Showing posts with label Star Wars Superstar Destroyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars Superstar Destroyer. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Just Received Arvey Models 17.5" SuperStar Destroyer and 2" Star Destroyers

[Darth Vader Imperial March in the background ....]




It has always been my dream to have my very own SuperStar Destroyer (SSD). To me, the SSD had always been the ultimate in terms of Capital Ships in any Science Fiction Genre - anytime hands down. But dreaming of owning her was one thing, trying to actually own one ... whoa! You can see based on my past reviews on this subject that there were some pretty nitty issues holding me back from getting one earlier, particularly in terms of their prices and display space required. And some of the bigger ones have become scarce. As small comfort, I had to settle for 2 really, really small representation of this humongous ship in the form of a RPG game piece and a Titanium Series die cast kit for a while.



The RPG Game piece - I got this image from the net and mine's not as crooked as above.
Titanium Series - that Star Destroyer at its side is not to scale

Today that dream became a reality. A package arrived and it was the 17.5" Arvey Models' SSD. I got her from Arvey Models as she was the only kit of this class that was affordable (not to mention available) and would fit really snug in my display space once she's build. And I also got her from there as I am very happy and satisfied with Arvey Model's resin quality and customer service.

Ironically my decision to purchase from Arvey Models was made almost 1.5 years ago, after my first purchase with them for the comprehensive Galactica Accurization Set - which unfortunately took a whopping 3 months to reach me (yeah, I forgot to ask for International Priority Shipping). When I saw that set, I remembered being so utterly impressed with the quality of the accurization kit, and the sudden dread overwhelming me when I realised just how bad the Revellogram Battlestar Galactica kit was. Then I found the SSD on their online catalogue when I was checking out AMT's Star Destroyer's accurization set. I actually promised Robert Vancel (who then owned and manages Arvey Models) that one day, I will buy the SSD from him.

It took me 1.5 years putting aside some money each month, praying the SSD would still be available. I had to resort to this as I can't afford to buy everything I want in one go. And when I had saved up enough, I was so relieved to find the SSD was still available, and it was also enough to include 3 sets of the 2" Star Destroyers SDs to scale to accompany my "Executor" - that's Darth Vader's ship, but shipping was going to be a problem. So I wrote to "ironship" at the Starship Modeler Forum and discovered that there was a Christmas special offer for that month of December ... man, was I happy camper. I actually only needed to top up about RM50 (about USD$16) extra to cover the cost.

So now that I have the kit, I am able to do a better review for the benefit of those who may be interested in getting her. The box package is sturdy and simple, with a very small highlight on what kit was inside it.


 
Parts were protected with peanut foams inside the box which I had discarded. The main hull was protected within a bubble wrap while the smaller parts were kept in 2 separate plastic containers. The 3 smaller containers are my 2" SDs - 3 sets

A brass rod was also included, taped onto the underside of the box package 



Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Superstar Destroyer - There's a kit for this out there?

Imagine you're surfing the net to get some good images of the SSD (Superstar Destroyer) be it for a wallpaper, or you just want to use the images for reference. And then you see ...... hello, what's this? A kit?  Whoa .. you can actually own your very own Superstar Destroyer in your own room. That's right, there are actually kits of the Superstar Destroyer made out there. And bear in mind this ship is suppose to be really massive in the movies, now imagine it as a model kit. It'll need to have 25 times the details you see on a very detailed  SD (Star Destroyer), and it needs to look larger than life. Mind you the SDs are tiny compared to the mother of all starships. It is after all Darth Vader's ego trip and "don't mess with me" Sunday vehicle.

Most of the kits I found are scratchbuilt and made of resin. Well, there just isn't any styrene plastic kits made available for this behemoth, and even if there was, I can only imagine the level of inaccuracies that goes with it. The sheer amount of details incorporated are just mind boggling, and the people that created resin kits out of them really had to do their research. The outcome for all of these are truly amazing.

As far as I know, there are only the following SSD kits made available (but no guarantee they're still in stock). I may have missed a few more, but these I found. I'll start with the smallest first.

Scale Solution's SSD 14.5"




Korbanth's SSD 36"


Ravenstar's SSD 38"






You will notice that some of the titles above the images have no links. That's because I can't find their respective links. Scale Solution and Ravenstar's images were taken from Locke_333's photobucket (from the Starship Modeller forum) while Korbanth's SSD image were taken from the Replica Prop Forum (close ups are available at Eagletransporter.com)

I do not know where you can get most of these kits (you could click the links, do some detective work and write to their creators), and some of them are indeed on a limited run - meaning their Sold Out. You could still find some of these through EvilBay but expect the prices to be jacked up some.

Or you could try Avery Models (17.5") who I believe he still have them in stock. One thing nice about Avery Models is that they also carry 2" SDs to go along with the SSD. Makes for a pretty neat diorama fleet. I'm planning to get mine through Avery Models but I need to hold back for now as the Moebius BSG kit is coming around the corner

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Back to the Sci Fi Realm ... The Superstar Destroyer

Huge ships have always impressed me, especially when you see the sheer size of the behemoth. Be it a warship or an ocean liner, these vessels are magnificent. Imagine if you served onboard one, being part of the crew, or even fantasize about being its captain, the pride that goes along cannot be bought or rented.

One way to differentiate a ship's size is to visually compare her to something familiar. This is all too evident in the Star Trek Universe. Unfortunately the TV series don't do it justice as most times they don't show the ships to scale. Here's a good gauge how big each ship are to each other






When I first saw the Superstar Destroyer in the Empire Strikes Back, I remembered looking at her in the cinema screen with my jaw gapping. Man, now that's a mean looking thing. She's intimidating, she's pure power, and she's not someone you want to mess with. Its Darth Vader's ship, the Executor. Some screen caps to refresh the memory


More images after the jump