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This one was from the bay. Missing a foot, so less than eight quid. Just in my price range! I made two new feet using parts of pencil sharpeners and added different sensors to them. The kit (snap fit) got modded into a proper Desert Walker with extra cooling gear at the back and more stowage. There are other mods too, I'll leave spotting them to the Star wars rivet counters. It wasn't until I started the weathering that I spotted moulded in circlips on the top inner sides of the legs! The desert sand colour doesn't show up so well in this picture. The garden looks nice though. Spot the extra greeblies. I've added lots of little bits that should be on one of these but weren't there on the snap fit kit. Here it is with another snap fit that I went bonkers on some years ago. You can see how the feet differ. 3 - 2 - 1 - Go! Back inside and the colour comes through. I've weathered it fairly heavily. Them Deserts is rough, you know! See, filthy! The Tatooine jetwash is coned off for maintenance. Left foot forward. See the holes on the spring on that front sensor? Fuse wire and PVA. The holes developed on their own. But shows wear and tear on the spring cover so I left them as is. A 1/35th bottle crate became smoke grenades. The colour seems to have changed again, but, here we see a unit marking, the concussion weapon and streaks of muck. The handrail around the top is small splitpins and wire. I still don't know how the crew is supposed to get in and out of this thing! And there we are. There is a WIP if you would like to see more. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235128275-chicken-walker-altered-state/ Thanks for looking in and your comments are always welcome. A special thanks to those who sent me boxes of bits to use as greeblies. Can't do this stuff without you Guys! Cheers, Pete

My latest Sci Fi Scratchbuild involved the remains of two gluebomb Airfix Bristol Superfreighters, Plastic card and lots of greeblies. There is a work in progress thread in the appropriate place if you're interested to see how it was done. These would be Corellian freighters being used by the Empire to supply their ships in deep space. On the right is the top view. Left side inverted. Scale would be around 1/720 I think. A ship scale? From the bow on the right, The bit with three stripes was a Helicopter intake, I think. Gotta have a probe up front! At left are legoalike bricks to create the Bridge and quarters etc. Paint is simple grey primer. Midships. Various greeblies including (I think) an F-15 RADAR set up and a couple of tank barrels. Oh, and a googly eye. The yellow stripe? Well Red denotes a Diplomatic ship. So maybe yellow is for cargo vessels? It just seemed right. This is a repurposed Tank section plus various other small pieces including track and Aircraft parts. The aft structure, Another Tank bit with add ons. Probably the engine rooms. Solar sail at the bottom here. A better view of a solar panel. A Tank bit with added thin strips. Why do they have to be black? This is Alien tech after all. The green of the upper hull shows up nicely here too. It was brushpainted in streaks of thinned Tamiya acrylic. Engines. Small Tank wheels and a 1/72nd Airfix JU88 engine intake. Makes as much sense as the engines on the Falcon! Upper hull. Colours blasted by Solar rays and debris but mostly green. (or blue) I wanted to get a sort of insectoid feel. There was a (90's) Sci fi TV series (can't remember the name) that had that sort of craft. German/Canadian, the male actor was Brian someone. He had a companion robot head? Here they are mounted on my Star Destroyer section* in the mancave. See the Diplomatic ship, top right. *There is a build and RFI for it somewhere on here. Just another view with a different freighter in the background. I don't really need two of these on display. So if anyone is really desperate, I could be persuaded to part with one. Very many thanks to those who followed the build and to you for looking in at this RFI. Comments are always welcome. Next build coming soon! Cheers, Pete

Well, the bench was empty and looked rather sad. So I thought I'd better do something... I'd acquired two gluebomb Airfix superfreighters. I had a vague idea that I could use one to build a Mandalorian style ship. But then I changed my mind. So a Corellian freighter was born. Well, actually two of them, why ever not? I'd dismantled the models ages ago, so they'll feel no pain during the next bit. I assembled my Dremilalike minidrill jobby and a circular cutter and then sliced the fuselage halves lengthwise. Then again to reduce the height before joining them together again. Their tails got lopped off too. Here, the glue is drying. There is black plastic card bridging the joint to add strength. This may look like I'm making small Aircraft Carriers, but please bear with me. I've added card spacers across the gap. And, two pieces of wood to aid in the eventual mounting (steady!) of the models. Here the one in the background has the white card fitted. Still waiting in the foreground. I was off making tea. I should explain that these things don't yet exist in the Star Wars universe so I'm making it up as I go along. As usual. The one in the foreground is the correct way up. The front to the right here. This is just a basic shell. It will need more card to shape it further, and lots of filler to lose the windows and any gaps. Then I can start to add lots of greeblies to make them look the part. Basically what ILM did all those years ago. Meantime, these are resting under the weight of my Star Wars reference book so the glue joints dry properly. As always, Your comments and questions are welcome`at the usual address. The next box down ⬇️

Millennium Falcon Gift Set (05659) 1:72 Carrera Revell The YT-1300 Millennium Falcon was one of the key ships of the beginning of the Star Wars legend, and gained a special place in a lot of hearts then and since, becoming a true icon of science fiction in the process. As well as being the main mode of transport for Luke, Old Ben and the droids for much of the first film, its gritty, poorly maintained style, and asymmetric design appealed to filmgoers and modellers alike. She was the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, although we’ve since seen her in better condition before Han wrecked her during Solo: A Star Wars Story, which covered Han Solo’s early career as a smuggler, and how he came to own the ship after a game of Sabacc with his friend and rival Lando Calrissian, where in a brief moment of overconfidence, Lando bet his ship on a hand that later proved not to be as good as he thought. When Han took over ownership of the Falcon, she was pristine Star Wars white, with blue accent stripes, plus an escape pod that nestled between the halves of the cargo mandibles. Of course, he almost destroyed her during the Kessel run, and it arrived at its destination in a sorry state of disrepair. The Falcon we know and love is a result of this and continued attempts by Han and his co-pilot Chewbacca’s attempts to put her back to her previous gleaming white appearance and functionality. She’s fast at sub-light speeds, and Han’s piloting skills, which mostly consist of lazily banking to one side or another to avoid destruction, means that she’s a surprisingly safe ship to fly on, if seat-of-your-pants travel is your thing. She can defend herself too, having a pair of crewed self-defence cannons in the top and bottom centres of the hamburger-like hull, plus a couple of pop-out weapons under the hull for defence from ground-based threats such as the Snowtroopers that were setting up an E-web cannon at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) as the Rebel Base falls to the Imperial invaders. The Kit This is a reboxing of Revell’s 2006 kit that originally hit the shelves as a snap-together Easy Kit, and can still be built that way, although it arrives unpainted for this edition and includes a decal sheet to create the accent panels and other details. The kit arrives in a large top-opening box with a painting of the Falcon cruising past a planet, and with a 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) badge in the top right corner. Inside the box are four sprues in a pale chewing-gum coloured styrene, a small vinyl sprue with two figures, clear sprue, decal sheet and instruction booklet printed in colour that has three pages of painting instructions in the rear for your guidance. This is not a complex kit, and the sprue count is an indicator, as is the original form that the model came to market, but detail is still pretty good for the style of kit. The two hull halves have the loading mandibles and most of the detail moulded-in, so a little simplification is bound to have happened, but the detail is still appealing. As this is a gift set, it comes with a selection of acrylic paints in small “thumb pots”, a Revell No.2 paint brush, and a 12.5g bottle of Revell Contacta Professional glue, which is well-liked by many, partially due to the precision metal applicator needle that makes it easy and accurate to use, avoiding wasting glue in the process. There is also a poster of Return of the Jedi, which is very tightly rolled and secured with an elastic band, so we’ve not even tried to photograph it, and would refer you to the box art, which has a photo of the poster on the front left side. I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem like one of the original posters that were around at the time, but if you like it, it doesn’t matter when it was created! Construction begins with the cockpit, installing the moulded interior and separate bulkhead into the lower half of the cockpit cowling, with a decal to add detail to the bulkhead, which is highly visible in most of the interior shots of the films. The (optional) landing gear is next, making up three sets of legs, which consist of the vertical struts, a circular cuff, and the landing pad itself, and there we have an issue that the purists may spot. The Millennium Falcon kits that I have, all have five gear legs, one in each corner, and one toward the “nose”, if you can call it that. There was a change from three to five at some point, and although I am quite the Star Wars fan, I can’t remember the details. Most people won’t care though, providing it doesn’t topple over, and it won’t. The struts that actuate the boarding ramp are fitted to a carrier plate for later installation, as is the original circular dish that sits on the upper deck of the Falcon, and was knocked off during their escape from the exploding Death Star II at the end of ‘Jedi. The lower hull is prepared with paint, plus the cannons for the central defence station, and the boarding ramp, which is a single part. The coloured accent panels are shown being painted at this stage, but that’s optional thanks to the decals already mentioned. Another two drawings show the other colours that are used on different panels in order to keep the process straight forward, after which you have the choice of installing the landing gear assemblies, or plating over the shallow bays with alternative parts to depict your model in flight. If you have opted for that route, you don’t need to build the gear at all. The next step shows the interior of the model being painted black all over to hide the lack of detail, as well as adding the inner horizontal face of the centre of the mandibles, a small flat part near the boarding ramp, and inserting the pegs at the ends of the ramp supports into turrets moulded into the hull. The inner surfaces of the mandibles are completed by adding the sides, the small front panels, and a bulkhead between them, then continuing down the tapering sides of the mandibles adding the “greeblie” strips to the vertical space between the hull halves. The docking adapters at the mid-point of the hull sides are fitted along with their returns, with a short curved section behind them, and the clear curved exhaust aperture completes the sides. You are advised to paint the exhaust part light blue, and apply the comb decal that was another later addition to the Falcon’s design to depict the engine glow, but there are always LEDs for that sort of thing. The upper hull is painted and accented next, with just the guns added to the centre, and the same three drawings break down the different colours and location of the panels. The interior is painted black again, inserting the cannon glazing into the hole in the centre of both hull halves, plus another mandible interior cover panel, and the cockpit that was made at the beginning. Han and Chewie are both painted and fixed to their seats, then the canopy is fixed over the cockpit, and on the opposite side of the hull the dish is push-fitted into its socket moulded into the surface without the need for glue. The model is completed by bringing the two halves of the model together, and pushing the pins into the turrets within. Markings This kit represents the Millennium Falcon at her prime from a filmic point of view, as she appeared through the exploits of our heroes during ROTJ, the culmination of the original trilogy of movies. There is just one scheme included in the box because she’s unique. There were variations from shot-to-shot and between films however, as cinema model makers and directors are human and change things, or make mistakes. From the box you can build the Millennium Falcon: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Millennium Falcon is an awesome ship, and we are quite fortunate to have many models in various scales and for various skill levels. This kit will suit the beginner or novice modeller perfectly, and if you want a kit of the Falcon without putting together hundreds of parts, this is the one for you. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Y-Wing Fighter Gift Set (05658) 1:72 Carrera Revell The Y-Wing was right there at the start of the Star Wars franchise, fighting alongside the X-Wing at the Battle of Yavin and helping to destroy the first Death Star. Like the Hurricane and Spitfire during the Battle of Britain though, the X-Wing got most of the glory, although there are a lot of Star Wars fans that are very fond of the Y-Wing, myself included. Of the eight Y-Wings fielded that day, only one made it back to base, almost obliterating Gold Squadron in one mission. Their official title is the Koensayr Manufacturing BTL Y-Wing, with a suffix designating their intended role, whether it is as a fighter-bomber, starfighter, or Assault Bomber known as the BTL-C with a single crew member, the general form of the craft remains unchanged. It has since been seen in many of the other Star Wars series and movies, as have the A-Wings, B-Wings and other ships of all sizes that were created for the initial Trilogy. The Kit This is a reboxing from Carrera Revell of their formerly snap-together kit that was last released in 2017 to coincide with the release of Rogue One. It is scaled to 1:72, and although there has been some confusion between this kit and their older release, we can confirm that it’s scaled the same as another well-known manufacturer’s kit in the same scale. The kit arrives in an end-opening box, and inside are six sprues in light grey “Star Wars” coloured styrene, one in black that makes the stand, and a clear sprue. There is also a flexible plastic sprue with a pilot and an R5 astromech, a small decal sheet, stapled instruction booklet printed in colour, and the safety sheet that always falls out, but be careful to check it for decals before you discard it. They’re sometimes hidden in there, and it may not be obvious if the sheet is small. While it is intended for a different market than its competitor, detail is still good, with any sacrifices made in order to simplify construction, such as the raised pipes that criss-cross the exposed hull that are moulded-into the hull halves in this kit. As this is a gift set, it comes with a selection of acrylic paints in small “thumb pots”, a Revell No.2 paint brush, and a 12.5g bottle of Revell Contacta Professional glue, which is well-liked by many, partially due to the precision metal applicator needle that makes it easy and accurate to use, avoiding wasting glue in the process. There is also a poster of Return of the Jedi, which is very tightly rolled and secured with an elastic band, so we’ve not even tried to photograph it, and would refer you to the box art, which has a photo of the poster on the front left side. I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem like one of the original posters that were around at the time, but if you like it, it doesn’t matter when it was created! Construction begins with painting the pilot, who is quite well-detailed, although he appears to have baby-legs, but as they won’t be seen anyway, it’s hardly of note. The cockpit tub is almost complete, and just needs painting as per the included diagrams, then the pilot and his seat can be dropped into place. The Canopy has the twin cannons inserted into a hole in the rear that is held in place with a styrene cap from beneath, then the exterior is painted, leaving windscreen and other glazed areas clear. The instructions show the upper hull being detail painted before integration of the cockpit, which presses into position from below, adding the opening canopy before you do, so that it can remain mobile. The fixed forward guns are inserted into the open nose on a carrier, adding yellow decals striping to the barrels as you go, and painting the non-clear sections of the canopy, with a white go-faster stripe applied over the canopy from the windscreen aft. The lower hull is prepared with a bulkhead at the rear of the arrow-head cockpit area, two down the sides of the hull, and a large one at the rear, with more painting being done before finally joining the hull halves together. The engine sponsons are each made from top and bottom halves that clamp onto the wingtips, and are capped off at the front with their domed heads, which also have some yellow/orange stripe decals wrapped around their bases. There is also a decal to replicate the hot exhaust, which is best inserted before the nacelle extension rails are fitted on pegs, four per nacelle, with a single set of baffles at the rear. R5’s paint and decal job is covered before the seven-part stand is built from the black sprue, which supports the model under the nose and both nacelles to keep it stable, inserting R5 as you lower the model into position. Markings There is one ship depicted with a few optional decals supplied on the sheet, the application and painting of which covers two pages at the back of the booklet. From the box you can build the following, but there’s nothing to stop you from masking and painting any squadron’s colours that you like: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Whilst it isn’t the absolute pinnacle of detail as far as Y-Wings go, it is a decent model of the type that can be built up into a good rendition, is easy to build, as well as being more easily available and in the de facto standard for modern Star Wars kits (at least the smaller ones). Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Imperial Shuttle Tydirium (05657) 1:106 Carrera Revell Star Wars. If you’ve never heard of it, you must have been stuck behind a wardrobe for the last 40 plus years, so go and catch up while we all roll our eyes at you. The original trilogy of films was a ground-breaking trio of films that combined fun story-telling with leading-edge special effects, and most importantly, a great range of characters on both sides of the good/bad divide. By the time the third film of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi reached the screen, the marketing machine was well-and-truly up and running, and many new ships and characters were shown on screen for the first time. One such ship was the shuttle Tydirium, a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle that was stolen from the Empire by some enterprising and brave scallywags, to be used to breach the security at the perimeter of the exclusion zone around the planet Endor, where the new-and-improved Death Star 2.0 was being built. The immortal words “It’s an older code, but it checks out” were uttered, and Chewie ‘flew casually’ down to Endor to commence their operation to destroy the shield generator that was confusingly installed on the planet, protecting a fully operational battle-station that would have presumably had its own shield generators like the first one did before they had to claim on the warranty. Anyway, it’s best not to think too hard about any of the Star Wars stories, and just enjoy them for the fun, innocent hokum that they are, or were. Another shuttle was seen landing, or taking off from a platform as Luke hands himself over to his dad’s tender mercies, showing off its folding wings as it does – a series of design cues that have been continued in other similar shuttles and ships in the Star Wars universe. The Kit This is a re-release of a kit that was first tooled in 2006, and is quite a bit smaller than the original kit from another manufacturer that appeared around the time of the film’s original release. It is moulded in a peculiar scale of 1:106, as has been Revell’s habit for many of their Star Wars offerings, and this kit was initially an EasyKit, with push-fit location turrets and pegs still visible on the insides of the parts. The kit arrives in a shallow end-opening box with the usual black theme and all the standard Star Wars logos, plus a badge that marks this as a 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi (RoJ) release. Inside are eight sprues in a chewing-gum white styrene that could be left unpainted by a novice to depict that off-white shade that is typical of original trilogy ships, a clear sprue containing the windscreen, and in my example at least, two sprues of vinyl crew figures consisting of a Stormtrooper and Imperial Officer figure in seated positions. A decal sheet and instruction booklet complete the model side of thing, but there are also six thumb-pots of acrylic paint in various shades from white through various greys to black in the box, plus a #2 paint brush and a small bottle of Revell Contacta Professional model glue, with a fine applicator for precision gluing. I made the mistake of dropping the black pot of paint, which caused the lid to come adrift briefly due to the impact, scattering a small amount of thick paint everywhere. We all know that a little liquid goes a long way, so don’t do that. Detail is pretty good considering the model’s original intent, and apart from the windscreen being transparent rather than darkened, it looks like a Lambda Class shuttle, although there is some conjecture about the size and shape of the “head” of the shuttle, as the model and the full-size studio replica had differing dimensions for whatever reasons, and that has been picked up upon by the purists. This boxing includes a poster that is rolled up into a narrow tube within the box and held in place by an elastic band, which left the poster rather curled up. Rather than show a photo of an extremely curled up poster, we refer you to the photo on the front of the box, which shows many of the main characters in front of an exploding Death Star that has the logo beneath the faces, and “Return to a Galaxy Far Far Away” at the top of the poster in a non-canon serif font. Construction begins with the vertical fin, which is in two halves and the instructions would have you paint the inner lips of the halves black, which is at variance with any photos of the filming miniatures, and is probably to hide the fact that there are no greeblies (small and meaningless details) moulded into the recess between the skins, so whether you do this or stick some tiny bits of styrene into the space to detail it, is entirely up to you. The exterior has raised panels that can be painted a darker grey, or you could use the decals that are provided instead. The same process happens with the wings, although these have no gaps between the skins, so no black paint is needed. The wings are cranked, and at the forward root there is a blaster in a hemispherical turret, one gun per side of the wing, making up a pair. Each wing has a pair push-fitted through a hole, and they should remain mobile if paint or glue doesn’t intervene. The lower hull is a flat panel with curved sides that also has slots for the wing hinges cut into these curves. It has main gear bay depressions moulded into it, although there are no details within other than a hexagonal hole in a rectangular depression, into which the two-part landing legs fit along with their flat landing pads, adding bay doors forward and aft of the bay. If you are posing the model in flight however, closed bay doors are also supplied. The rear bulkhead is inserted into a space inside the back of the lower hull, and you are told to add 20g of weight to balance the model so that it doesn’t topple forward, and apply the white decals with blue surrounds into the depressions for the engine exhausts, to give the impression of hot plasma glaring from the apertures. The top of the fuselage has the same curved sides and cut-outs for the hinges, with a raised area in the centre that supports the fin and gives the people in the rear compartment room to stand up straight. A front bulkhead is inserted after placing the fixed twin blasters on pegs in the upper, then the upper hull is glued over the lower, mounting the wings in their slots as you do, leaving the glue to dry thoroughly before trying to pivot the wings, to avoid putting unnecessary stress on the hull. The nose and crew cab is next, starting with the neck that has the cockpit moulded into the front, and detailed instructions are given on painting this single-part moulding to add a little life to it. The neck is mated with the underside, and the upper portion with glazing clipped into position is brought down to complete the nose. As already mentioned, the windscreen is a glossy black in the movie to hide the interior, and you are incited to paint the inside of the part black, applying grey frame decals to the sides, unless you intend painting them instead. You could instead add layers of a clear smoke colour to the inside that could be left translucent to show an impression of the detail of the cockpit within, especially if you intend using the two figures, which have their own painting guides from various angles. Finally, the nose and fin are joined to the hull to complete the model of one of my favourite Star Wars ships. Markings There was only one Tydirium and that is Star Wars grey, therefore most of the decals are supplied to avoid painting the accent panels that add some visual interest and alleviate the monotony of a white ship, but there are some provided to detail the crew figures, a dashboard decal, plus the two engine and window frame decals that we already discussed. 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 It’s not a highly detailed studio quality replica, but it’s a decent rendition of this appealing space craft, and a little more shelf-friendly than the other mainstream kit of the type, which is now a long time out of production. Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Hi all and taking the plunge with this one. Corellian YT-1300 Freighter Will be a non-standard paint & decal scheme with some scratchbuilding along the way for the freight! Cheers, Dermot

If Mara Jade ever popped in Bad Batch for a camio she might look something like the. Slightly altered from the original kit of Kaiyodo Galactic Lady Legend Yuna Ria, some sort of 90's game character and added the extra webbing using green stuff, a mix of airbrush and stick to paint this one. Comments welcome. Cheers Brian. She is now sitting in the posh shed ( summer house) the first kit to make it in ther with out to much complaining from the wife....

Back to Sci Fi once again and something else not out of the box. A snap fit AT ST from the bay that was less than a tenner due to a missing foot. How hard can it be? Snap fit, so it was easy to disassemble. Years ago in Riyadh I bought a load of these pencil sharpeners because I liked the shape. The part in the middle here will be used as a replacement foot. Of course I'll have to do the pair. Obviously. In the background you can see what the original foot should look like. And this is the remaining foot that came on the snap fit kit. Hmmm. As can be seen, the replacement feet will be slightly broader than the originals. This is one that I built a few years ago. The rebels had a field day modifiying it! They souped up the drive system while they were at it. I might get an hour or so at the bench tomorrow. More pics and progress soon. I hope. Cheers, Pete

Just a little diorama to get me back into the swing of thing, not the best dio but I had a lot of fun putting it together. Cheers all. Brian.

Hi, its been a while but I have been loitering, but now it's time to build something again after too much time away from the bench. So I have cleaned off the brushs, sorted the airbrush and dived right in. I had parts of a micro machine land speeder kicking about for years so I decided to make a 1/35 scale pod racer that has very quickly turned into a diorama. I pulled the insides out of the land speeder and added a seat from some car kit and a few bits of piping from the same car I think it was, stuck a few wings and other odds and ends and the pod is done. I will have to fes up as the engines came from a spacecraft I have previously built but have taken apart. I have pulled part a 1/100 tank and turned that into a tank/ security droid and I using a 1/100 Gundam gun as one of those tatooine vaporator prop-type things. I will have to add more pictures later as imgbb is playing up for me at the moment.

Another little character I picked up to go with my Bad Batch figures, all in the same scale as Star Wars Legends, and standing 35mm tall. I had a bit of an issue after prepping and priming her (voiced by Rhea Pearlman from Cheers), as it must have fallen over at some point, which knocked off the head of the staff she's holding behind her back. Bugger! I looked everywhere for it, using my little Shark vac to suck up every scrap of dust in the workshop, then sifting through it all before binning it. Nothing. I contacted the seller on eBay, 3D-Argent, and asked if it was possible to re-print the staff (foolish, I know), but 10 minutes after I emailed him, I got the urge to check through the little plastic business card box of custom files on my desk. It was right at the bottom, so it must have broken off, taken to the skies, and come down in this box, proving once again that you can never assume something couldn't possibly get to place X. Incidentally, 3D-Argent, or Mark as he's called, was very understanding about my loss and desperation, and I can heartily recommend you look him up on eBay if you're in the market for 3D printed figures. Anyway, she's primed, and I blocked in the basic colours after choosing them from my Citadel Base paints, then used some of their Contrast paints to deepen the shadows before I started painting. I really like the Contrast and Shade paints that Citadel do, and suggest you give them a try if you're starting out painting figures. I've since painted the pencil quilted areas of her jacket, and will be doing the rest of it later, when I have a minute. She's got really weird yellow eyes with horizontal pupils, so they're going to be a treat to paint! She's also got a bit of darker tiger-striping on her head and arms, which will be taxing.

Hi everyone and finally got this one done - it's Revell's snap fit Star Destroyer with a few build mods and my first go at lighting a kit. I'm really happy how it turned out but would use a lighter wash in future as it's too dark and washes out any variations in the paints. The build thread is here but to recap: Kit: Revell Revell Build & Play Star Destroyer kit 06749 Scale: 1:4000 Build: Filled in landing gear 'feet'; raised kit sidewalls with plastic card and added extra greeblies from styrene Paints: Tamiya, Flory models wash (too dark) Extras: 3 x 5mm flickering blue LEDs for the main engines; 4 x LEDs with 20 x 0.5mm strands for the hull lighting (3-4 got destroyed during final assembly ) USB-powered by battery pack in homemade base. All lighting products by Captain Jacks Models - Chris was a gent to deal with. Thanks for looking, take care and happy modelling! Cheers, Dermot Revell_Star_Destroyer_completed_1 (1) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_completed_1 (7) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_completed_1 (5) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_completed_6 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_Finished by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr

Hi all and here's one I've had on the go since late last year, just never got around to posting. Revell_Star_Destroyer_L1_box by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr This is the "Build & Play" snap-fit kit which has a low parts count and some features like undercarriage (?!) and lights and sounds. For a simple kit, it's over 37cm long and the level of detail is quite good for the scale. Revell_Star_Destroyer_L1_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr I wanted to see if I could improve it by adding some more details including fibre optics and hopefully have it ready for Dublin Comic Con next month. I started by gluing in the 'landing gear' and filling the trenches. I'll also fill the speaker grills and the space for the button. Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_2_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_1_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr There was a really nice build video online by Eagle Models where he showed how narrow the sidewalls were. So I followed his example and increased the height by a couple of mm Out of box: Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_3_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Plastic strip inserts Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_3.1_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Added greeblies Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_4_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr And after. I think it looks better. Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_5_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_6_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Hard to see in this pic but I've added some extra detail with plastic card on the hull. Revell_Star_Destroyer_Wip_7_Hull by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Thanks for looking. Take care and happy modelling. Dermot

Had this for a couple of months. Finished him over a few weeks. Requested by a family member for a friend of theirs. First real foray into attempting some subtle detailing on a face, which I did by painting in various magenta and violet tones to resembled musculature on the face, ears, and upper head, before spraying over a lightened/blued Yoda green colour. Came out much better than anticipated Thanks for looking as always Gaz

Hi all Tossed the coin over whether this belongs in the SF or diorama section but as I haven't posted in here before SF won. I made a very small Helms Deep and really enjoyed it, so continuing on the small scale I picked up the 1/350 Bandai Millennium Falcon at Telford and have set about making a suitable base for it! It kind of had to be Docking Bay 94. Apologies but no progress shots on the kit, it doesn't come with either the ramp of landing gear. I decided to leave the ramp but scratched some simple legs. Onto the docking bay. The base was made from foam with two layers of cork walls with spacers to allow for the storage bays. Next step was covering the whole thing in wood filler and give it a good sand. Then i've started to add the details before the roof goes on. My plan is to have a cut away section to look in the hanger but have the full circle of the 'roof'. I started adding bits of greebles and plasticard, lead wires old PE etc. and its starting to look like a docking bay! I haven't looked too closely at the film pics for the wall details, I'm more just going with the flow and having some fun. That's it for now! Just going to be working my way around the walls and storage bays.

I've been working on a ZM 109 and it's been a bit of a challenging build to do. It's not quite done yet but I decided I needed something that will just go together without much thought. I picked up the original release of the Perfect Grade Millennium Falcon when it first came out and haven't done anything with it. Mostly the paint job I felt would be a tough one. Recently my LHS got me to try the new Aqueous Mr Surfacer 1000 for a primer. It's practically odourless and easy to use so with that and my desire for a straightforward build the Falcon is hitting the bench. It's a big one alright. With the ZM 109 for a size comparison. AM will be an absolute minimum if any at all.

As part of my ongoing mini-obsession with all things Star Wars Legion, other than playing the game, that is, I made up a couple of B1 droids to try out one of Sorastro's quick painting techniques, and to be fair the guy, it does work, although I did a bit of touching up of areas I wasn't happy with. Painted in predominantly Citadel paints, here they are. First one is an officer with a pair of Macro-binoculars: The other fella is a droid with a bazooka:

Hello again. This is my AT-AT from Bandai in 1/144 scale. A very nice kit to build, all parts fit together almost perfectly. Painted with Mr. Color paints C62, C307 and C308 shades. Weathered was done with Tamiya panel liner and light gray oil paint. Hope you like it. Cheers, Franz Galli

Well, after watching Andy's build with great interest, my kit finally made it to the bottom of the world! (Adelaide, South Australia). What I wasn't prepared for however was just how good a kit this one really is! I must say, hats off to the engineering department at Bandai for I have never built a model quite like this one, and I've been modelling for 41 years. The quality of plastic is first rate. Not too soft, not too hard. Very easy to work with. The parts breakdown is VERY cleaver and fits together without glue very well. I'm one of those fussy modellers that has to have everything perfect (which is probably why I finish so few models) So I was very surprised at just how quickly I was getting the parts off the sprues, cleaned up and ready. Here's where I was at after an hour and a half. All parts were lightly glued with Tamiya extra thin cement. Building this kit is so hassle free that I keep thinking I'm doing something wrong! About three hours into the build I'd gotten the head all off the sprues, cleaned up and dry fitted/pushed together. Next it was time to pull the head apart and tackle those seats. First, remove the locating slots for the pilots...... Then clean up the area.............. And make some seat cushions from plastic card. Job done in about 15 minutes. The only issue I've come across so far is a very slight gap at the front of the head. So here is where I'm at three and a half hours into the build. I'm very impressed with how things are going. For anybody who is suffering from, or has suffered from AMS (advanced modellers syndrome) this is the model for you! Next it is time to prime and paint the cockpit and mid section and try and decide on a camouflage scheme for it. At the moment I have 20 different schemes drawn up with more on the way! http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978670-star-wars-at-st-camouflage-schemes/ Cheers Richard.

Here’s my attempt to make a Bandai Hobby 1/12 figure into less of a toy and more of a display figure. The Bandai kits are excellent; I wanted to create a figure that looked more realistic. The OOB figure - the plastic is self coloured and makes a passable figure. I started by dismantling the pre-built figure and using polystyrene cement during reassembly, filling the moveable joints with modelling putty and green milliput. I airbrushed the various armour parts with Vallejo light green. Boba’s helmet is one of his most distinctive features and I started detailing this as I went along. I used images from the web to make sure the painted chips and scratches were accurate.

Hi all I think i'm done with this little project now. I'm enjoying building smaller scale scenes at the moment and I'd picked up a Bandai 1/350 Millennium Falcon at Telford with the idea of having a go at basing it in Docking Bay 94- where else? I wanted to include a bit of the world outside of the docking bay so off set the bay on the mdf plinth to make a bit of room for a bit of Mos Eisley to be included. I also made a cut away section so you can look into the dock and see the view from the film when we all see the Falcon for the first time. Its all made from foam, cork, wood filler, foam board and greebles and here's the link to the WiP is here if you're interested: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235122043-docking-bay-94/ Thanks for looking!

Last November I purchased some tiny white metal X wings and Tie Fighters from @BritJet for a small amount. Cheers, Mate! Over the last few weeks I've braved the cold mancave for an hour or so at a time in order to get them sorted. I think the scale is probably around 1/200. Anyway, they're tiny, and after some fettling they went together with superglue. Paint is simple white primer and markings were done (not very well) with ink. They're not going to win prizes but hey. A few years ago I built a Star Wars wall display. It's supposed to be part of a Star Destroyer. I can't remember the scale I chose for it, One of the ship building scales I remember. So these are too big really. The fighters are suspended on invisible thread and held in place by gobs of UHU glue. The Tie Fighters. Interceptors I think? Not suspended as yet, but just sitting in the maintenance trench for now. I'll try something bigger next time. These were too small and fiddly for my fingers. As always, comments and brickbats are always welcome. Thanks for looking, Pete

Something I've been playing with over the last couple of days. A poster to show the relative size and scale of some of the 1/72 Star Wars models out there. This is very much incomplete, as it only covers the ones I've built. I'll add further Bandai ones to it as and when I build them, but it's unlikely I'll be adding any more Finemolds subjects (regular TIE, Naboo Starfighter, Falcon etc.) as they're obviously going to be hard to get hold of. If you can't read the small text, you can see the full size version here. The full size dimensions are based on the upscaled dimensions of the models, assuming that they are 1/72 ( which, in the case of the Finemolds kits, many aren't). The photos are accurately scaled, so this is how big the models are in relation to each other. There are various listed dimensions for the "real" versions of these ships, so non of them could conclusively be called wrong, but some are certainly more out than others. One of the worse ones in regard to scale accuracy is Vader's TIE from Finemolds. There's more than one quoted size for the real one, depending on what source you use, but starwars.com and the incredible cross-sections book both list the length as 9.2m, which seems reasonable (around the length of a Spitfire). Based on that length, the Finemolds kit actually scales out at 1/123. Anyway, I've done the poster for anyone interested in seeing how these kits scale up next to each other. I've got the Bandai X and Y Wings to build (and the upcoming A-Wing) and I'll rework the poster to include them. Note: I didn't add my Snowspeeder as it's 1/48, but I could scale it to match the others, so I could add that one too. Andy

Din Djarin – The Bounty Hunter (06784) Star Wars: The Mandalorian 1:9 Carrera Revell Firstly, some minor spoiler alerts. If you’ve not seen the series and plan on doing so, skip this section and go straight to text below 'The Kit' heading, where I’ll try to keep the spoilers to the minimum. We’ve all heard of Star Wars, the three trilogies, the spin-off films and now under the auspices of the massive Disney corporation, we are being treated to some television series on their streaming service Disney+ that are bringing back some of the magic that perhaps had been lost, or at least dulled over the years under the helmsmanship of J J Abrams. The Mandalorian reached our screens in 2019, right around the time the Covid-19 pandemic first hit, and it has helped keep us Star Wars fans entertained for two seasons now, with a third in the offing for 2023. It has brought us new characters into the much-loved Star Wars universe such as the Mandalorian, Din Djarin himself, Grogu the baby Yoda, and it has reintroduced the previously reviled but strangely popular Boba Fett, who seems to have mellowed during his time in the Sarlacc Pit, and has now got his own series on the strength of his performance in season 2. Even Luke Skywalker has made a brief appearance at the end of season 2, heavily de-aged to fit in with the show’s timeline of post Return of the Jedi Star Wars. Season 3 is just coming soon, airing toward the end February, and at time of writing, I can’t wait. The eponymous hero was until the second season known either as Mando, or the Bounty Hunter until his real name became knowns near the end of the season. Our moustachioed hero wears the distinctive Mandalorian armour, mostly forged from Beskar steel, which he was often paid in billets of by his early customers. Like many Mandalorians he was a Foundling that was taken in and trained in the ways of their warriors, taking the oath not to reveal his face as part of the deal, which must make eating, drinking and cleaning oneself a mite convoluted. When we first see him on Tatooine, he is working in the void between the fall of the Empire and rise of the First Order, and we often see Stormtrooper helmets and other garb on pikes and as trophies in the background, with the remainder a much grubbier prospect than their previously pristine white armoured hoardes. The Kit This is a brand-new kit from Carrera Revell, and isn’t part of their collaboration with Bandai. It is a static figure that comes with a diorama base and various accessories that arrives in a deep, end-opening box, with three sprues and two diorama panels in grey styrene, a small decal sheet and the colour instruction booklet with a photo of the finished model on the front, and detailed painting guidance throughout the following instruction steps. Detail is good, and is improved by his armour as separate appliqué parts over the simple cloth basis of the figure. Construction begins with the afore mentioned base figure, which is built from a front and rear half that acts as a basis for the additional detail parts that are added later. A detailed painting guide shows the colours for the cloth suit and the under-armour pads and straps, which is best done early before installing the other detail parts for ease of access. The base figure is bereft of hands, feet and head, which are added next, starting with the hands. These are made from the hand/glove with front of the gauntlet that attaches around the forearm stump on pegs to complete the arms. Similarly, the feet are each two parts and are installed on the shin for one leg, and at the end of a shin extension on the other leg in much the same way. The knee pads and calf strapping are added separately on more turrets, with more detail painting information included, then the thigh armour is built up with straps and ammunition belts. The right hand has a pistol moulded into it and a separate piece of hand armour with the arrow motif in the centre, fixing to the arm stub in the same way as the other. The chest is armoured front and rear, with belt and cross-strap laid over them in front and rear halves, plus a pair of shoulder pauldrons that slot into deep holes there. Mando has a disposable block supplied to help keep him upright while painting, which has a recessed foot shape moulded-in, and on that leg the raised thigh has additional armour placed at the top at an angle. Din’s head is nothing more than a ball-joint onto which the helmet is built, starting by adding the two-part socket inside, then closing it up around the ball-joint, allowing the head to be posed at your whim. The T-shaped vision slit is inserted into a recess in the front of the completed helmet, then the figure is finished by adding a cape around his left shoulder, latching against the figure as shown in detail. Attention then turns to the diorama base, which is festooned with a quartet of discarded or trophy Stormtrooper helmets amongst other things. Firstly however, a pair of cylindrical “sci-fi” objects with tapered tops are made up from a pair of halves and a separate top, to be put to the side while the helmets are made up. The two complete helms are built from front and rear halves to facilitate being skewered by pikes that have a mounting pin and two washers moulded into them to prevent them from sliding down. Whether you decide there’s a head in there or not is entirely up to you, and will help you decide whether to smear blood around. All the helmets have decals for the eyes, vents and other details of the helmets, which will simplify their preparation somewhat. The partially buried helmets are similarly made in halves, but these are only present where they will be seen, disappearing where they might be otherwise buried under the sand. The other two diorama parts are the large sections of the base, which consists of an undulating sandy base with a few recesses for the various parts to be fitted, while the backdrop has a door, plus some lights and controls or sensors moulded-in. The two halves just clip together on tabs at right-angles, adding the helmets, cylinders, pikes, and of course Din Djarin, who trades in his temporary foot pad for a sunken Stormtrooper helmet that is fixed to the base. Markings Most of the decals are for detailing the Stormtrooper helmets, but others are included for Mando’s hand arrows, wrist control pad, silver logo on his right pauldron, rear helmet ‘track’ detail, and even a trio of blaster holes for the diorama backdrop, although it would have been nicer if they weren’t all identical. The large white Mandalorian logo decal is designed for the front of the base, but put it where you wish. Decals are printed for Revell by Italian company Zanchetti, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A well-detailed static figure diorama that should go together relatively quickly, and with careful painting and decaling, will look the part. Highly recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or