ANDREW STRAUSS
Great points. Why would Vader fly a shabby ship?! One last point: I've done a small amount of research, and getting the color correct on this Vader's Tie Advanced is difficult; it seems to be a blue/grey which a lot of people have a hard time nailing down. This is what has delayed my progress on this kit, as well.

Chaz Gordon
Ah, the old Blue-Grey debate. The cinematic models were indeed a bluish shade of grey, and for some unknown reason was noticably bluer on screen for the Tie bombers in Empire (and the SSD Executor). However, this is a colour choice to work with the movie lighting of the time, which was deliberately bluish to counter the colour reproduction of cinematic film of the day. Had they used a grey matching the intended on-screen colour, they would have ended with a washed out near white glare under the lights, hence the blueish grey on the filming models.

I have used an automotive primer grey (U-pol) which is a pretty good match for the on-screen colour of the Ties. While the ISDs and the Death star were the same colour grey, the ISDs need to be a slightly lighter shade to give an impression of scale, the Death star oddly needs a darker shade in scale to reflect it's dark shadowy portrayal. When the Grey is coated with Hobby Craft Matte sealer, the grey shade darkens to an almost perfect reproduction. I intend to mask and seal the Tie X-1 at some point to match this.