Rebels at Cloud Nine Blog: Revell 1:72 Millennium Falcon

The older AMT and MPC Star Wars kits are becoming harder to find. They were last released with the first release of the Original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. But that's most likely the last time we'll ever see them. So now the word is out Revell Germany is going to make Star Wars kits "Awesome"! This is going to be great brand new Star Wars kits with state of the art engineering

"What's that? They're going to be Snap kits? Well OK that could be worse I mean they could also be pre-painted........ oh they did that too, well OK at the very least we'll get like and X-wing in 72nd scale...... What the heck is 57th scale and where can I not build it"?

Yeah that's the basic reaction to the Revell kits. And personally I think they are good kits, they look nice and they are new tooled, they are ..... snap kits, and the are pre-painted but a snap kit isn't bad, and a prepainted kit usually just needs a quick coat or primer and your off. But then the scales, why make an X-wing in 1:57th scale, and a 1:14 Landspeeder? They have another series of "Easy Pocket Models" These are really nice, they are kinda like the Bandai Mech Collection, small snap kits with pretty awesome detail. I've seen a few modellers turn these into stunning pieces.

So yeah the odd ball scales kept a lot of us away (Thank goodness FineMolds came to our rescue), but then the weirdest thing, of all the odd scales, they released the Millennium Falcon in 1:72nd scale..... I mean I'm happy about it, but why just the Falcon?

When I heard that FineMolds lost their Star Wars licence I gotta admit I was a bit devastated. The kits looked fantastic, the subjects were outstanding, and then they were gone. Bandai got that licence and have been turning out some amazing models, including the Falcon in 1:144 scale. But the holy grail of them all was the FineMolds 1:72nd Falcon. Its legendary detail and precision made it a very sought after kit. Heck I still wouldn't mind getting one, so then why, WHY did I buy this Revell kit?

Well good news for the rest of us is Revell still has their Star Wars license and got the rights to produce the FineMolds kits, so far there are only 3 and one of them is the 1:72 Falcon. It's in my local hobby store with a hefty price tag of $399 Cdn.

"But truly it is worth it for all it's precision and wondrous detail, its' utter magnificence"?

That may very well be, but to the side I saw this guy, and I know that it too is 1:72nd scale. The parts are all displayed on the back of the box, I thought it really didn't look all to bad, I even thought it looked pretty good. The price was hefty again for a snap kit, about $70 Cdn. And when I brought it home and opened the kit I was really very pleased with the detail.

My goal for this kit, is to take it apart and properly accurize the kit. There are pipes that are molded into the plastic, these will be removed and replaced with either good wire or styrene. There are details lacking on the sides, yep that will be added and corrected. I've even planned to rebuild the entire cockpit

And yes this project is going to be BIG and take a long time and there are probably many times I'll put it to the side for a while, but honestly the idea of sprucing it up really appeals to me. I want this kit to be, dare I say it, as good as the FineMolds kit (I didn't say it would happen, I said its what I wanted).

But why should you buy it? Well the ball in is Revell's court at the moment. They've got this Snap kit and the wonderfully produced FineMolds kit that might possibly dissapear forever at any moment. So they are going to try and sell as many FM kits for the most they can get.

The Revell Kit: Its' a Snap, Prepainted, Not as accurate, and still quite pricey. Revell needs to lower the price on this thing seriously no higher than $50 Cdn, and even then you'd probably not feel as satisfied. And with the New Force Awakens movie they released this kit again but with the different rectangular dish, and that one cost even more then this one!

I personally look forward to the challenge of this kit. And this one might not be the challenge your looking for but in all honesty it's a good kit.

What would also help in the sales is if Revell put 1:72 on the box in big letters. I think a few earlier releases had this on the box, and it really needs to be on there again. I think if more modellers knew the scale and saw a lower price tag, more would be inclined to grab this kit and build it. But I've really got the feeling they are trying to push the sales of the FineMolds kit.

I'm regretting my purchase a bit.... for what I've got planned it's going to be more work. Fun work most definitely, but it's going to take some good time and care for me to get it where I want it. But if I were to build this straight out of the box.... I'd be pretty happy with it, pretty darn happy, it's the Millennium Falcon in 72nd scale, how cool is that ?!