Revell’s Build and Play Star Destroyer

Revell Build and Play Star Destroyer 1:4000

“There’s this emperor, and he asks the shepherd’s boy, ‘How many seconds in eternity?’ The shepherd’s boy says, ‘There’s this model kit of perfect grade. It takes an hour to unbox it, an hour to read the instructions. Every hundred years, a little bird comes and glues a piece to the kit. And when the entire model is completed, the first second of eternity will have passed.'”

Some months before Rogue One came out, I saw this Star Destroyer floating around toy stores and hobby shops at the retail price of $29.99. A few weeks ago, I was able to snag it on Amazon for about $11. As you probably expect, it was totally worth it.

But snap kits suck…

Whoa, bear with me here. I like building model kits. I also have a full-time job. That kills a lot of free time. That’s why I like these quicker snap together model kits. I actually have the damn time to build them! I’ve got a Bandai Millennium Falcon 1:144 in its box, and one look inside is like looking into a vortex of time sucking sprues. And that shit is supposed to be child’s play compared to the PERFECT GRADE 1:72 Bandai Millennium Falcon that’s coming out (http://p-bandai.jp/hobby/special-1000007606/). That thing would probably take me the first second of eternity to build if I ever dared.

I, like several of my model friends with real jobs, have a stack of boxed kits that seems to grow every few months. The entire pile will probably never be finished in my lifetime. We even have our specialties in this field of model building. One friend does Gundams. Another does anime figures. I do starships. And there are already a ton of starships before even leaving the Star Wars and Star Trek field. I’ve got boxes of nearly every bloody variation of the Enterprise, a stash of Star Wars ships, and several miscellaneous science fiction vessels like the NSEA Protector from Galaxy Quest. I finish one maybe every six months or so.

Basically, what I’m saying is that I have a shitton of model kits and barely any time. Hey, did I mention I wanted to start a blog too? Also, I’m sure you’ve already seen me shamelessly shilling my novels…

I digress. Ultimately, I warn you now that my reviews for these quick kits will be far more generous than most modelers. In gamer terms, I’m a filthy casual.

The Star Destroyer Itself

So with the above warnings being mentioned, I shall begin my actual review of Revell’s Star Destroyer! I will start by saying that Revell’s snap kits post Episode VII, while obviously not as badass as Bandai’s offerings, have been pretty good. Pieces fit together nice and tightly, just as this Star Destroyer did. That being said, I dab some cement on most of the pieces even if it’s supposed to be a snap kit just so it’s way more durable.

I consider these Level 1-2 kits to be a canvas. They are quick to setup and put together so I can start doing the thing I really like with them: painting and weathering. If you’re not into painting, I think you’ll be highly disappointed with how this model kit comes together. If you look at the top picture, you’ll see how bland and brightly white the paintless kit comes out. It’s an eyesore, really.

However, when you look at the Star Destroyer closely, you see so many details. So many panel lines. It’s quite beautiful. It calls at you. It begs you. Pick up your damn paintbrush, you lazy bastard.

And when you do, look at how handsomely you are rewarded. Black wash that fucker. Look at those panel lines pop. It’s magnificent.

Don’t forget the back:

Like, wow. Them details.

I love this Star Destroyer. It only took two weekends to put together and weather. I think it looks sweet for how little time and effort I had to put into it.

Check out how it compares with my super old toy Star Destroyer that’s missing parts and broken:

Unsure why the toy had aztec style panels like it thought it was a Star Trek ship.

Just compare those details on the edges, the panel lines, so beautiful.

Summary

The kit was easy to put together. It, like the other post-Episode VII Revell Star Wars snap kits I’ve built, went together easily and everything fit fine. There are pretty much no seams except for one glaring spot: the shield generators. For some reason, each of the two shield generators comes in two pieces, so four overall, that you have to click together. This made a big seam appear on my shield generators, but that’s easily puttied out.

This Star Destroyer comes with fold-out display landing gear and included sound and rear engine lights. There are only two sounds and they are cheesy. Only the big three engines light up. The landing gear thing looks fugly if you want to display it on a stand or off a ceiling. All of these things can be fixed with more advanced modeling techniques (plenty of room for a soundboard, LED lights, and you can putty the hell out of the landing gears), but I don’t have the time to do that, so it’s all good. I can appreciate Revell trying to add some play factor for the kids, and I’m planning on displaying mine with the landing gears deployed anyway since I’m too lazy to build a stand too.

Overall, I give Revell’s Star Destroyer a 9.5/10