From Star Wars Databank

Growing increasingly outdated with the advent of sleeker, more powerful starfighters, the Y-wing nonetheless has a proud track record of service in the Rebel Alliance. The sturdy fighter-bomber gets its name from its shape: a reinforced central spar connects the cockpit to a cross-spar. At each end of the cross-spar rests a powerful engine nacelle, which houses the fighter's sublight and hyperdrive engines. Just aft of the cockpit module is the astromech droid socket.

 The Y-wing's primary weapons are twin forward-firing laser cannons, housed in a recessed slot in the front of the cockpit module. A secondary weapon is a turret-mounted paired set of cannons. Though many Y-wings fly as single-pilot fighters, some sport a two-seat configuration with a rear-facing tailgunner operating the turret cannons.

 The Y-wing also carries proton torpedo launchers. During the Battles of Yavin and Endor, Y-wing squadrons were influential in helping defeat the Death Star threats. A Y-wing brandishes its squadron colors and markings on its main cockpit module and the forward tips of the engine nacelles.

Star Wars has been a boon for model companies since moviegoers John William’s score first echoed thru the movie theatres.  Some 30 years (damn!) later, Fine Molds decided to add a 1/72 scale Y-Wing into its amazing catalog of Star Wars Models.

 The Y-Wing has not been widely released as a kit (although there was a 1/89 scale snaptite released for Return of the Jedi and a 1/48 scale resin release from SMT—which is no longer available thanks to George Lucas and his army of Ewok Laywers.)  

 Being a Star Wars geek but not that big of a geek as I do not wear Imperial Stormtrooper armor as casual wear and no longer own any Star Wars figures—mine were given away by my mom in 1984 (Thanks Mom!)—I jumped to order one when they became available (in July 2007.)  Like the rest of the kits, Fine Mold used the actual studio models to recreate the Y-Wing in 1/72 scale.

I was amazed when I opened up the kit.  It consists of 130 parts (2 clear) of very well molded light grey styrene.  The detail is very fine and crisp with a little flash on a couple of the parts.

 A quick review of the instructions shows that it is probably the most well engineered kit I’ve seen as it is designed to avoid sanding and filling (both tasks I dislike.)  I’m hoping that this will be my first ever filler free kit (but I doubt it.)

 The decal sheet is rather large, but only because it contains the markings for three Y-Wings (Gold Leader, Gold Two and Gold Three.)  However, it should be pointed out that Fine Molds may have made a boo boo here.  The only three Y-Wings that were highlighted in the original movie were Gold Leader, Two and Gold Five aka “Stay on Target.”

This kit is another winner from Fine Molds and sure to be a fun easy build.  It is a bit pricier than the average 1/72 kit, but one should factor in the Lucas “premium” and the fact that these kits are very well engineered and if you are a Star Wars fan.

 Kit courtesy of my own wallet.

Dan Lee

August 2007