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paanjang16

Review: 7259 Arc-170 Fighter

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The Aggressive ReConnaissance-170 starfighter, also known as the ARC-170 starfighter, was a heavy starfighter/bomber that saw widespread use by the Republic Navy in the later days of the Clone Wars.

It was an ancestor of the T-65 X-wing starfighter, which would be mainly used by the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Source: Wookiepedia

As we highly anticipate the new ARC-170 coming out next year, here's a look at the original version from 2005, the year EPIII came out. Will it be better than the new one? Only time will tell.

Set Number: 7259

Set Name: Arc-170 fighter

Number of Pieces: 396 (from Brickset)

Year released: 2005

Theme: Star Wars Episode III

More info

My photobucket = http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/paan...207259/?start=0

Brickset = http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=7259-1

The boxart

The boxart is the Episode III type of boxart with lava splashing and vader's helmet at the top right corner. On the side is a picture showing the S-foil mechanism.

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The instruction manual

Below is the front page of the instruction manual showing the ARC-170 fighter in battle. The fighter is so wide that it has to be almost vertical to fit onto the front page

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Some random instruction page showing the minifigures and the first phase of building whereby we start-off with the center section.

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Another random page showing the S-foils mechanism inside the fighter

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Near the end is a page showing the features of the set; S-foils, bomb release and gunner's compartment.

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Minifigure

This set comes with 3 clone war pilot miniatures and 1 red R2 unit. The torsos of the pilots are printed front and rear as well as thier helmets. The head of the clone pilots are unprinted black heads. Surprisingly, there are only 2 megaphone guns compared to 3 nos of clone pilots. Could it be only gunners can use guns? :sceptic:

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Parts

This set comes with a whole range of printed parts, some of which are unique to this set only such as the sloped printed windows, printed computer with tri-fighter, printed wedge, printed technic disc with Arc-170 engine pattern and printed tile 2 x 2 with DkGreen Half-Ellipse Pattern. It is worth to note that the windows and wedge have a mirror opposite so that both can be used for left and right side of the fighter. Other parts include gears, the clear technic gearbox, elastic bands and technic ball joint for the S-foils. What a wealth of parts this set has!! :thumbup:

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Construction

Building this set is easy as you start out with the center part of the fighter first...

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.. followed by the left wing....

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...and lastly with the right wing. In the last few steps you will attached both the wings to the center.

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The S-foil mechanism on the wing.

The S-foil mechanism is open and close by turning a T-joint with the technic ball joint. The ball joint will push the S-foils up and down. The elastic band meanwhile keeps the 2 S-foils close together and return to its close position. This elastic band also keeps the S-foils in open and close position tightly when the fighter is flying and making barrel rolls.

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The finished fighter

Once finished, the fighter stands out with its extra long wing span. Although the wings are long they do not fall off easily, making it a terrific toy to fly around the room.

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From the front, you can see that the S-foils are fully extended and form an "X" wing shape. Also the profile of this ship is very sleek like a fighter and not like a large fat freighter.

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From the rear there is the tail laser weapon mounted on top of a turntable to shoot incoming tri-fighter. You need to turn the gear to open and close the S-foils. By pulling the gear, you can release the blue transparent cylinders to drop from below the aircraft.

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The side profile of the spacecraft showing the gunnery compartment above the pilot compartment. From the side the fighter looks short compared to how long the wing is.

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Another view from the rear with the S-foil gear and engines.

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The size of this fighter is comparison with the new Sith Infiltrator and Grevious Fighter. It is so large that both the Separatist ships can fit between its wingspan.

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Pilot and gunnery compartment

The there are 3 cockpits whereby the pilots sits infront and the 2 gunners sit in the compartment at the rear. The red R2 droid separates the rear and forward gunner.

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Apparently the pilot somehow flies the plane without any computer panels or levers. Could he be controlling the fighter with the force? The cockpit glass does not open to let the pilot out, so it need to be removed if you need to take-out the pilot. Behind the pilot is the hole where you insert the blue transparent 1x1 circular bricks into the bomb bay.

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For the 2 gunners, they can easily enter and leave their gunnery stations as both their windows can open upward and the side windows can open sideways. Both printed tri-fighter computer is placed at the rear and forward gunnery stations. Also the R2 unit is positioned on top of his mounting between the 2 gunners. There are no holders or compartments to store the 2 megaphone pistols, hence somehow the megaphones have to sit on the lap of the gunners. :sceptic:

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Conclusion

This is a massive fighter produced by Lego and is packed with features. Add to the fact that it has printed parts and has details almost similar to the fighter in shown in the movie, Lego has created another iconic Star Wars ship in great detail. A must have for EPIII fans. Only time would tell if the new Arc-170 fighter can do better than this version from 2005.

Playability: 10/10. With its sturdy and large wings, this ship allows children (and adults) to enact their fighter flying scenes

Build: 8/10 Easy to follow. There are some color issues with dark grey and light grey, but overall it was easy to follow

Design: 10/10 Accurate reproduction of the Arc-170 fighter shown in the beginning in the movies.

Overall: 9/10 A must have for EPIII fans. ;)

More photos

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Really Good. Brilliant pictures and good description. This is truly a fantastic review :classic: and can not wait until your next review! :thumbup:

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Great review! You've really shown off the features well, and the pictures are clear and informative. It looks like the wings sag a bit - is that something you noticed?

Nice subliminal advertising - you should get Starbucks to sponsor you :wink:

I bought this set MISB recently, but have yet to build it; seeing how big it is, I might have to wait till I've got some more room. :sadnew:

How did you add the poll? I don't seem to be allowed to do that! :hmpf_bad:

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Excellent review, paanjang16 - nice job !

I agree that this is a nice set, and it has some very interesting parts and colours. it can be picked up from eBay for a very reasonable price - well worth getting !

Dr. D.

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Very nice review, I never bought this because it didn't look that appealing, but your review makes me wish I did get it. I didn't realize it was so big. and I don't know how but I missed the 3rd cockpit for the rear gunner. I guess I just never noticed it before. Definetaly a cooler set than I had first thought.

Thnaks for the review.

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Nice review. I didn't know you were into Star Wars. Thanks for sharing this review with us. :wink:

How did you add the poll? I don't seem to be allowed to do that! :hmpf_bad:

He is a student, from the Reviewers Academy, and a graduate too. They are given the power to create polls for reviewing purposes. Hope it clarify.

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Very nice review and now you've made me want a coffee, a Starbucks coffee :tongue: . Overall the review had a good amount of photos, and nice straight to the point blurbs for each one. This review was very informative especially for someone like me who wanted the set but never got the chance to actually buy it. I look forward to any other reviews you might want throw at us so until then thanks :wink: .

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Thank you for all your compliments! :classic:

The reason I was using the starbucks plastic cup was because it was the only clear and stable holder for the fighter to be displayed for the photoshoot. It is only after I shot all the photos that I realized the green logo was quite clear :tongue:

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A very nice review of one of my favourite Star Wars starfighter. Like you said, its a good timing for this review as we look forward to the new version.

I like the photo comparing this to the Sith Interceptor and Grevious' Fighter. Gives a very good perspective on how big it is. I like these ships with interesting wing designs (like the V-19, Xwing, B-Wing etc). Its interesting to see how Lego implement the variable wings. I think the V-19 has the most interesting mechanism to date. Better stop now since I'm off topic.

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Great Review!

Wow your comparison shot really shows it's massiveness.

I wonder if the new one will be able to live up to these expectations.

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wow I didn't realize how big it actually is. This set has a great selection of printed pieces and fairly decent minifigs as well. I cant wait to get the one next year

Great review :thumbup:

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Great Review :thumbup: This is one of my favorite SW to date. I remember when I bought this and then built it :classic: took me almost 3 hours :tongue: I wasn't very quick then. I wonder how the new one will compare to this one?

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This is the set that got me back into Lego. I really like the design and it looks very similar to the movie version. I picked up a couple in 2006 when they were still pretty cheap.

Great review as well.

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EXCELLENT Review! :thumbup:

Great pics :thumbup:

I didn't get this set :cry_sad: so am Really looking forward to getting the one next year.

CommanderFox

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I missed out on this set and i'm glad they are releaseing this set again in 2010. From the pictures, it looks like the 2010 set will be even better than this set. Thanks for the review. I'll def. get this set in 2010.

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