Revell Carrera Star Wars The Mandalorian Grogu – The Child (06783) 1:3

[Mike]

Star Wars The Mandalorian Grogu – The Child (06783)

1:3 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 stand-out star of the series has been Grogu, who until the end of season 2 was known only as “The Kid” in the show, and “Baby Yoda” by the many viewers and fans.  He’s a tiny wee thing that rides around with the Mandalorian in an ovoid basket that hovers a few feet above the ground at about waist height, trailing after Mando on command of his wrist control panel.  He’s a half-pint cutie with the characteristic green-tinged flesh and a slightly fuzzy pelt, the cuteness being accentuated by an oversized robe, the sleeves of which all but swallow his wee hands at times.  What’s coming for him and Din for the next series remains to be seen.

 

 

The Kit

This is a brand-new tooling from Carerra Revell, hopefully cashing-in on the buzz surrounding the launch of season 3 of the show, which will hopefully see the two buddies reunited after their dramatic parting of the ways at the end of season two.  It’s a large-scale kit, only a third of the size of the ‘real’ thing, and as such it arrives in a reasonably large top-opening box (yes, you read that correctly).  Inside are two large sprues of parts, two separate parts of the hover-basket all in the same grey styrene, a clear sprue with parts for the base and his eyeballs, a decal sheet that is mostly devoted to chipping of his basket, and of course the instruction booklet, which is printed in colour with colour profiles on the back pages.  At this scale the detail is crisp, especially on the basket, while the organic components of the kit are similarly well-sculpted.  The only missing item is the wispy hair that is characteristic of little Grogu’s head and ears, taking after his uncle/father/relative/clone Yoda.

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the head, which is shown painted in two colours in separate halves.  The front half includes the ears, while the rear is just the back of his skull, with a seam that will need filling down the back.  Before the halves are joined together, a choice of eye styles needs to be made, as they are installed from within.  There is a styrene pair of orbs on a carrier on the main sprues, which are painted black and have the pupil/iris decals applied over them, or a clear pair of orbs on an identical carrier that are painted black.  I can’t recall whether that’s what happens to his eyes when he’s doing “Yoda stuff”, but those are your options.  After the head is joined, filled and painted, it is secured between the two halves of the robe without glue, which will allow his head to rotate once finished.  A two-part cowl is then applied around his neck to hide the join and complete the robe, leaving just his hands and feet to be made, each one built from two halves and located on pegs that slot into the robe after painting.

 

 

Attention turns then to the basket, starting with the two hinge mechanisms for the sliding cowl that protects him when there’s danger.  The egg-shaped assembly is made from two halves, and is then detailed by adding two circular inserts and an actuator arm that is moulded into a third circular detail, which is keyed to achieve the correct angle.  The two hinges are handed, and are then put to one side while the body of the basket is built.  The outer shell has two inserts fixed into the lower edge, the smaller of which contains the socket for the clear support that gives the impression of it levitating.  A two-layer insert is added to the front of the basket, then the interior half is clipped into position and painted in contrasting colours as per the accompanying diagram, with a pair of conical inserts adding more detail.  The hinges can then be put in place on the sides along with Grogu and his blanket, which is a single part.  The protective cowling is built from two parts that fit into sockets in the rim at the back of the basket, layered to hide the pins that hold it in place.  Strangely, the insert under the base of the basket is then shown having two additional sub-inserts glued into recesses, the circular one having a decal applied over the top.

 

 

To complete the model, the clear circular base can have either one or two lengths of clear rod inserted into it, with a sleeve joining the two lengths for a higher stance.  The basket is then slotted into the peg on the top of the support(s) and should give a reasonable impression of hovering once it stops wobbling.

 

 

Markings

The majority of the model is painted during construction, using a few speciality decals for the pupils/irises and a vent on the underside.  The rest of the sheet consists of stripes around the rim of the basket and the hinges, and a number of scratch-mark decals that are dotted around over the main body of the basket.  Much of this could be replaced by painting and paint effects if you prefer, but it’s good to have them there in case you don’t feel up to the task.

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

A lot of fans of the series have probably been hankering for a model of this cute little fella, and at 1:3 it makes for a good-sized representation of him.  Adding some fibres to his head would increase realism appreciably, and give you some special-effects street-cred into the bargain.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[bentwaters81tfw]

I know someone who has made this already, I will get to see it tomorrow night. Apparently the decals test the patience somewhat.