Review

It's astounding how the Star Wars movie franchise still captures the imagination more than three decades after its initial release. Revell takes advantage of that interest with one of the latest releases in its SnapTite line of Star Wars models, Darth Vader's TIE fighter.

Like the other releases of spaccraft from the movies, Vader's TIE fighter comes pre-colored and painted. It even includes a small vinyl figure of the Sith Lord himself that fits into the cockpit. The kit comprises more than 25 pieces and is classified by Revell as a Skill Level 1 build. This model is recommended for modelers 8 and up. It caught the eye of my son, Cameron, who has attained this august age, so I let him build it.

All the parts sprues are individually bagged, molded in a bluish-gray plastic. The painted parts are crisply done. Both Cameron and I were surprised at how big the "real" TIE fighter must have been as we compared the model to the included figure.

Cameron had no problem clipping the parts from their sprues, giving them a few swipes with a sanding stick and mating them together as the instructions indicated. He did encounter a few fit issues where the upper and lower halves of the body come together near the cockpit and left a slight gap. A more experienced modeler could easily improve the fit. Also, putting in the clear "glass" and assembling the opening cockpit hatch were a bit fiddly and required a little help.

Otherwise, the kit went together very easily without glue and produced a model he was very happy with. The level of detail is fairly basic, but this menacing spacecraft does have some interior detail. The kit also includes a stand so the TIE fighter can be posed "in flight."