Revell

1/2256 Republic Star Destroyer

Kit Number: RMXS6445

Reviewed by  James Kelley, IPMS# 42106

MSRP: $38.00 Web Site: www.revell.com History With each month that goes by during the Clone Wars the Republic rapidly finds itself confronted with the problem of developing ever more powerful weapons in order to counter the apparently inexhaustible resources of the Separatists. Hopes rest on the powerful Republic Star Destroyers of the Venator-Class. They are derived from the ships of the Acclamator-Class that were used at the beginning of the Clone Wars. In particular, they have an absolutely devastating arsenal of weapons and an improved take-off system for the Starfighters that are released from the nose of the Star Destroyer. When the Separatists launch a daring attack on the capital of Coruscant, help is requested from the Venator Star Destroyers in order to save the Republic in its most desperate hour. The Star Destroyers prove to be the decisive factor that turns the Battle over Coruscant in favor of the Republic. The term "Star Destroyer" originated within the Old Republic and referred to ships capable of destroying entire star systems with their heavy firepower. The dagger-shape was said to facilitate the ease of this by focusing the firepower forward. Any vessel that conformed to this design could be considered a class of Star Destroyer. Even so, many models were designed with their heavy guns aimed to the sides of the vessel, obstructing each other's line-of-sight in other directions. In stricter terms, Star Destroyers were the relatively common warships that dwarfed the frigates and cruisers of one of the Galactic Empire's standard warship scales, and were smaller than Imperial Star Cruisers. Based on descriptions of the Star Dreadnought Executor, the Imperial Star Destroyer/Star Cruiser cut-off point lay somewhere around a length of 3.8 kilometers. During the Clone Wars, Star Destroyers were considered medium-weight warships. With the increase in warship-sizes during the time of the Empire, Star Destroyers were sometimes denoted as smaller vessels in the Imperial Navy. In combat, Star Destroyers usually surpassed contemporary destroyer designs, similar to how the star frigates eclipsed most contemporary frigate classes. The Star Destroyer designation was usually used for warships ranging from about 900 meters to several kilometers in length, but the general term encompassed smaller and much larger vessels. In the time of the second Galactic Empire, Star Destroyers were described as some of the largest and most powerful warships of the time, taking some design-cues from Star Dreadnoughts like the Executor-class and performing the roles of large battleships despite their compact frame. Many Star Destroyer classes throughout the various eras doubled as carriers. In many cases, they contained one or several wings of starfighters. During the Mandalorian Wars 3,963 years before the Battle of Yavin, Venator-style warships were used by the fleets of the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Additionally, the wedge-shaped Interdictor-class cruiser and the Centurion-class battlecruiser were made for the Galactic Republic during the wars, and later served the Sith Empire established by Darth Revan. Examples of these ships included the Leviathan and the Ravager. Star Destroyers that bore the distinctive wedge-shape which came to be associated with the ship type, were in the service of the later Republic Navy, around the time of the Clone Wars. The two most famous designs at the time were the Victory I- and Venator-classes, which were considered massive during their time. The design was born from the success of the Acclamator-class assault ship. Other Republic Star Destroyers like the Imperator- and Tector-classes became infamous for their service in the Imperial Navy. Other dagger-shaped ships, such as the Immobilizer 418 cruiser, were often compared to small Star Destroyers. During the Clone Wars, larger destroyer and battleship designs based on the Acclamator-class were produced by Rothana Heavy Engineering, though it is unknown if they were ever called "Star Destroyers". Additionally, during the early stages of the war, Grizmallt was one of several worlds researching ways to surpass Rothana's early success-story, but the ship classes resulting from this plan, if any, are unknown. Imperial and New Republic usage While Star Destroyers were the heaviest combatants in many fleets composed of down-scaled cruisers and frigates, they performed an escort role when in the presence of larger warships such as the Empire's Executor-class or the battleships found in the Republic Navy. Larger ship types like Star Cruisers, Star Battlecruisers, and Star Dreadnoughts were referred to in military colloquialism as "Super Star Destroyers" (sometimes omitting the "Super" prefix), based on their similar dagger-shape and the popularity of the name "Super-class Star Destroyer", which was a front used to cover for the construction of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought. The New Republic also adopted the dagger-shape in their later Star Destroyer designs. However, it should be noted that not all vessels known as Star Destroyers adhered to the dagger aesthetic. During and after the Clone Wars, the Republic victories of the war would be attributed to these starships, rather than the Jedi. The Venator-, Imperial-, Tector-, Executor-, Eclipse-, and Sovereign-class ships were produced by Kuat Drive Yards, mostly at Kuat, but also at countless other facilities around the galaxy. The Victory- and Republic-classes were produced by Rendili StarDrive, and the Nebula-class was produced by the Republic Engineering Corporation. Even though the Galactic Alliance continued to use and produce Star Destroyers, they later decided to name their new ships "battle carriers" in order to avoid reminding people of the old Imperial terror symbols. By the time of the Sith-Imperial War, the resurgent Empire utilized the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer, which was described as one of the largest and most powerful warships of its time, with unparalleled weapons-systems. The Sith Empire led by Darth Krayt later constructed the much bigger and heavily armed Advanced Star Destroyer, the Imperious, which was stolen by the Galactic Alliance Remnant led by Gar Stazi when it became operational. The Kit The kit consists of 74 styrene parts, and comes in a rather weak, but shrink-wrapped box: the top and bottom halves of the main hull and a bag with two parts trees containing all the superstructures and a second bag with the side trenches detail. And of course, the 12 page instructions book in B&W with easy to follow indications and multiple B & W color-callouts. As this is the Revell-Germany kit released under the Revell banner, photos of the parts trees can be viewed in this First Look review on this site. The parts are crisply and cleanly molded. The panel lines are fantastic, and all seams are essentially invisible on major components, due to the clever engineering of the kit. There was no flash. I did use a small amount of filler on the undersides of the dual command bridges to eliminate a few small seams. Otherwise, fit was perfect. The small decal sheet provided includes two Republic roundels, and several stripes for the aft part of the ship. The side trenches are a myriad of detail. Slightly "softer" than the superstructure, the areas seem to be repeated in linear fashion from a few single molds. The effect works well though, as in this small scale and with such a 'busy" area, the similarities are difficult to notice. As such, the details responded very well to the Payne's Grey wash I applied all over. The 4-gun batteries of turbo-laser cannon on either side of the superstructure had a thin molding seam present on both sides of each. The seams were easily removed by light sanding. The parts all fit together very easily, with the exception as mentioned above (command bridges). The building of the kit itself only took a few days. However, the painting took much longer. It didn't have to, but I chose to accent random panels in different shades of grey, apply an acrylic-based wash, etc. The decals are very thin, and lay down with no troubles whatsoever. They responded well to Mr. Mark Softer decal solution. Honestly, when you think back to the original AMT Star Destroyer kits and the inherent problems (detail, fit, etc.) this is light years (pun obviously intended) ahead of those kits. In fact, the only thing I can think of as a criticism is the lack of a display stand, such as the Finemolds Star Wars kits employ. Granted, this is a heavy model when completed….but a simple display stand included with the kit would have been very nice. The only other thing some modelers may want to do is add fiberoptic lighting. That isn't meant as a criticism, but I know several guys who can't build a model without lighting it up somehow, and they could go to town on this! It's big enough (50.4 cm in length) model that there is plenty of internal space for wiring, light fibers, etc.. Painting · Tamiya Grey Primer (Rattle Can) · Tamiya Clear Blue · Testors Model Master Acryl Light Ghost Grey · Testors Metallizer Burnt Metal · Vallejo Model Air Dark Sea Grey · Vallejo Model Air Red Conclusion This model compares in quality to most modern aircraft and armor kits (I can't comment on ship models, as I don't build them…but I bet the quality is very good!). It is quantum leaps ahead of the original AMT Star Destroyer kits and aside from not having a display stand, there are no real criticisms. Very highly recommended! My thanks to IPMS/USA and Revell for the review sample. References · Star Destroyer. (2008). Star Destroyer. In Wookiepedia-The Star Wars Wiki [Web]. Retrieved 09012008, from http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_destroyer · Laverty, J. (2007, August). Republic Star Destroyer. Model X, 01, 80-87.

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