All right, a new Star Wars kit. AMT has finally released the Corporate Alliance Droid from the Revenge of the Sith©. This kit features 37 parts molded in light gray plastic and instructions. There are no decals or painting instructions provided with this kit, even though the instructions call out 11 different colors of paint.

The molding is fairly sharp with some ejector pin marks and mold separation lines. One part has the Lucasfilm copyright marking right were it will be seen, rather than on the inside of a part. The tracks are molded in one piece with separation lines down the middle and mold stubs all over the inside that will require some careful cutting to remove.

Overall this is a welcome kit from the Star Wars universe and with a little research on painting should make up into a very nice model.

© 2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved.

Is there anybody on earth that hasn't heard of Star Wars? Released in 1977, the George Lucas film changed the genre of Sci-Fi forever. One of the biggest stars of the show was the Incom Corporation T-65 X-Wing Space Superiority Fighter, or just X-Wing for short. When flown by the infamous Red Squadron, the X-Wing was able to fight its way to the Death Star and "then maneuver straight down this trench" and launch a proton torpedo and destroy the Death Star. This specific movie event solidified the X-Wing's place in history, or at least in the mind of this young 15 year old boy.

Well now, AMT finally gets the 'Star Wars Revenge of the Sith©' models to the store shelves just in time for Christmas and after the movie is on DVD for your reference. So what go you get with this new release? You get 56 parts nicely molded in light gray plastic, 2 clear parts, 2 metal bars, decals and instructions. The parts are bagged and the clear parts are double bagged in bubble wrap.

What you don't get is any painting or decal placement information in the instructions, even though the instructions do list 11 different paint color call outs. The other thing that you don't get is any information on this kit, for example, in two different places (one for the cockpit and the other for the moveable wing panels) you are given optional part selection without any information about which Eta-2 Jedi Starfighter had which options, so you had better take good notes when you are watching the movie.

I was happy to see Hasegawa reissue these kits as I have several of the "Eggplanes" but not some of the re-releases. The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box - great for holding the parts as you work on the model. There are thirteen White, Eleven Black plastic parts and one crystal clear windshield and with a colorful decal sheet with the names of three different shuttles. The canopy is loose in the box allowing it to be scratched up a bit, but a little polishing and a dip in Future took care of that problem. Some of the parts were also scratched but nothing a little polishing and painting would take care of. One thing about these re-releases is that Hasegawa have eliminated the bases that were in the original issue. This kit no longer has the clear Blue half earth base and the wire to support the shuttle above it, see picture. Missing from the kit I received was the wire that goes from the shuttle bay load to the Astronaut that is shown in the instructions.

The first thing that you will notice, even before opening the box, is that this is a big model! The box measured at about 17 inches on each side and is five inches deep, weighing in about just less than five pounds. Opening the box one of the things that draws the eye is the saucer. The saucer, which is about 16.5 inches in diameter, weighs in at just less than 2 pounds. For the math challenged among us, that equates to a saucer circumference of just less than 52 inches. As a reference, a standard NBA basketball hoop has a diameter of 18 inches. Each engine pod is about 17 inches long. The model will take up an estimated vertical displacement of about 10 inches. Okay, it's big. It's heavy.