“Red Five standing by”
As a kid of the 80’s that line was a prelude to one of the most iconic scenes in Sci-Fi. I still remember the first time I saw the X-Wing on screen, a cool and futuristic space fighter that captured a 6-year-olds imagination. While I never owned the toy until much later (my parents saved up all year and got me the much more expensive Millennium Falcon playset for Christmas, igniting my love for that vehicle), plenty of my friends did, along with TIE’s, leading to us recreating the trench run over and over again.
Getting into scale models in the 90’s was a mind field for Star Wars fans. Models for Star Wars were rare (and expensive) in my small town. MPC was the only game in town and while it was as screen accurate as any models of the time, it has not aged well. The toy was no model. It was designed to fit a 3.75” action figure and it was grossly disproportionate. Some of the more modern toy versions corrected this, but they are not manufactured anymore and can be pricey if you want to do a conversion.
Fast forward to 2015. Star Wars is the hottest franchise in the world again and The Force Awakens smashes box office records the world around. The baton was passed from Fine Moulds to Bandai to produce a new generation of Star Wars models and boy did they deliver.
Bandai’s offering to the X-Wing world is remarkable. Yes, it’s small (1/72), but holy heck they packed a lot of detail into such a small package. It comes in the Red Five configuration, but with a little modification you could create anything from Red Leader to Red Five, or complete it with your own custom colors.
The box greets you with some amazing art, depicting Red 5 converging on the Death Star. The sides show the completed model from several angles and showcase its detail.
Inside you find 3 bags of runners and on the bottom a fully illustrated instruction pamphlet. A combination of Japanese and English tell you about the fighter and its roll and then gives you some basic instructions on assembly. I HATE Bandai’s fold-out style of instructions. This is my personal pet peeve. I know that most instruction sets are like that, but I much prefer the booklet style. That, however, is not a reason to avoid this kit.
Bandai engineering should be commended. There is zero flash on these kits. This is not surprising, given that they are brand new moulds, but I dare you to find a Bandai model that has any. Their plastic seems stronger than other offerings, and I think that is why details are so crisp. Usually, on models so small you are forced to either mould in soft details or make the part separately and add it on, increasing the part count. Bandai has mastered the hard of great detail without resorting to a huge part count to achieve it.
The kit is snap together, but don’t let that fool you. This is not a kids-only model. A lot of advanced modelers will thumb their noses at snap together, thinking that this is not a high-end model – after all, “models” need to be glued together. Bandai has almost perfected the snap together. I say almost because there are still a few parts that need just a touch of glue, but that’s more a precaution to ensure a part doesn’t fall off. The seam lines are carefully hidden so that they are minimized and if you take care and remove the parts from the sprue with precision, you will have a kit that fits together tightly without any gaps.
The kit does come with both waterslide and stickers. The stickers are the by weakest point, by far, for this kit. The stickers are thick and don’t really conform well to the model, sticking out like a sore thumb. The water slides are also thick, but I like that. It means that they are a bit more durable and some decal softener will help them a lot. The decals will allow you to do a straight out of the box build, negating the need for any painting whatsoever. For a more realistic model, I would suggest a basecoat (I tend to use Insignia White or a white-grey mix for my Rebel vehicles) and then you can add the decals in place of masking and painting off panels. This will keep the model from looking like a shiny piece of plastic.
You will need to do some weathering on this kit. It would be sacrilegious to have a pristine Rebel vehicle. A decent wash and some judiciously applied chipping will make this model look battle worn and ready to take on the Death Star. A word of caution though, many modelers have reported an adverse reaction (brittle plastic) with Bandai plastics and enamel washes. If you are going to give it a wash, make sure you put down a protective layer of varnish before putting enamels on it or use water-based products.
Speaking of the Death Star, the base that Bandai selected for this particular model is amazing. Not only do you get a neat little piece of the Death Star, but you also get a replica of the exhaust port and some proton torpedoes to boot! I already have 2 TIE’s in my stash along with the X-Wing. I just need to get a TIE advanced and the diorama will be complete!
For those of you who want the X-Wing in the landed position, the S-Foils are completely articulated allowing you to close them, and landing gear doors can be opened up and landing struts added to complete the look. The great thing about the Bandai kits is that if you change your mind later, the kit is snap together, so you can just swap out the parts. I wouldn’t suggest doing that constantly and you will eventually get a loose fit, but a few times won’t hurt at all.
Overall it is a great kit. Aside from the small size, and that darn instruction foldout, it is an outstanding kit. If you want a larger scale, Bandai does offer the 1/48 moving edition. Yes, the 1/48 is pricier than that 1/72 by a wide margin, but it is bigger, yet retains all the detail of the smaller one. For the price, the 1/72 is really hard to beat. I routinely see them for sale on Amazon and local hobby shops still seem to have them in stock constantly.
Check it out – you will not be disappointed!
