This kit by is a nice addition to a 1:72 Star Wars ship collection. It is in scale with the kits produced by Fine Molds, and as of the date of this review, is the only TIE Defender kit that is available.

The kit is relatively simple, with a total of seven parts – cockpit, cockpit back-plate, the central mounting hub for the solar panels, three solar panels, and a clear-resin cockpit window. A sheet of self-adhesive masks for the window is included, but no masks are present for the four slit windows that are present on the top hatch.

The parts are molded in off-white resin, and while there are prominent pour stubs on the back portions of the solar panels, careful work will clean those up in a short amount of time. Some careful application of warm water will be needed on the review sample to take the slight warping out of the solar panels. The parts have engraved panel lines, and the solar panels themselves have engraved line detailing.

The cockpit ball itself is solid-cast, but I have seen an in-process discussion on Starship Modeler where a builder is carefully hollowing out the ball in order to install a cockpit module, including a seat and a pilot.

The only problem that I have with the kit is that, during shipment, one of the tiny laser emitters on the front of the cockpit broke off. However, the broken part is inside the plastic baggie that the parts were shipped in, so repair will be a simple issue.

This is a nice kit and a great addition to any Star Wars model collection.

Review by: Rich “Lonewolf” Dula

Entry created: June 2, 2010