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

The media could not be loaded. 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 :-)