Bandai releases new Star Wars Model Kits for 2015!

Bandai, that company that simplifies the process of modeling with easy to build but superb, highly detailed molds of science fiction kits, has decided to release a ton of classic Star Wars items for 2015! But even better, a few of these will be available in November and December of 2014! Click the link to visit their Star Wars page, which is mostly in Japanese but has an english menu.

The X-Wing Fighter, due out this November, features two pilot figures, one standing and one in a seated position. It also includes an R2-D2 figure as well as R5-D4, so you can customize the vehicle to the one of your liking (i.e., Red 3, Red 5). Click the link to see all of the features.

Darth Vader's T.I.E. Advanced Fighter includes a 1/72 scale standing Vader figure as well as a seated one for the cockpit. Also included are optional laser blasts. Follow the link to see the pics. Both this kit and the X-Wing are scheduled for November of this year.

Also out this November is their highly posable 1/12 scale Darth Vader (link). And the Stormtrooper, which is the one I really want, will be out in December of this year.

But they have many more planned for 2015, click here to see pictures from their Hobby Show that features images of the Snowspeeder and AT-ST prototypes and others, as well as a few new Yamato 2199 kits.

Hasbro Star Wars COMMAND Hand-Painted Customs. Why not?

I was at a store a few weeks ago and saw these. In recent years I've been trying to stick to model kits and forced myself to not buy toys anymore (Really? Who am I trying to fool? The animated Star Wars Rebels will be out soon!). But when I saw these stark, unpainted figures I felt that tremor in the force again. 

Unpainted Star Wars miniatures? Sold!

At just 2 to 2 and a half inches, they make great gaming pieces and great miniature display figures. Warning: I'm not a great photographer and the digital camera makes the fine details look harsher. A LOT!

First, you have to prime them. This is absolutely necessary as the material they are made from has a certain residue that makes the paint slide across the surface. I washed the figures in liquid detergent, then let them dry thoroughly. 

Next, I sprayed them with Tamiya "Fine" White surface primer.

And last I painted them with different acrylic paints like Floquil's Polly Scale and cheap craft acrylic. Believe it or not, you can work wonders with some of those little 50 cent bottles!

The Endor set includes 4 Ewoks and I painted three of them as different characters based on my Hasbro figures from Power of the Force or the Saga series.

Obviously, they're all copies of Wicket. But they look real cute to the naked eye in 3-D. Who wants an army of just Wicket clones?

Next from the Endor set are the two vehicles, molded in a semi-soft, almost rubbery plastic.

After priming they can be painted real easy. I used Tamiya's panel line accent color again and I really need to get the grey and mix it with the black, I think. The pure black lines are great on darker colors. but they might me a wee bit too dark on the X-Wing fighter. It looks good in person, though.

Because of the molding of the three lines on the s-foils (wings), I recognized this as Red-3, the X-Wing piloted by Biggs Darklighter. So I referenced an old magazine I still have with a few great pictures of ILM's filming models to get the right color scheme. Bear in mind, this thing is about 2 inches long, so getting the details right on the little astromech droid wasn't easy. He's a little sketchy!

I still need a few colors here and there to get this one 100% done. This really inspires me to get a an actual X-Wing model kit like the 1/72 Fine Molds or even other versions. 

I love X-Wings.

The AT-ST Chicken Walker was A LOT easier to finish. Basically, grey spray paint and panel lines.

Will I use these in some game? Probably not. I've never actually done Star Wars RPG. That doesn't mean I'm not at least curious. But I want more of these. The "Rebels" one with the new characters looks really cool.