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Two wide-eyed youth look at the spacecraft before them in awe. The pilot, in
civilian clothes, is busy speaking with a small crowd about the importance of
joining the academy so he pays no particular attention to the two young ones.
"So why 'X-wing'?" murmurs the sandy-haired boy.
"Oh, that's for the formation the wings take when it's in space." The older,
darker haired youth answers.
"And that improves maneuverability!" the younger interrupts with enthusiasm.
"It'll fly circles around the older Y-wings." His companion responds with
confidence.
"Just think, four more seasons and I'll have the chance to be in the pilot's
seat of one of these." The older boy continues with an air of excitement.
"Yeah, four more for you and a thousand more for me" the younger friend
finishes with a sigh of desperation.
This was my very first Lego Star Wars set and while I was very excited to
acquire it I have mixed feelings about the construction of the set.
The 7140 set is actually a combination of the X-wing spacecraft and a
cargo-loading/maintenance unit. The X-wing is a sleek narrow-nosed craft with
four cylindrical engines (two sit on each side of the pilot's cockpit). Hinged
wings extend from each engine of the craft and can be folded together or
positioned apart which gives the craft its X-wing appearance. There is a small
storage compartment located near the nose of the craft (but it can only hold
very small items) and a larger compartment is found at the rear of the ship.
A small pit is located between the cockpit and the rear storage compartment
where a small robot/android can be set.
The maintenance vehicle is a small, three-piece unit that looks like something
you might see carting luggage at an airport. The front section has a place for
the driver to stand and control the unit. Behind the control panel/column is a
small 2x2 area for storage of cargo. The second module has an open 2x4 area
for more cargo. The third module is more of a caddy for maintenance tools.
The three modules are connected by ball-and-socket elements. This whole unit
is kind of unnecessary to the function of the X-wing itself, but it adds to the
scenario of an aircraft hangar.
Minifigs include two pilots (one with the black and yellow checkerboard
markings and the other with the red, circular, hawk markings), a maintenance
guy in a tan suit and baseball hat, and the astromech/droid (white with blue
highlights). Minifig accessories include one lightsaber (light blue) and a
black tool wheel with screwdriver, wrench, drill, etc. (this is the first time
I've seen one of these in black, they are usually dark grey). There are more
than a few unique/new pieces to the set including new 6x8 wing plates, 1x2
hinged bricks with interlocking teeth, dark grey "blaster" (brick and rod)
elements, 3x6x2 cylindrical elements (like jet engines), and the new cockpit
canopy. There are also some new preprinted elements including 2x2 tiles and a
2x2 sloping control panel brick.
The Star Wars sets include pictures of alternate models in the instruction
booklets and some of the alternates for this set include three different kind
of aircraft, a cell-phone like communicator, a lightsaber handle and some sort
of mech. These alternate models are well-done for the most part and should
provide some good inspiration to potential builders.
Now for my concerns regarding this set (that could have been among my most
favorite sets of all time). I DO like the reproduction of the singular X-wing
design but there are many portions of the spacecraft that do not stand up well
to serious play. The thruster-extension assemblies (round 2x2 assemblies that
are inserted in the rear of the larger thrusters) fall off constantly, the
blaster cannons also tend to fall off of the wings quite a bit. With regards
to the main body, the droid pit separates the cockpit from the rear storage
unit making both of these sections rather unsteady. I can never fit a pilot in
the cockpit and securely shut the canopy without the entire canopy and hinge
assembly coming apart in my hands. This is considerably frustrating for my
kids that like to play with the X-wing a lot (they usually just end up taking
off the offending parts and playing with it like that). Also, the front
landing skid is pretty delicate and the rear landing feet are very bulky and
look as though they were thrown on the craft as an afterthought. One last
complaint is that the forward storage compartment is not sealed off from the
rest of the hollow nose of the craft, so if you decide to store the lightsaber
in the storage compartment you'll probably end up turning the ship upside down
to shake the wanted part out. The bottom line on all of these complaints is
that the X-wing makes a fairly decent display piece but it isn't real good for
swishing around and dog-fighting with other ships.
Despite the rather large "complaint" paragraph, I still really like this set
for the principal model (even if you can't play too roughly with it) and for
the assortment of very useful parts. In fact, I bet that with all the included
parts you could make some modifications to the main design of the X-wing that
would make it a more sturdy craft.
4x2ReVu Stats:
Rating: Six out of eight studs.
Thumbs up for: A pretty good price for a fairly decent model and lots of
useful pieces.
Thumbs down on: Shoddy designing, designers could have spent just a little
more time with this and made it a truly eight-stud set!
Wallet-Wise: $30.00 suggested U.S. retail for 263 pieces.
Date: 9/30/1999
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