Star Wars Micro-Galaxy aka Jazwares

[starks]

I was thinking of using Tamiya Smoke XF-19 as it is like a tinted clear that has a blackish/brown color. Possibly mix in a bit of the Tamiya clear red (typically used on clear parts like running lights)

And speaking of that paint, it is a great transparent color to use for exhaust and oil stains and stuff

I may have some xf-19 in my paint box, I'll have to look. Thanks for the tip on exhaust and oil stains!

Sounds like you've got a pretty good plan mapped out in your head.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[ForbiddenOnion]

Maybe a rookie question, but wondering what kind of paint you used for the cockpit and the rest of the interior?

 

[Analyzer]

Maybe a rookie question, but wondering what kind of paint you used for the cockpit and the rest of the interior?

Cockpit was hand painted with Vallejo paints. Mainly Luftwaffe Uniform Grey, Black, Deck Tan, Ochre Brown, and White

The floor and walls were mainly Luftwaffe Uniform with Black for some of the instrument panel looking things.

The seats were Ochre Brown

Deck Tan was used for those "padding" looking things around the doors

I normally prime things with a primer, but in eagerness to get started painting and not waste time masking the canopy for priming I just went straight at it with the Vallejo paints.

For the exterior though I masked off the cockpit and primed it with Mr Surfacer grey primer

Then I airbrushed a mix of Tamiya Sky Grey (XF-19) as a base and added some Tamiya White (XF-2) and just a bit of Deck Tan (XF-55) basically mixing to try to match the paint color on the cockpit (the rest of the body that was that base off-white color was actually just bare plastic with a wash).

If you do not have an airbrush, I think Tamiya AS-16 is actually a close spray can match to what I mixed up as well as the paint color on the cockpit. I would have used it myself, but had run out and did not want to wait for a new can

The darker grey panels were hand painted with a paint brush using various greys from the Vallejo modern US jets paint set. Things like Dark Gull Grey and Airforce Light Grey etc...

The yellow and red I originally left the original paint and just masked those areas off, but then I went back over them with Vallejo Flat Red and Army Paint Yellow later on

The engines were also hand painted with a paint brush using Vallejo Gun Metal and Natural Steel and Oil Steel in a few select parts

The whole thing was then weathered with oil paints (Black, White, Burt Sienna and Raw Umber)

 

[ForbiddenOnion]

Thanks man! I have been slowly getting into this line with the intent to practice my painting skills. Appreciate the direction!

 

[Furagu]

I’ve picked up a couple of them over here in Europe, and I have to concur that the U-wing is particularly good, better than the Revell. It’s a crazy world nowadays where toys are better models than the model kits. Unfortunately not too many of the micro galaxy series are available over here, I’d love to pick up the Mandalorian gauntlet or the Ahsoka shuttle.

 

[kermet]

Very cool stuff you have going. You have always made these look the best super job as always

 

[jusdrewit]

I love the Jazware's line, if only their Falcon didn't have an oversized cockpit! Love their Shuttle, ATAT Walker and snowspeeder

 

[starks]

Continuing somewhat on this thread of the Jazwares line, I picked up the TIE fighter in a toy store yesterday and thought I would share here if that is ok Analyzer.
It is supposedly 1/88 scale. the figures are all said to be 1/72 and if that is true then sounds about right, The pilot seems a bit too big really for the cockpit, although he fits in there.
That said the pilot is quite a bit bigger than Luke is for example in my Bandai X-wing so I question if that is truly 1/72. I think a Bandai sized pilot would fit quite nicely in the TIE cockpit so the scale seems pretty close to the Bandai models for display purposes.

The TIE is very well detailed, the vast majority of the detail is actually there. I'm not a TIE expert so people will have to correct what is missing or inaccurate, but for a toy it actually seems very close.
I read online that the cockpit interior is closer to what's seen in the sequel trilogy rather than the OT but from the outside, who cares.

Basically I plan to give this a pin wash to highlight some detail and a coat of matt clear to take off the toy shine and for me it will be perfect for display purposes.




And with the Jazwares Lambda shuttle and Bandai X and Y wings.




Cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

Not sure how I missed that post when it came in, but Tie Fighter looks great for a toy

Seems to be about the size of the FM "1/72" one which is smaller than the Bandai one, but also looks like a better pairing for the shuttle since it is smaller as well

Yeah, while all the figures are roughly 1/72 (albeit, a bit beefy proportion wise compared to a true-scale proportion figure of the same scale)
...the ships they go in are of a compromise of fitting the set size into it which screws up the interior scale

i.e. while the figures are 1/72, the vehicles/ships are all various scales and the interiors often deformed with varying degrees to fit inside regardless of the ships actual scale

 

[starks]

Seems to be about the size of the FM "1/72" one which is smaller than the Bandai one, but also looks like a better pairing for the shuttle since it is smaller as well

Definitely peculiar how FineMolds came up with their scaling, it seems all over the place where the Bandai seems much more consistent.

Overall I would say the FM range was on the small side for 1/72. Even The Falcon is quite a bit smaller than the Bandai PG. That though could be due to the difference in scaling from the 5ft model or the 32" model.

That said, at the time the FM kits were about the greatest we had seen at the time. Still great kits.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Jimmer]

I picked up a couple of these at Ross at good prices (Anakin's Interceptor, couple of TIEs, AT-ST, and Slave 1) and was more impressed than I expected.

I'd have probably paid full price for a Gunship but never saw one.

I also got the Falcon at Ross and its interior was amazing. Unfortunately the cockpit was so "wonky" to accommodate 4 mini figs I passed it along to my neighbor's kid.

Those washes/paints look so good you've inspired me to spruce mine up.
(I did butcher the R2 by cutting him in half to correctly fit the interceptor... poor R2.. lol)

 

[Analyzer]

Definitely peculiar how FineMolds came up with their scaling, it seems all over the place where the Bandai seems much more consistent.

Overall I would say the FM range was on the small side for 1/72. Even The Falcon is quite a bit smaller than the Bandai PG. That though could be due to the difference in scaling from the 5ft model or the 32" model.

That said, at the time the FM kits were about the greatest we had seen at the time. Still great kits.

Cheers,
Josh

Things changed over the years. Unfortunately some of the scaling issues stemmed from the old rpg game. As a result the AMT Falcon at one point was considered a 1/57 model, although these days it is the same size as the Bandai PG 1/72

Fine Molds ties were actually "accurate" for 1/72 back then, the difference is the official accepted size of the Studio filming models changed resulting in Bandai needing a larger size model to accurately depict 1/72

The X-Wings are fairly close, but the Bandai is just a little smaller than the FM. THe FM 1/72 Falcon is undersized for 1/72 and Slave-1 oversized

Personally, the FM Tie size did more with relative size of the studio model at the time, the live full scale cockpit set could never fit inside it. The Bandai size for 1/72 actually allows the full size set to fit on it and the pilot no longer would bang his head on the hatch and I prefer that. BUt that results in a much larger looking tie compared to a 1/72 X-Wing

Of course Bandai just threw their hands in the air with the A-Wing and B-Wing. They size the ships relative to the filming models "accepted" scaling, but that does not work for fitting a pilot in there, so in the case of the B-wing they had to reduce the pilot and cockpit to something like 1/80 scale or smaller to fit in the "1/72" scale ship and make the A-Wing pilot ridiculously large, like 157 scale or so to look ok in the "1/72 scale ship

 

[Analyzer]

I picked up a couple of these at Ross at good prices (Anakin's Interceptor, couple of TIEs, AT-ST, and Slave 1) and was more impressed than I expected.

I'd have probably paid full price for a Gunship but never saw one.

I also got the Falcon at Ross and its interior was amazing. Unfortunately the cockpit was so "wonky" to accommodate 4 mini figs I passed it along to my neighbor's kid.

Those washes/paints look so good you've inspired me to spruce mine up.
(I did butcher the R2 by cutting him in half to correctly fit the interceptor... poor R2.. lol)

Yeah, some ships are better than model kits of the same subject

Others, like the falcon, are ruined by the deforming of parts in order to fit what amounts to oversized out of scale figures into scaled down ship

The subjects that hover around 1/60 or so to around 1/87 or so tend to have the lease amount of wonky deformation. Above or below that you often wind up with the oversized cockpit and changes to the major proportions of the ship

 

[jkno]

I collected Action Fleet (AF) and Micro Machines (MM) also the military Battle Squads line for a long time, owning almost all AF ships and AF & MM playsets, even the rare items. But Galoob was gone a long time ago, and I went higher end collecting, though still looking for some AF like ships from time to time (Xyber 9, Disney Star Tours Starspeeder 3000, Solido vintage WW2 tanks, ID4, Strike Force and Innerspace Star Trek ships, Lightyear, Matchbox Mega Rig, WOTC etc.). I was happy seeing Jazwares releasing the Micro Galaxy Squadron (MGS) series, but that didn't last long. The international distribution is awful, the ships are ok, but some are not as good as the old AF ones, and the rares/chases are annoying, and I'm also not a fan of the hard to open panels and hatches, neither of the tiny MGS TIE Fighters and flimsy AT-ST. I'm not a completist, so I easily passed on most ships I didn't care about, still I own about 25 MGS ships in the collection.

Don't have a photo of the MGS nor AF collection, as most of it is in storage, but here is the MGS AT-AT I weathered, because the initial release was looking like a weird lump of grey.

Original:

Work in progress:

Finished:

Workd