more widely known as the B-Wing Fighter. Designed by the Verpines of the Roche system in cooperation with the famous Alliance Supreme Commander Gial Ackbar, it is probably the most heavily armed starfighter - in relation to its size - in the Alliance Navy and the New Republic Defense Fleet, until the introduction of the K-Wing.

This Lego model comes as the 3rd version of this ship, and I for one am glad TLC decided to release it once more, as I missed the previous set (6208).

Box/Instructions

Nothing interesting to add here, the sticker sheet was placed between the instruction's pages and thus undamaged.

Parts

Standout parts to me are the windshield, Part 2639 "Corner Plate 2x4x4" and the cones used for the engines. Other than those, I can't think of any parts you wouldn't also find in many other sets.

To me, the use of parts on the model itself is appropriate, save for one problem I will address in the "completed model" section.

If you were to take this ship apart and salvage it for parts, you'll unsurprisingly end up with a pile of light and dark gray parts. If you care about Sci-Fi in general and need some wing and cockpit pieces, or if you're looking for some slopes and cylinders, this is a good parts pack for you.

Minifigures

All three are exclusives - but there is more to them than you might know.....

Ten Numb: not to be confused with Nien Nunb (the one who co-piloted the Falcon) or Aril Nunb (from the Rogue Squadron novels), this Sullustan served with Blue Squadron during the Battle of Endor. He also appears in the Rogue Squadron Comic series, where he took part in an undercover mission on Corellia.

While the body of the figure is identical to the B-Wing pilot from the Planet series, its head and helmet are unique. The helmet is a recolored version of the one Arvel Crynyd wears in "75003 A-Wing". The head is printed on both sides, one side sporting a normal Sullustan face (very useful to spice up your MOCs of any Sci-Fi theme with some aliens), the other showing Ten with his helmet's breath mask on.

Gray Squadron Pilot (Horton Salm): I love that Lego included this figure. If you pay close attention during ROTJ, this pilot is the leader of Gray Squadron - a group of Y-Wings, not B-Wings. It is Colonel Horton Salm, appearing in both the Rogue Squadron comic and novel series as the Officer in charge of "Defender Wing", who flies with Wedge Antilles at the Battles of Brentaal, Ciutric and Borleias.

This minifigure is outstanding in every way. It has wonderful details on torso and legs and helmet (which is probably my favorite piece of the set), and also sports a double-sided head: One with the pink visor and a serious expression, the other with a more neutral, semi-smiling face.

Airen Cracken: Another character from the X-Wing series. Cracken mans one of the Falcon's turrets at Endor. Soon after, he is made director of the newly formed New Republic Intelligence Service. His son Pash is a prominent character in several other novels.

The figure has both exclusive printed legs and torso pieces. The rank badge is pretty small, so the torso can easily be used elsewhere. This particular hairpiece in gray was new to me. I later saw that it also appears in some Ultra Agents sets. Cracken's head is printed on one side only, sporting a stern expression, dark tan eyebrows and a comm device / headset.

The build

is not very repetitive, but also not particularly exiting. It took me about 40 minutes. I chose not to apply the stickers just yet, but the model still looks fine to me without them.

The completed model

I like to improve the Lego Star Wars sets by removing play features (like the missiles) and / or changing certain aspects of a model to bring its appearance closer to that in the source material. With this set, I changed what was in my opinion the one flaw about the way this model was designed: The place where the side wings and the center wing meet uses Part 41747 on one side, and 43713 on the other, rendering it asymmetrical. Sadly, the pictures available on Brickset don't show this. If you take a look at the schematics:

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080929233321/starwars/images/f/f2/Bwing_egvv.jpg

it should actually be symmetrical. If you have Part 43712, fixing this mistake should be no problem. I will upload pictures of my version soon.

Apart from this, the B-Wing looks fantastic. If you want to complete your Alliance Starfighter Corps for an attack the Second Death Star and you need some characters for the briefing room, the B-Wing delivers.

Unlike its predecessor, this model has no landing platform, it just lies on its side, which is not a problem for me. The Fighter is not very heavy, but stable and very swooshable.

Overall opinion

Overall, this is one great set. If you don't own the B-Wing yet, this is the time to get it. It comes with three very useful and well-designed minifigures and is more screen-accurate than both of its predecessors. I would recommend you get it on sale though, if possible, as the retail price of €59,99 is too steep in my opinion. I bought it for €39,99 (-33%), which is one of the higher discounts for Lego you will see in Europe.

(Note: I always base the "value for money" points on the actual retail price, not the amount of money I paid.)

I got this for Christmas present and built it yesterday. It´s a very nice set for play but it surprised me: it is even great for display. Of course what comes to displaying B-wings, the best is the UCS version.

Box/Instructions

The box was quite small for a medium size set. Instructions booklet was about 60 pages and easy to follow.

Parts

Cockpit part, large flat gray parts, the spring-loaded shooter... Overall there is a lot of interesting parts and some are quite rare. Maybe this would even be a good set for a star wars spaceship MOC.

Minifigures

Great! We have three new minifigures. Ten Numb has appeared in one set before but this has great new design and anyway it was ages ago... For me this was my first Ten Numb. Though what he´s doing there? He was with Lando in Millennium Falcon during the battle above the forest moon of Endor. But maybe he was helping out the b-wings before that or whatever, he´s a great add. General Airen Cracken is a completely new minifigure and a great one. He has cool details and is welcome to my minifigure collection. The B-wing pilot (gray squadron) is of course the most important minifig for this set. This is not the first b-wing pilot. One has appeared for example in the planet set B-wing and Endor but that had red clothes instead of these gray ones this new version has.

The build

I built this during one day and I think it hardly an hour. The bags were numbered from 1-5 starting with cockpit and ending with wings. I really enjoyed the build.

The completed model

As I said before, this is good for play because it´s not breaking way too easily. But it looks great for display so it´s not only for kids.

Overall opinion

Great set, better than I expected and I can recommend it to every SW fan.

Apologies for the pun! I'm afraid I cannot b impartial as the b-wing has always been one of my favourite SW ships since playing with friends Kenner version when ROTJ was released! This is the third min-fig scale b-wing (the last was released in 2006) and the UCS version appeared in 2012

Box/Instructions

Surprisingly small box but is large enough to store the completed model

Parts

Lots of grey! There aren't any special bricks to speak of, 2 new spring shooters and lots of slopes and wedge plates

Minifigures

3 figures included and are a real highlight :-

General Airen Cracken - nicely printed torso and legs similar to other rebel leaders

Ten Numb - has the classic b-wing suit print torso and legs, a new recolour of the a-wing helmet and a double sided head print, the base head isn't flesh colour either

Grey Squadron Pilot - has a printed torso and legs and double sided head print (one side with visor n a very nice print) and a new style helmet.

The build

5 bags and each bag deals with a different part of the ship, technic pegs hold the main sections together and mean that the gun pod can be removed to fit the ship in its box. There are many repetitions to create the sloped shapes of the hull and provide strength, but it was never monotonous and there was always a new section to be added. There are a few nice SNOT techniques and the engine inlet are very nicely realised. Stickers are quite few in number and besides the orange circles are not obvious if are stuck on or not.

There is no mechanism for the wings so each has to be moved individually.

The completed model

The B-wing looks right with swooshability factor high! The cockpit has to be adjusted so the technic bar isnt too tight and this allows it to turn smoothly as the ship turns but besides that everything works and just looks right.

Overall opinion

Compared to previous releases there isnt anything that jumps out as not looking right and the use of the 2 grey tones breaks the monotony up nicely without looking like a random assortment of grey bricks. The overall shape is better than previous attempts but unlike them there is no ground structure or base this time so the other 2 minifgs are just by-standers! Wedge plates have been used more also meaning that the wing? and and winglets are nicely shaped and long without being thick. It really matches nicely with the A-Wing set.

My only bugbear is the price, £/$50 is quite high and so drops it down from being a must have to a really nice set that you must get if you see it reduced!

I find this set very interesting and I also find that many people will like it. Here are the reasons why.

Box/Instructions

The box is a somewhat larger box, about the same size of the box that the Z-95 Headhunter came in, but a thicker box. The box art features the B-Wing flying above Endor, and you can see the Death Star II in orbit. The instructions are very easy to follow in this set, and there is a total of 63 pages.

Parts

There are many grey bricks in this set, however, they are in many different shades. There isn't a huge variety of colors. Black, blue, red, yellow, gray, and brown are the only colors, but the brighter colors aren't visible because they are Technic Bricks that hold the set together.

Minifigures

This set comes with 3 brand-new, awesome minifigs. You get Ten Numb, General Airen Cracken, and a Grey Squadron Pilot. All of them have great printing and accessories.

The build

The build took me and hour and a half. It was fairly easy, yet fun and interesting to build. I find that experienced teens and adults will have no problem with this set, as children may find this too hard to build.

The completed model

The finished product looks great. I like the fact that there are very small amounts of stickers (which I don't mind) and that the wings open smoothly and the cockpit rotates easily. The spring-loaded shooters are also an added bonus. A great product.

Overall opinion

In my overall opinion, I'd say this is the best medium-sized Star Wars set for 2014.

The B-Wing – one of the lesser-spotted spaceships from the original Star Wars trilogy, yet it has still spawned two previous Lego system sets as well as getting the UCS treatment a couple of years ago. I am slightly ashamed to admit I didn’t even really notice it in the film until it was featured in the late 90s computer game ‘X-Wing v Tie Fighter’…

Box/Instructions

The box is nicely eye-catching, featuring the model in flight with the cockpit and pilot taking prominence, and excitement provided by the burst of green laser fire of an unseen Imperial craft presumably in hot pursuit. It is nicely framed by the usual 2014 branding, with Darth Vadar reaching out to steal your nose.

The instructions are fairly clear, though I still suffer from the usual dark grey/black confusion in places, especially in the early steps. Though black bricks have a white outline, I have the opposite problem as I’m more used to ‘old’ instructions and was constantly seeing dark grey as black.

Parts

As could reasonably be expected, the vast majority of the parts in the set are in shades of grey and many are wedgy (that is, triangular in shape, not that they resemble Mr Antilles in any way). Though none are that novel, there is a good selection of SNOT brackets, and the afore-mentioned wedge plates, as well as a fair array of Technic. On an irrelevant side note, I was pleased to see large cones still being used for spaceship engines 35 years after they were pressed into service during ‘my’ era of Space.

Minifigures

And so on to the section I dread slightly in reviews – mostly because in licenced sets I rarely know the characters as well as the more hardcore fans of whichever franchise is concerned, so am often between hazy and clueless as to who many of the figures are supposed to represent and I have to look them up. This is no exception.

Unnamed B-Wing pilot – despite the fact that he is presumably the equivalent of Star Trek’s ‘crew member in a red shirt’ there is a stunning level of detail in his printing. He gets two faces, both with and without a pink visor. He is sporting a highly detailed flight suit complete with various tubes, clips and buttons, complemented by a sizeable helmet, again with printed details.

Ten Num – though his torso isn’t unique to this set (it apparently popped up in the Planets set a few years ago) it is, as above, an amazingly detailed flight suit featuring with straps, chest and back plate etc. He also gets two faces which, though not exact replicas, are certainly close enough to the film character for me recognise.

General Airen Cracken – whilst he may appear as half silver fox, half call centre operative, the General nonetheless has similarly impressive, though slightly less detailed, clothing printing front and rear of his torso, as well as sporting what appears to be combat trousers.

The build

Starting with a compact and solid angular build, this is a great introduction to using a mixture of brackets and Technic elements in order to build in multiple directions in a fairly limited area. A mixture of slopes and plates clipped into place at 45 degrees gives the section a distinctive angular appearance. I especially liked the way that seemingly random placement of some black sticks and dark grey flag elements suddenly became air intake vents when enclosed around the sides with plates.

As with many sets recently, the build is modular, with sections being constructed individually then affixed to the growing main model. The rotating cockpit is fairly straightforward using a Technic rod to join the two separate end of the unit through the fixed collar attached to the main unit.

The bottom aerofoil is simple arrangement and layering of plates, though does create a surprisingly strong structure considering it is rarely more than two plates thick. It tapers down to a near-point, onto which is added a cylindrical weaponry module. The two sides wings are identical but reversed, and are a quick enough build that they’re not too repetitive - they then clip on to the main model via click hinges.

The completed model

The end result is solid, swooshable and, to my eyes, a good representation of the B-Wings from the film. There are even a few clever tricks employed too, such as grey ‘bows’ attached to brackets around the cockpit which perform the dual role of giving the module a rounder silhouette without it actually being so, as well as helping hide the ‘collar’ around which the cockpit rotates. Nothing unusual in the technique, but clever visual trickery nonetheless.

The use of stickers is minimal and the model doesn’t really suffer if they’re not applied – the only place you would really notice their absence is the distinctive orange spots on the wings. I’m not generally a fan of the limited positioning that click hinges give, but they work well here, enabling the wings to remain solid in their ‘flight’ position. Obviously it won’t stand unsupported in this configuration and there is no stand provided to display it in a manner similar to the UCS set #10227, but that’s a minor issue as this is very much a play set, rather than one for display and it sits well when folded up.

Apart from running around making spaceship noises, additional play features are limited to opening the closing the wings and rotating the cockpit, as well as firing the spring loaded missiles located on the wings. I quite like these as, rarely for a children’s toy, they achieve their effect in probably the most excitingly dangerous way possible.

Overall opinion

Unfortunately this set starts badly – purchasing at RRP, this is undeniably overpriced in the UK (and I’m not even getting into the currency conversion from the $ price). Even worse, it certainly doesn’t feel like a £50 set, either during the build or when holding the finished result.

However, once you get over the shock of the price (or buy it on heavy discount), this is a nice enough set – the build is interesting in places and features some clever parts usage which, not being terribly familiar with the model beforehand, surprised me and certainly gave me some ideas to use elsewhere. And though I’m not generally a fan of using primarily Technic techniques to connect up a build that has been constructed in modular sections, it does give the whole thing a rigidity that wouldn’t be possible just using system-style building so I can accept it as a necessary evil here.

Mostly the set suffers slightly from the subject matter just not being as iconic as the other ships form the Star Wars universe and, despite a solid construction and a couple of interesting features (unfolding wings and rotating cockpit) it’s never going to be in the top tier of sets. However, the three minifigs included are undeniably excellent and, in the end, this may actually be where the value of the set lies for Star Wars fans. That’s not to undervalue the B-Wing model itself, which I think is as good a system-scale representation of the spaceship as can be done, but it just lacks any ‘fizz’, either in the Lego build or reflected glory from it’s brief role on screen. Less B- , more a good C+ Wing, this is maybe more one for the completest with deep pockets….