"Imperial Walkers On The North Ridge"

Fictional/Real-World Background

The All-Terrain Armoured Transport (AT-AT) was the Galactic Empire's successor to the Clone War-era AT-TE walkers. Standing at 22.5 meters tall, the AT-AT was a behemoth. The quadrupedal machine reminded enemies of ancient beasts of war, and even beasts from the Dark Side lore. Designed and built by Kuat Drive Yards, the AT-AT fulfills the dual function of troop/light vehicle  transport and assault vehicle. The early version of the AT-AT first saw action on Kashyyk to defend an Imperial Refinery against Saw Guerrera and his Partisans. Its intimidating and powerful presence meant that it is usually the first vehicle deployed into combat. The beast-like design of the vehicle means that it can be broken down into 'head', 'neck'and 'body' to describe it.

The moveable 'head' section contains the command section including the cockpit and the weaponry. The vehicle commander, driver and gunner was placed here. Forward view was supplied by a red-tinted viewport. The command section also includes a holoprojector for external communications as well as a 360-degree holographic targetting system. The crew members wore specialised suits in order to protect them should the cockpit integrity breached in a hostile environment. The head could rotate 90 degrees off the centre and 30 degrees up and down for an expansive field of fire. The AT-AT's formidable firepower comprised of a pair of Taim & Bak MS-1 heavy laser cannons on the chin and two Piperii-Cerlurn R-90C medium blaster cannons mounted on each side of the head. The command section is connected to the body by a flexible 'neck' structure. This contained an armoured tunnel, allowing passage between the troop-carrying compartment and the command section. Unlike the rest of the AT-AT, the neck is the most vulnerable part and could be damaged by enemy blaster fire. The rest of the walker however was protected by strong 9095-T8511 grade durasteel armour which was impervious to most weapons.

The 'body' of the AT-AT contains the troop compartment, with the engine underneath it. Troop capacity was 40 including their heavy support weapons (such as the E-Web heavy repeating blaster). A vehicle compartment to the rear of the troop compartment held five 74-Z speeder bikes. The main troop hatches were located in the midle of the walker's side and two smaller, emergency escape hatches were located both to the main hatch's immediate left and right. An auxiliary hatch is located in the walker's underside. The walker embark and disembark its troop complement by kneeling to three meters above ground so that the boarding ramp can be extended. Below the troop compartment were two Kuat Drive Yards FW62 compact fusion drive system. In conjunction with the four heavily reinforced legs, the AT-AT can reach a maximum of 60 km/h on flat terrain. As the walker moves, its heavy, stomping feet caused the ground to shake, demoralising the enemy. 

AT-ATs took part in many battles during the Galactic Civil War with the Battle of Hoth being the most significant engagement. A force that included five AT-ATs led by General Maximilian Veers decimated the Rebel forces defending their Echo Base and destroying the protective shield, allowing a larger force to land. The battle however also proved that the walkers can be toppled by a cable wrapped around their legs.

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The script for Episode V : The Empire Strikes Back includes a land battle and originally tanks were envisaged. Joe Johnston came u with the designs of such vehicles (one eventually end up as the Juggernaut in Episode III : Revenge Of The Sith). Intended to be a remote-controlled filming prop, the tank design was abandoned when Dennis Muren and Johnston himself convinced George Lucas to use stop-motion instead. George Lucas explained that he had the idea for the AT-AT from the Martian tripods in H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds while Phil Tippett recalled that it was on the prehistoric mammal Paraceratherium. The movement of the AT-AT in the movie was based on the elephant.

The Kit

Bandai's second walker kit (after the 1/48 AT-ST) was released in 2017. In the months prior to its release, the modelling community was abuzz with a rumour of a new kit of an AT-AT. A 1/48 motorised model was displayed at a modelling show (I can't remember whether Shizuoka or Nuremberg) making the community even more excited about an impending release of a massive 1/48 (or at least, 1/72) scale AT-AT! Nevertheless the actual release is in a more manageable and standard-ish 1/144 scale, I once had the old AMT AT-AT in the 1990s (which is larger, probably 1/96-ish) and so am excited what bandai has to offer. As usual, the kit is mainly moulded in light gray plastic with Sprue A being in the traditional multi-colored moulding (just two this time). Despite being smaller than the AMT kit, the Bandai AT-AT has better details throughout the six sprues. The neck is moveable (and doesn't need rubber bands!) while the legs are poseable. A white display base is included to recreate the surface on Hoth. A small decal and sticker sheets are included - to represent lines on the viewposrt and the helmet faces of the crew.

Construction

Like the AT-ST, construction started with the head module, specifically the neck. Current kit-making technology allow the neck (and the head) to be moveable without using rubber bands a la the old MPC kit. There is however one lingering problem, that is the seam between the halves. The seam, while just a hair's breadth, is still noticeable. The cockpit was next in line. The are no details here save for something representing the instrument panel at the front. The crew figures were stuck to the seats but I didn't do anything to them or the driving/command interior as they would be totally invisible from the narrow front visor. The chin cannons were assembled and then stuck in place. While the cheek cannon mountings were put in place, the cannons were left off at this time to ease handling.

While the next steps are concerned with the legs, I skipped it and constructed the body instead. The body was basically divided into two - the lower (machinery) half and the upper (troop compartment) half. The lower half of the troop compartment module is the 'structural' one, holding the entire assembly rigid. The main body shell of the troop compartment then slid over this. Small fairings were then put in place. These panels can be depicted open to display the model in a downed and damaged pose. The lower 'machinery' half of the main body came together without trouble, save for the same seam issue although this one was easier to get rid of. When complete the troop and machinery compartment were joined together, just to check fit issues (there were none) and the halves remain separate until after painting.   

Finally, the legs. Bandai has them grouped as 'A' (right fore and left hind) and 'B' (left fore and right hind). Build them accordingly or you may have them misaligned. There were a few small parts here, especially those which allow the poseability of the legs between the 'thigh' and the body. Again, there was that seam issue, this time at the top of each foot. This one is also hard to fix as it is located underneath the 'ankle' and so, I left the seam alone. A panel for the outer, lower thigh of the model is separate and Bandai provided a number of them to chose. As there was no explanation as to why that was the case, it took some time for me to figure it out. Each panel have different length of piston-like structure, so I guess you have to choose according to how you want to pose the legs of the model. And, for the time being, they were also left off.

Painting and Decalling

After looking for a suitable shade of grey (Yes, for modellers, there are really 50, if not more, Shades of Grey), I decided that Tamiya's XF-19 Sky Grey is the best colour to paint the AT-AT. However I forgot that the kit is in a smaller scale then I'm used to and forgot to increase the 'scale factor' (which I realized only after weathering). Darker shades of XF-19 were the dry-brushed and thinly applied haphazardly, especially on the walker's legs. It was also during painting that I appreciate the work done by ILM modelmakers in including parts from model kits when building the studio model. Noticeable model kit parts reproduced include jerrycans, 'A' turret from a HMS King George V model, the funnel cap from a German battleship model, although most of these are quite out of sight at the belly of the machine.Once the paint has dried, it was time for the decals. Oh, wait, what decals?

Finishing

I started by getting the sub-assemblies together. The legs need to be attached to the lower body first as the pelvis joints are blocked by a fairing when the upper body is in place. The head assembly was then fitted to the lower body and the upper body can then be put in place. Finally the cheek guns were put in place - there are two styles of them and I chose the one-piece main assembly rather than the two-piece alternative. Further weathering was done using water-based paint at the joints and enamel-based product (yes, AK Interactive) for the rest of the body. Tamiya Weathering Master 'Soot' was also used. Again, The Star Wars Archive was used as reference.  Next I have to determine the position of the legs. For this step, I referred to clips of the Battle of Hoth on Youtube. The base has 'ridges' moulded in so might want to reduce them where appropriate. The included humanoid-shaped cut-out was painted orange (to represent a downed Snowspeeder crewmember, perhaps) and was cemented in front of the walker to give idea of the latter's 'true' size.    

Conclusion

The 8-year old me watched in awe when the AT-ATs entered the screen in The Empire Strikes Back while the 48-year old version marvelled at the model kit (of a model, haha) of the same vehicle today. Despite it's rather small scale, Bandai did not skip on the details whether engraved or raised. The build process was also pretty straightforward and just needed a good hand in weathering (which I'm not). And, with hindsight, perhaps the walker is best in this scale rather than making it in say, 1/72 as I won't find a place to display it in my cabinet.

"Watch Out For Those Towers!"

Fictional / Real-World Background

Koensayr Manufacturing BTL series of starfighters, better known as the 'Y-Wing' can trace its origins to the early Clone Wars era. The Galactic Republic commissioned the type as a combination of fighter and long-range bomber to supplement the V-19 Torrent and Delta-7 starfighters. Acquired by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker in an unsanctioned mission to retrieve the still-prototype craft, the BTL-B was used in an attack on General Grievous' flagship, the Malevolence. The success of the attack by the Shadow Squadron prompted Koensayr to develop other variants of the craft, including BTL-S3 and BTL-A4. The original BTL-B established the shape of the series with two large ion jet engines with their characteristic nacelles. The engines were carried by a cross wing which connected to the cockpit module on a central spar. The BTLs have a tendency to run hot which necessitated a complex cooling system throughout the craft.

Although production has started, the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire stopped any further production as the new Imperial Navy shifted towards capital ship-based  space superiority doctrine. As Koensayr lost their government contracts, the surplus stock of BTLs were sold to local planetary defence units although Imperial intervention caused many units remain unsold, being repossessed or sent to the salvage yard. As the BTL-B models were scrapped first, this made the -A4 version being the most numerous of the fighter. These idle craft became the focus of the nascent Rebellion in order to arm themselves. BTL-A4s were either purchased, or most of the time, stolen from military surplus dealers and scrapyards. Soon, the so-called Y-Wing fighter became the most common craft in the Rebel arsenal.

As mentioned before, the BTL-A4 is the single-seat version of the BTL-B with the second crewmember replaced with an astromech droid. For power, the craft had a Novaldex power generator and Thiodyne 03-R cryogenic power cells. Two Koensayr R200 ion jet engines were attached to either side of a central spar. At the front end of each engine nacelles were domes which contain  Fabritech  ANx-y long-range sensor arrays, PA-9r long-range phased tachyon detection array and PG-7u short-range primary threat analysis grid. Hyperspace capacity was provided by a R300-H hyperdrive mounted at the rear of the spar.  Armament comprised of a pair of forward-mounted Taim & Bak IX4 laser cannons, a pair of Arakyd Flex Tube proton torpedo launchers (with a payload of 8 Krupx GR7 proton torpedoes, or concussion missiles, ion torpedoes or proton bombs) and a pair of  turret-mounted ArMek SW-4 or SW-5 ion cannons (as the BTL-A4 is a single seat craft, the cannon was usually fixed to fire forward or towards the rear). While factory-fresh Y-Wings featured armour plating around the engines the central spar, Rebel technicians stripped them off to ease maintenance.

As the Alliance's workhorse starfighter, the Y-Wing was involved in numerous minor and major engagements during the Galactic Civil War including the Battle of Scarif, Battle of Yavin, Battle of Endor and Battle of Jakku.

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The Y-Wing design is based on a concept art by Ralph MacQuarrie. As with the X-Wing design, the attack fighter was given the name 'Y-Wing' due to its resemblance to the capital letter Y when viewed from above. The fighter's rough appearance was the vision of Joe Johnston who envisioned that the factory-spec fighters were chopped and stripped like a hot rod by Rebel technicians.

The Kit

Bandai has been busy releasing kits of the Star Wars franchise vehicles and characters since acquiring the Star Wars licence from Disney.While I was quite skeptical before, all of the feelings were unfounded after building a number of their kits. The Y-Wing was released in 2015 and it featured all the hallmark of Bandai, including the multi-coloured sprue. The kit, as with most other Bandai Star Wars (or any other kit produced by them) is snap-fit but without the problems of old-style models of the same style of assembly. The raised details look very good and would benefit from washing process. As before, there are two types of canopies - one frames only without the glazing while the other is moulded in clear plastic. The latter can also be posed open. There were three pilot figures - one standing, the other two seated (one in the flight suit featured in Episode IV, the other in a suit featured in Episode VI). Two droids, an R2 and an R4 unit were also included. Markings were provided in decal and sticker form.

Construction

As usual with things that fly models, be it real or fictional, construction started at the pilot's 'office'. Although already moulded in black plastic, I painted it Vallejo Anthracite Gray as it looks more in-scale. The instrument and side panels can be painted as there are raised details. Alternatively, stickers or waterslide decals can be used after removing the said details. Too lazy to either paint or sand, I just apply the decals on the raised details. They however respond quite well to decal softening solution and that about covers it. The cannon barrels and the inside face of the coaming covering the barrel root were also painted before assembly. It should also be noted that the yellow trim seen on these ships in the movie was painted-on markings. Bandai however supplied them as a separate plastic piece, resulting in unnecessary panel line around it. The rear panel of the cockpit module include the rear cockpit transparency. This however is of the glazing-less type - fine if you want to use the frames-only canopy.

Construction then moved to the main fuselage. The moulding for this area is very nice and captures that rough, expeditionary feel of the original studio models. Also as a note of interest, the rear panel of the rear fuselage is a miniature of a Panther engine deck as used on the original studio model.The parts fit nicely with certain smaller parts need to be fitted to a larger part before being attached to the main body. Some parts didn't have positive 'snap-fitness' so I cemented them. The body of the astromech droid was painted but I didn't add any detail painting on it as it would be invisible inside the droid socket. I also didn't add most of the pipings seen on the surface of the rear fuselage as I think it would be better for me to add them after the fuselage has been painted.Also, due to some mis-handlings, the rail guards at the rear fuselage were bent. Anyway, just some gentle coaxing straightened them back.

Next up are the engine nacelles. Again the black-moulded parts were painted beforehand, this time with Burnt Iron. The nacelles are of multi-part assembly and some study of the assembly guide is needed to avoid mistakes. I painted the strip behind the sensor domes USAF Blue Grey (FS 32537) before adding the long, thin booms. As adding the thrust vanes at the end of the boom involved some fiddly handling, they were cemented (the glue, apart from securing the vane to the boom, also allow some friction allowing easier handling, at least to me!). Parts A5, A10 and B23 which are the landing gear doors, were also cemented as they did not securely fit into their slots plus I usually have my Star Wars models in flying pose. A piece of clear acetate was cut to shape and stuck to rear cockpit glazing while the central section of the canopy had the tab (to allow  it to be posed open) was cut. With that, the model is off to the paint shop.    . 

Painting and Decalling

Bandai's painting instructions are pretty generic and did not specify any particular brand. Browsing the internet, I came to the conclusion that USAF Light Gray (FS 36495) is the best colour. I used Vallejo 71.276 but added some variations. The exposed fuselage and the engine were painted 'neat' while the forward compartment and the sensor domes have the light gray added with white. I then checked with my Star Wars reference books on the colours of the pipings. The Star Wars Archive shows that the models used in filming have the same colour as the fuselage while the drawings in Star Wars Vehicles show them to be of a different colour. Diverging from erm, 'Canon' into 'Legends' the pipings were painted differently - some FS 36495, while others in Gunze Iron 2 and a mix of Gunze Brass and Silver.  The canopy frames were painted the Tamiya mix for US  BLUe Gray but somehow they were too dark for my liking - I lightened it up further with more Flat White. The few decals present were then applied as per the usual method. I intended the Y-Wing to be a rather generic Gold Squadron craft that took part in the Battles of Yavin and Scarif as depicted in the movies. So, the rather distinctive 'burn marks' were not added, just some 'carbon deposits' using Tamiya Weathering Master 'Soot'..

Finishing

I started by adding the engine nacelles to the rear fuselage. Again, no gluing is necessary here. Afterwards, the pipings for the rear fuselage were added. They mostly went in without problem but some locating holes were apparently too small requiring a bit of surgery either to the hole or the rod. There are quite a lot of them and I took several sessions to finish them ( I am a bit slower of late!). The work went slower when one of them broke and had to be repaired. The pilot figure was painted and then placed inside the cockpit. Since it was added after the cockpit had been completed, it was nearly impossible to fit his legs and so the legs were amputated at shin level. It also needed to be cemented to the seat as there are no tab-and-locating hole as with other the other kits. The canopy was put in place and I found that there is a gap between the rearmost canopy panel and the rear transparency. The model then received a wash with heavier application being done on the rear fuselage and the engine modules.  For the astromech droid, I  chose the R5 to add a bit more splash of colour. The whole model was then sprayed with Mr. Hobby Topcoat Flat Clear to finish. 

Conclusion

The geek in me continue to be awed by the range of Star Wars kits from Bandai. The details are well done while the construction is quite a snap (pun intended). My only comment with the kit was the rather disappointing fit of the pipings but the again, it might be just me. Anyway, building it was a breeze and allowed me to have a peace of mind before heading back into building another 500+ parts kit . Oh I forgot to mention about the turbolaser turret included in the A-Wing kit. It remain unbuild as I intended to display it together with the Y-Wing and an upcoming T-65 X-Wing fighter.