From what I have seen, they look to be good kits, but there might be a few issues with the Advanced TIE. The shape doesn't correlate well with the fine molds kit. I won't know for sure until they get here.....
I thought I remembered reading that the scale of the FM tie was too small to actually be 72 scale. I never bothered buying the FM kit so I can't compare... But the details on the Bandai kit blow it out of the water from what I see.
I got all 3 of the new Bandai kits earlier this week. 'snapped' together Vader in acouple of hours as it is very much Gundam style, which is not a bad thing. A couple of different finishes and some fantastic texture makes for a nice looking kit.
Like most Gunpla it is not strong enough to be a toy but needs a clear/flat coat to look decent in the cabinet.
I love the option of both stickers and waterslide.
Looking at the xwing it does have slightly different dimensions to the FM kit but looks to have as good if not better detail. Will be investing to see the size of the panel lines when assembled.
A few books for reference material and study. The Bismarck book is hopefully going to help when i finally pull the trigger on one of those giant 1/250 kits and do an epic build. My skills need work first. Still have only completed 3 kits since returning to the hobby. The World War II A photgraphic History is HUGE, 600pages!
And my Stash Additions. Can not wait to dive in to one of the Eduard kits, espectially the 1/48 SpitFire... Just went and got a little Hobby Craft A-4E to practice some stuff on like panel lines etc. As I have not built a wingy thingy, yet. Will post a few pics for advice once I get it along a bit more.
Nice. I have mine waiting in my private warehouse and led in back order.
It really does look like Bandai have taken another step forward w the lighting of this, as if their engineering was not already ahead of the competition.