Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
Here's the Jedi Starfighter from Star Wars Episode II. It was the ship that Obi-wan Kenobi flew while being chased by Jango Fett. The model is made by Fine Molds, a Japanese company, and the detail is really nice.
Construction
Construction was straight forward, and there were only a few gaps to fill. The instructions are in Japanese, but don't let that stop you from building this model. The pictures and diagrams are done quite well, and they are easy to follow.
Another nice thing about this model is that it comes apart. In the movie, the ring is only used for hyperspace travel. You can display the two parts separately if you like, and they slide together easily. I decided to keep them as one large ship, but it would look nice if it was separated.
Painting and Decals
Painting this model was actually rather easy. I kept the model in 10 separate parts while I painted it: the two ring halves, the two engine centers, the fronts, the exhaust cones, the center of the ring, and the smaller ship. If you look at the decal diagrams, you will understand what I am talking about. This made it much easier to apply the decals later on. I used a slightly off-white for the base coat, and a few spots of black, dark gray, steel, and jet exhaust.
The real challenge here was the decals. You NEED to use something like Micro Sol to get the decals to conform to all the nice details they included. If you don't, it will loose a lot of detail. All those nicely recessed panel lines will disappear if you don't use something to help the decal set.
I trimmed all the decals right down to the color, leaving no clear film around the edges. Well, for the most part at least. There are a few cases where you don't have to, but a lot of the decals come right up to an edge or something that you wouldn't want that extra part of the decal to get in the way. It took a good week of decalling a couple hours a day to get them all on. So if you are scared of decals, then you probably should wait until you are more confident.
There is a lot of detail on this model. I had never built a Fine Molds model before, but they are nice. The fit is fantastic and the detail is near perfect. If you don't mind spending the time it takes to do the decals right, I would give this model a go.
This was a great model to build, and a good challenge on the decals. If you can do a good job at decals, then you will probably find this model fun too. It looks good on the shelf and the details really make it shine.