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Awesome Toy Picks: Star Wars Metal Earth 3D Model Kit - X-Wing Starfighter

A cool collectible you'll want to add to your personal collection.

Each week we take a close look at a comic book collectible. That means taking it out of the package. Last weekend was Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA. Since it was right next door to Downtown Disney, I ventured over and saw an interesting thing -- Metal Earth 3D Model Kits for Star Wars vehicles.

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There are some different options. At the Disney Store, they had a little display with the different objects you could build. It was a tough decision. I almost went with the AT-AT but instead I went for the X-Wing Starfighter. You can see the others on the back.

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You can also see the price tag. It cost $14.95. I thought it was worth checking out.

Opening up the thin package, you can see all you get.

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You get two thin sheets of metal along with the instructions. There's a lot of tiny pieces you need to very very carefully work off the sheets. The metal, being so thin, bends super easily. Some of the smaller pieces can break if you bend their joints or seams too much. You'll want to have plenty of light and a pair of needle nose pliers.

Here's a shot, in progress.

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You can see the cockpit is a little bent. That's just from holding it, trying to put the pieces together. You can carefully reshape bent parts. To put it together, you slide the pegs into holes and then try to bend them or twist them to lock the pieces together.

I'll be perfectly honest, I did have one piece break. I also forgot to put in one of those rings you see up above. It was a long day and I did start getting a little frustrated. As it was approaching time to watch The Flash and Agents of SHIELD, I wondered if I was going to finish or if I should stop.

Here you can see how it looks. It's almost like a battle-damaged X-Wing, right?

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I was impressed at how easily it stands. The thrusters in the back do weigh it down. In the earlier stage, it kept falling forward. And you can see that I could try to reshape some of the parts a little better.

Here you'll see where I left off one of the rings. The metal is hard to curve into perfectly circular shapes. The needle nose pliers could help but the metal also scratches very very easily so you'll want to be careful with that too.

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That missing ring does help give it the appearance of being perfectly circular.

I almost lost my mind when I had to fold the pilot into shape. There's also an Artoo unit that fits in the back.

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The stand does have the name carved into it. This makes the display look a little more impressive.

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Here's a shot from the back. Can you tell which thruster got busted?

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This was a cool model. As the package says, no glue or solder needed. Any of them would look cool sitting on your desk. You just have to have a lot of patience and either small hands or a good pair of pliers. Just be careful not to scratch the surface. Is it fifteen dollars cool? It's hard to say. The model is on the small size. But it does have a nice novelty feel. You will have the satisfaction of building it. God bless my daughter, she was very impressed and proud of my attempt.

I'd still like to have the AT-AT or even the Star Destroyer. I just don't know if I'd want to pay that amount for another model or two. Plus I don't know if I could go through the process again. I did scratch up my nails a little, scraping them on the metal. It was a very interesting experience and now I have a slightly banged up model I can say I built myself.

What are your thoughts on the kit?