I was looking for a minor diversion so I pulled out the 1/24 scale Revell Germany Tri-droid fighter that I bought from the SSM store. The kit is an "easy kit"; pre-painted and snap construction.

I have to say, these snap kits have come a long way. The Tri-droid is pretty nicely done and impressively engineered. I did use glue but the snap fit was very good by itself. The droid brain assembly in the center is allowed to rotate in 2 directions but I confined it to only the centerline rotation as the lateral rotation exposed the seam of the clear sphere.

In a way it's good that this is a pre-painted kit because masking the complex color pattern would be a daunting job. I wanted to preserve the kit's paint job but also to make it look not so toy-like. As good as it is it lacks contrast and the unpainted parts look like just unpainted parts. I picked out the cannon barrels and a recessed strip on the engines with steel coloured paint then weathered it with pastel, an oil wash and metallic drybrushing. I went heavy in the recess areas to get more contrast.

The whole thing just took about 3 hours, and I think it turned out well. It's a nice little model and I highly recommend it.

Image: Right/front

Image: Right/rear

Image: Left/front

Image: With 1/24 scale A-Wing