Anakin Skywalker's Actis Jedi Interceptor

Revell custom (1/50)

The Build

As with Obi-Wan’s Jedi Interceptor, this began as a Revell Pocket model. These kits are snap together and come in a decent pre-painted state. However, the figure and droid are solid plastic. Furthermore, the wings are fixed in an open position. For this custom, I took the wings apart and glued them in a closed position. I hollowed out a space for R2 and added a rod for him to connect to. I also had to putty over the engraved Open Circle insignia on the hull.

Painting was accomplished with a lot of masking. The only hand-painting was the cockpit interior, which was entirely painted by me. I chose not to weather this one since it didn’t see any real action in the film.

History

The Eta-2 Actis-class Interceptor or Jedi Interceptor became the fighter of choice for Jedi during the last years of the clone wars. It’s s-foil design gave it better stability than previous Jedi fighters, and it was absolutely lethal in the hands of a trained pilot. The craft featured two laser cannons and two out-board ion cannons. The front canopy plate allowed the pilot to “aim” the interceptor for better accuracy when firing the lasers. An astromech droid could also control the craft and perform minor repairs in conjunction with the pilot. As with the previous Jedi Starfighter, the Jedi Interceptor did not have a hyperdrive and relied on hyperspace rings for long-range transport. Because the ship has no hyperdrive navigation system, the pilot must have an astromech droid aboard with the proper hyperspace routes to plot the correct course.

This green Jedi Interceptor was used by Anakin Skywalker to fly to Utapau on his first mission as Darth Vader. Unlike other Jedi fighters, it had no Republic insignia at all. Instead there were only two black trapezoids in place of the Republic symbols to distinguish the ship.

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