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Encounter With Yoda on Dagobah

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Category: Star Wars
Subcategory: 1/12

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Manufacturer:AMT/Ertl
Medium: Styrene
Parts: 28
Status: Discontinued
Release Date: 1981
Skill Level: Beginner
This 1:14 scale kit features a scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in 1980. It shows Luke Skywalker and Yoda talking inside Yoda’s hut on Dagobah, while R2-D2 watches through the window. The top portion of the hut lifts off so you can see the detail inside.

The kit, first released in 1981, was issued by Airfix in 1982 for the United Kingdom market, and was reissued in the United States in 1995. The review sample is from the 1995 boxing. The kit is designed as a “Snap Fit” kit, but do yourself a favor, cut off the mounting tabs, and glue the parts together.

This 1:14 scale kit is entirely styrene, and it’s a far cry above the other “action scenes” that were issued by AMT/Ertl (Jabba’s Throne Room, the Battle of Hoth, and the Rebel Base on Hoth), which all featured styrene parts to be assembled and placed on a vacuform base.







The parts are molded in light gray styrene, and there are plenty of areas where seams will need to be cleaned up. There is a major mold line right over the top of Luke’s left hand, and the seam lines are in poorly-placed areas, such as across the top of Luke’s head, along the sides of his legs, and both Yoda’s and R2’s bodies are divided into front and back halves. Also, the figures are supposed to be attached via pins that stick out of their bottoms. Cut the pins off and glue the figures in place.

Check your references on R2 (the bonus is that it gives you an excuse to watch “The Empire Strikes Back” again), but I think there’s an issue with him in this scene. The model includes R2’s center leg, which allows him to roll through the corridors of Cloud City. However, I think that in the scene on Dagobah, he’s looking in the window while balancing on two legs, not three as the model has him posed. I’m going to check the scene on my DVD, but I will probably remove the center leg when I build this diorama.

If you wish to show the scene with the top on, you will need to add some interior details to the top itself, as none are shown. The only details provided on the top are the recessed grooves which represent the vines on the exterior. These should be filled in and smoothed out, and there are some rather prominent stubs inside that need to be sanded down as well. Check your references, and you will see that Yoda had a number of things hanging from the ceiling of his hut, so there’s room to add detail there.



Finally, there’s a hollow space behind where Luke and Yoda are seated that can be modified. The kit has a flat wall panel that covers this area, but some scratchbuilding could transform this area into a “kitchen” for Yoda, or the area where his bed was shown. The area is covered by another section of the “tree”, but you’ll have to fill in the grooves designed to hold the “wall”. This is what it looks like with the "wall" in place.



And this is how it looks with the "wall" removed, showing how much dead space is included in the kit.


This is what the model will look like with the top on.



Completed dimensions of the kit are 9.5 inches wide, 11 inches long, and 5.5 inches tall.

This is a neat kit that offers the builder a chance to really throw in some added detail and make the diorama shine.

Review by: Rich “Lonewolf” Dula

Entry created: December 30, 2012
Comments: 0 | Rating (1-5): -- No rating -- | MSRP: $14.99

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