Subject:
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Re: UCS X-Wing Q's
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.starwars
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Sep 2000 22:40:32 GMT
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Viewed:
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1620 times
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In lugnet.starwars, Kyle D. Jackson writes:
> In lugnet.starwars, David Simmons writes:
> > I had the exact same experience and, as of yet, have not been able to solve
> > the engineering problem. I'm really surprised they didn't utilize the
> > design of the AMT/ERTL model. That version had the top left and bottom
> > right wings connected and vice versa. The two pieces rotate around a
> > central axle. A much more balanced and weight-distributing design. It
Yes, the model kit designed worked well enough (I may try that setup for a
minifig version) but I think TLG wanted to incorporate some sort of geared
mechanism as opposed to just wings that you pull apart and snap together, thus
lending it less of a 'toy' feel. This is just speculation on my part, but I
suspect it's a design geared towards an older demographic. Whether or not it
was necessary is, of course, another matter.
> there are two little "flaps" under each upper wing at the root of the trailing
> edge. When the foils are open, you can flip these down, and they sort
> of "lock" against the lower wings. It doesn't provide a great amount of
> stiffness, but it tends to reduce flop in the downward direction for the upper
...
At first, my X-Wing also had wings that seemed to look alright when open
(albeit the upper wings sagged, yes) but when closed they tilted up slightly
from horizontal, particularly the lower ones as previously described in this
thread. That just didn't seem right to me, so I yanked the gear mechanism (and
housing) apart and repositioned the gears relative to each other until the
wings did indeed close horizontally (from contact point to contact point) and
there was no sag with the foils open. This took a couple of tries (yes, it was
annoying) but in fact you can get them to look like they do on the box. I
followed the basic assembly angles shown in the instructions, and moved the
gears 1 tooth at a time in either direction (using the instructions as a
starting point). If you fiddle with it, it will work properly, lock into
position snugly, with no need to reposition the flaps (which are meant to
evoke the X-Wing's hexagonal cross section), and no need to 'wait one month
for settling'. The entire mechanism works properly and the wings haven't
sagged out of position in the months since.
Hope that helps; just keep at it till the gears lock the wings in properly.
While I'm at it, a mini review:
The box you get is very disappointing, and with no insert or inner lid not
even reusuable for storage. There are no compartments in the box (it's
basically a Model Team kit, it should be packaged as well as one). Also, mine
was missing one piece, easily replaced (and contained a bag of pieces that
clearly had no relevance, including a minifig steering wheel and seat!) The
kit itself has a nice shape, lots of unique pices (the only place to get white
Star Wars 6x12 wings or that large canopy piece). I wish the canopy piece had
been printed (since it doesn't look any less like a canopy without the sticker
applied) but I can understand why they chose to go with stickers (so people
have the option of using the pieces in a more generic fashion).
The design of the fuselage taper and the geared wing assembly border on
ingenious. However, while the overall shape is quite good, the colour scheme
borders on colour blind. I know they were attempting to convey the patchwork
look that is the hallmark of Star Wars, but it ends up looking almost like
they ran out of bricks in the right colour and just substituted for whatever
colour was handy. (Why is there green on my X-Wing?). I would've greatly
preferred removal of all the yellow, red and blue innards and the odd green
tile and replaced them with varying shades of grey or white (as the prototype
pictures showed over a year ago). As it stands, it still looks decent but the
UCS tie has a much cleaner look to it thanks to it's non-clashing colours.
Leaving Dave Thomas jr's X-Wing to remain the best Lego rendition I've seen
thus far.
To see what the UCS X-Wing should have looked like:
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~carbon60/files/starwars2.jpg
(Prototype photo courtesy of Carbon 60)
http://news.lugnet.com/starwars/?n=4166
Mark Wilburn
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: UCS X-Wing Q's
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| (...) Thanx Mark, I tried working on the gearbox last night, but no luck :[ Going by the instructions, the lower foils end up higher at the tips. So by tweaking the gears one tooth lower for the lower foils, they end up drooping down at the tips, (...) (24 years ago, 28-Sep-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: UCS X-Wing Q's
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| (...) G'day David, Something I just discovered last night while watching the Olympic coverage..., there are two little "flaps" under each upper wing at the root of the trailing edge. When the foils are open, you can flip these down, and they sort of (...) (24 years ago, 26-Sep-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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