Build Review - FineMolds TIE Fighter - Part 1

Time for an update on FineMolds 1:72, a kit which appears on my to-do list for the coming year.

Upon opening the box it's one of those kits where you instantly notice the detail. The parts are full of little details, which is probably down to FineMolds having access to the original production models from the Star Wars films.

So naturally, I was keen to get started, and like any aircraft build you start with the cockpit, and in this case the excellent little pilot model. The cockpit consists of front and back halves, a floor and two inner side walls and then the pilot, his seat and controls. The side walls are painted black and then decals are added to give the red interior effect (I believe these are moving dials in the film, but it's been such a long time since I've seen them that I may be mistaken).

The rest of the interior is coloured grey, I used Tamiya's XF-53, neutral grey and dry-brushed with various Citadel greys to add a bit depth. The pilot is all black, again dry-brushed to bring out the details. FineMolds also give you some decals for his helmet and shoulder pads which are tiny! With these added he was ready to be seated.

All this went together smoothly, the fit is excellent, clip the front half on and the cockpit was pretty much done. There is a clear panel for the front but I decided to leave this off and paint it separately and so just masked the cockpit front as it was.

Next up were the wings. I believe the technical term is solar collector arrays so forgive me if I refer to them as wings from now on. These consist of a flat panel and then two frame pieces which clip onto either side. The flat panels were sprayed with Tamiya's XF-69, Nato black. I them picked out a few sections and over sprayed them with XF-61, German grey to add a bit of contrast.

After attaching the frames to the panels it was time to fix them to the cockpit and here I encountered my first (minor) problem. The fix initially seemed a bit lose and had me wondering how I would get then to settle at the correct angle. It was only then that I realised I had to apply more pressure and then the wings snapped into place. In fact, they fitted so firmly I doubt glue would be needed to hold them.

I think there may well be something in the instructions to tell you all this but the instructions are completely in Japanese. This is because this model, and the license, are only for the domestic Japanese market and so there's not a word of English to be found like you find in so many other Japanese kits.

And there you have it, in no time at all a TIE fighter built, next up would be painting it which I'll cover in my next post.