This installment of my review blog will focus on the Revell Master Series (FineMolds) 1:72 scale Millennium Falcon. Held as the gold standard of Falcon kits for several years, this kit is the only fairly accurate representation of the 32” shooting model from Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back.
This kit was a major improvement on what was on the market prior. It has finely detailed hull and cockpit with a commitment to show that ship in a more realistic way than it’s MPC predecessors. Released under the FineMolds brand in December of 2005 and later in 2016 as the Revell Master Series, this kit was a coup of model making. With an initial price of around $300US, the kit was the best Millennium Falcon model at the time.
Opening the box reveals two large hull pieces and 14 sprues of small parts (over 900 pcs. in total) that will make up, in part, the side walls and rear engine deck. The hull sections include the attached mandibles in a similar fashion to the MPC kit. There are locating pins with corresponding sockets to align the upper and lower hulls, which are eventually secured with small metal screws, covered by well-placed greeblies.
The kit is not designed with lighting in mind, having a solid plastic rear thruster, so accommodations for this have to be made prior to closing up the hull. There are clear plastic parts available on the secondary market. The kit includes pilot and passenger figures, as well as a utilitarian display stand for “in flight” display which is boxy but usable. The instruction manual is written almost exclusively in Japanese, but the directions are clear with very good drawings.
The kit is designed to be built to display in both the landed and flying configurations with closing ramp and replacement panels for the removable landing gear which presses into rubber bushings. The landing gear looks fantastic with excellent detail, but are a real task to build properly lacking locators for the very tiny hydraulic cylinders and linking pieces. You’ll find that a good pair of tweezers and a steady hand are completely necessary, along with patience and a cool head.
The maintenance pits on the hull are well detailed and attach to the hull sections with screws. The kit requires gluing, unlike the kits that would follow from Bandai. Building out the side walls and the engine deck is labor intensive, as they are molded with almost no surface detail. This requires the builder to place nearly every piece of their impressive surface detail.
The radar dish is meant to be moveable, and with a little sanding, it will rotate a full 360 degrees. The core sections do not rotate, as would be displayed for the first time on screen in 2015’s Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens. The gun wells and quad cannons are faithfully represented and look as imposing as they do in the films.
The finished kit measures approximately 17”X 14”X4”. It is a big impressive piece suitable for any collector, and a genuine challenge for any level of model builder. The water slide decals provide colored panels for the specified hull sections, as well as accent decals that give the Falcon her “scrappy” personality.
Having only built the MPC kits prior, I was initially amazed at the precision on the casting and the engineering which leave the MPC dinosaurs in the dust. This kit really raised the bar for the accurate representation of the tramp freighter we all love.
I enjoyed building this kit. It depicts the ESB Falcon faithfully and looks cool landed on a shelf or diorama, as well as flying from a stand or suspended from the ceiling. FineMolds and later Revell have made this fan very happy by offering a kit that really looks like the movie ship. This was the first kit or toy to do that.
I recommend the Revell Master Series/Finemolds kit to the intermediate to the advanced modeler. It is a satisfying build because of the work that goes into it in return for an excellent finished model. Be sure you don’t pass up a chance to build this very good kit.
What is the retailed and sale price for this kit?
Hello Ethan.
The price for this kit is somewhere between $200 to $300. If you’re not in a hurry to find one, I have seen them go for less than $200 shipping included assuming you are in the USA.