New Generation X

Fictional / Real World Background

The T-65 X-Wing starfighter was a product of Incom Corporation, builder of warships for the Galactic Republic and later, the Galactic Empire. Designed by Voors Voorhorian, it was the direct descendant of the popular Z-95 Headhunter, incorporating lessons learned from the ARC-170 starfighter of the Clone Wars. After receiving news of the Imperial takeover of the company, Incom's engineers defected to the Rebel Alliance, bringing with them the complete production blueprints. Four prototypes were recovered at planet Fresia and the X-Wing first saw combat at the Battle of Turkana. More prototypes were liberated from an Incom production facility and soon the Rebels were building the X-Wing from clandestine facilities in the Outer Rim Territories. The clandestine nature however meant poor deliveries and standardisation. Nevertheless the X-Wing commands a healthy fear from the TIE pilots and scored amazing success during the Galactic Civil War, chief of which was the destruction of both of the Imperial's dreaded Death Star battle stations.

Thirty years on after the Battle Of Endor and the signing of the Galactic Concordance after Battle of Jakku, the war started again, now between the First Order, an organisation rising from the ashes of, and inspired by, the Galactic Empire and the Resistance, a military force founded by Princess / General Leia Organa (as the New Republic refused to take the threat of the First Order seriously, and viewed her as overly paranoid and a warmonger). Chief starfighter of the Resistance is again the X-Wing, a new variant designated T-70 and still produced by the now-named Incom-FreiTek. The resistance, like the Rebel Alliance thirty years before, however did not have sufficient resources to build all the X-Wings they need and have to rely on covert support from the New Republic, such as donations from sympathisers in the Senate. Unlike the original X-Wing, the wings of the T-70 can be considered a 'monoplane', with interlocking wings that split up in the attack mode: the leading edge downwards and the trailing edge upwards.

Like the T-65, the T-70 is also a multi-mission platform, able to do space/air superiority missions and strike missions, whether against enemy fortifications, ground troops, starfighters or capital ships. To do these missions, the T-70 is armed with four fire-linked Taim & Bak KX12 laser cannons, an upgrade of the Civil War-era KX9. The weapons bay underneath the cockpit can carry and fire a variety of guided weapons, from concussion missiles to proton torpedoes and mag pulse warheads. A weapon not seen in the T-65 was also added, namely a rapid-fire, underslung laser blaster, to hold off close-range attack by enemy stormtroopers or any hostile party while on the ground. The crew comprised of one pilot and an astromech droid, using the old R2 and R5 series and also the new BB series. The T-70 also was faster than the older version, thanks to the new Incom 5L5 fusion engines. Like the T-65 before it, the T-70 had its finest hour attacking and destroying a major enemy installation, this time the planet-sized Starkiller Base.

Off-screen, the T-70 was first revealed to the public at the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 in April of that year. In The Force Awakens it (and the new TIE Fighter) was shown flying and fighting in atmosphere (at Takodana and Starkiller Base), something not shown in the previous six movies involving starfighters. Despite being supposedly the new version of the X-Wing, the design of the T-70 borrowed some early ideas of the original X-Wing. Most recognisable is the half-moon air intakes which was originally seen in Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for Episode IV A New Hope. Wookieepedia however mentioned that the similarity was only discovered after the design had been prozen for production.

The Kit

The T-70 (dubbed 'Resistance X-Wing Fighter') was part of the initial release of Star Wars model kits from Bandai in 2015. The kit was made of 103 parts spread among one multi-coloured sprue (this time comprising of light grey/clear red/light blue and clear), one light grey, one metallic grey and one sand-coloured sprues plus decal and sticker sheets. While nearly all the decals look pixellated, the worst are for the grey-coloured ones. The light blue parts for the fuselage are meant to replicate the Blue Squadron X-Wings from the movie without having the modeller paint them. The wing ID  bands however use either the waterslide decals or the stickers. Two types of canopies were included : one the 'normal', clear plastic (which you have to paint the framing, or in this case, apply sticker or decal to the frame) and the other is a 'glassless' opaque plastic frame which replicate the original studio models (the canopy was made glass-less in order to avoid glare during filming). Two figures of the pilot (one seated, one standing) and of BB-8 were also included. The pilot figures, unlike those in the AT-ST kit, have properly proportioned lower arms and generally have good details.

Construction

Unlike most model kits of 'flying things' (whether real or fiction), the X-Wing has one starting at the wings. They are moulded with an opposing upper and lower wing on each half. The very first step was concerned with the starboard upper/port lower wing assembly. The wings were moulded as one with certain panels and parts being separate. The intakes have engine detailing inside which I painted a mix of Burnt Iron and Silver. The rest of the wing panel went on easily although there may be gaps between the hole in the wing surface panel and the snap-fit locating post (to be checked before painting commences). There was also the need to check the orientation of the wing during assembly at it involved some flipping. The exhaust ends were left off to facilitate painting. The same steps were repeated for the other pair of wings. To complete the assembly, the two wing sub-assemblies were simply pushed together. A 'stopper' was then placed on each end of the wing pivot, to help modellers pose the wing at the proper angle.

The next step is concerned with the fuselage and this time, construction started at the cockpit. While still on the sprue, the cockpit parts were painted XF-69 NATO Black. The control stick was painted X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. Afterwards, they were cut off the sprue and more detailed painting was done in lieu of the decals, except for the instrumentation panels at the front end of the cockpit. The upper fuselage assembly started by getting the 'exposed wiring area' and astromech droid compartment inserted into place. Although having a tight fit, I applied some cement, just in case. Before closing up the fuselage, the wing was put into place first. Finally the upper fuselage half was mated to the rest of the model and this was followed by the one-piece nose. The multi-piece fuselage, incorporating separate 'blue panels' caused a number of gaps which had to to puttied. I intended to place the model on its display stand so I used the closed gear door parts (the alternative parts were placed in storage).

Painting and Decalling

One problem about these Bandai Star Wars kits is that they are mainly meant for the Japanese market only. This in turn meant Japanese-only descriptions in the instruction sheet. It wasn't really a problem during assembly but was quite problematic for painting. The painting instructions, when translated, only gave generic paints (light grey, black, green, orange etc). After testing various shades of grey (ahem) in my inventory and after browsing through the internet, I came to the conclusion that the best colour would be Light Grey FS 36495. I also decided not to use the decals for the blue trims on the model. Instead I painted them a mix of X-14 Sky Blue and XF-8 Flat Blue (basically the same colour for the nose of my P-51 Mustang). Again, the exposed interior bits on the wings were painted a mix of Burnt Iron and Silver. The canopy frame was painted a custom mix of metallic colours. The pilot's flight suit was painted a mix of X-7 Red and XF-3 Flat Yellow but with more emphasis on red to match the colour of the suit in the movie (the instructions have you paint the suit International Orange, as used in the original trilogy).

The decals were then applied. They came off the backing paper easily, even in room-temperature water. The drawback I noticed was that some of the pattern decals (the dark grey ones) did not exactly match the shape of the panels, were pixellated and were not quite responsive to Mr Mark Softer. Sure, I can have them painted instead (like the blue portion of the wings) but I decided to use the decals anyway. Despite fairly thin, the decals have trouble over curves, especially the decals for BB-8.

Finishing

To start, I washed the model with dark grey and applied a slightly thicker mix on certain areas such as the wing pivot and the torpedo launcher troughs. And yes, the cannons were washed separately. Once done, the pilot and the BB droid were placed at their respective positions and the canopy fitted. I wanted to take some photos of the model with the landing gears attached but I made the mistake of placing the closed doors first. They fit so tightly that I can't remove them. So, the gear down photo session was cancelled. The display stand parts were sprayed TS-6 Matt Black as a base. The display base have textures suggesting the sand dunes of Jakku but apart from Poe's X-Wing seen in the opening scenes, no X-Wings was seen flown over the planet. I therefore decided to turn it into the snows of Starkiller Base.

There was however no snow substitute available so I simply paint the display base Flat White. The stand remain matt black. The stand has multiple slots to allow a number of possible poses and are meant to be fully poseable. The fit is however, too good here that I find it hard to pull them apart to make the variable poses; I just manage to get two for the photos. The whole assembly was then sprayed with a sealing layer of semi-gloss clear. 

Conclusion

Bandai has done it again and after looking at photos of its Revell counterpart, the Bandai T-70 leaves the 'other guy's' X-Wing parsecs behind. The Bandai T-70 has better and crisp details, especially on the cockpit instrument coaming, the exposed areas on the top and the rear of the fuselage and the engines. Sure, there were hiccups such as the less than ideal fit of the fuselage and the snap fit posts in the canopy but those still do not detract from the fact that this T-70 is a nice kit. The snap fit nature, while causing some loss of details, especially around the landing gear doors, makes it easy for one to change the way the model is displayed. I am looking forward to more Star Wars kits...too bad the TIE Avenger, Defender and various other starfighters have been relegated to 'Legends' status and most probably won't see the light of the day as a 'legit' kit.