JaseGill

Its great Aaron. Well worth a go J.

1/48 Bandai Star Wars Snowspeeder. Bandai Kit Ref: 996692 Priced Yen 1,920 (about £15 before pnp and customs if they get you). Anyone who knows me knows I love Star Wars. I have done since I was 6 and saw it in the cinema in 1971 when it was released. When Bandai said they were the new official kit suppliers my heart kind of sank, the kits that were done by Fine Molds were great and I had high hopes for more. Given Bandai's reputation as a toy manufacturer I cant say I held out much hope. How wrong was I! Ive had the lot on order since I saw the 1st reviews and this is my 1st review here of one of these kits. I have the rest. It is just that Jim seems to have beaten me to the gig every time. Must have less to do than I do Though he's a bit busy right now so I figured I'd jump in and review this whilst I can get a word in edgeways. The Box. The Kit comes in a great sturdy glossy little box with what I think is really nice cover art. Oh how I wish they would do the At-AT walker in the background in the same scale. That'd make a great diorama. The box looks like this: The Instructions. The Instructions are up to the same standard as the other kits. That is that they are in Japanese and anyone who wants to read them needs a translator. The pictures and markings for each part though are very clear, the build looks really easy and they have put in some good presentation on the diagrams and illustrations. The Sprues. There are only 5 sprues. This isn't a big kit. What is there though is exquisite. I have built the Fine Molds kit in the same scale and this is up there for detail. I'd say its almost a copy but there are subtle differences and the feel of this kit is of a much more modern one (who'd have thought the original Fine Molds one is about 6 years old now?). As Jim mentioned in one of his reviews that somehow on the 1st sprue Bandai have managed to mix black kit parts with clear. It is amazing how they did this and some may see it as a gimmick. I guess it is but it doesn't make it any less impressive to me. There is a base and stand included on one sprue and in all cases the moulding detail and the panel lines are very even, crisp and up there with any other manufacturers kits I have seen. All the other sprues are as standard, except the clear Red/Pink one. This has some simulated laser shots on it so once can show the ship in action firing the forward guns. Pictures of the sprues are below: The Decals. These are really nicely done, thin and look to have little carrier film if any in some cases. Final Thoughts. Because I don't read Japanese and given the coloured nature of the sprues it makes me wonder if Bandai, like the other kits they have released recently, give the less experienced modeller the chance to do the whole kit unpainted with the sprues being coloured and no need for paint? This does seem the case when you look at it and from a viewpoint of encouraging less experienced and young people into modelling I think its to be applauded. Of course those amongst us who like a bit of fun can really go to town on Star Wars. Everything is weathered to within an inch of its life and that battered lived in look (at least for Rebel items) is almost encouraged. There were rumours that Bandai were going to ban shipping outside Asia Pacific (Revell have the Star Wars Franchise rights in Europe and the USA). I really hope they don't as these are some great little kits. I myself, as I wrote above, love Star Wars but having built the Fine Molds one in the same scale (and having enjoyed every second of that) did wonder if I wanted to build this kit too. Then I saw the following picture.... Its a promotional image from the Computer Game Star Wars: Battlefront and as soon as I saw it I knew I needed a 2nd Snowspeeder. This'll be my inspiration for the next build. If anyones interested the Fine Molds one I built is this one: In summary anyone who loves Star Wars will be thinking of getting this Im sure. If you are not you should. For anyone else I guess its down to whether you like the look, fancy something different or just want to weather the life out of something and if you do I think this is the one, or one of the ones, for you. Highly Recommended. I bought this from Hobby Link Japan but it can be found on some importers sites.

Thanks Aaron. I loved doing this kit, wish I had time to do a few

Thanks for the pointers Doogs. I have ordered Accurate Armour Carbon Fibre Aerials that I saw at the last Telford Show. Lets see if they arrive, if not I'll be using some of my old guitar strings

Hi all, Its been a while. New job, new challenge, less free time. So, I finally finished off the MENG 1/35 M2A3 Bradley. Its the one from my WIP. Its mostly painted with Vallejo with lots of MiG and Ammo washes and Pigments used. I love a bit of weathering so I went to town on this one. Its waiting for some figures to arrive, for me to find suitable material for the aerials (any ideas welcome) and for some sort of diorama base to put it on. Anyway less words more pictures. Enjoy and as usual constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

That is very nice

Well, I went a little bit nuts yesterday after looking for some bits and bobs on Hannants. Before I know it I'd ordered this lot... A few Ive been thinking of for a while, the rest a whim really. Will try to post a few reviews as soon as I can. J.

Ive got all of these so far and the rest on pre-order. They're great and Im addicted

Tiger 131 was running around Bovington Tank Museum yesterday along with a few others... Tiger Day. We only went by coincidence so nice to see Tiger 131 in action J.

Ive just always loved the fact that it looks kinda gangly. Same reason I bought and built the Revell Arado 196 and will do the single float one too J.

I have one of each in the stash. The Early is going to be a NASA bird, not sure about the Late yet

My ultimate Navy aircraft of WWII may surprise some. The OS2U Kingfisher. Don't know why but I love it. Just looks great to me. So, how excited am I that Kitty Hawk just announced that the 1/48 is a mistake, it's going to be 1/32. I don't care what's on the bench, when this comes I'm all over it. What's everyone else think?

Looking great Jim

Looking stunning Mark. Great build and I cant wait to see the end result J.

Nice John, very nice. Been looking at this kit and thinking I need one

Great news team. Love it

Hi all, I have the Academy Sh60 kit in 1:35. I really want to do something different with this so though I'd do this scheme. Ive always loved digital schemes and whilst I think the Digital Camo is do-able in this scale with some accuracy the other markings may need some decal options. I'd consider doing my own decals too, but how good are the self printed ones? Any thoughts? Its from HCS22 and there are pics of it all over Google. Cheers, J.

Love these new Bandai Kits. So much detail in these for 1/48. Methinks I need to get on to HLJ and get some of these at last J.

Thanks guys. Thinking of the Sabre Dog next, but I have a 1/35 Storch half built (from about 8 years ago when I started it) and a half built 1/35 AH-1W that Mark31 sent me a missing part for (again 8 to 10 years old) that kind of feels like it needs doing next too. Could be a triple build... Plus Aaron and I have an idea or two too J.

Glad you like Jim J.

Well, Im calling this one finished. The Build Log is here: http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/3110-special-hobby-132-buckeye/ Its not perfect but I'm about as done as I can be. Somehow the Carpet Monster collected the Nose Pitot so I need to find a replacement. The tail Pitot snapped too but I have some Albion Alloy on order and once it arrives I will make the necessary repairs. Ive seen pictures of repaired paint patches on Greek Aircrfat so I have tried to do a repair patch on the nose too. Clean paint, no weathering. The RBF Tags are in English, I couldn't find any Greek ones, not even sure the Greek ones are in Greek anyway I hope you like and as usual constructive criticism is much appreciated. Jason.

This is my other hobby. My little toy aircraft G-CFGX. She's a Eurostar built in 2009. J. Leaving Dunkeswell after picking my son up from there. Parked at Duxford, next to a legend

Hi Steve, Glad you liked the review, its a cracking kit which i hope to start soon. If I had a vote I'd ask for a 1/32 Buccaneer... If anyone at Telford is listening this year that'll be what Im peddling J.

Thanks Cees. Its not as dark as it looks in the pics strangely. I think my develop settings on Lightroom need some tweaking J.

Cool. Did notice the softness of the Buckeye Gear, quite easy to bend... Will keep an eye out for the G-Factor ones and a UK Supplier. J.