Reviewing Fanhome’s ‘Star Wars Darth Vader 1:2 Build Up’ Stages 25-29

The seventh package in my Fanhome Star Wars Darth Vader 1:2 Build Up subscription* arrived this week. This 1:2 scale model represents Darth Vader as he appears in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, including his helmet, cape and iconic red lightsaber. The model also features visual effects and sound effects, such as his unmistakable breathing, and reproduces some of the Sith Lord’s most famous phrases from the movies.

One of the things that immediately caught my eye in this box is that left glove. I am nowhere near assembling anything that resembles a hand or arm. So far, everything is above the shoulder level. 

This glove won’t come into play for a while, but its inclusion in this particular box calls back to something I’ve mentioned several times on my E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial Build Up subscription**. One of the things Fanhome does that is really cool is that they give little “glimpses” into future stages on these subs. The very first package on the E.T. build had the parts to build Zrek’s right pointer finger in it. Why? Because it lights up and gets you all hyped for the finished product.

That’s what this glove is. It won’t come up for months in the build, but it is a tangible preview into the simulated leather work that will come down the line when we get to Lord Vader’s pants, gloves, chest, and codpiece. You can hold it, feel it, look at the stitching, or start a duel with your half-finished Asogian botanist by slapping him across the face with a half sized-space glove.

Let’s get into this month’s build stages.

Build Stage 25

The magazine that accompanies this build stage has features on Baylan Skoll and Aurra Sing. It’s kind of cool that Fanhome isn’t focusing on one form of media for these articles. They could have stuck with the live action films, but they’re incorporating lore from the expanded Star Wars universe, which includes live action and animated film, live action and animated shows, novels, comics… There are such great pieces of lore tucked away in little corners of this massive franchise.

This build stage connects the two lower halves of Vader’s neck armor. This is actually a stage I’ve wondered about quite a bit, since the rear piece is covered by the flare of the back of Vader’s helmet. I don’t know that I’ve actually ever seen this bit on screen, so I had no idea how it was supposed to look. This was the easiest of this month’s stages. Four screws, four washers, and two lengths of neck support padding. 

Build Stage 26

Stage 26 featured a fourth installment in Kylo Ren’s story titled “The Final Reckoning.” This, of course, is the battle with Rey, her healing his wounds after the fact, and their teaming up to fight Palpatine. The second feature is on Tobias Beckett, who I just learned was Han Solo’s mentor, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to a bartender I used to know.

The build stage tackles an almost mirrored version of a previous stage. This is the left control box for Vader’s belt. The exterior is pretty straightforward, and mirrors the previous stage for the right side. The electronics inside are slightly more complicated, as this box contains the battery pack and wiring for (presumably) the right side and the chest piece.

Build Stage 27

This stage’s magazine featured Grand Inquisitor and Captain Phasma. I’ve always felt like Phasma didn’t get a fair shake in the films. They went to all the trouble of making chromium plated stormtrooper armor (constructed of pieces of Hux’s destroyed ship, no less), got Brienne of Tarth to don it, and then gave this massive, shiny warrior woman a ridiculously small part to play. Huge wasted opportunity. Justice for Brienne!

I’ve actually been waiting for this stage for a while. The eye pieces for the helmet came way back in the first or second package, and have just sat on my work bench for half a year. They have finally been installed. That’s two fewer unattached pieces for me to lose. This stage also contains the previously mentioned left glove.

Build Stage 28

Sith weapons are front and center in this stage’s magazine. We all know about light sabers. There’s a detail in here that says Sith sabers are red because the kyber crystal that gives the laser sword its power absorbs the hate, anger, pain, and fear of its user, causing the crystal and blade to turn red. If that’s the case, I wonder what makes Mace Windu’s blade purple, besides the fact that Samuel L Jackson asked for it specifically. What would be the kayfabe reasoning?

There are also blurbs on the Blade of Ochi of Bestoon, Cortosis, the Hand of Siberus, the Zaly Shield, and other nasty Sith toys. 

Oh, and you know that pig-faced fellow that picked a fight with Luke Skywalker on Mos Eisley? Dr. Evazan gets a few pages of backstory here.

This build stage is the beginning of my troubles with this month’s box. Stages 28 and 29 both get into tiny little bits and bobs that form the bonkers level of detail inside Vader’s helmet. I’ve stated before that these frustrating little pieces could have easily been cast into the mold when making the helmet, but that would have lost a significant amount of fine detail in the casting and paint job. As hard as these stages can be for my freakishly large hands, the finished product is worth it.

They call these pieces the inner nose tube end piece (left and right), upper inner nose tube (left and right), lower inner nose tube (left and right), and eye frame tube (left and right). I called them a lot of other things and swore quite a bit, before realizing I should maybe invest in some hobbyist tweezers before the next shipment arrives next month. 

Build Stage 29

The features in Stage 29’s magazine are on the Bestoon Legacy, a WTK-85A transport that looks a lot like a pair of binoculars I had when I was 10, and Bossk. 

Bossk (short for Bossk’wassak’Cradossk) has always been a favorite of mine. That isn’t because of any of his history with Boba Fett, or his cool ship, or any of the backstory they came up with for him in the Clone Wars animated series. It’s because of the 1960s-era RAF High-Altitude Windak Pressure Suit they had him wearing in Star Wars (which they also used for a random extra on Mos Eisley). 

The exact same suit was also used in a 1966 Doctor Who serial “The Tenth Planet” and a 1964 low-budget sci-fi film The First Men in the Moon. This is the kind of stuff I remember from films and shows. For the life of me, I won’t remember major plot points or character names, but I can tell you all about re-used sets, props, and wardrobe.

And that, dear friends, brings us to the build stage that had me frustrated beyond words. Before I started working on these Fanhome subscriptions, my level of ‘model hobbyist’ was pretty much “I have assembled some decently sized Lego sets.” I did not own any tiny tools, an LED headlamp, special clamps, white gloves, lint free cloths, or rubberized tweezers.

I will tell you now, you want all of those items for this build. The eight parts of this one stage took me more time than the previous four stages combined. I swore. A lot. 

There are holes on the inside of the helmet that are impossible to see without a powerful, focused light source. Once those holes are located, it is incredibly difficult to get the pegs to line up with the holes using massive sausage fingers. I actually looked up some model builders’ videos who are working on this same subscription, and lo, I discovered rubberized hobbyist tweezers. I need to get some of those, like yesterday. 

This is definitely one of those stages that I had to keep reminding myself how cool it’s going to be when I’m showing off my half-sized evil dictator, and that when I remove his helmet to show the scarred face within, the details within the helmet are going to be just as spectacular as those that are visible from the outside. 

*Fanhome provides this subscription to me free of charge for purposes of review.

**Fanhome also provides the ET the Estra Terrestrial Build subscription to me free of charge for the purposes of review.