How the COVID pandemic reignited my love for Bandai Star Wars models

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Last year, before New Zealand went into lock down due to the COVID 19 pandemic sweeping the world, I bought a Bandai kitset model of Boba Fett’s Slave 1. My intention was to build it during lockdown. For those unfamiliar with Bandai’s kitsets, they are meticulously detailed and snap together – no glue required – and really are top-notch replicas of Star Wars vehicles.

Anyway, best laid plans and all, I ended up working all through lock down so didn’t find the time to build the model. It sat in my study, forlornly until July this year when I decided to build it and it has rekindled my love of building kitset models.

I’ve always been fond of Star Wars models: As a teenager who grew up on Star Wars I built a kitset X-Wing, Snowspeeder and All Terrain Armoured Transport (AT-AT), the Imperial army’s tank-like troop transporters used on the snow planet of Hoth. With my father’s help, I constructed a plywood base and we shaped plaster of paris into snowy hills, positioning the walker and the scale sized snowspeeder that came with the kit into a diorama.

I adored that kitset but, sadly, when we moved from Wellington to Christchurch, the less-than-careful removal company managed to damage it, meaning it had to be tossed out.

I’ve also always been a long time fan of Boba Fett, the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunter, despite his scant few minutes across the entire original Star Wars trilogy. It seemed fitting then to buy a Slave 1 kitset and set about building it.

This is my journey of the build using pictures I took as I progressed. As I mentioned earlier, it has rekindled my love of kitset models and my dear wife, seeing the enjoyment I had from building Slave 1, bought me my cherished AT-AT for my recent birthday, along with Lando Carlrissian’s Millennium Falcon from the movie Solo.

I’m watching YouTube videos to learning better weathering techniques and I’ve already started the AT-AT – but I’ll show that (if you’re interested) in a future post.

So, here we go …

The build

A tiny Boba Fett inside the main cockpit. I decided not to paint the figure as frankly my eyesight wasn’t good enough to do it. I also didn’t paint the interior of the cockpit. I have since bought a hobby magnifying set that will make painting fine details much easier.
The underside coming together nicely. Bandai’s kits are incredibly detailed with intricate pieces. I had to glue a couple of pieces on as they wouldn’t snap in place properly.
The underside complete, with the stabilisers in place.
I wasn’t entirely happy with the “weathering” effect here, so I eventually ended up covering it with Tamiya nato brown to hide the grey. My weather is improving but still has a long way to go.
The model is coming together nicely here, although the first few photos show a considerable gap between the bottom of the cockpit and the fuselage. I eventually managed to “unsnap” the pieces and was able to slide everything together, getting rid of the panel gap. I used a sponge dipped in Tamiya olive green to dab on paint then scrapped it off with a toothpick.
The final model painted and weathered so it appears battered and worn after years of hardship.
My painting needs improvement but I’m generally happy with it as a first crack after so many years of not building kitset models.
I used a mixture of Tamiya cockpit green & olive green for the paint weathering, with Tamiya nato brown for the underside. I used Tamiya yellow green for the stabilisers. I dirtied up the paint work using Mig Ammo’s starship streaking wash.

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