Incom Corporations T-65 Starfighter is the favored attack craft of the Rebel Alliance. With it's combination of high speed, firepower, and reliability, the X-Wing proved itself time and again in such decisive moments as the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Endor. Although the X-Wing was eventually surpassed by more agile and powerful starfighters like the Dodonna-Blissex A-Wing by the time of the Battle of Endor at the end of the Galactic Empire, the X-Wing remained the workhorse starfighter, and icon of the Rebellion. The single pilot X-wing boasts an astromech droid socket, 4 wing-tip mounted laser cannons, dual proton torpedo launchers, onboard deflector shields, 4 realspace engines and an onboard hyperdrive. The X-Wing fighter can take the battle to the enemy and bring its pilot safely home.

FineMolds has really set the bar for Star Wars model kits. This small japanese company has come to the table for the ninth time now with an unflagging desire towards producing the highest quality product. The box was chocked full of parts: 7 styrene trees holding 124 parts cast in medium grey plastic, 1 clear part for the canopy, 2 poly caps and 8 metal screws. Also included is an instruction booklet, decal set, and a full color decal and painting chart.

Box art detail
FineMolds line of Star Wars models were notable for their distinctive box art.

Sprue A
contains the fuselage, landing gear, cockpit, and droid parts.

Sprue B
holds the main wing parts, hinge assembly, butt plate, nose cone, 3 panel covers and the pilot's seat.

Sprue C
There are 2 sets of sprue C. It contains the bulk of the engine and inside wing parts as well as the laser cannons.

Sprue D
The one-piece canopy glazing is the only clear bit to the kit. It is crystal clear styrene and is nearly glass-smooth and mostly distortion-free.

Sprues E and F
holds the parts for the rather substantial base, plus the one pilot figure. The base features a variable-position cradle that allows you to pose your model at 3 different angles.

Decals
Included are a set of water-slide decals as well as a set of self-adhesive stickers. From what I can see on the decal sheet and the painting and decal placement diagram, the included markings and instructions are for building Luke Skywalker's Red 5 only.

Instructions
The instruction booklet is a 12 page, black and white booklet with exploded-view diagrams detailing all assembly steps. It is written in kanji, but the diagrams are well done and clearly marked out with parts numbers, color callouts, and optional build configurations. Also included is a full-color color and markings diagram featuring color references, marking positions, and a cross-reference table of colors between Gunze Sangyeo and Tamiya's paint system along with a column of common english-language color designations. Sorry, no Model Master or Humbrol IDs here!

So what's better than FineMolds 1/72 scale X-Wing? How about one in 1/48! I've compared the parts to shots of some of the miniatures in the Star Wars Chronicles book and the overall size, shape and detail look quite accurate. There were a few problems with the original FineMolds 1/72 X-Wing, like the nose cone being too stumpy, so I think specific issues of accuracy will need to bear the test of time and closer scrutiny.

Also there's a few omissions in this larger kit that further differentiates it from it's smaller sibling. Unlike FineMold's first Star Wars kit, the X-Wing in 1/72 scale, this big brother doesn't include markings for the rest of the squadron, nor does it include extras like a standing pilot, boarding ladder and variant droid head like the smaller version does.

Although light on the extras, the kit proper is far from spartan with loads of crisply rendered detail, finely engraved panel lines, and thoughtul engineering makes this one worth getting! I think I see my old MPC X-Wing hiding in the corner...

My review kits were purchased from Starship Modeler