From the opening moments of the Disney+ Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, I was fascinated by the titular bounty hunter’s ship. Angular and shiny, it was a brutalist image of what a starship can be and was at once different and familiar to fans of the franchise’s “used universe” aesthetic. Yes, I am a sci-fi hardware geek! I couldn’t wait for a kit of the Razor Crest, and both Revell Germany and AMT announced plans to make it in 1/72 scale. Ironically, both made it to market after the ship was destroyed.
Molded in silver plastic, AMT’s kit has sharp recessed panel lines and a few build options. They include extended or retracted landing gear, internal fittings for wires and lights, figures of both Din and his charge Grogu for the detailed cockpit, and the rear and port ramps that can be posed open. Doing so exposes the lack of detail in the lower deck, an area detailed in the Revell kit. Despite that, I think AMT surpasses Revell in detail fidelity of the laser cannons and the insets around the main gear fairing.
Assembly starts with external components like the engines and laser cannons. The clear inserts for the rear of the engines have a hollow post that could hold an LED, and the instructions show how to modify the nozzles for lighting. Each engine body comprises four parts. This proved the kit’s most difficult area because aligning all four pieces and eliminating the resulting seams was nearly impossible. Rather than using putty and sanding to fill some of the largest gaps, I covered them with styrene flat and half-round strips. It worked OK, but there are still some awkward spots, and some detail was lost to sanding. I filled gaps between the cannon halves with superglue.
The cockpit features well-molded consoles, and the figures are decent for the scale. The kit provides a ton of decals for the bulkheads and floor that look great in place, but getting them there was problematic. They wanted to stick where they first landed — don’t use a pre-application solution, like Microscale Micro Set, or they will never move — and will tear under even minor pressure. Use as much water as possible so the markings float until they are in the right spot.
I clamped the upper and lower body sections overnight to be sure the long seams stayed closed. My reward was minimal filling and sanding, with the worst areas under the pylons. I left the engines separate for painting. To pose the Razor Crest in flight on the sturdy stand, I glued the hatches and gear doors closed; they all fit perfectly.
I used Tamiya Bare-Metal Silver (No. AS-12) as a base for the ship’s shiny finish. To break up the finish, I masked a few panels and sprayed various shades of Alclad II lacquers. The decals supply options for pristine or weathered yellow stripes. Here, I ran into the same problems that I had with the interior markings and had to carefully piece together the decals on the model.
The deep panel lines and detail popped under a wash. I attached the engines with two-part epoxy and held them in place because they wanted to migrate outward on the three tabs that attach them.
The crystal-clear windows drop in easily from outside, except for the lower side panes, both of which sit slightly proud of the surface.
I spent 17 hours on AMT’s Razor Crest, more than I expected, thanks to the fit issues and decal problems. But sitting on my desk, it looks like the ship I fell in love with in that first episode. It takes modeling skills to get it together, so I recommend it to moderately experienced builders.