GreenStrawberry Star Wars T-65 X-Wing, RZ1 A-Wing & BTL A-4 Y-Wing Junior PE Sets (for Bandai/Revell) 1:72

[Mike]

Star Wars T-65 X-Wing, RZ1 A-Wing & BTL A-4 Y-Wing Junior Sets (for Bandai/Revell)

1:72 GreenStrawberry

 

 

Our friends at GreenStrawberry have been releasing a flood of detail sets for all things Sci-fi for a number of years now, and in the Star Wars fold the Bandai kits are at the pinnacle of plastic kit quality, so there have been numerous sets for those kits, taking the great styrene kits and making them better.  Not everyone is experienced with Photo-Etch (PE) though, so some folks might be put off by the complexity of the sets and the amount of work involved.  It occurred to them to create some more straightforward sets for the beginner, intermediate or modeller in a hurry that could be used as an introduction to the genre of PE folding without over-facing them with tons of parts or slowing them down to a crawl.

 

Their Junior Sets are their response, and we have three such sets for some of the popular Star Wars Rebel ships, namely the X-Wing, Y-Wing and A-Wing from the original and best trilogy.  Each set arrives in a small clear film bag, with a card insert, the PE, the folded instructions, and a thick piece of card to keep everything safe and sound during transit from them to you.

 

 

T-65 X-Wing (2001-1/72)

This set is etched from bare brass, and contains a nicely detailed boarding ladder with separate treads and standing area at the top; a new instrument panel that requires the kit panel to be removed or sanded flat, but using one kit decal and four new decals supplied with the set to complete the detail, as well as small pieces of printed white PVC foil behind the instruments that will glow if you’re lighting your model.  At the rear of the engines, the exhaust detail is cut from the nozzles and replaced by PE parts that are oriented with a small hole pointing toward to the aerofoil.  If you’re taking the opportunity to light the model, the interior of the engine shell should also be reamed out to make way for an LED.  At the nose there’s a small electronics bay that receives an insert skin, plus a two-layer flip-down bay door.  Finally, the three gear bay doors receive opener rams near the forward end of the bays, which are folded up to give added depth.

 

 

 

 

 

RZ1 A-Wing (2002-1/72)

This set is nickel-plated PE, and includes a slip of white PVC foil to back up the instruments in the cockpit.  This is the main focus of the set, with the kit instruments filed away and replaced by a lamination of PE and printed PVC.  The PVC is best glued with CA or PVA, as normal modelling glue won’t adhere.  A pair of control handles fit on each side of a central boss to give the pilot something to hang onto, and if you are planning on leaving the pilot out, shave away the tab in the bottom of the seat, and fit the four-point seatbelts that are supplied in the set.  As well as delicate new inserts for the engine rears, there are two detail inserts added around the base of the weapons pylons at the widest point of the ship – I hesitate to use the word “wingtip” for obvious reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

BTL A-4 Y-Wing (2003-1/72)

This set is on nickel-plated PE, and includes both printed clear acetate and printed PVC foil for use in the cockpit.  Firstly, the engine exhausts are lined with ribbed PE that should be rolled into a tube to be glued inside the outlet and is then joined by a narrow ring that covers the thickness of the cowling parts.  Later on the exhausts are detailed by removing the kit detail and replacing it with a crisp PE part in each nacelle, which will be useful if you’re going down the lighting route.  The cockpit has its original instrument panel removed and replaced by a new lamination of two pieces of PE and printed PVC foil, which is repeated for the side consoles, with the clear acetate inserted into the window aperture in the rear of the fixed part of the canopy.  The engine nacelles receive further detailing that involves folding up a set of skins for the inside of the gear bays, with a small hole left for the stut’s socket in the centre.  The final parts make up a skin for the interior of the nose gear bay door, and includes a hinge mechanism for better detail.

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

More great sets from my favourite Sci-Fi detail & accessory producer.  If you can’t afford a full set, don’t want a full set, don’t trust yourself to do a full set justice, or don’t want to be slowed down by the extra work, these will do the job nicely.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of