starwarsmodels.com - The Star Wars Model Kit Gallery
Click Here To Go To The Main Page
Click Here To Go To The Model Gallery
Click Here To See The Kits I Want
Click Here To See My Bio
Click Here To Go To The Links Page
Click Here For Some Modeling Techniques
Click Here For Information On My Building Service
Click Here To E-Mail Me
End Of The Line
 
Click Photo To Enlarge
Kit Name: Cloud City
Scale: 1/133,333
Material: Resin, Plastic and Felt
Manufacturer: Scale Solutions

Model Number:

 
Released:  
Number Of Parts: 6
Final Dimensions: 5.5"H x 5"W x 5"D
Box Cover: Plain Box
Instructions: Click Here (.zip)
Country of Origin: Australia
Special Note:  

Click To Enlarge Click To Enlarge Click To Enlarge

 
This is the second Star Wars release from the Australian company Scale Solutions. Before painting or assembly I had quite a bit of work to do on the kit. It was chipped and molded roughly along the edge of the main saucer so this needed to be fixed. I also decided to scribe in some extra circles on the top and the bottom to better represent the city. After looking at references of Cloud City, I felt the top was too sparsely populated. I added many small rods of styrene, metal and bits of guitar wire to help fill out the actual city section on top. The central column area also needed a lot of work as it appeared as if the two mold halves did not line up properly in the casting process. This was difficult and resulted in a less than ideal finished look. It makes the parts look wavy as one side is higher than the other. For painting I decided to go with the natural light look of Cloud City. In Empire Strikes Back, when the heroes arrive, the city is awash in orange light making the city look brown. I was tempted to paint it this color as most people associate Cloud City with orange, red and brown colors, but I decided against it. In normal daylight, Cloud City and all of the building are a white, light gray or medium gray color. This is what I went with for my city. I started by basing the whole kit in flat white. I then picked out certain details in the city area with various shades of light gray. I also made little lines all over the saucers with Camouflage Gray and added some vents and miscellaneous details with Medium Gray. This helped add a lot of visual interest and detail. For the base I just painted the bottom part black and airbrushed white and various shades of light blue for the clouds. The kit comes with a nice piece of green felt for the base to help keep it from sliding around. It's a very nice kit, but has some flaws. At $68 retail, the price is a little steep for what the kit delivers.
 
Spacer Bar
 
Other Variations:
 
None
 
Spacer Bar