A Good Kit from a Bad Batch.

Building the first model kit of the Havoc Marauder from test shots

The Bad Batch is a new animated Star Wars show seen on Disney Plus and introduces a utilitarian shuttlecraft that appears to be a cross between the Shuttle Tydirium, a TIE fighter, and the Superswift from Space: 1999! (The cockpit section looks like a stretched version of the nosecone of the Superswift seen below, don’t you think?)

The cockpit, when its parts are positioned as such, also looks a lot like Mechagodzilla too, don’t you think?

No? OK well, then must be my imagination. On with the show.

Round 2’s newest Star Wars kit is this little fella which I originally thought wasn’t much to write home about but soon changed my mind after looking it over. Designed for a beginner or youth audience, I found that I nevertheless really liked this thing and I had a lot of fun and satisfaction building it. Just because it’s a snap kit doesn’t mean that an advanced modeler cannot enjoy it too!

The kit is VERY accurate, based on the actual CGI elements used for the TV program itself.

I was sent test shots molded in white plastic to build for the packaging art and publicity material as well as for display at various events when needed. The production kit will be molded in the correct “Haze Gray” colour so the beginner doesn’t have to paint the whole thing if they don’t want to. Painting the black panels on the wings is really all that will be needed to make it look reasonable. The kit will have a comprehensive decal sheet as well as clear parts molded in clear red and regular clear so you have a choice. As you will see below, the kit is very much suitable for lighting for the more advanced modeler.

Here are the paint colours used on the build.

Tamiya Haze Grey, the main base colour, is also the exact shade you would use on a TIE fighter too, and the others shown were for paneling etc.

These Polly Scale teal colours below were dabbled on and dry brushed for the weathering. Why they weathered it with teal I have no idea, but that’s the way Disney did it. So that’s what I followed.

I lit the model up, too, just to show that it can be done. There’s not a lot of space in the fuselage, but using parts found on eBay for about two dollars (the components are dirt cheap if you buy in bulk), it’s not a real problem. I put a red LED in the cockpit to light up the windows as seen in the show, another red one in the rear gunnery turret (the red LEDs require resistors because they run on just two volts), and two white LEDs for the engines. The set-up looks a little messy here, but it works.

Testing the lights:

Yep. Those work.

I actually built two of these, both weathered and unweathered for the box art. Showing both versions will help the builder paint the model more accurately.

Once built, I needed to do all the photography needed. Here is the set-up for shooting the orthographic shots you will see on most of Round 2’s Sci Fi builds that I do for them. These orthographic shots are usually included on the box tray sides you see after you open them up. Orthos really help the consumer/builder understand colour patterns and details to be painted. I’m not sure but I think this is a feature that only Round 2 has pioneered in the model kit industry, as I’ve not seen it done on any other model kit before we did. I can’t remember for sure but I think Jamie Hood or myself or both of us invented the idea. Why it was never done before seems a mystery, but it is standard on all Round 2 Sci Fi kits over the last decade or so. I think it was a great idea even if I do say so myself.

The model is mounted against a background of either black or white with a mirror underneath to bounce light onto the bottom and more lights are positioned as you can see in the photo above using long LED lighting strips to bathe the model in very even illumination to avoid shadows as much as possible. This allows for better colour recognition. The camera is placed at the opposite end of my shop 20-30 feet away (depending on the size of the model) and a long 300mm lens is used to zoom in close. Shooting the subject at this distance helps eliminate perspective distortion and gives a more blueprint-like quality to the model, as you can see here:

It is shot from all six views (front, rear, top, bottom, left, right) and the extraneous stands, background, and so on are eliminated digitally during package design usually done by Jamie and/or his art department crew at Round 2.

Underside shots are sometimes done with the model upside down and then the image is flipped during layout design for the packaging. In this case, the optional landing gear needed to be shown.

The final result of all this work can be found on the box art and various other publicity materials seen accompanying the official release.

Building these models for the first time and doing it for a company like Round 2 is a real honour and a thrill since childhood. Helping to bring new model kits to life for the general public is something that’s been a dream come true! I am very grateful to Round 2 for the work!

Here are a few shots showing the final result of the work as seen on the box of the kit: