The SMT Tie Defender faithfully represents one of the more beautiful and elegant, however deadly, TIE designs. The kit is artfully mastered and looks great with the other SMT TIEs. Assembly is fairly straightforward as there are a minimal amount of parts. One thing you have to look out for is the little connector tabs that attach the solar panel sections to the center section of each wing. Mine kept breaking so be careful! For painting I used my standard Bluebell hand painted. The fine SMT resin readily accepts paint after being washed and looks just great! I also hand painted the panels with flat black. The cockpit details were realized in Pewter Gray. Doing TIE Fighters and TIE Variants has come down to almost mass production for me now. Bluebell, Black, Pewter Gray and some miscellaneous colors. This is an awesome kit and for $45 from SMT, you can't go wrong! Unfortunately this kit is no longer available as SMT has ceased production of all Star Wars related kits.