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.
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
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.
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