Round 2 has just released the AMT 1/144 scale Havoc Marauder, the main ride of Hunter, Omega, and company from the streaming animated Disney+ series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Molded in gray plastic, the kit features snap-together construction, posable wings, excellent surface detail, and the option to finish the model with the landing gear extended or in flight.
The small instruction leaflet features good, clear assembly diagrams and, as usual for Round 2’s sci-fi offerings, full-color painting and marking diagrams are inconveniently printed on the sides of the bottom box. A small decal sheet provides markings for the black areas around the cockpit and several other small markings.
I started by cleaning up the wings and top “sail” panels and adding the hinges (parts 24 and 26) to the wings. Take care when handling these parts because you can easily damage the small guns and probes.
Despite it being a snap-together kit, I used Tamiya extra thin cement on all the non-moving joints. I had a few small gaps around the nose's side panels (parts 4 and 5) that I filled with putty.
You can clean up the seams on the connecting piece between the nose and the main body, but you don’t need to because they aren’t visible after installation. The main body halves fit together well and required only a touch to clean up the seams.
Although I assembled the main guns, I left them off until the final assembly. A piece of thin styrene sheet filled a small gap where the rear blister (Part 14) met the fuselage. I left off the rear canopy and engine grates until I’d finished painting and weathering.
I base-coated everything Tamiya Medium Sea Gray (No. XF-83) — the closest thing I had to Haze Gray (No. TS-32). Then I masked and painted all the various panels, using colors close to those called out if I didn’t have the actual color on hand. Once done, everything received a coat of Mr. Color Gloss Clear (No. 46) to prepare for the decals and weathering.
The decals were the biggest disappointment in the kit. Thick (probably to survive handling by inexperienced hands), I was able to get the black panels on the nose to lay down with Microscale Micro Sol. However, no amount of setting solution would make the stripe decals for the wingtips conform to the details. I eventually gave up and left the stripes off, along with the tiny stencil decals.
Admittedly, I was a bit hesitant to add the suggested teal highlight color, but after re-watching a few episodes, it is pretty noticeable on the ship. I used Vallejo Green Sky (No. 70.974) mixed with just a touch of Medium Blue (No. 70.963), and I think it added just the right touch.
In all, I spent about 13 hours building my Havoc Marauder. Of course, most of the time was spent painting and weathering the model. While even a novice modeler should be able to assemble this kit, it takes a bit of experience to do the paint justice.