Bandai 1/72 B-Wing Starfighter Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

When you think of a prolific Japanese model company, you might think about Hasegawa or Tamiya, but you'd be mistaken. One of the most prolific kit makers in the world today is Bandai, who produces some outstanding models in a variety of subject areas. Those of you who build Gundam and similar robot anime kits know full well that Bandai is constantly turning out new subjects. Over a decade ago, they also produced a series of Star Trek starships that featured pre-finished exteriors, interior lighting, and snap-together construction. Those kits are highly sought after even now.

Much to everyone's delight, Bandai turned its attention to Star Wars a number of years ago with the release of a variety of subjects like the Millennium Falcon in several scales (their 1/72 'Perfect Grade' Millennium Falcon was so popular when it was released last year that they are producing another batch). In addition, they've been working through numerous other subjects from the first three films (episodes IV, V, and VI) which include iconic spacecraft, droids, and figures. When Rogue One and episode VII were released, they added additional droids, heroes, villains, and storm trooper figures into their offerings and today, you can have a nice selection of Star Wars subjects on your shelves.

One of the latest in Bandai's catalog is the B-Wing from the original trilogy. This is an unusual design that the contrasts with the A and X-Wings as not being very maneuverable, but it serves as a heavily-armed assault ship that carries the firepower to engage much larger enemy vessels. Reading some of the production notes from Star Wars, the thin foil design of the B-Wing made it difficult to film against the background screen and consequently wasn't seen much in the films to date. This is a special edition release for the 2018 San Diego Comic Con which includes LED engine lighting and an alternate seated pilot figure.

Among the features and options in this kit:

• Well-illustrated instructions
• Cockpit rotates
• Wings are movable
• Optional red clear parts for laser effects
• Highly detailed surfaces
• LED module for the engines
• Display stand

The lighting module comes fully assembled and only needs a pair of hearing aid batteries (not included) to work.

The kit includes a nice display stand to allow the model to be posed in flight. No provisions for landing gear are included, so you'll need to go to the aftermarket should you want to display your model on its landing gear.

Speaking of Bandai's engineering, you'll find one of the larger parts trees (see the top parts image) that is molded in black, with one section molded in gray, and one in clear, with none of those styrene colors overlapping. That is some serious injection-molding!

This kit is now available as a regular release without the lighting module for a lower price, and if you can't find the special edition Comic Con version, I understand Bandai will be releasing the kit with the lighting module soon as a regular catalog item.

I purchased this kit from CultTVman Hobby Shop and these can be found in your local hobby shop as well.