[In The Stash] Bandai 1:2700000 Death Star II & 1:14500 Star Destroyer

Hi, Everyone!

Bandai burst onto the Star Wars model scene back in 2014 and instantly set a new, very high bar for accurate, detailed, and quality kits.  In that relatively short period of time, they have produced 80 kit releases as of this blog post!

Most will agree that Bandai's Star Wars model kits are very great.  They are of manageable size when built, they are all designed to be snap fitted together, and they are molded in color.  Also, most of their offerings provide both water slide decals and stickers in order to appeal to different levels of scale modelers.

Bandai makes kits of both vehicles and characters.  In regards to the vehicles, most are 1:72 and 1:144 in scale with a few also coming in at 1:48.  However, Bandai also has an inexpensive "Vehicle Model" line of kits that focuses on 1:144 or smaller BUT does not sacrifice on detail.

Back around mid-2016, the first Vehicle Model was released.  It was the Imperial Star Destroyer.  This model was determined to be about 1:14500 scale, coming in at 111 mm (4.37008 inches) long.  Then around the middle of of 2018, the thirteenth Vehicle Model - the Death Star II from Return of the Jedi - came out.  This one was 1:2700000 in scale and was 61 mm (2.40157 inches) in diameter.  Almost immediately afterwards, Bandai bundled the two models together into one kit.

I recently got a hold of that kit bundle, so I wanted to take a quick look at it...

Here is the box top, the bagged sprues / runners, and the assembly instructions sheet.


Closer look at the assembly instructions sheet.




Check out the sprues / runners and the parts sizes in comparison to U.S. coins.  Note: for this kit, the clear display bases come with markings in the form of stickers.  No water slide decals are included.


 Closeups showing off the extreme details of some of the Death Star II parts.




And here are some macro shots of some Imperial Star Destroyer parts.







This particular kit was released in Japan at 1400 yen (currently about $13.00 U.S.D.).  Retail price in North America tends to be between $18.00 to $25.00 U.S.D. depending on where you get it from.  I was able to snag it for $15.00 U.S.D., so I think I got a good deal.

If you don't have the display real estate for some of the larger Star Wars kits from, say, Revell, Zvezda, or the old MPC / AMT / ERTL stuff, then these small Vehicle Models work just fine.  They can go on a desktop, on a shelf, or even be dangled off a low-hanging mount, lamp, or Christmas tree.

Overall, the parts are super-engineered, details are very fine and not soft at all, and just looking at it gives modelers a greater appreciation at having Bandai there making such incredible little kits.

Definitely recommended!

:)

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