This was a day I will never forget, Surrounded by family, friends and Missionaries responsible for our teachings, we are now one step closer to entering back into Heavenly Father’s house through our Savior and Brother, Jesus Christ. This day was chosen because it was my actual birthday, and what a day to make another fantastic event on. Many traveled from around the country, and world to join us for this special day. The Co Founders of 4Life Research, David and Bianca Lisonbee had proven to be great examples to us for the 15 years we have known them, thus we asked David to perform the Baptism’s for us, and Bianca spoke on The Holy Ghost during the proceedings. They were joined by their daughter and her husband. Joining them as amazing examples were 4Life President Steve Tew and his wife Sherma, whom spoke of Baptism for us, plus 4Life V.P.’s Alan Michaelis, Nathan Larsen, and Dr. Cal McCausland! Our friends (whom have also become family) joined us as well… Dr. Timothy and Carol Chu, Blanche Feng, and Frank and Karen Ayres! My wife Melanie, and our daughters, Paige and Madison (all three whom have been instrumental in my path and I love them very much) filled the front row during this event. Then there were the members of the Alluvial Ward, where I am not a member. It was these Missionaries, Elder Jacob Cook and Elder Joseph Wamsley whom lead us with the truth to the Book of Mormon, and to eventual Baptism. We love them very much, as we do all Missionaries that hold authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This was a day that will never leave my thoughts. It is a day we became one with the Father in forwarding his plan for all of our salvation. Enjoy the photos!
This beautiful model was scratch built by artist Clifton Simmons to resemble both new series and old series styled Battlestars. He achieved the look fantastically. This model did not come with lighting installed, so I used a small flashlight for the bays when taking the photos. The engine lighting I quickly photo-shopped in. Please excuse my mistakes there… lol. I was thrilled to have this for the time that I did, and like Cliff with regard to his own creation, I miss it being here. This fantastic piece now resides in Hong Kong…. the the Richard Sung Collection.
Being that the best experienced Colonial Pilots are spread thin these days, Captain Apollo rarely gets to share the skies with his best friend… Lt. Starbuck. Such was one of these days. A colony-type planet had been detected a few light years in front of the fleet and needed to have some recon done…. their names were first on the flight roster. Detecting no hostile presence, the two friends shoot for the deck of the planet to discover most of it covered with water. Alone, with beautiful skies above, deep blue oceans below…. and a whole world of freedom waiting to hear the screaming of Viper engines for the first time….. Apollo looks over at Starbuck… who just nods, and waves his hand as if to say “after you” while placing his cigar back in his mouth…. their hot dog piloting was about to begin.
Continuing as the second “atmospheric flight” composite collection piece suggested for me to do by master artist Ben Lim, while using my Blue Screen photos of the fantastic studio Viper builds done by R.L. Bleecker from the hyper accurate MSLZ22 Model kits, and using a few elements from various sources… I was able to create this scene as I viewed it in my head. What I found especially challenging was getting the reflections correct both on the Vipers themselves… as with the water beneath them. The angle of the sun made it very difficult to determine what was to be seen.
About a decade ago, I tasked artist R.L. Bleecker with building this piece. It would be a larger version of a small model he scratch built while in a shop we had running at that time. This model design was inspired by the Joe Johnston and Nilo Rodis-Jamero’s 1980 released book…”The Empire Strikes Back Sketchbook”, and it was of the initial sketch for the Super Star Destroyer EXECUTOR. Being a Veteran of the United States Navy himself, Robert had classified what he built as a “Cutter”… an Imperial Cutter. When I saw what he had created in that smaller model, and he confirmed where his inspiration came from (as I recognized it as well), it was clear a larger version must be built…. and so he did. This one we would name the Imperial Cutter INTRACTIBLE. This model actually has parts used (the engine bells) that are from a real U.S. military aircraft. Robert used many recognizable items for the communications and jamming equipment on top of the model. This model represents what practical use may have been of this type of vessel in the Empire’s Imperial Fleet. As a back story, we developed this: Measuring slightly less long than the 752 meter ACCLAIMATOR Star Destroyer Class, the new 686 meter PERSISTANT Class Imperial Cutter INTRACTIBLE is the second version of this new Imperial weapon. This makes this vessel, if it were real, to be just over 1/3 the full length of the basic Imperial Star Destroyers we know (ie Devastator and Avenger). The model itself is 27 inches long which bring this piece to the 1:1000 scale exactly. Robert did a magnificent job creating this piece.
…The Empire Strikes Back Sketchbook and Sketch that inspired this build…
In June 2009, famed artist Lasse Henning created an amazing kit in 1/18 scale! Of note: This 1/18 size I have always referred to as “Super Scale”, with anything larger as being “Mega Scale”. When I first came into this art form, one of the first artists I came to appreciate and watch frequently was Lasse Henning. His work inspired nearly everything I have in the collection today that has been created by equally appreciated and fantastic artists world-wide. Lasse has always amazed me with his work, and continues to do so today. I have known him now for two decades (20 years), and my jaw still drops when he creates something new. We had originally shown this beautiful model here on Modelers Miniatures & Magic back on August 19, 2009. Today I am showing this amazing model once more that Lasse made for me, again with the Blue Screen photos I took of it that have been utilized for many things we have all may have viewed… including a Calendar.
Back in 2009, when Lasse informed us all that he was creating a 1:18 Vader TIE kit, I contacted him immediately for this commission. I had been waiting for an artist to come up with either a studio scale replica, or larger. At that time, artist Chris Kelly had offered a fantastic studio scale kit, and again at that time it was “out of production”, and thus unobtainable. Lasse’s kit is much larger than the 1:24 (studio scale) model in it’s 1:18 scale (SUPER SCALE)! You can see in the photo below that the TIE ball is nearly as large as my head,.. and I am actually pressing my jaw along the rim of the back of the model itself! IT IS HUGE!! And… IT IS QUALITY! It looks as if it is a plastic injected kit… nice and crisp in every detail! AMAZING! This is one of the crowning pieces that I am honored to show in the collection! Not many of these kits were made by Lasse, keeping their value high. Thank you Lasse for you incredible work, and contributions to the excellence of this art form!
Above:Kurt Kuhn with the Lasse Henning 1/18 Darth Vader TIE Fighter X-1
Model Information
Current Owner: Kurt Kuhn of Kuhn Global, Inc.
Build Artist: Lasse Henning
Kit Offered By: Lasse Henning’s “The Model Shoppe”
I had the great pleasure of being sent one of eFX’s studio scale sized X-Wing’s that they offered in order to give it an honest review. I did so (SEEN HERE). I was also granted the pleasure of taking Blue Screen Photos of it, which you see here today. Everything I had to tell of this model is in the review. I can say that it was a pleasure to photograph, as it challenged me a bit more than usual with it’s immovability on it’s short stand. That stated…. I am grateful of eFX for allowing me to do so.
Kurt Kuhn
Kuhn Global Incorporated
Modelers Miniatures & Magic
Let me first start by stating that I am honored to be able to review such a fine piece of work by eFX. Thank you for allowing me to do so.
Now on to the review. I recommend sitting down… as this is quite long and detailed. As I promised Barry Jones of eFX, this is an honest, unbiased review.
Upon receiving the X-wing from Fed-Ex yesterday, I was impressed with largeness of the box this item came in. (See photos below). It was obvious that eFX had taken time to design this box and packing so that damage during world-wide shipping would be nil or minimal. The graciously placed two inches of extra foam around the already foam encompassed x-wing and stand. From my years of sending and receiving museum items, THIS is the way to pack an item for shipment.
When I picked up the X-wing out of the foam, the first thing I noticed is how heavy and cold it was! It felt like a metal die cast model! Now remember, THIS specific prototype was the first to come back from China with their first attempt of a paint job that was to resemble what was sent to them on the artist proof. Thus, I will not be commenting on the paint job other than one comment my wife made when she viewed it. “Dirty does NOT mean shiny!” Enough said about China’s first paint attempt.
Now.. back to it’s weight and coldness. Upon tapping on the item a few times, this fuselage was obviously cast in polystone… a VERY time-durable casting material. My first impression was “WOW”. I then felt around to see what else was obvious in the materials. The wings are metal and are VERY rigid. They have an unseen magnet within them to keep them closed until manually opened…. which I did immediately following my inspection of materials. This X-wing had been shipped around the world several times to different individuals, so I was expecting some problems which did show up in small amount. The wings, when manually opened, are supposed to open together so that if you open one wing, the others do as well.. This one had a busted gadget inside that only allowed the cross wings to open simultaneously. And the second set would not stay in place. I attribute this damage (even though it was professionally packed) to our fine world delivery services, and the handling of it by many before myself.
One of the things that I next noticed was that the canopy was not connected to the model. It comes completely separate so that one may admire the fine cockpit they have replicated from the full sized props. The cockpit, by the way, looks excellent. The seat within the cockpit was also not attached in this bird. It was freely floating about, but did have the ability to connect to the flooring. When I went to place on the canopy, this is the first I noticed it’s windows. Just like the original filming model, they were glassed in. Very shiny. On this one, the right front window was missing from the package… also due to the handling by many before me. That said, the windows were easy to pop in and out. I obviously left them in for the photo shoot to see what it would look like. Upon placing the canopy over the cockpit, I noticed it wasn’t a great fit. I never did get it completely right. The hoses, that look so awesome in the cockpit, were kind of in the way for the correct fitment of the canopy. I spent a good 30 minutes trying to fit it properly before giving in to what I was able to do. The canopy hinge (which is one of the items that makes it look toy like) in my opinion, should probably have been done differently. I imagine cost was a big issue with that. As I understand things, Lucasfilm wanted the glass in the canopies, so cost went up a bit to do that. My own speculation leads me to think this is why the canopy was done the way it was.
After studying the body a bit further, I noticed how much outer detail, throughout the piece, was cast in. Some of this is a bit “soft” in my opinion. However, the panel lines are crisp and clean.
Something else kept gnawing at me… it seemed larger than 1/24. And the nose cone was much larger than any other replica of the X-wing I had seen before. Plus, it definitely is positioned with the tip up more than anything I own. It slightly takes away from the aggressive look the X-wings have always appeared to have and gave more of a ‘speedboat’ feel to the front. That may just be how this specific bird was assembled, however. The production birds, according to Barry, will ALL be 100% inspected for quality control BEFORE shipping. Just as eFX did with the first helmets they have sold. By the way, NONE have been returned! That is impressive!
Now, the stand is a brushed aluminum looking, clear acrylic covered, black oval base, with a 1 inch aluminum pipe extruding from it that has the electronic connector inside. The brushed aluminum under the clear acrylic is etched with “STAR WARS”. Very nice indeed! However.. the mounting pipe really bugs me. This is something I very much dislike in mass offered pieces and may just be my personal preference. The stands piping is always too large due to a few skinny wires being placed through in my opinion. This REALLY detracts from the awesome look of any piece that would sit atop of them! ICONS did it to their X-wing with a huge, clear acrylic rod! Somebody,…ANYBODY… needs to rethink a better way of mounting models with electronics. The smaller, the better! And PLEASE…. make them positional.. like the panavise camera stand. That rant now over , the electronic connector is a simple connection that will fit only one direction.. so there is no making a mistake. The power button resides on the side of the base as a simple toggle switch. The power plugs in just aft of the toggle switch.
When photographing this piece, the stand left me with limited options of position without going out and getting more Blue Screen Material to cover it appropriately.. so I just worked with what I had. As you can see, it photographs fairly well, but sometimes looks less aggressive do to the nose cap angle and the ‘less-wide’ open wings. These were opened to their maximum and, due to the linkage break inside, held open by a plastic clip I placed within the wing block. Unfortunately, the wings just would not go any wider,… which when wide, is another great aggressive look to the X-wing in my opinion.
Today, I pulled from display my last V3 RED 5 build, that I have displayed here, and placed it next to the eFX bird. See photos below. Earlier I had commented that the eFX X-wing felt larger than 1/24 scale. Not knowing what the real used x-wings measurements were, the EFX is about 3/4 of an inch longer than the now retired V3 kits. It is also noticeably beefier in all aspects except in wing width. In the photo, even though the V3 is behind the eFX bird, you can see the noticeable size difference. The eFX size makes me recall the once offered Maxi-Brute castings which were suggested to have been cast directly off of a hero X-wing back in the day. Of course that is only speculation, but never the less, the size and beefiness of the eFX X-wing reminds me of it.
When my daughter walked in to the room this morning as I had the two X-wings side by side, she told me that the larger one (the eFX bird) looked toy-like. I asked her to explain what she saw and she couldn’t define it. I can see what she is stating due to a few things that make it look that way to me as well. The canopy definitely has something to do with that. Another, and we must remember this is the first China painted prototype, is the challenged, shiny paint job that this bird has. Then there is the soft detail I spoke of earlier, as well as certain parts that don’t seem to match up with their counterparts angles. This is not due to poor assembly, but just that the parts don’t quite match up. Like they are smaller than the ship itself. This may quite possibly be my own thinking since all I have seen until this were birds that came from castings, or re-built from those castings measurements, which may have suffered shrinkage over and over.
That stated, THIS IS NO TOY! It definitely is a fantastic reproduction made for a mass distribution of 1000.
What this piece represents is something for which people that cannot, or will not, build and wish to have a beautiful piece to set on display and admire! This group probably will not include those who are studio scale purists, even though this piece was investigated and built accordingly.
For the masses… ABSOLUTELY! This piece is a FANTASTIC offering at $1199! With a payment plan and FREE shipping no less. Not to mention that even at 1000 pieces this piece will be, and remain, extremely rare and valuable to the collectors out there.
Will I get one? I am very much thinking about it! And I am only doing that because… 1. I have soooo many quality studio x-wings already to display. And 2. My budget is currently being utilized on my family for Christmas. Other than that… now I think I will place one of these beautiful eFX birds on my Christmas list! LOLOL.
There you have it. If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them when time allows. Until then, please enjoy the photos below showing what I have typed about above.
I wish to thank Barry and the eFX gang once again for giving me the opportunity to see this fantastic piece up close and personal, photograph it, and review it. It is clear from eFX’s actions that they want this community of professional model builders to see and understand what they may wish to purchase.
Thank You Barry!
Thank You eFX!
Thank You All!
Kurt Kuhn Kuhn Global Incorporated Modelers Miniatures & Magic
The 2003 Ron Moore reboot of Battlestar Galactica took us into a completely different imagined arena of the already fantastic 1978 Glen Larson television show and 1979 film. With this re-imagining came new designs of the ships we all loved. One of those models was from the conceptual art of Eric Chu, then digitally made by the artists at ZOIC, many of whom are very known, and shown on my Modelers Miniatures & Magic site. The model shown here today is of the Mk7 Colonial Viper design, and to my knowledge was the first parts made of it by Rob Durham. It is 1:32 and was built up by artist Chris Dobinson. It is beautiful with it’s detailing and weathering. Chris even managed to make the tiny pilot helmet look as if it were lit, when it is not.
Below are my Blue Screen Photos of the 1:32 Mk7 miniature that I took of it when I received it back in October 2008. I actually showed this piece on Modelers Miniatures & Magic back on March 27, 2009… 5 months after receiving it. I must admit that it was a pleasure to photograph this piece in so many different angles. While some angles are better than others, all are still magnificent. Chris did amazing work here and I am grateful.
Of all the studio scale Y-Wing’s… this one is my favorite. Re-Made from the Master Replicas Y-Wing (SEEN HERE), again I enlisted artist Matt Meyer to build this great replica. Gold Leader had so many great markings.. including the infamous TIE Fighter symbol on it’s nose. I love this piece. Matt truly did amazing work. This piece now resides in Hong Kong, along side GOLD 5 (SEEN HERE), in the collection of Richard Sung.
Model Information
Current Known Owner: Richard Sung
Blue Screen Photographer: Kurt Kuhn (Kuhn Global)
Original Replica (Before this Re-Make) Once Offered By: Master Replicas
Rebuilt & Painted By Artist: Matt Meyer (MTM Studio)
Made from studio scale Y-Wing parts (then sold by Steve Neisen, and of which he helped develop for the Master Replicas Y-Wing), I asked artist Matt Meyer to make them into the Y-Wing known as GOLD 5 that we viewed on screen in 1977’s Star Wars. He did a beautiful job replicating it. From it’s different markings, to the smaller sized guns, this replica truly shows the Y-Wing original design that I love so much. This model now resides in the Richard Sung Collection in Hong Kong.
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