Star Wars Star Destroyer [Unboxing]

Three days ago, the latest Star Wars Rogue One trailer was released and it was glorious. Vehicle-wise the second official trailer showcased the Galactic Empire's old school trinity of the Imperial Star Destroyer, TIE Fighter and AT-AT Walker albeit in conditions/versions we've never seen before. I'll explain further at the end of the post. But first, let's get to the unboxing of Bandai's first miniature in its new line of Star Wars 'mini' plastic model kits - the Star Destroyer. Why 'mini'? Well, it's a range of Star Wars miniatures that are smaller than Bandai's usual 1/12, 1/72 and 1/144 scale model kits. They don't offer an official scale measurement other than to state the length of the kit in question, which is 111 mm for the Star Destroyer. It's small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.

Bandai Plastic Model Kit - Star Wars Star Destroyer [Vehicle Model 001] packaging

Assembly instructions were printed directly on the inside on the box cover

Colour guide was based on GSI Creos Mr Color solvent based paints

As per Bandai's usual top-notch quality and design, the details on this plastic model kit's parts - even at such a small scale - were simply astounding. Iconic sections of the Star Destroyer were readily spotted on the sprue such as the ion engines, primary docking bay, deflector-shield generator domes, and of course the triangular upper and lower hulls. Assembly looks so simple that instructions could fit/were printed directly onto the inside of the cardboard box packaging. And it was there that they also provided a colour guide for this original trilogy version of the Star Destroyer. Paints referenced were the Mr. Color solvent-based model paints. I plan to use Tamiya acylic paint equivalents instead.

Sprue A1: Rear hull with emergency ion engines, primary docking bay, and parts of the bridge

Sprue A2: Lower hull, parts of the bridge and communications tower

Sprue A3: Side hull, ion engines and central crewed section of upper hull

Sprue A4: Lower hull with solar ionisation reactor, part of the bridge and deflector-shield generator domes

Sprue BM1: Base with display stand

With all this glorious detail at such a small scale, there exists the possibility of creating (read assembling and painting) a beautiful looking model even without the help LED lighting. This is exactly what I'll be trying to do with the Bandai Star Wars Star Destroyer plastic model kit.  

Relatively small size of the Star Destroyer meant that it fit into the palm of my hand

Do I wish the Star Destroyer model was bigger? Definitely. Does it mean I don't like this model kit? Hell no. An Imperial Star Destroyer retains a cool factor regardless of scale and size. Below are three beautiful glimpses of the Star Destroyer from the second Rogue One trailer in the unlikely off-chance you haven't caught the trailer yet. I screen-captured them from a HD resolution version of the trailer. 

Close-up of the Star Destroyer ... it's a little bit whiter than I remembered

Part of the Death Star forms the backdrop for a wide shot of the Star Destroyer

A Star Destroyer in low atmospheric orbit ... how cool is that

Returning to the topic of the latest Rogue One trailer, all three iconic Galactic Empire vehicles look different and/or are operating in conditions different to their counterparts in the original trilogy. Firstly, the Star Destroyer looks much whiter. My theory: the Rogue One versions are newer hence less exposed to space debris and atmospheric reentry heat. Not unlike what happens to a new white car after a year or so. Secondly, the new walker is supposedly called the Imperial AT-ACT Cargo Walker so it's essentially a different model of a same class. And thirdly, the TIE Fighter is allegedly a TIE Striker namely a variant designed for atmospheric controls. There you have it - trivia galore and an unboxing to boot. With that I'm signing off until I get that destroyer assembled. So see you then!