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Lando’s Millennium Falcon FruitPACK (FP11 for Bandai) 1:144 GreenStrawberry The story of Han Solo’s younger years filled in a lot of blanks for many Star Wars fans, although Solo: A Star Wars Story got a luke warm reception thanks to the then-recent divisive sequels, that maybe it didn’t deserve, if it had been judged on its own merits. I say that with my Star Wars fan hat on, which is just the thing to watch what is a Space Opera at its heart, and allowing for the jarring sight of someone else playing the titular part because Harrison Ford has unsurprisingly aged markedly in the 40 plus years since the original film – it took a bit of getting used to, but I got there in the end. I’m also not one to over-analyse things, and can enjoy films that defy physics and sometimes logic (I do have limits though). One major point of interest for me was the introduction of the Millennium Falcon in its original factory-fresh guise under Lando Calrissian’s stewardship, before that fateful game of sabacc that led indirectly to the Kessel Run incident. It was clean, white and streamlined, with a shuttle that fitted snugly in between those two cargo-handling mandibles, and even sported a set of blue go-faster stripes. Han had ruined that by the end of the film though, leaving it a smouldering write-off by the final scene. The Set This is a detail set of Photo-Etch (PE) that is intended to upgrade the excellent Bandai kit of the youthful Falcon, adding detail where Bandai has simplified or omitted. Even Bandai can’t work miracles with styrene alone. We’ve got the FruitPACK in for review, which puts two smaller sets in a thick card envelope to offer a one-stop-shop for the detail, with a discount into the bargain. It arrives in the aforementioned card envelope, and the two sets are found inside in their original packaging that adds more protection to the sheets within. The two sets are also available separately from the FruitPACK, so I’ll drop some links in at the bottom of the review in case someone doesn't want both, and we’ll deal with the sets individually to simplify things. Lando’s YT-1300 Millennium Falcon (09119-1/144) This set contains a large sheet of bare brass PE, and a self-adhesive sheet of printed instrument panels and other details that are integrated during painting to further enhance realism. It starts with the shuttle, adding detailed afterburner-style exhausts by putting new stand-offs on the kit parts and adding a new layer to each of the four exhaust bells. The bulkeads to the sides have grilles behind their outlets too, after which attention turns to the cockpit, which is fairly similar to the one we know and love, although a lot cleaner and less distressed. The upgrade begins with removal of some parts from the simple interior floor part that has seats moulded in, replacing the steering-yoke and adding more detail to the front of the area. A new rear bulkhead is made for the cockpit using the stickers to detail it with the masses of instruments and flashing lights, which should be capable of being replicated by shining a light through the perforated bulkhead to illuminate the printed portions. More stickers are applied to the centre and side consoles, then an interior skin is folded into a faceted half cylinder and detailed with more PE and stickers before it is fixed over the aft portion of the cockpit. New headboxes are made up for the aft seats, some of the moulded-in detail and friction-fit turrets are removed from inside top of the outer skin, then new side consoles are made up from angled PE panels with stickers applied over them, then they are glued to the cockpit sidewall. Outside the cockpit on the side of the hull is a prominent semi-circular vent, with another on the other side, which is covered by a PE grille, with another long strip wrapped around the transition from tapering cockpit to the tunnel behind it. The Falcon has two gun positions in its centre, one at the top, one in the bottom of the hull, which from the box are fairly sparse. The set includes new detailed skins that are formed up and placed on a faceted ring behind the glazing to give it the depth that it should have. More stickers are included to give the area some life, with the rest being painted according to your references. Grilles This smaller set contains two sheets of PE, which are laminated into a set of super-detailed exhausts that are found on the aft deck of the Falcon in a fan-shaped array of six. The kit part that surrounds these exhausts has the moulded-in representations removed and is then backed by three curved parts that support the following steps. The assembly is flipped over and the new parts added into the new deeper recess. The circular lower supports have two layers, plus a central disc to allow enough stand-off for the new fans. These are etched as a single part with the blades attached, which are tweaked slightly to form the angled fan shape, then a central detailed disc is glued over the blank section in the middle. They are fixed into the recesses, and a two-layer grille is placed over the apertures, taking care to align the long ribs toward the front so that they converge slightly towards the front, as shown by the red lines on the instructions. A big improvement on the kit parts. Conclusion The Bandai Falcons are well-detailed for the most part, especially considering their snap-together nature, but you can always improve on styrene that has been engineered for mass-production, and this set does just that with lots of lovely details to draw the eye. Highly recommended. FruitPack (FP11) Detail Set (09119-1/144) Grilles (07719-1/144) Review sample courtesy of

GOUD-4 Messenger Droid 1/12 Scratch Build I've not been doing much modelling over the last week or two since the room I usually work in is way too cold at this time of year. I've spent more time on the sofa watching TV but, to keep my hands busy, I've also been playing with some scrap plastic card from the big box of off-cuts I keep from previous projects. A couple of night's work ended up with this little pile of droid bits... ...which were then stuck together to make this If you don't recognise him (and there's no reason why you would), he's a loose rendition of GOUD-4, who was a messenger (mouse) droid on Kessel from the Solo film. To be honest, I can't actually remember seeing him on screen but he was presumably in one of the corridors at some point. I first saw him in the DK visual guide for the film and thought he'd make a nice addition to Nigel, who's been looking rather lonely of late. As I said, it's a loose rendition, as many of the angles and details are off. Unfortunately, I'm only aware of one production photo of the droid which is the one in the book. As a result, I've no idea what the back or the right-hand side should look like, so much of that has been made up using the visible sides as reference. If you haven't seen the real GOUD-4, he looks like this So, inaccurate as he is, he's been painted up (in the rather bland paint job of the original), weathered, and has now joined Nigel on the shelf, where he'll no doubt be picking up a few of Nige's bad habits over time. Thanks for looking Andy

Hi all, Well shes finished at last. its been a real blast doing the WIP for this build and the figure was a dream to paint and build with only the slight hicup of the dodgy masking tape. For my first Airbrushed figure im very happy with the results. hope you all like her. cheers till next time.

Hello people, I have been away from the forum for ages, I have actually been in a break from modelling for som time building only a few in the time I've been away. Revell's 1/72 Solo Turk is out but I can't find it anywhere for now and I always wanted to build one so said why not try a 1/144 one while trying to find Revell's kit and here is the result, Masking doesn't seem to be the best job around but still I am satisfied with my result.... I also added a few photos with the original kit built OOB too. Here we go: Thank you for looking...