BUILT! Bandai 1/72 B-Wing Starfighter

Perhaps the oddest-looking starfighter in the Rebel Alliance fleet, the B-wing fighter is as powerful as it is ungainly. The ship’s structure is almost entirely taken up by its primary airfoil, which houses a cylindrical cockpit on one end, an engine cluster in the center, and a heavy weapons pod at its base.

Located just below the engine cluster are a pair of S-foils which can deploy to extend the firing arc of twin laser cannons. The B-wing’s command pod has a unique gyroscopic control system. The pilot can orient it so that it always stays level with a horizon line. No matter which way the B-wing may maneuver laterally, its pilot remains upright.

KIT HIGHLIGHTS

Don’t turn off your targeting computer or you’ll miss this limited edition SDCC exclusive variant of the 1/72 B-Wing Star Fighter model kit! This set includes an LED for its engines, an alternate seated pilot figure, and different mechanical details on the body and wings, with different color markings and different color injection. Various gimmicks are used to create added realism in this model kit such as opening/closing wings, rotating cockpit and included laser effects that can be attached to the tips of the wings and can be displayed vertically as well as the choice between clear or frame parts for the canopy.

Product Features

• 1/72 Scale
• Made of plastic
• SDCC 2018 Exclusive
• LED for its engines
• Opening and closing wings
• Rotating cockpit
• A nipper or sprue cutter (sold separately) is required for assembly
• Does not require glue
• Pieces to build B-Wing Starfighter
• Pilot figure
• Laser effects
• MSRP: $69.99
• Street Price from $57.99+ in the USA

(SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HOBBY SHOPS)

Once again our site is adorned with a beautiful product distributed by a company in the USA that makes no effort to respond to our emails, at least out of courtesy 🙁
Nevertheless, our list of loyal readers and social media followers deserve our point of view on this highly anticipated model kit. This is the famous B-Wing Fighter that made its first appearance in Star Wars Episode VI, Return of the Jedi. I got a phone call from my local hobby shop to commission this build. It will be on display at Hub Hobby in Richfield MN.

As you can all see from the picture below and the description of the kit above, this is the 2018 SDCC Special Edition B-Wing offered as a limited edition by Bluefin Distributors. They are the official Bandai/Gumpla is the USA.  Either Bluefin ordered more SE kits than they thought they would sell at SDCC, or they did actually listen to the disgruntled Star Wars fans and model builders. Many brick and mortar hobby shops are receiving the SDCC version as well as some reputable online sellers.

The kit is what we Bandai model builders have learned to love and hate about them. There’s more to love than hate on this kit. As customary from Bandai, the 1/72 B-Wing Fighter is superbly engineered. It is molded in color so a newcomer with no experience building kits (think LEGO) can get away with this and possibly get hooked on Bandai (sorry, I’m listening to Blue Swede).

The B-Wing model kit features all those tiny little ”greeblies” used during construction of the original filming miniatures. One can even ID donor parts!

Upon finishing this build, it is very obvious that Bandai did the heck of a research for this model on a par with the PG Millenium Falcon. The overall fit on the parts is what we are already used to. One of the kit version highlights is the yellow light included. I must confess, I never thought that such a tiny LED would make the engines fairly bright. In my personal opinion, it is a keeper unless you want more brightness out f the engines, it is up to you.

After assembling the cockpit, main upper body ”box”, side wings and even the light engine, I did hit a wall during construction on Step 2. That would be on page 7 of the instructions manual at the bottom of the page where it calls for parts C-21 and C-22.  That’s because this is the SDCC and you should jump then to the extra leaflet provided which I totally overlooked (Duh!). You won’t find part C-22 because the SDCC has this area represented as if the B-Wing had a missing panel and shows the mechanics inside. Tocuhé Bandai, touché!

While building this baby here are two things I did learn that I will definitely take into consideration during my next B-Wing build(s) and you should too.

1st, when the time comes to install the side wings, the instructions will call for parts FB-1 11 and FB-1 12. These parts are like long clear lugs with a barely visible ‘V‘ groove. On my second… build, I will use the tip of my exacto blade to scrape very slightly both sides of the ‘V‘ groove. Are you following me? The reason for me to do it is because they do enter very tight on the ship’s body and wings. These parts are what make possible the articulation of the wings. Make sure the wings are well aligned because you wouldn’t want to snap these parts in the process. Push them in gently but try to keep constant pressure. Another word of advice. Don’t push them all the way in. Leave at least 1/8” of an inch protruding. Part C-6 will take care of that protrusion and will add a bit of reinforcement to the wings assembly.

2nd thing I learned; See on the picture below marked with 2 red arrows. I would scrape or sand the very end of the cockpit ”throat”. The fit on this area is very tight. What happens is that we turn the cockpit around to position it in proportion with the body, the tolerance is so low that the paint gets scraped away. It also happens on the back side scrapping off the blue paint and/or decals from the cockpit. Those boo-boos caused by this issue were covered with Tamiya Weathering Sets.

PAINTING THE 1/72 BANDAI B-WING STARFIGHTER

As some of you saw on our Instagram feed,  painted all the parts straight on the sprue. I have some pre-mixed colors in my paint stash. I used a formula that kindly master modeler Jason Eaton shared with me. Although this special mix was not intended for the B-Wing, I took the chance to use it on this build. To paint the B-Wing you can pretty much get away with 3 off-the-shelf colors:

For the main body, you can use Model Master Acryl Camouflage Grey 4766 or Tamiya spray AS-20 Insignia White. The blue areas on the fuselage can be painted with Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue. The cockpit and weapons around the starship can be painted with Tamiya IJN GREY (KURE ARSENAL) XF-75. To diffuse the light I used Model Master Chrome Silver FS17178. Note that this Chrome Silver has a matte finish which gives a more natural metal finish without resorting to a messy airbrush session. I barely use enamels anymore, but this one along with their gloss version which is great for auto trims are always in my arsenal. This website is kindly sponsored by Mission Models US which I can not recommend enough. But with the variety of subjects built here, there is a little bit of everything in our shop and paint station. Right now, our workhorse is Mission Models US. All the weathering was done with pin washes using Ammo my Mig products specifically their STARSHIP STREAKING A-MIG-1209. Blast marks were done with old-fashioned #2 pencils, point blank airbrush dots, and dark grey pastels.

Remember kids, easy on the enamel weathering. The plastic used by Bandai is not amicable with mineral spirits. You could possibly find your model crumbled in pieces inside your display case. This happens mostly on the high-pressure assembly points.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Good luck, enjoy your long awaited B-Wing Fighter. It is worth every single dollar. BTW, how big is it? Well, the showcase we have in the lobby is quite heavy and I couldn’t take an X-Wing of Y-Wing out for comparison pictures. However, if you look in the left column on the page, you will see a picture next to the Bandai 1/144 AT-AT.
I hope this gives you an idea. It is big, but I would still give my money to Bandai if they came up with a 1/48  😉  😀

My most sincere thanks to Hub Hobby in Richfield, MN for phoning in and requesting this build.

UPDATE:

We received few requests via email and one on the comments section below asking how big is the 1/72 Bandai B-Wing Starfighter when finished. Originally we didn’t bother because we thought that those measurements were part of the model specs. This B-Wing is no longer in our shop. So, after a few errands I have to make religiously in Minneapolis every week, I decided to stop at the place where it resides now, Hub Honny in Richfield.

Have in mind that due to the angle of view from the phone’s camera, the measuring tape might look out of place.