Metal Earth Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer 3D Metal Model Kit Fascinations

SO COOL!!! I enjoy putting these together and have done about twenty of them, I am far from an expert and my first three ended up a wad of twisted metal, rage and profanity with a one star rating. There is a special way to assemble because these are not typical models. TIPS AND TRICKS: Don’t waste your time with the special tool sets or needle nose pliers (they didn’t work for me). I recommend getting tweezers with different tips. There are many times where you will be holding a piece with one set of tweezers and twisting/bending/inserting tabs with another and many times you have to reach tabs inside a small piece you have already made. Attempting to assemble this all by hand became impossible for me. Tweezer were needed. Buy some really small, fine point wire cutters. The package says just pop out the pieces for assembly but when they are very small they do not “pop out”. They bend and just make a mess, so snip the points where they are connected and now they will easily pop out. Get yourself some nails of various sizes to help transform flat metal pieces into cylinder shapes. I use different sized nails, cables, pens and markers of all different sizes to round some parts of these models. Whatever you use just make sure you can slide the model part off one end. Trying to round using tweezers is possible but doesn’t look as professional. Don’t get mad if you break some pieces, just keep a small bottle of quick drying, clear super glue. I’ve broken many tabs and pieces. It just happens sometimes, if you fold pieces to many times it will break, read the instructions wrong and have to undo folding and bending they can break. Use small amounts of super glue and apply with a needle and you can hardly notice you used it once it has dried. Some of the instructions are a bit unclear so look at the pictures closely and even the pictures of the next few steps. The directions are not very specific and won’t tell you exactly which way a part is meant to be bent, or engraved side in or out. Putting together a 3D model from 2D parts and directions can be confusing. Green triangle means twist tab and blue circle means to bend tab down. If you get lost using their included flow chart, just know that the parts go on in numerical order. You can see from my video that these are far from perfect but being able to complete them is a satisfying feeling. The rotating display is by Facinations and is solar powered. It works well indoors and works fine with just the lights in the room but do not work well in shady areas but it does take a battery if you want. Take your time, take breaks, have fun!

The second Metal Earth project I've undertaken. Have built 7 now! This model has so many tiny details, taking a lot of time and patience to complete, but when it is finished, WOW! I love how much detail there are in these models. And the pride you get from finishing them feels great! Just take your time, make sure you have the right kind of tools ( Tool Kit for Metal Earth 3D Metal Models or similar are a MUST) and follow the easy to read pictures/instructions. This one took a couple hours to complete, or in other terms, two drinks, one movie, one head-to-wall-bash from dropping a piece on the carpet, and one bowl of nachos. If you love Star Wars and enjoy building something with your own hands, buy this! Have fun! PS: Like all the other Metal Earth models I've built, I used hot glue to fill in the base and put hot glue inside the model before final assembly of the top and bottom halves. Makes the model way more sturdy and also gives the thing way more "gravitas!" People holding it think I made the thing from a solid chunk of metal!

This is the second of the series of MetalEarth models that I have instantly have become addicted to that I have built. This was a much easier and quicker build than the LEM due mostly to the much lower parts count, and hardier parts. The parts sheets seem to have a coat of :"wet look" clear lacquer (as do the other kits) and this copy had a little too much lacquer applied giving it a slight "dipped in syrup" look. I soaked the sheets in a glass bowl of acetone for about an hour and scrubbed them to bare metal with a paper towel dipped in acetone and liquid dish soap and rinsed. I lightly recoated them with "wet look" clear Testors lacquer and the parts, especially the textured surfaces, looked fabulous. (my LEM and current project, the Millenium Falcon, both had a perfect coating so I am quite happy with the series.) The price is so good I want to buy some more for gifts and build another for myself due to an incident of "dumb thumbs". A solar powered turntable really shows these beauties off. Get the suggested tools and carefully examine the illustrations. Plan each and every bend you make no matter how small and you will be richly rewarded. I'm totally hooked on these kits!

Bought this as a birthday gift for our 13 yo son who wanted a buildable paper model of this ship, but we thought this would be better, higher quality, and longer lasting. It looks like it would be really nice and very detailed, but I’m not sure it will ever get completed. It is VERY fiddly and time consuming and he just doesn’t have the patience for it. Maybe he just doesn’t enjoy this kind of tedious work. Make sure that whoever you are getting this for wants to really put some time into it and enjoys tiny fiddly parts.

This build is not the quickest, but is fairly easy and durable. The finished model looks amazing. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but these builds have been the most satisfying fo me. Can't wait to order more!

This model is just awesome! So much fun to build and very beautiful to look at. Amazing details and excellent material make for a fun building experience. The connections of the pieces to the metal sheet are very good - not too strong and not too weak - and allow taking out the parts pretty easily and without damaging them. The material is tolerant enough to allow fixing bending mistakes (I've had a few along the way). A goodly 20% of the parts require very fine motor skills and patience, and the round cylindrical parts probably require the right tool to achieve a smooth round shape (which I did not have). To build the model you will need tweezers and fine pliers - that's it. It took me about 3 hours to construct. Now the only question is where to display my masterpiece :-)

Vorsicht bei kleinen Kindern: die mitunter winzigen Metallteilchen sind klein und haben Ecken und Kanten, die bei Verschlucken problematische sein können. Aber sonst: eine fantastische, geradezu hypnotisierende Bastelei. Kein Kleber, kein Plastik, nur feinster Edelstahl, der sich ob der tollen Vorbearbeitung und des genialen Designs fast wie von allein in auch komplexe Formen biegen lässt wie z.B. runde Düsen oder Radarkuppeln. Eine kleine Spitzzange muss benutzt werden, sonst wird das nichts mit dem Verdrehen der winzigen Laschen zum sofortigen Fixieren der Teile. Die Faszination dieses Sets besteht in der unglaublichen Vielzahl der winzigen Details, der Präzision, der Materials und dem schnellen Erfolg beim Zusammenbauen. Dicke, galaktische Empfehlung.

Questo è il mio primo kit della Model Earth, mi sono fatto consigliare da un gruppo di appassionati quale potesse essere il più semplice tra quelli a tema Star Wars. Il modellino ha un livello di dettaglio estremo, e i pezzi se rimossi con cautela e pazienza si rivelano più robusti di quanto possa sembrare a prima vista. A meno di errori notevoli di piegatura, c'è spazio di correzione, e per alcuni pezzi ne è presente uno "extra" come ricambio. Per montarlo ho usato due pinzette di diversa dimensione per ciglia e un tronchesino per unghie, più una penna bic per sagomare i "coni" dei motori (sono la parte più complessa, a mio parere). Le istruzioni non sono molto dettagliate, e in certi punti lasciano qualche perplessità, conviene studiarle in anticipo e aiutarsi con le immagini del modellino su internet (attenzione al poco dettaglio con cui viene spiegato che le due parti dello scafo vanno flèsse, potrebbe essere utile farlo in un secondo momento). Io mi sono trovato benissimo a sagomare i singoli pezzi e a tenerli da parte, per poi attaccarli tra loro solo alla fine. Il montaggio è stato impegnativo ma divertente e rilassante, e sicuramente comprerò altri kit. Ultima cosa, attenzione alle dimensioni effettive, quelle qui riportate si riferiscono alla confezione!

This was actually the first Metal Earth kit I constructed, and I loved it. It was hugely challenging, delicate, and required a lot of patience, but the end result was immensely rewarding. The parts came in two sheets, along with very clear instructions that never once had me wondering what on earth they were asking me to do (which has happened with more than a few other types of model kits in the past!). It does take a little time to get the hang of removing parts safely from the sheets, but I took it slowly and managed to remove all of them without any damage. For parts with multiple prongs holding them, I found the best technique was to apply a little back-and-forth leverage to the frame (at the prong) with some tweezers or very fine pliers until the prong separated. Once enough prongs are removed for the piece to be moveable, you can gently twist and turn the piece to detach it from the remaining prong(s). The most tricky building stage was undoubtedly the shaping and attachment of the engines nozzles at the rear, and I spent a lot of time trying to get them perfect. I wasn't entirely happy with them, even after all the work I put into slowly reshaping them with a pair of very thin pliers, but for my first effort I guess I have to be reasonably happy. My advice would be to not obsess over forming the pieces into perfect circles straight away. Just get them fixed and attached first, then you can make small tweaks once they are on the model. The final result was one that pleased me a lot, and I was impressed by how sturdy the finished model appeared to be as well. I will definitely be making more in the future! For the record, the build time of this model for me was a little under two hours.

Perfecto, es pequeño, y es un poco complicado de armar, ya que es aluminio así que es un poco frágil y se requiere cuidado al armarlo, pero es perfecto, esta muy bien detallado y se mantiene estable. El envio fue perfecto y llego en el tiempo estipulado.

Ma quatrième maquette "METAL EARTH", toutes sur Star Wars, celle-ci est aussi belle que les précédente, plus simple que la moyenne avec peu d'arrondi, par contre des pièces vraiment minuscules, peut-être les plus petites que j'ai eu jusqu'ici. Comme pour toutes, prévoir des pinces de modélisme et beaucoup de patience. (~2h pour ma part)