Tie Interceptor I Revell I 1/90

Besides tanks, I occasionally built ships and wheeled vehicles. I got the chance to try something different thanks to a group build on the Hobimaket forum called the “Science-Fiction Vehicles Campaign.” For this campaign, I chose the Star Wars TIE Interceptor. 

The kit was manufactured by Revell and is labeled as 1/90 scale. Of course, that’s an arbitrary scale—since this is a fictional vehicle, there’s no actual size to base it on. Conveniently, the kit came with all the required paints, so I didn’t need to purchase anything extra.

Technically, the kit also included a pilot figure, but I decided not to place it inside the cockpit since I wanted to paint the windows opaque.

The assembly process was very easy. There weren’t many parts to begin with, and everything fit together well. This made the whole process go very quickly.

To make painting easier, I chose not to attach the two wings to the main body during assembly. Since the wings had large flat surfaces, this decision really simplified the painting process.

Since the paints were included, I simply followed the instructions provided in the kit manual. I painted the panel areas between the wings in gloss black.

For the body, the guide recommended a gloss gray color. After applying it, I really liked the overall look—this kind of color works very well for a space vehicle, in my opinion.

Lastly, the box included a pink paint, which I used for the blaster tips. It turned out to be a very appealing shade—I could even imagine using this color on civilian vehicles.

After painting was finished, I sealed the model with gloss varnish and let it dry completely before moving on to the wash step.

For the wash, I used Humbrol's black enamel wash. I applied it generously across the entire surface, covering the whole model in black.

Without waiting for it to fully dry, I used a brush and turpentine to pull the excess wash into the recessed areas. This added a nice sense of depth and dimension to the model.

Once everything had dried completely, I applied another layer of gloss varnish. Since this is a space vehicle, I thought keeping it glossy would be more appropriate. I’m not sure if that was the right choice, but it made sense to me.

Since the model represents a spacecraft operating in space—an environment without dust or weathering—I decided not to add any battle damage or grime. Maybe I could have added blaster marks or soot on the engine exhausts, but I chose not to.

This model is now complete. Building something so different was actually refreshing for me. I think the final result looks good. If you're ever looking to take a break from military builds, I’d definitely recommend giving a kit like this a try.