Fine Molds 1/72 Star Wars Y-Wing Fighter Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Koensayr BTL-A4 Y-Wing Attack Starfighter is one of the principal strike fighters operated by the Rebel Alliance against the forces of the evil Empire. In the Star Wars universe, these craft were featured in several edge-of-the-seat battle sequences through the first three movies in the series (ironically identified as Episodes IV, V and VI). In the Star Trek universe, the pilots of these Y-Wing fighters would all be wearing red shirts as few survived these battle sequences.

Fine Molds has taken on several subjects out of the Star Wars saga and the most impressive of the lot is the Millennium Falcon! This release is clearly building on the experience gained from the previous subjects from Fine Molds and even though it is smaller than the Falcon, it is still as impressive.

The kit is molded in a light gray styrene and presented on five parts trees. One additional parts tree molded in clear is also included for the cockpit canopy.

As with the other members in this series, this kit is rendered in 1/72 scale, which means that this single-seat fighter has a small cockpit. Small or not, Fine Molds provides some nice detail in there as well as an optional crew figure. These are all assembled into the forward fuselage module and set aside.

The upper and lower halves of the main fuselage go together and then most of the seam line from that join are covered with detailed sections representing the fuselage sides.

The twin engine nacelles have forward domes like the early USS Enterprise, but the exhaust nozzles are definitely Star Wars. Suspended on four shafts aft of each nacelle is yet another nozzle, just like the movie craft.

The forward fuselage module mounts to the front of the main fuselage, and onto this structure you add additional plumbing and details. The clear canopy encloses the cockpit, then a canopy frame with forward gun turret mounts over the top of the canopy.

This kit provides removable landing gear so you can opt to rest the craft on its gear, then remove it and mount it atop the included display stand for in-flight action.

The engineering in these kits improve with every release, and like the impressive Bandai Star Trek snap-together kits, this release is designed to be detailed without being overly intimidating. Nevertheless, I recommend that this is not a kit for young modelers unless they have some serious experience under their belts. While the kit would be very impressive if built unpainted, the real benefit will be from careful painting and attention to detail.

Markings are included for Gold Leader, Gold 2 and Gold 3, and the decals even provide different wear patterns in the markings for each of the three fighters.

This is an impressive work of art in kit form. Congratulations go to the engineers and designers at Fine Molds who can transform a few partial sets and lots of CGI graphics into a three-dimensional model.

My sincere thanks to HobbyLink Japan for this review sample!