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I recently acquired a copy of the old Hasegawa kit in 1/32nd scale from a collection. It had been started, just gluing wings and wheels and what-not together. I have all of the old 1/32nd between wars kits that they did and I always admired them and wanted to do an ultimate build but never felt I had the skill to do the job I wanted to do. This one was FREE! So I decided, what the hell, let's just do an OOB build. Maybe I'll even get through it. It is a pretty basic but surprisingly well done kit. Everything actually fits! A bit surprising for a mid '70s kit. I DID plan on OOB BUT... I just can't help adding JUST a little bit here and there...

BTL-A4 Y-Wing Upgrade Set (01515 for Bandai) 1:72 GreenStrawberry Hot on the heels of the newly tooled X-Wing came the lesser known "Hurricane of the Death Star Battle", the Y-Wing, which to me is cooler than X-Wings in some ways. The Bandai kits are snap-together, but don't let that fool you. They are the pinnacle of the injection-moulded art, and you'd wonder initially how they could get any better with the addition of Photo-Etch (PE) parts. If you don't have one already, rectify that immediately! These sets from GreenStrawberry are engineered to appeal to the more advanced modeller who will end up painting their creation, and you WILL need Super Glue (CA) to attach the parts to your model. The sets arrive in a flat re-sealable pack, with a black themed backing card, a chunk of thick cardboard to keep the PE safe, a set of instructions (both of which are hidden within), and the sheet of PE brass on display in the front. They are designed to improve both detail, accuracy to the scale/CGI models, and add a scale-thickness to otherwise over-scale parts. The contents includes a fret of brass PE, a sheet of acetate with glazing and instrument panel details printed on it, and a sheet of white paper with the outlines of the panels and the instruments prints on it. The cockpit is first to see the improvements, with a choice of paper or acetate backing to the PE panel, and PE side consoles with paper underpinning that have more instruments printed on them. The three-part canopy is also completely replaced with PE parts that are folded into shape, have the aforementioned glazing acetate added, and then another skin added to hold everything in place. Additional details are then added to the roof panels. Externally, the nose gear bay door slides back like a Herc, and the interior is skinned with more detail and a pair of hinges are added, while the main gear bays on the engine nacelle are given a complete overhaul with a one-piece skin inserted, and the remaining wall detailed with another part. Moving aft, the interior of the exhaust is detailed with a single sheet of PE that is rolled to size and glued into the aperture, with a ring adding a neat edge to the job. The exhaust ejector is also removed and replaced by a new finer part with spokes and holes between, which lends itself nicely to lighting. The final parts are a choice of either a narrow crew ladder or a wide gantry, both of which are folded up from a single part each. Conclusion The upgrades lend themselves perfectly to lighting the cockpit, as the light will show through the instrument panels and the exhaust ejectors, but even if you don't plan on lighting the model, the detail improvement is well worth the effort, and having crew ladders is a boon to the diorama modeller. Review sample courtesy of