Revell

Star Wars ARC-170 Starfighter Snap-Tite

Kit Number: RMX1855

Reviewed by  Phil Peterson, IPMS# 8739

MSRP: $18.50 Website: www.revell.com While the Star Wars prequels did not gather high praises from either critics or many fans, they did contribute some new ship designs to the Star Wars universe. Revell decided to take advantage of this and put several of these into model form. My favorite of these designs is the ARC-170, a kind of pre X-Wing. The ship is more of an assault craft than a fighter and has the firepower to back up that statement. In 2005 Revell of Germany first released this kit as a pre-painted, snap-fit model. They were hard to come by in the U.S. unless you were willing to pay a premium postage. I happened so swap a couple of L’eggs egg containers to a bloke in England for my copy, but that is another story. Luckily for American modelers, Revell U.S. has started issuing the kits at a lower retail price and shipping savings. So the first thing I did was compare the review kit with my previous purchase. The U.S. version comes in a smaller box (like their 1/24th scale auto boxes) but the contents are almost exactly the same. The only difference is the German release has the instructions in color plus a parts map and the U.S. version is in the typical black-and-white. I enlisted the aid of my 10-year-old daughter, Rebecca, as she hadn’t built a kit in several months, and we settled down to a couple of mostly-pleasant nights of building.

The paint job includes the markings that make repainting a bit of a chore. There is an aftermarket sheet available from JMC that you can pick up at www.culttvmanshop.com if you want to go that route. The prepaint job looks good to me but is not weathered as much as a typical ship in the Star Wars universe. Also, if you glue and putty up the seams, you will have to be careful to match up the colors if you don’t want to do a full repaint. Parts fit is pretty good but there are a couple of areas to watch out for. The interior is just a floor, 3 seats and 3 vinyl Clone Troopers. The figures sit loosely on the seats and are trapped in position by the fuselage and canopy (which is crystal clear). The wings have moving S-Foils which are trapped when putting the engines together. Rebecca had problems getting these tight but with a little help from Dad, we solved that. The wings droop a little once the model is completed. If you are gluing the kit, this won’t be a problem. The only area where fit is a problem is the undersides. A little trimming may help this. For those of you who want to go a little further, there are aftermarket items that are sometimes available. Starship Modeler (www.starshipmodeler.biz) carries a resin interior/landing gear set as well as a weapons set. If you are interested in these, it is best to pre-order them as they are in limited supply and go extremely fast. All-in-all, a nice model of a neat-looking design that builds well out of the box and can be detailed into a winner. We give it FOUR Thumbs up. Thanks to Revell for supplying the kit.

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.