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First Star Wars announcement from Round 2


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Round 2 revealed the aquisition of a Star Wars licence a while back, and the first release in that line is now listed. As most people assumed, it's one of the old MPC kits - the 1/100 AT-AT.

 

Can't say I'm all that excited by the announcement. There are newer and better kits from Bandai and Revell so, apart from a nostalgia point of view, I can't imagine people queuing up for it. It would need to be sold fairly cheaply too, which isn't always the case with Round 2.

 

Andy:cat:

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Yes very disappointing.  Before I bought the 1/144 AT-AT by Bandai I would have bought the 1/100 AMT kit.  But not now.

 

Now if they filled gaps in the range, i.e a 1/72 TIE Bomber (why does no-one make one!?!), I might be interested.  But then the Bandai 1/72 kits are of a reasonable size, and I still haven't painted/lit up the 1/72 TIE and X-Wing I have had for a number of years now...

 

Round2s "thing" is repopping old AMT/ERTL stuff though.  Occasionally they make new stuff, like one or two of their Star Trek kits, but not often, and yeah, the pricing...

Edited by RobL
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On 11/05/2021 at 11:15, RobL said:

Yes very disappointing.  Before I bought the 1/144 AT-AT by Bandai I would have bought the 1/100 AMT kit.  But not now.

 

Now if they filled gaps in the range, i.e a 1/72 TIE Bomber (why does no-one make one!?!), I might be interested.  But then the Bandai 1/72 kits are of a reasonable size, and I still haven't painted/lit up the 1/72 TIE and X-Wing I have had for a number of years now...

 

Round2s "thing" is repopping old AMT/ERTL stuff though.  Occasionally they make new stuff, like one or two of their Star Trek kits, but not often, and yeah, the pricing...

 

 

I completely agree.

 

There is no incentive to buy kits that are not from Bandai, or in the worst case from Fine Molds.

Regarding the AT-AT I have built the Bandai 1/144 and in my opinion it is the perfect size for this vehicle. Anyone who has had it in their hands has appreciated that the quality and detail is simply impressive. 1/72 would be too large without adding anything other than size.

 

Andrés S.

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11 hours ago, Beermonster1958 said:

Well, you could say that about any 1/144 kit but I cannot agree with you.

Is (for example) a 1/72 Lancaster "too large" without adding anything other than size in comparison to a 1/144 one?

 

A 1/72 AT-AT at 30cm high and, 28cm long is hardly huge and, because of its design, it actually wouldn't take up a lot of shelf space.

1/72 is a perfectly practical scale for such a model.

I'm afraid a tiny 1/144 model just does not do it but, what the hell! That's just me.

I won't be buying the Bandai kit so, It doesn't really matter anyway. 😉

 

John

 

Words when removed from the context in which they are found do not convey what the sender wants to convey. Let me explain.

I wanted to say that, not just any kit of any vehicle, but Bandai's 1/144 scale AT-AT, if it were made at 1/72 it would not provide more or better detail, it would only provide a larger size since the one with 1/144 it is absolutely excellent.

The larger the pieces, the more quality in the molding and in the detail they are supposed to have. But it is not a law of nature ... The Revell 1/24 scale Fokker DR I has no greater detail or better detail than the kit of the same Eduard plane but at 1/48 scale.

 

So I contend that Bandai's 1/144 scale AT-AT kit has such a quality of detail that doing it at 1/72 would not bring any improvement other than size. I remember what I mentioned with the Revell 1/24 DR I because a friend and modeler bought it and when I asked him what he thought of the kit he said "it's great, he said, and making the same gesture as fishing enthusiasts when they want to describe the size of the kit. last capture, he continued saying that it was that big ".... At that moment I knew that the concept of quality and detail and size were not the same for my friend and for me and my other modeling friends ...

 

Andrés S.

 

P.S.- Edit: But if someone is more comfortable, more motivated or simply enjoys more than a specific scale, that is a different issue than what I wanted to express, and of course it is totally understandable and respectable.

Edited by Andrés S.
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On 5/11/2021 at 10:15 AM, RobL said:

Yes very disappointing.  Before I bought the 1/144 AT-AT by Bandai I would have bought the 1/100 AMT kit.  But not now.

 

Now if they filled gaps in the range, i.e a 1/72 TIE Bomber (why does no-one make one!?!), I might be interested.  But then the Bandai 1/72 kits are of a reasonable size, and I still haven't painted/lit up the 1/72 TIE and X-Wing I have had for a number of years now...

 

Round2s "thing" is repopping old AMT/ERTL stuff though.  Occasionally they make new stuff, like one or two of their Star Trek kits, but not often, and yeah, the pricing...

 

They do if you don't mind resin.

 

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Can't say i am a huge fan of Bandai. I have built the Striker and have the AT-ST in the stash, and while nice enough, i think they are some what over hyped and would rather Fine Molds were still able to produce kits. I am glad i have a good collection of FM kits in the stash. I'll buy Bandai kits if the subject is right, but mainly because there is not much of an option.

 

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Yeah, that's not a mass produced widely available kit though is it, you might find one on ebay once in a blue moon.  Fantastic Plastic back in 2008 were selling a resin TIE Bomber but it's discontinued.  Might be some garage kits still being popped, but again, they're not widely available.

 

The TIE Bomber seems to be one of the more obvious subjects to produce a kit of that gets left out when major manufacturers start producing Star Wars kits.  For what reason I don't know.

Edited by RobL
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There are a few 3D files of the TIE Bomber available online for printing. I painted the three below last year after a friend printed them, and while the original digital model wasn't the most detailed, with a bit of work they turned out okay. They'll certainly do until Bandai sees fit to release one. Of course, you need access to a printer, but they're getting cheaper all the time so less of an issue than it was in the past.

 

50093452977_818f7156d6_b.jpg

 

When Round 2 first announced they'd aquired a SW licence they did imply that they would have some new tools in addition to the old AMT/Ertl reissues. Maybe a TIE Bomber will be among them, although I won't hold my breath. I'd much rather one came from Bandai though, given the choice.

 

Andy:cat:

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There are irritating aspects about the Bandai kits - the breakdown of parts by colour makes it hard to achieve really seamless construction, and the friction fits need care if you want to use enamel weathering. But they're light years ahead of what other people have done for Star Wars in terms of detail and range.

 

I can see that having a physically larger model means that you can build it more neatly (the scale size of a rounded corner or scriber point or glue mark in 1/72 is half what it is in 1/144) and add more detail in the painting and weathering as there's a larger surface compared to your brush. But personally I really like the small ones provided I have access to a good magnifier :) They're like little jewels.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

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1 hour ago, Andy Moore said:

There are a few 3D files of the TIE Bomber available online for printing. I painted the three below last year after a friend printed them, and while the original digital model wasn't the most detailed, with a bit of work they turned out okay. They'll certainly do until Bandai sees fit to release one. Of course, you need access to a printer, but they're getting cheaper all the time so less of an issue than it was in the past.

 

50093452977_818f7156d6_b.jpg

 

When Round 2 first announced they'd aquired a SW licence they did imply that they would have some new tools in addition to the old AMT/Ertl reissues. Maybe a TIE Bomber will be among them, although I won't hold my breath. I'd much rather one came from Bandai though, given the choice.

 

Andy:cat:

 

 

Yes, 3D printing seems to be the way forward for a lot of things, but it's not for everyone at the moment.  I've looked into doing it for tabletop wargaming (mostly terrain parts).  The entry cost is still prohibitive though, unless you're going to use it a lot.  When I was working out what I would print, there's not a lot really.  £200+ to 3D print yourself a 1/72 TIE Bomber or a handful of wargaming parts is still quite steep.  And I don't know anyone who would print stuff at a reasonable cost, even at "mates rates", compared to the cost of buying a plastic kit (if one existed) either.

Edited by RobL
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On 5/15/2021 at 10:25 AM, RobL said:

Yeah, that's not a mass produced widely available kit though is it, you might find one on ebay once in a blue moon.  Fantastic Plastic back in 2008 were selling a resin TIE Bomber but it's discontinued.  Might be some garage kits still being popped, but again, they're not widely available.

 

The TIE Bomber seems to be one of the more obvious subjects to produce a kit of that gets left out when major manufacturers start producing Star Wars kits.  For what reason I don't know.

Or you could just buy it from Multi Verse Models. That is the Fantastic plastic kit which is now sold under the Kessel Run kits brand sold by MVM. They have a few nice subjects not produced in plastic. I am still to get the Defender and Crawler.

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I'm fairly open to it. I like what they've done with Star Trek, especially some of the huge kits they've done like the 1/350 ships. I would like a larger size AT-AT but I'd like to see what improvements they've made to the old kit first.

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Speaking of larger scale AT-AT's, what ever happened to the Dragon 35th kit. Did Disney put the block on it or is it just another Dragon no show.

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On 16/05/2021 at 21:26, Bish said:

Speaking of larger scale AT-AT's, what ever happened to the Dragon 35th kit. Did Disney put the block on it or is it just another Dragon no show.

I never heared anything about the Dragon kits again several people asked but I think nobody ever got a sound reply.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To be fair to Round2 when they announced the Star Wars licence they did say they would be resurrecting some of the older MPC kits initially, with some enhancements.

 

As for the cost, they will always be expensive anywhere outside of the USA due to import duties, the 1/1000 Discovery Enterprise is about £35 if bought in the US but if buying from a UK supplier expect to pay at least £55.

 

Dragon never made any official announcement about stopping their Star Wars range there were some progress photos posted on social media which took a bit of a battering, particularly the AT-ST shown with its legs straight!  They had 1/35 AT-AT, AT-ST and Snowspeeder as well as a range of 1/144 kits including a Falcon which with the plethora of 1/144 falcons already available and the usual issue with the mandible dimensions.

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I think dear may be refering to it's cost in the UK, if it will even be available here. Not sure what region(s) their licence covers, but if it doesn't include Europe we'll probably have to order them via ebay/amazon direct from the US, as with the Bandai kits. Once you add shipping and VAT, I can't see this as being anything other than expensive.

 

As for the kit, I'll be very interested in seeing a comparison between this one and Revell's offering. They say they're working with data from Lucasfilm, so it should at least be accurate in detail and scale (hopefully), but I do think that Round 2's kits can be a bit stuck in the '80's in terms of their moldings. The more recent Star Trek kits don't seem radically different from the old AMT releases in terms of finesse.

Revell, as a company, are more than capable of releasing high quality modern tool kits, but they don't always go that route for their Star Wars releases. Hopefully their brush with distributing Bandai's kits has shown them that there's a market for decent quality Star Wars kits, rather than pre-painted self-assembly toys. At least we know the Revell kit will be readily available in the UK and Europe.

 

Andy:cat:

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Round 2 have also announced at Wonderfest that they are retooling the 1/72 MPC Falcon, it will have to be a major retool to get that kit anything like accurate!😂

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3 hours ago, Beermonster1958 said:

Just out of curiosity, how does one judge "accuracy"  of a model of a subject that does not exist? 🤔

 

The same way you would with anything else. The subjects do exist as studio models or, in more recent cases, as digital assets. That's what the kits are based on, and what their accuracy would be judged against.

 

Andy:cat:

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6 minutes ago, Andy Moore said:

 

The same way you would with anything else. The subjects do exist as studio models or, in more recent cases, as digital assets. That's what the kits are based on, and what their accuracy would be judged against.

 

Andy:cat:

WORD!

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There's a video posted where the gent from Round 2 is showing a mocked up Tie Fighter in both 1/24 and 1/32 scale and asking for attendees what their preference was. The 1/32 would pair up with the existing MPC kit of Vader's Tie X1.

 

As for the MPC Falcon, he mentioned that they're re-doing the hull sides and radar dish to make them more accurate. 

 

Carl

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On 6/6/2021 at 8:53 PM, Madmonk said:

Round 2 have also announced at Wonderfest that they are retooling the 1/72 MPC Falcon, it will have to be a major retool to get that kit anything like accurate!😂

Pretty sure Bandai won the Blue Ribband for that model a few years back. I think it would have to be well below the £100 mark to be viable tbh.

 

Most obvious move for R2 to make imho (and would seem reasonably consistent with some of their approaches over the past 10 years) would be to consider a new tool AT-AT in 1/48 along with a new tool Shuttle Tydirium in1/72. Would provide a nice accompaniment to other models available.

 

There's also real scope to go into areas not yet explored in 1/48 IM before, including a B-Wing, Y-Wing, Tie Interceptor and Tie Bomber. The size alone would make them significant investments but whie some might regard them as fairly niche subjects I doubt they would be any less so (more than likely more) than the Space 1999 kits which appear to have sold really well. So much so that they provided the nudge to create a new tool in a different scale (1/72).

 

I'm fascinated by the potential available and will be watching the news around all of this keenly.

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Not sure what would make anyone reissue any MPC kit of any subject.

 

MPC almost put me off the hobby at an early stage. Their kits were mostly toylike and unsatisfying to build. I still have nightmares about them.

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