by Jason Gares

This is Darth Vader's TIE/Advanced fighter, which started it's life as a toy. This was a very interesting project as I have never worked with the type of plastics used that make up a toy. Plastics for toys are made to be more durable then plastics used for models, but can be a bit harder to work with. Chemical reactions with glues can be different as well as cutting, drilling and sanding. But no matter what, the end result is much better then just a boring one-colored toy. Lets see how I converted a toy into a studio grade replica.

I had to take the toy apart to get started. I had only one way of taking it apart...with a screwdriver. Eight screws are all that hold the toy together, this makes for a very easy disassembly.

Now that I have the toy disassembled, I decide to do away with the movable guns and missiles that fire, these items of course are not a part of the model used in the film. Both mechanisms for both devices come out very easily.

Once everything is laid out I have to decide what needs cutting, filling and drilling. The hatch area that makes the toy able to have a figure in the cockpit is cut off, filled with styrene, sanded and kit bashed to make look closer to the studio version. The hinge on the cockpit door is also cut off and rounded out.

The cockpit and engine areas had holes drilled in to plumb fiber optic lines through.

Once the the toy was back together, with both screws and glue, it was time for painting. I used a special mixture of colors to achieve the look that I wanted with the color scheme. There is no known color for Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter; I did some research on the subject and came up with very conflicting colors. So in the end, I decided to take the information that I had accumulated, and come up with my own color. Once I airbrushed the main color on, I shaved off some black artist charcoal, dipped my brush into it and dry brushed it on the model. I did this in order to achieve a weathered effect. I wanted to show that this vehicle had been used more then once by Lord Vader and before the Battle of Yavin in Episode 4.

Once I was done and pleased with the weathering effects, I had sprayed a couple of coats of dull cote on to seal in both the paint and charcoal.

I added a Darth Vader figure into the cockpit. What's a Darth Vader Tie-Fighter worth without Darth Vader at the controls?

Now that the project is finished, I am very happy with the results. This project has taught me a lot about how different toy and model plastics are and how to approach them.

Image: Cockpit lighting visible through the top hatch

Image: Upper deck, weathered

Image: Front view

Image: "This one is mine..."

Image: Where it started