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I've bougth ROG Arc 170


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This is just a first look of the sprues, without building.

I’m very disapointed :

Overall exterior details a bit thick. Hollow engraving.

No interior details (not even a board with some dials and buttons!) :rolleyes:

The canopy is a bit thick.

The figures are ugly and made with rubber like plastic

The paint is toy like and has to be stripped.

The scale is not well defined, it is close to 1/72 (the reason why I bougth that one rather than Anakin figther)

Conclusion : not a kit but surly a toy for mass market. the price is only 13, 99 Euros... This kit is just a bit better than the snap kits of AMT in 1983.

I won’t buy the others Revell Ep III kits, or mayby the exception of the star destroyer wich is sold as a real kit (you have to glue and paint it) Not a sacrifice since ROG does EpIII kits with those ugly designs and Fine Molds does kits of the original Trilogy with the space ships which amazed me during my childhood.

I’m so disapointed since Revell AG has recently made beautifull and finely detailed aircraft kits (Mig 21 F13, BV 222 , F16...)

All we can do is shouting : Thanks Fine Molds, go on !!!!

Edited by Grizzly
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Well, it is a prepaint and intended to be built rather quickly. You are entitled to your opinion, but IMHO it isn't as bad as you make it to be. It can be detailed up quite nicely. What are we, kit assemblers or model builders?

As for detailing, the cockpit is indeed sparse and needs a lot of help there (while you are at it, move the gunner back and mount an R2 unit from a FineMolds kit into the droid socket). The canopy isn't that thick and shows off the lack of interior rather well. The general shape and fit is very good and the engines will really look nice with some proper detail painting and weathering. Proper painting sequence for building this one as a glue kit IMHO would be to paint the wings first, assemble them into the engine pods, take care of the pod seams, paint and weather the engines, then attach them to a nicely painted an weathered body.

It may not be FineMolds, but it is certainly above AMT snap kit quality in my opinion. Done up as a glue kit with the proper work to the interior and a new paint job, this one can really shine.

My only gripe is that none of the ROG SW kits come with stands, not even the Star Destroyer. But that is why God invented brass tubing and trophy plaques. :P

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Starshipmodeller has a review here.

I'd say treat it like a short run or vacform kit- lots of DIY. I'm probably the laziest builder there is but even i feel the need to add some cockpit equipment (how are these dudes flying? thought control?) and dirty the thing up.

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Done up as a glue kit with the proper work to the interior and a new paint job, this one can really shine.

Certainly, and the prepaint job is not my main gripe.

I'm tought with ROG since this company could have done a better job as it did for it's 1/72 aicraft kits.

It's an another proof that SciFi kits, and Star Wars kits, are considered by Lucasfilm and mainstream kit manufacturers as toys for mass and kid market and not as kits for modellers, with the exception of Fine Molds (God Thanks !)

I'm also an aircraft and armor modeller and I can say that a tank or plane kit of that kind would be downed in flames by critics in modelling magazines and on the web.

Why are Sci Fi modellers treated like that?

Edited by Grizzly
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Why are Sci Fi modellers treated like that?

I believe the marketing people considers that the majority of sci-fi movie fans will be children, so spaceships model kits are target to that audience just like the toys are.

Another point perhaps would be the fact that the manufacturers have to pay big royalties to the rights owners like Lucasfilm, and in the end they have to save on the design and tooling of the kit. Again if "only children will buy this" quality is not of importance (in the marketing people's minds)

GG

Edited by General Grievous
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I believe the marketing people considers that the majority of sci-fi movie fans will be children

Oh, well, I knew the answer...

On the other hand, Fine Molds is the proof that marketing is not allways the winner and that quality has a place to exist.

I still maintain that ROG could have done a far better job.

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Why are Sci Fi modellers treated like that?

well if youre this ungratefull its now wonder we,re treated so badly...

the kit is fine, its something kids can snap together and possibly begin a life long hobby from, and its something those of us who BUILD models can really go to town on.

licensed products tend to have a more limited production life than the aircraft revell germany do so well, and lets not forget they had to work to a TIGHT deadline , to get them into the shops for the release of the movie. personally i say stop whinging and be gratefull......

ive stockpiled a few of the revell germany kits up and am going to have many happy hours building them

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Why are Sci Fi modellers treated like that? On the other hand, Fine Molds is the proof that marketing is not allways the winner and that quality has a place to exist.

I don't feel mistreated as a SF Modeler. Hell, if anything I feel lucky. It wasn't that long ago when AMT/Ertl & R/M dropped their respective sci-fi licenses and we had *zero* new models released, with zero in the development pipeline...

Science Fiction modeling has entered a renaissance of sorts. Lots of re-pops/re-issues, lots of new models, new toolings, quality and scales that we only dreamed of. If you told me five years ago that we'd have five Star Wars fighter kits of Tamiyagawa quality in a common scale, I would've said you were dreaming. If you told me ten years ago there would be a 1/350 Enterprise Refit kit, I would've accused you of being high. If you told me twenty years ago there would be snap-together, lighted and pre-painted Starship kits- I would've just said you were nuts. And we've seen all of this in just four years. If that's mistreatment- then I'm a glutton for punishment.

I still maintain that ROG could have done a far better job.

They all can't be Fine Molds kits. And RoG has made more than a few *stinkers* in it's time too. And they *still* must be accessible to children if you're sellin' em mass-market. What's going to make their target market happier? Pre-painted with moving parts? Or finely recessed panel lines with a skill level 2 tricked-out cockpit?

FWIW, I hear nothing but good things about their new Star Destroyer kit...and that's a traditional glue-n-paint model w/decals.

Saturn

Edited by calculon
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I would say the engine detail is quite good.

You'll easily notice that the pre-painted canopy hasn't been weathered.

Note that black area on the canopy. That's where the R4-unit should go..if there was one...

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Even without stripping the whole paint and doing it all over again you can get a...decent...model from the RoG Easy Kits. However, glueing and sanding would be advantageous. But that would also call for an entirely new paint job.

Best regards, Bernd

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