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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

Hi,here's my Bandai at-st i built about June last year. Its a snap together build,but i did glue it! I built the whole thing unpainted, except the cockpit interior,airbrushed matt black, then airbrushed matt white in places to give some shading. Gave it a Tamiya matt grey(sorry,can't remember what colour grey!) top coat. Ak pigments,engine grime,light rust pigment,sponge chipping,and burnt umber oil paint for some rust stains. The cockpit and pilots, i had a few not so sharp pictures from the web from the empire strikes back movie,to get an idea of the colour layout,but as the at-st is fictional,a bit of creative license was used in the colours! I did add a set of harnesses made from kitchen foil and attached them to a wire frame i fitted. I didn't glue the roof,as i didn't want to spend loads of time and effort, only to cover it up! Lol! The stand,i masked off where the feet sit,put pva glue on and spread some modelling grass/foliage i got off ebay,Serious Play the name on the packaging. It had just the right amount of grass,sticks and twigs to give it that 'forest floor' look! I managed to find a case for it,despite its shape/dimensions! Ive got,waiting in the wings,2 more bandai kits,the 1/72 tie fighter and 1/12 stormtrooper, looking forward to those! Thanks all for looking:-)

Star Wars AT-AT Imperial Walker (05680) 1:53 Revell I first saw a clip of the AT-AT Walkers from the new Star Wars film “The Empire Strikes Back”, on Clapperboard during lunchtime from school. They blew me away, and I still think they’re awesome. They are heavily armoured four-legged behemoths with powerful armament in a mobile “head”, where the crew of two and commander sit relatively safe from harm. They instil terror in their enemy, as Luke found out when his Snowspeeder was crushed by one at the height of the Hoth battle, although he soono got his revenge by throwing a thermal detonator in through an access hatch in the belly, blowing it to pieces. Top of the line stop-motion and go-motion animation from the team at ILM, led by the talented Phil Tippett, and it still holds up well to scrutiny today on the 40th anniversary of the film's release. The Kit This is a reboxing of Revell’s own 2007 vintage Easy Kit, but without the clumsy pre-painting that usually accompanied those offerings, so that you can do your own paint job and glue the parts together for extra rigidity. The kit is on the larger side at 1:53 and even though it’s a fairly simple design there are many large parts with raised and recessed detail. Some of the large panel lines have been rendered in reverse, raised instead of engraved. This would create some extra work for the serious modeller, but the plastic is thick enough to cope. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with four sprues and four separate parts in grey styrene that’s about the right colour already. There are no clear parts, just the instruction booklet and that annoying safety sheet, which hid the decals within on my sample, so be careful not to throw them out without checking like I did. This is a giftset boxing, so there are six thumb-sized acrylic paint pots, a #2 brush and a small bottle of Contacta Professional with fine applicator nozzle if you should need them. The last item in the box is an A3 film poster, which is folded to fit the box as can be seem below. Construction begins with the neck, which is made up of two halves and has a short axle at the head end for later use. The head it split horizontally into top and bottom halves, which has the two chin cannons fitted either side of the central raised portion, then the cheek guns are placed on either end of an axle and dropped into their socket with the neck fitted the same way. The top of the head is then fitted over the bottom trapping the neck and cheek guns in place, with careful gluing allowing them to pivot. The red glowing windscreen in the front is oddly provided with a black decal or you can paint it red for a little more authenticity if you like. The head is put to one side while the body is built up. The Snap-Tite heritage shows here, as the parts all clip together with large lugs, but before gluing you are incited to paint them grey with a margin around the inside also painted, and the small recesses in the sides painted a slightly darker grey for contrast. You might want to follow your references instead, especially if you are scribing out the panel lines and adding your own additional detail. The body is started with the top sloped section, to which you add the head, one side and the rear panel, then fit the other side to the lower hull and join the two sub-assemblies together, being careful not to get any glue around the neck joint. The underside is then detailed with the repurposed Rolls-Royce Pegasus engines that form the mechanisms for the legs, with axles to fit them later. The legs must be built first, with each one ostensibly similar but different enough to be made up in A, B, C & D variants due to the handing etc. It begins with the foot, which has a hollow sole plate, so that’s another thing you’ll have to make up if you plan to have the underside showing. The curved ankle slider sits on a groove in the top, and is trapped by a cap, taking care not to glue the slider as you go. The lower leg comprises two parts that fit either side of the slider, and each one has a steadying ram that slots into a socket on the foot without glue. The upper legs are also made of two halves, then attach to the lower with a clip-on pin that completes the knee joint, all of which is done four times in total. The leg mechanisms seat on two cradles each on the underside and their linkages slot into the axles, with the legs clipped on at the corners with similar pins as used in the knees. At that point you realise that this is a BIG model. Markings There aren’t many decals on the little sheet, and each one is either silver or black. The majority are applied to the rear of the body, with a few others on the top and underside, but the majority of the visual interest comes from the accent panels and the grime that is seen on just about every AT-AT that appears on screen in the franchise. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion If you want a big AT-AT this is probably going to be your only choice in injection plastic since the 1:48 kit we were promised disappeared from Dragon’s forthcoming list a while back. For accuracy you will need to do a little detailing work, but as I found with Darth Maul’s Infiltrator Easy-Kit a few years ago, it’s not the hardest thing in the world. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Snowspeeder Update Set (05018-1/48) for Bandai 1:48 GreenStrawberry Star Wars and Bandai have become synonymous with each other this last few years with thousands of us importing these Far East only offerings, which are laden with detail despite their snap-together nature. GreenStrawberry have a habit of producing superb resin and Photo-Etch (PE) that takes these kits to the next level, and here's one right now! As usual with GreenStrawberry Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a black-themed backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between, showing off the contents at the front. This set is for the Spowspeeder, and includes a rather comprehensive update to both the cockpit and canopy, with additional parts used to upgrade the details of the flip-up spoilers, and finally the harpoon gun on the back deck. It starts with the shallow cockpit tub, removing the lugs for the pilots, and adding control details and a new skin for the ribbed seats, back and front. As well as two control sticks and a throttle in the forward cockpit, the pilot and gunner's seats are both fitted with a set of four-point crew belts, with a new set of rudder pedals being installed in the front foot well, although what they do is a mystery… and thinking about it, so is how the Snowspeeder flies! Regardless, his instrument panel is replaced with a new part and backed with a piece of the acetate to allow you to put some lights behind it is you feel like. The canopy is completely replaced by the set, which aims to improve the scale fidelity by using PE parts and acetate windows. The exterior is folded up from a single part, and has an internal skin added, plus various wiring and greeblies added to the roof. The internals of the windows are there to hide the acetate parts, which are cut from the printed sheet that's provided, and sandwiched between the outer skin and the internal frames. The same process is followed to make up the fixed rear canopy portion over Dak's head (if you know what I mean), using more acetate parts for the windscreens. A complex set of hinges are folded up and laminated, along with a set of rams, which link to the front and rear parts together, turning them into a single assembly. You can then pose it open or closed depending on your needs. A few more detail parts are added to the interior of the forward canopy, and at the exterior joint between the two parts, and Dak's gun controls see an upgrade to the central boss and control grips, while his harpoon gun is detailed with control wires and a new part under the muzzle. Externally (other than the canopy), there is a choice to two new mesh panels for the front of the ship, which depends on what version you're building (that research is up to you!), a set of new covers for the forward main cannon "supports", and a detailed set of hinges and supports for the prominent spoilers that are housed in the rear cannon supports, which are used in directional control. The sheet is crisp as you could want, and the attention to detail is typical of GreenStrawberry, as is the nod toward lighting your creation. The use of acetate should also improve the view into the canopy if you elect to pose it down, so while it seems a shame to hide it all away under the canopy, you can at least still see it all, whilst being able to vroom! Your creation around the room while no-one is looking. Good shot Jenson! I couldn't resist pinching one of their pictures to show the finished article, as it's excellent. Review sample courtesy of

I dug out my long abandoned MPC AT-AT build. I started on this back in 2006. It got packed away and has finally seen the light of day again. I resumed work to get it to this state. The plan is to do the famous tow cable scene from the movie. Compared to today's Bandai kits and even the Revell kits, this model leaves a lot to be desired. The fit is less than stellar. I started applying paint and washes to each part of the kit separately. I felt it was easier to finish each minor assembly separately rather than the complete model. More to come...