My custom 42 inch Randy Cooper Star Destroyer kit that will be heavily modified.

[Master Yoda 70]

My custom 42 inch Randy Cooper Star Destroyer kit that will be heavily modified.

I wanted to share with you all in hopes it will encourage many of you to build a Star Destroyer and/or add detail to your current model.

As a hardcore Star Wars fan in my 50+ years, and being a collector of ships and vehicles from Star Wars among other things, I just couldn’t find a Star Destroyer out there that would satisfy me. And this includes the EFX $16.000 USA, Star Destroyer.

So I went off to build my own, the way I like it. Being such a large ship, it would definitely have to display sophisticated inner structures such as pipes and so much more fine detail.

I hope you enjoy it. I will be posting updates on my YouTube channel as I make progress. Subscribe if you wish to follow me. I am also posting my entire collection from many hobbies as well, one video per week.

May the force be with you.

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

Out of curiosity, how much is it for the kit? I know Cooper sells his finished Sandcrawler for $8,000.00 (a price I would never pay myself) and another reason why MYC became so popular. MYC was offering quality models for prices people could afford. I'm not saying what Cooper makes isn't nice; it is. I'm just feeling the prices some of these builders want for their models is outrageous, directed at big pocket collectors, even more at a time when prices for house bills and food are so high under this inflation. Great job on yours by the way.

 

[Master Yoda 70]

Out of curiosity, how much is it for the kit? I know Cooper sells his finished Sandcrawler for $8,000.00 (a price I would never pay myself) and another reason why MYC became so popular. MYC was offering quality models for prices people could afford. I'm not saying what Cooper makes isn't nice; it is. I'm just feeling the prices some of these builders want for their models is outrageous, directed at big pocket collectors, even more at a time when prices for house bills and food are so high under this inflation. Great job on yours by the way.

Thank you. The Randy Cooper SD kit is $825 USA last time I checked on his website. I do totally understand what you mean when finished commissions go upwards of 10K USA. Regardless of the intensive amount of work that goes into them, 10K and more is an incredible amount of money for a static display piece. On the other hand, a fellow called Sean from Square Models built a 5 foot Falcon, the most accurate model in the world, took him 7 years as per the Video. He had to buy vintage tank kits from the 70’s on eBay, etc, around 150 kits costing 10K USA alone. Other materials were another 10K USA, so 20K USA in costs alone. Plus the time. So go figure if he ever wanted to sell. On the other hand, Factory Entertainment sells a 29 inch long Star Trek (Limited Edition) model. Runs for 17K USA! ….what? But yeah! Insane. MYC is amazing and will be missed in the community thanks to the greedy mouse. and

 

[Master Yoda 70]

Out of curiosity, how much is it for the kit? I know Cooper sells his finished Sandcrawler for $8,000.00 (a price I would never pay myself) and another reason why MYC became so popular. MYC was offering quality models for prices people could afford. I'm not saying what Cooper makes isn't nice; it is. I'm just feeling the prices some of these builders want for their models is outrageous, directed at big pocket collectors, even more at a time when prices for house bills and food are so high under this inflation. Great job on yours by the way.

In case you and others were curious, in this kit that I am building last time I checked, It was at 8K CAD in materials. 3D printed upgrades from Shapeways were about $800 CAD, the kit is $1124 + ship = $1200 CAD, that’s 2K already. In individual LEDs and 4 power supplies and other electrical hardware I spent another $300-$500. I’m on my 7th or 8th super glue bottle which cost $17 CAD each plus 2 small jars of Golden Soft Gel that I use as filler and a super glue to secure large pieces at $23 CAD each.

Then add $1500-$1900 in kits that I have been purchasing for kit bashing small parts. This is my first and only model so I needed the air brush and compressor, another $600 CAD for both. Magnets, the internal support rod, paint, small misc here and there all keep adding up.

Evergreen products which are expensive when you buy in quantity. For one baggy with 10 rods, or 1 sheet of styrene $6.99 CAD doesn’t sound like much, but when you have bought 100 packages and will need another 100 more at least to finish the model, that is another $1400+tax 13% HST here in Canada that makes another dent!

Photo etched laser cut metal brass kits for extra detail come in at $39 to $59 each. I bought 12 so another $500 CAD.

I almost forgot the Zvezda Star Destroyer kit 1/2700 scale that I purchased for $200 CAD also for kit bashing. That was the most expensive kit along with Bandai kits!

Also magnifier $50 CAD, blades and cutting tools among others add another couple hundred bucks. Mini drills, files, sand paper. Goes on and on.

Crazy how it all adds up big time.

 

[Master Yoda 70]

I need my Star Destroyer to have detail like in these pictures attached or I won’t be satisfied. So I have to keep adding more fine detail. Next layer will follow.

I was not able to find one model of a Star Destroyer in the world that would satisfy my requirement. So I have no choice but to built it.

 

[Sith_Apprentice]

In case you and others were curious, in this kit that I am building last time I checked, It was at 8K CAD in materials. 3D printed upgrades from Shapeways were about $800 CAD, the kit is $1124 + ship = $1200 CAD, that’s 2K already. In individual LEDs and 4 power supplies and other electrical hardware I spent another $300-$500. I’m on my 7th or 8th super glue bottle which cost $17 CAD each plus 2 small jars of Golden Soft Gel that I use as filler and a super glue to secure large pieces at $23 CAD each.

Then add $1500-$1900 in kits that I have been purchasing for kit bashing small parts. This is my first and only model so I needed the air brush and compressor, another $600 CAD for both. Magnets, the internal support rod, paint, small misc here and there all keep adding up.

Evergreen products which are expensive when you buy in quantity. For one baggy with 10 rods, or 1 sheet of styrene $6.99 CAD doesn’t sound like much, but when you have bought 100 packages and will need another 100 more at least to finish the model, that is another $1400+tax 13% HST here in Canada that makes another dent!

Photo etched laser cut metal brass kits for extra detail come in at $39 to $59 each. I bought 12 so another $500 CAD.

I almost forgot the Zvezda Star Destroyer kit 1/2700 scale that I purchased for $200 CAD also for kit bashing. That was the most expensive kit along with Bandai kits!

Also magnifier $50 CAD, blades and cutting tools among others add another couple hundred bucks. Mini drills, files, sand paper. Goes on and on.

Crazy how it all adds up big time.

I think as long as you are happy with your project and can easily afford the expenses, that is all that matters. It looks fantastic, and at the same time unreachable for many of us. That is because some collectors might not have the funds for it or just don't feel comfortable spending that much on building one, or do not have the ability to put one together. I can see you are into the super detailed, super accurate models and that is giving you joy, and again, that is what matters the most about the hobby. Some of us are not really that much into the super accurate stuff, but would like something more along the Master Replicas line, which is what a now gone fan made company was offering. Unfortunately the mouse does not like it, and while they do not produce any models, they don't let others do it either.

 

[Master Yoda 70]

I think as long as you are happy with your project and can easily afford the expenses, that is all that matters. It looks fantastic, and at the same time unreachable for many of us. That is because some collectors might not have the funds for it or just don't feel comfortable spending that much on building one, or do not have the ability to put one together. I can see you are into the super detailed, super accurate models and that is giving you joy, and again, that is what matters the most about the hobby. Some of us are not really that much into the super accurate stuff, but would like something more along the Master Replicas line, which is what a now gone fan made company was offering. Unfortunately the mouse does not like it, and while they do not produce any models, they don't let others do it either.

Thank you. It does take a few things, to build one of these; money, time and patience, but surprisingly skill is not one of those requirements, you would be surprised. When it comes to accuracy, well all these details that you see in my star destroyer, don’t really exist in the real model, I am making them up as I go, no blue print other than my imagination, so it wouldn’t be screen accurate.

But I do know that it needs to be sophisticated as a large space ship structure of this kind would be.

Master Replicas is a great company and I have a few of their models including both versions of AT-ATs, Falcon, and SnowSpeeder. Sadly they are not what they used to be In the early days. And the mouse is to blame. Disney is very tough and a nightmare to deal with, even if you are a company that holds a license. There is a lot of red tape and risk for the small licensor making these models.

So yeah, the mouse is very selfish indeed and I would add ungrateful to the Star Wars fans, after all it was the fans that made Star Wars into the multi billion dollar empire that it is nowadays.

 

[Master Yoda 70]

Today I started next layer and level of fine details.

 

[Master Yoda 70]

Anybody else building one?

 

[Master Yoda 70]

Update on my build…

 

[Master Yoda 70]

It all started right here…