Trade Federation Landing Ship

from "Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" (1999)

Scale: Unknown
Initial Release: 2000
Medium: Polystyrene
Kit Rarity: 3

About the Design

Although ostensibly a trading guild, the Republic's Trade Federation was also a major military power.  This massive, 340-meter-wide, dual-winged space-going transport was the primary invasion vehicle for assaults on planets that did not adhere to its economic policies.  Carried aboard were scores of land-going transports, which themselves dispatched tanks and swarms of battle droids.

One of this design's particularly distinctive features is its single boot-shaped landing "stump," from which its slew of on-board weaponry emerges.

About the Kit

In one of its last gasps with its 20-plus-year-old "Star Wars" license, AMT/Ertl issues four mini-"snap" models of otherwise unkitted "Phantom Menace" designs.  The models measured only about two inches long and came "pre-decorated," an obvious bow to late 20th Century kids who couldn't be bothered with paint and glue.

This Trade Federation Landing Ship, built from an original issue, was enhanced with additional detailing and weathering.

.