Image: Bridge

Image: Top view

Image: Underneath

Image: Side views

Image: Beauty shot

Image: Pulling away

by Neil Ellis

One of my fondest memories of watching Star Wars for the first time was when the Imperial Star Destroyer tears over the camera as it chases the 'Tantive IV' over Tatooine. It seemed to go on forever. Ever since then I have wanted to own one.

This model is 96cm in length, the same size as the model built for A New Hope. I drew up some very basic plans after studying various photos of the production model. I wanted my version to look more like the larger model built for The Empire Strikes Back, whilst keeping it 3 feet in length.

Hundreds of kit parts were bashed to create the detailing along the side, on the surface and on the engines and bridge, mainly from a variety of 1:700 battleship, destroyer and carrier kits although other military kits were used as well. Some plastic easter egg halves came in handy too.....funny that.

I didn't go for super-accuracy on the detailing, but I did want a close match (without spending 5 years tracking down the exact parts used on the original ILM model). I really wanted to see what I could come up with.

All in all, it took 7 months to build. I am happy with the end result, but have learned enough to do things slightly differently should I tackle another Star Destroyer in the future.