kits are ready to build, and purport to be snap together without glue – I do wonder however how long they'd last if you didn't glue them. That's an issue for the parent/impatient child though! Each kit is presented in a vacformed package with the major parts laid out within the pack in a vacformed tray. The smaller parts and instructions are held in bags within the lower part of the pack, hidden by the card insert. They're sold as "pocket", and you'd need pretty big pockets for the unbuilt box, and still fairly voluminous ones for the finished article by children's standards. It's probably more of a "pocket money" association however, so we'll let it slide. Inside each pack is a really rather nicely moulded little kit of these famous space craft from the Star Wars franchise, and they are immediately recognisable. The parts are moulded in that Star Wars chewing gum coloured styrene, and are detail painted with appropriate colours to give them extra realism. Clear parts are supplied for the cockpits and the exhaust of the Falcon, and the Falcon also has a gloss black stand supplied because it has no gear legs. The X-wing is Luke's Red 5, and is posed with its spoilers in attack position, living up to its name. A couple of lugs hold the wings open, and even when removed they still want to remain opened, but would glue together if you were minded. The kits take moments to put together, but some of the parts are tricky to get in place, such as the exhaust glazing on the Falcon, and the cockpit of the X-wing, and certain similar looking parts won't fit in the wrong places, which although that might be frustrating for a child, ensures the model goes together correctly. The parts are all numbered on the instructions, but it's anyone's guess why, because all the parts are loose and don't seem to have numbers moulded or painted on them. It's fairly easy to work out which is which though, and I would suggest that an adult is present during construction for the younger and less experienced builder. When complete, the kits are surprisingly faithful models of the "real" things. I grew up with Star Wars, and built many of the AMT kits, and have a whole bunch of the new Finemolds kits still to make, and I recognise the shapes of the details immediately, even though some of them are simplified for moulding considerations. I built them both in a few minutes, and found that they fitted better when the remains of the sprue-gates were removed. Whoever had cut mine off was clearly in a bit of a rush, so there were plenty of bits needing tidying up, and annoyingly, a small section of the Falcon's exhaust ripped off along with the sprue-gate. That won't matter one jot to a young'un though. I glued the parts in place, but they have clever friction posts that once installed should stay put unless you apply some serious pressure, and the fine parts of the Falcon's sides are held in place by tabs and the curve of the top and bottom parts, although I suspect that the two front parts of the loading jaws would have come off fairly quickly if not glued. Conclusion Marvellous! They're great little kits to occupy small fingers for a while, and possibly give them a taste for modelling without appearing too obvious. The newer films have given a whole new generation a taste of Star Wars, and they should sell well. I'm not entirely sure how long the slender prongs at the end of each wing of the X-Wing will last, and I suspect that won't really matter much either. Be aware of the small parts that might represent a choking hazard to younger children, such as the R2-D2 figure in the rear of the X-Wing, which could easily be removed if not glued in. For that reason they are marked as suitable for ages 6+. Highly recommended for stocking fillers. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit