I recently came into possession of Revell's Snap-kit of the Y-wing. I had build the AMT kit as a young person and really thought it was ever so cool. As with my build of Revells Millennium Falcon I was very suspicious of the box art, it looked very toy like. When I opened the box I felt that my suspicions were well founded. Some of the painting done on the kit looked pretty bad but the yellow band on the cockpit was very well done.I decided to carry on with the kit and use it as a test piece before I went to work on my Fine Molds offering.

After getting the cockpit/hull assembled I decided to get straight into the painting, I started by applying a sludge of oil paint, a mix of grey and raw umber, this was applied undiluted and very heavily. This sludge was spread out with a large brush dampened with thinners. I do not recommend trying this method as the results cannot be guaranteed.

I left this sludge sitting for about an hour and removed it with a rag dampened in thinners. This left me with a very nice dirty effect on the model.

The next stage was to paint in some details, pipes etc. in blues and greys. I next approached the chipping, using the reference pages on Starship Modeller site I hand painted in the chips. While looking difficult it did not take long to do. A Tamiya weathering set was used to weather the engines and scorching around the ship.

When the kit was finished I decided to measure it up against the Fine Molds kit ............. cas this going to be a big OUCH moment? Well, no. All in all it measured up very well against the FM kit; the detail is no where near as sharp but roughly it stands well beside it, most of the most identifiable shapes and details are there.
So to sum it up, this is a very good value for money with few pieces and a delight to build. I can strongly recommend this kit for modellers of all ages and abilities.

Image: In the bag

Image: Parts

Image: On the sprue

Image: Starting point

Image: Wash started

Image: Cockpit pod

Image: Starboard engine detail

Image: Exhaust

Image: Port side detail

Image: Rear view

Image: Port engine

Image: Front

Image: Head on

Image: More top, more left

Image: Your other starboard

Image: Engine detail