Reader reviews of a kit featured on Starship Modeler.

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Your Two Cents: ARC-170

The following are reader's opinions of the ARC-170 made by Revell DE.

Reviewer   steve
Date Reviewed   May 23, 2005
Overall Rating       Not good at all. You really have to want it bad.
Comments

haven't actually gotten a hold of one of these kits, but wanted to make some comments...

at first, i was really excited to hear that revell got the rights to produce kits from, 'revenge of the sith'...

but, was majorly disappointed to discover that almost all the kits were not only snap-fits, but also pre-painted...

felt like it was lot for revell to ask modelers get real excited about...

it would really be nice to discover that 'fine molds' has purchased the rights to produce kits for episode 3 as well, as i know they'll really do the vehicles justice and they will be more in line with what people who are passionate about modeling were expecting...

i just can't get myself to purchase the revell kits, as they're more like the bandai star trek offerings, but much less detailed...(no r2 unit for the ARC 170- come on, guys...)


Reviewer   Jim James
Date Reviewed   Sep 14, 2005
Overall Rating       Good kit, but with some problems.
Comments I had no intention of snapping this together without paint. I've already scratchbuilt the cockpit interior and the R2 unit and I'm starting on the repainting.

There are a few challenges in painting this kit.

OK, so decals for the markings are available from CultTVMan but it doesn't include everything - no nose emblem, no green stripes, no little yellow triangles for the wings plus a few more things that might have helped with repainting. I've already scanned the nose art from the instructions and plan on making decals of that and the a few other markings.

Scratchbuilding the cockpit isn't too hard given that resources are almost non-existent. The gunner's seat should be moved closed to the back and the pilot's seat moved forward.

The trouble with snap-fits is that you pretty much have to assemble them before you can clean seams and paint (the wing assemblies are a perfect example. My advice is to paint what you can, mask, assemble and paint the final gray coat.

I used Light Gray, Testor's Fulcrum gray and Euro Gray. Testor's Insignia Red is a great match for the red on the kit.

This really is a nice kit that has some easy scratchbuild opportunities. If you want to build it like a real model builder, it's a good start.

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