GreenStrawberry A-Wing Starfighter (01916-1/72 for Bandai 1:72)

[Mike]

A-Wing Starfighter (01916-1/72 for Bandai)

1:72 GreenStrawberry

 

 

The A-Wing popped up during the original Trilogy and although it didn't get much air-time, it does seem to have stuck in the Star Wars fan's memory, and has now seen a bit more action in the sequels, under the guiding hand of Disney.  It's technical name is the RZ-1 A-Wing Starfighter, with both sublight and hyperdrive engines that see it zipping to and from adventure under its own power.  It has twin laser cannons and a bunch of missiles to defend itself, with speed and agility being its primary ability.

 

This set from GreenStawberry takes the new Bandai kit and gives it their treatment, adding detail where it is lacking due to the constraints of injection moulding and the snap-together nature of the kit.  It arrives in standard GS packaging, with a central piece of hefty cardboard wrapped in a header card and the large Photo-Etch PE brass fret at the front.  Inside are the instructions that gives you all the information you need to update your kit, plus a piece of acetate sheet printed with instruments, and a piece of thin paper that has the screen and instrument dials printed on it.

 

 

Construction begins in the cockpit, with the kit instrument panel, which has its moulded-in detail removed and replaced by a paper/acetate/PE sandwich.  A choice of white or yellow Death Star trench type displays are provided too, but I can't remember any A-Wings doing bombing runs on the original trench.  Either side of the central console a pair of flight controls are added, and the pilot's seat has the pilot's rather painful-looking attachment peg removed so that the supplied seatbelts drape more realistically on the seat pan.  The canopy is fitted with internal hinges and framing, which will look better regardless of whether you open the cockpit.  The hoop will need to be rolled to shape, and can be fixed using some Klear, as it isn't structural.  At the rear of the arrowhead the greeblies are updated with some extra parts, and underneath the gear bays are upgraded with interior skins, while the little equipment bay in the lower side of the fuselage/hull is completely decked out with equipment and background detail that suits a hangar diorama or similar.  Gear bay doors detail and their hinges are also supplied, with internal framing laminated to the original parts and the original attachment points removed.  Finally, the engines have new detailed "afterburner rings" added, which will look good if you are planning on lighting you’re a-Wing.

 

As a bonus you get a nicely detailed access ladder for the aforementioned hangar dio, as well as a base-plate for the top of the kit included Imperial laser cannon turret (the A-Wing is small, so Bandai decided to include this as an extra), as well as a bunch of ladder rungs for access, presumably to apply space-grease to the big space-cogs that elevate the space-guns.

 

Conclusion

A super little update set that has plenty of detail included, especially if you're posing your model skids-down.  The extra parts are very welcome, and the laser cannon should look a lot better for those few additions.  As usual with GreenStrawberry, if you follow the Available Here link, you can see some pictures of the brass in situ and unpainted on the model to give you a good idea of what's included.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of