Star Wars Anakin’s Podracer (05639) 1:31

[Mike]

Anakin’s Podracer (05639)

1:31 Carrera Revell

 

 

After the original Star Wars trilogy ended, fans were left waiting for more Star Wars for a long time, so as the new millennium approached, there was a huge buzz of excitement when the prequel trilogy was announced, around sixteen years (in our galaxy) after the Empire had been defeated (or had it?).  It was to tell the story of the Old Republic and the Clone Wars, a conflict that Old Ben had discussed with Luke Skywalker at the beginning of the very first Star Wars film that we now refer to as Episode IV: A New Hope.  The new film was called The Phantom Menace, which was a reference to the unforeseen plot by a certain Senator of the Republic to take control of the galaxy, as his alter-ego Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of The Sith.  We streamed (physically) into the cinema in our millions with trepidation, and if you’re anything like me, you probably almost nodded off during the opening Crawl, which droned on about trade wars and blockades, seemingly ad nauseam.  The film wasn’t particularly well-received at the time, and I found it a bit of a snooze-fest myself, and let’s not discuss Jar-Jar Binks and his many irritating facets.  It has since been reassessed more favourably with the benefit of hindsight, for reasons I’m not entirely convinced by.

 

Once Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn had rescued Princess Amidala and Jar-Jar (sadly) from the Separatist forces invading Naboo near the beginning of the film, their Royal Starship ended up stranded on a backwater planet by the name of Tatooine, needing an oil-change and some spare parts, but without any credits to pay for them.  They bumped into Darth Vader, sorry Anakin Skywalker, who just happened to be a master of all things technological, having constructed C-3PO from parts (how do we explain the other thousands of them throughout the saga?), and had also made himself a Podracer to take part in the extremely dangerous local racing that took place nearby.  Somehow child exploitation (and slavery) was OK in the Old Republic, and Anakin agreed to race for them to generate the cash they needed to get off the planet, with a side-bet to free young Ani from slavery at the same time.  After a bit of back and forth on whether he’s going to win or not – you know the drill – Ani triumphed over the nasty, cheating Sebulba, and off they went, leaving Ani’s mum and the dust-ball behind.

 

 

The Kit

Originally tooled in 2012, this reboxing celebrates the 25th anniversary of the release of The Phantom Menace, and the end-opening box contains extras such as a tightly-rolled poster, a set of six acrylic paint pots, a 12.5ml bottle of Contacta Professional glue, and a #2 paint brush.  There is also a kit in there, consisting of four sprues of grey styrene, two sprues of clear parts, a vinyl Anakin Skywalker figure, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet printed in colour on white paper.  Detail is surprisingly good, given the relatively low part-count, and and the kit’s heritage as a snap-together Easy-Kit.  The sculpting of young Anakin is good (the unpainted chin-strap gives him a strange look), as is his pose, with his arms up to reach the controls that he built surprisingly too large for himself, the engine pods have detail moulded-in, plus separate intakes and nozzle parts with more detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the hull of the racer, which has the cockpit tub attached to the upper half from within after it has been detail-painted.  A three-view step shows painting of Anakin and his oversized helmet with chin-strap, after which his chin won’t look so large, then more steps show detail painting of the high-tech ‘handlebars’, and the instrument panel, which is shown from three directions, as earlier.  The bars and panel are inserted into the cockpit, adding Ani and his seat, then two cowling parts to the sides of the ‘fenders’ at the front.  The lower half of the hull has some greeblie inserts moulded-in, adding a C-shaped part into recesses, then mating the upper and lower together with a fairing fitted into holes in each side.  An overhead drawing shows the complex stripes that are applied to the completed hull, consisting of five sets of blue stripes, and a red logo on the port fender.  Two more diagrams show the same process from the sides, with four more decals applied over and around the stripes.  Once the decals have been sealed, the coaming is glued over the instrument panel so that the windscreen can be fitted over it, extending over the ‘bonnet’.  If you’re wondering why there are so many speech-marks, it’s because the hull appears to be a combination of a beach buggy and a boat, and some of the parts have little or no apparent practical purpose.

 

The engine pods are tenuously connected to the hull by long and mobile trunks (for no apparent reason), which are made from two parts each, with a corrugated hose the main feature.  The engines are initially built in halves, adding pairs of control ‘flaps’ to slots near the front that seem to be used to control the pod’s direction, along with flip-out ‘air-brakes’ further aft.  The halves are joined together, trapping a bulkhead near the front, applying more decals to the engine bodies, then installing the intake with over-sized inlet cone and blades moulded-in, and exhaust bullet at the centre of a jet-engine-like exhaust that belches plasma in the movie.  The engines are joined together by a single clear part that represents the crackling energy flow between them that seems to stop the two engines from heading in opposite directions.  A top cowling is fixed to each engine, and the hull is joined to the engines on the five-part base, which has a solid Y-shaped platform, three clear supports, and clear cups that stabilise the engines from beneath.  Four small aerials are fitted into holes in the starboard rear fender, adding two more detail parts into additional holes on the rear cowling.

 

 

Markings

Anakin’s Podracer appeared in just the first of the prequel trilogy of films, and as such was only seen in one scheme.  If you want to go off-piste and create your own colour scheme, you’re free to go nuts, but from the box you can build the following:

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt/gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  There is a ‘The Phantom Menace’ logo decal included on the sheet that can be applied to the base, as shown on the instructions.

 

 

Conclusion

It might not be the most high-profile of the many Star Wars kits out there, but seeing one that’s been well done really increases its appeal.  There was a completed model displayed on this very forum some time back that convinced me to spend some money on getting one for myself, so be sure to look it up for some inspiration.

 

Highly recommended.

 

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

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[Pete in Lincs]

And the engines are good kitbash fodder if you want to do a Star Wars scratchbuild. Thanks for the review Mike.