Star Wars 1/144

Slave I

Kit Review

Straight build + seals

1/144 Slave I - Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

1/144 Slave I (1/6) 1/144 Slave I (2/6) 1/144 Slave I (3/6) 1/144 Slave I (4/6) 1/144 Slave I (5/6) 1/144 Slave I (6/6)

1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (1/6) 1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (2/6) 1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (3/6) 1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (4/6) 1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (5/6) 1/144 Slave I - Detail shots (6/6)

Detail shots

1/144 Slave I - The laser cannon effect parts at the bottom are molded together with the beam cannon as one piece. Probab 1/144 Slave I - The laser cannon effect parts at the bottom are molded together with the beam cannon as one piece. Probab

The laser cannon effect parts at the bottom are molded together with the beam cannon as one piece.
Probably because the beam part alone would be too small to plug in on its own — but without painting, it does look a bit awkward.

1/144 Slave I - Laser cannon firing scene

Laser cannon firing scene

1/144 Slave I - The fan-shaped stand can be reconfigured depending on whether you want the flight pose or the landing pos 1/144 Slave I - The fan-shaped stand can be reconfigured depending on whether you want the flight pose or the landing pos

The fan-shaped stand can be reconfigured depending on whether you want the flight pose or the landing pose.

1/144 Slave I - It includes a tiny 1/144 Boba Fett and a flat panel-like structure...

It includes a tiny 1/144 Boba Fett and a flat panel-like structure...

1/144 Slave I - It's a sculpt of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, just like in the movie. Seeing this really brings those sc

It's a sculpt of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, just like in the movie.
Seeing this really brings those scenes flooding back ^^

1/144 Slave I - To convert into the landing pad configuration, you can rotate the wing section.

To convert into the landing pad configuration, you can rotate the wing section.

1/144 Slave I - After rotating, you'll need to swap in the longer support legs.

After rotating, you'll need to swap in the longer support legs.

1/144 Slave I - Two parts are swapped to recreate the boarding hatch.

Two parts are swapped to recreate the boarding hatch.

1/144 Slave I - If you look closely inside, you can see the door.

If you look closely inside, you can see the door.

1/144 Slave I - Rotate the cockpit 90 degrees and the transformation is complete.

Rotate the cockpit 90 degrees and the transformation is complete.

1/144 Slave I - Landing configuration. A great-looking ship with all kinds of intricate detail on the underside. (1/2) 1/144 Slave I - Landing configuration. A great-looking ship with all kinds of intricate detail on the underside. (2/2)

Landing configuration.
A great-looking ship with all kinds of intricate detail on the underside.

1/144 Slave I - Various angles (1/3) 1/144 Slave I - Various angles (2/3) 1/144 Slave I - Various angles (3/3)

Various angles

1/144 Slave I - Recreating the scene where the frozen Han Solo is being transported. (1/3) 1/144 Slave I - Recreating the scene where the frozen Han Solo is being transported. (2/3) 1/144 Slave I - Recreating the scene where the frozen Han Solo is being transported. (3/3)

Recreating the scene where the frozen Han Solo is being transported.

1/144 Slave I - Together with the 1/72 X-Wing and TIE Advanced x1. It seems like they went with 1/144 to keep the overall

Together with the 1/72 X-Wing and TIE Advanced x1.
It seems like they went with 1/144 to keep the overall lineup sizes roughly consistent.

1/144 Slave I - Straight build (1/2) 1/144 Slave I - Straight build (2/2)

Straight build

The first 1/144 scale kit in Bandai's Star Wars lineup has arrived — it's the Slave I, the ship Boba Fett flew in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The scale was probably chosen to match the size of the 1/72 fighters, and it comes out to a nice, compact size of roughly 15cm in length.

Right off the bat, the color separation is pretty solid, so the straight build looks really impressive. In particular, there's something really satisfying about assembling all those intricate mechanical bits on the underside. Watching all those colorful parts come together one by one is genuinely visually rewarding — it's the kind of precise, three-dimensional SF model kit that only Bandai could pull off.

Functionally, you can rotate the wings and cockpit and swap out a few parts to convert it into the landing pad configuration, and soft-material laser beam cannon parts are also included. However, unlike other kits where only the beam portion is done in soft material, here the entire beam cannon is molded as one piece together with the beam effect, which looks a little off. It seems like the barrel diameter was just too thin to separate the beam part without running into durability issues.

Slave I is known in the films as the ship Boba Fett used to transport the carbonite-frozen Han Solo. To recreate that scene, a small Boba Fett figure and a frozen Han Solo figure are included. The stand can also be reassembled into either an upright or landing pad configuration, so you can put together a pretty convincing diorama of the Han Solo transport scene with the figures ^^

Overall, the three-dimensional feel is excellent and the detail is sharp — this is a typical high-quality Bandai kit with very little to complain about. The one minor gripe is that the canopy doesn't hold very securely and tends to pop off easily. You could glue it down, but then you'd lose the ability to rotate the cockpit later, so it's a bit of a tricky call.

Anyway, this is a kit I'd especially recommend to fans of the original Star Wars trilogy. My only small wish is that it had come out in a slightly larger scale — that would've made it even more fun :-)

1/144 Slave I | 2015. 9 | ¥3,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.