Minifigure scale Y-Wing instructions

[Brickwright]

This information about the Y-wing on the web gets pretty confusing, but one of the best sources is the Richard Sung Collection, which is sounds like you may be familiar with already. This model is basically between a Gold 5 and Gold Leader, because I was totally ignorant to the differences between them. Comparing them now, making a true Gold 5 or Gold Leader would only take some minor tweaks. I may do this now that I know.

The good news is that for those that want accuracy, the arguably more popular Gold Leader is cheaper to build because of its lack of copper detail.

[TheBear]

It is confusing, some people say the copper tubed one is Gold 2. Technically the R5-F7 unit belongs in Gold 4, but there is no information that I can find on what Gold 4 is supposed to look like. I know that the gold rings on the front of the engines weren't exclusive to Gold Leader, so who's to say that you don't have a perfectly accurate Gold 4 there? I don't think it matters as long as it looks cool.

[TheBear]

"Which piece are we looking for again?"

[Csacsa234]

This is beautiful, my favourite rebel starfighter. This is the best Y-wing MOC I've ever seen, great work!

[Brickwright]

It is confusing, some people say the copper tubed one is Gold 2. Technically the R5-F7 unit belongs in Gold 4, but there is no information that I can find on what Gold 4 is supposed to look like. I know that the gold rings on the front of the engines weren't exclusive to Gold Leader, so who's to say that you don't have a perfectly accurate Gold 4 there? I don't think it matters as long as it looks cool.

That's true. I can't find anything about what Gold 4 looks like, either. I like to think of this as a "mind's eye" of the ship. I tried to convey the common attributes of most Y-wings, but include memorable details from different examples. It is about the look, rather than perfect accuracy. Case in point, the Gold Leader Y-wing has those angled bar things that outline the back of the fuselage, and I've never really liked that detail. When I saw that not all Y-wings had that, I took advantage of it and left it off . The other bonus was that I didn't have a good way to recreate it. Something to do with a minifig neck stud, probably.

That picture's great, by the way. It surprised me to see the pile look so "granulated", but I guess with its ratio of piece count to size, it can't be anything other than lots and lots of tiny parts rather than fewer large ones.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Brickwright

[TheBear]

I've pretty much finished my build and this thing looks even better in person. I am very grateful to Brickwright for sharing the design and taking the time to make the instructions. It took me longer to finish than expected because I started off using mostly newer light bluish grey parts and it ended up looking far too clean and new. I sourced a lot more old light grey parts from Brick Link and even managed find a few yellowed parts on there. The picture below doesn't really manage to capture all the different shades of grey, but it looks really cool in person. It would definitely look even better with more old yellowed parts and I will be trying to find some more. Unfortunately there are not very many on Brick Link.

I've built this pretty much straight to the instructions but I am planning to play with the greebling because it looks like great fun. I would also like to somehow add landing gear at the front. The struts coming off the nacelles were stronger than I expected and the way the domes are connected using rubber bands is ingenious and works really well. There are a few weak points in the structure though. The area around the droid socket is pretty weak and might be strengthened by hooking the sides up to the front somehow. The cockpit area falls apart quite easily but I have no idea how it could be strengthened. I'm not really sure how the pilot is supposed to go in the cockpit, is it by bending his legs backwards? It seems pretty tight in there.

In summary, this model looks amazing and I have had great fun building it. It will fall apart pretty quickly if given to a child to play with but it is the most accurate minifigure scale Y-Wing around.

And here it is with my Psiaki X-Wing, Renegade Clone B-Wing and Larry Lars Snowspeeder:

[Brickwright]

It's awesome to see it finally completed. It looks real nice with the other three there.

I have been thinking about revising the design a little bit, myself. The large part of the back of the fuselage could use some tweaking to give it a more rectangular look overall. The sides just behind the cockpit could be a little more in line with the studio models. The inside of the engine rings could be better too, but I'm not sure how it will be done.

In changing it there could be a way to solidify the area around the droid. I want to keep that slight droop from the weight of the cockpit because it makes the top and bottom slope somewhat symmetrically, as well as give it a more accurate stance when viewed from the front. By offsetting the connection by a plate's height, it may be possible to keep that slope while adding a contact point forward from the droid. There's a few unnecessary bricks that could be replaced with a couple SNOT brick of some sort to connect there.

As for the pilot, inside the cockpit there is a 2x2 cavity behind the 4x4 black plate. The minfig sits down there, leaning forward slightly. Its arms should be facing forward to fit just underneath the cockpit sides. It's a tight fit that requires taking off the roof and at least one of the sides, but the minifig should be able to sit in a natural position.

Any changes with your Y-wing with the landing gear or greeblies would be great to see.

[TheBear]

As for the pilot, inside the cockpit there is a 2x2 cavity behind the 4x4 black plate. The minfig sits down there, leaning forward slightly. Its arms should be facing forward to fit just underneath the cockpit sides. It's a tight fit that requires taking off the roof and at least one of the sides, but the minifig should be able to sit in a natural position.

Of course, it is obvious now you say it. For some reason I thought he should be further forward but now he's in there it looks perfect.

Thanks again for all your help.

[krispy]

Awesome collection Bear!

Edited August 19, 2013 by krispy

[TheBear]

Awesome collection Bear!

Thank you. It is just missing your A-Wing

[Sayroll]

Hello,

I'm a new member here, and this MOC is one of the reason I got back into Lego.

So, I've started building mine, and I have a few questions. Please don't get me wrong, I really love this design but I'm left puzzled with some areas.

Regarding the white domes, I have no clue how they are supposed to attach. The Bear, you mention rubber bands, but can you please elaborate on this please?

Also, on the other side, I understand that you are supposed to use the long gray hose to make the rear of the engines, but I tried hard and first it is very hard to nicely bend the hose so it makes a nice circle, and second, there is so much tension that it just won't stay attached. The whole ship is quite fragile, but these engine parts seem to fall apart just by looking at them. And is it normal that on the center part of the rear of the engines forming a cross, the up and down claws (with the two round studs at the bottom), are attached to nothing? I just don't understand how these parts are supposed to stay together.

Honestly, if someone could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it. I suppose it's considered a sacrilege, but I even thought of glueing some parts together. See how desperate I am

[Schneeds]

The white domes attach from the friction of the rubber; you wrap enough rubber band around the opposing grill pieces that the white dome just barely fits over it and holds snugly.

For the engine hose, pre-shape the hose by wraping it around a circular object of appropriate size. That reduces the tension considerably, and then make sure you're joining the two ends of the hose in the thick O-ring, and not the clip. The ring is wider and will hold the hose better. The bars inside the engine hose are attached if you build it correctly, make sure to check the pictures closely.

For keeping the engines solidly on, I used 3 of these http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2460 on each side since they fit by default. This adds considerable strength to the engine connection points.

Lastly, if you look at the pictures on my brick shelf you will notice the modified droid. I reduced the droid enclosure to a 2x2 space so that I could bolster the strength of the neck connection. All in all, my version of his Y-wing is very stable. Hope this helps.

[Rishab N]

This is one of the best Y Wing MOCs around. it looks really accurate

[Sayroll]

Thank you very much Schneeds for your answer.

I tried the rubber bands and it works perfect. The wing attachment part substitution is a great idea.

Regarding the hose, I used the same method but find it difficult to keep it nicely shaped. And I have triple checked the instructions but can't figure out how to attach the up and down claws to this part: http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=1527&colorID=85

The left and right claws with the saber hilts attach to the hole but how can you attach the up and down ones on a flat surface. I'm really confused here; if you can tell me how you did it, I would really appreciate it. Maybe there is a mistake in the instructions and another part has to used but since I've just recently started Legos again, I'm not very familiar with all the available parts.

[Schneeds]

No, I was just remembering wrong. It doesn't connect, it just fits flush against the block. You just have to keep working the hose until you get it in a fairly uniform circle so that the spars fit evenly against the brick. He uses a lot of unorthodox building techniques to make that masterpiece ;)

[Sayroll]

Ok, thanks for this clarification. Indeed it's a masterpiece and I hope I can make mine as nice as yours.

Thanks again for your messages; they've been of great help!

[GuyDudeMan27]

Don't hold your breath or anything, but Brickwright is working loosely on making an updated version of this model, instructions and all. I would love to build this at some point, but I'll save it for last while waiting for the new version.

[Schneeds]

I still have to build his AT-ST. A fantastic model as well. Now if only he would design an AT-AT... :)

[storm77de]

Hey,

I just tried to download your instructions for this awesome build, but getting this:

The document Brickwright Y-Wing Instructions (Version 2) has been deleted.

Any chance, that you reupload the instructions? :)

[belkor]

Hey,

I just tried to download your instructions for this awesome build, but getting this:

The document Brickwright Y-Wing Instructions (Version 2) has been deleted.

Any chance, that you reupload the instructions? :)

Yep, me too please!

[TheBear]

Brickwright has done an updated version now which can be downloaded here. I will update the first post in this thread with the new link.

[Brickwright]

Hi everybody! Bear was kind enough to mention the recent interest in this build, so I thought I'd stop in.

As stated on the Flickr image, I have (finally) completed the update to the model, and its instructions. The supplemental document now features the XML of the parts list, allowing anyone to create a Bricklink Wanted List rather quickly. I had never used this tool on the site before, and for others in a similar situation, I included instructions on how to go about doing it.

I still have to build his AT-ST. A fantastic model as well. Now if only he would design an AT-AT... :)

I'm several months late in responding to this, but like my Y-wing, you can also find my AT-ST hosted here. Thanks so much for your interest in both models, and for helping Sayroll above with some of the most finicky aspects of the Y-wing.

There are a bunch of projects I've got going on at once right now. My main project, the BT-7 Thunderclap from The Old Republic, is nearing the end of its design phase in LDD. Once it is done, though, the AT-AT I began work on a couple months ago will be my main project going forward. The goal is to create an AT-AT that is not only true minifig scale, but will be motorized, using the same walk cycle shown in the movies. This won't be for a while, but I hope I can see it through eventually.

Thanks again everybody for your kind words and interest in my builds!

Edited October 18, 2015 by Brickwright

[Schneeds]

I like the changes, the curved slopes on the engines look excellent. Are the engines more solid than they were with the changes to the front? I remember building them they were rather fragile with that cross-axel configuration in the rear; I thought about bolstering the inner frame so that they couldn't collapse on each other, but didn't bother. That looks to be a nice improvement. The front struts also look great. I might have to do the engine mods; but I love the rest of the original ;)

How do you attach the domes in the new version? It looks like you would need considerably more rubber bands for it.

[Brickwright]

Yeah, the dome interior was an oversight on my part. The instructions and document have already been fixed. It was missing a whole 1x2 brick between the plate and the grille tile, so yes, it would have required a lot of rubber bands if it was built as such.

I like the curved slopes a lot better, too. The internal structure underneath them is the same, but with the slopes being 1x4, they should add more stability from the outside by tying more of the engine together. The cross-axle was completely removed and was replaced with headlight bricks and a plate. This helps maintain the shape better, is more legal, doesn't have the possibility for the nozzle assembly to rotate, and ups the stud connection from 1 to 4, so it is much, much more practical.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Brickwright

[TheBear]

Thanks Brickwright, I am really looking forward to seeing your AT-AT.

After owning this Y-Wing for a couple of years now I still really love it. It is certainly not a model that my 5 year old son can play with though, as I have found out through several rebuildings. Unfortunately the cockpit and the way the engines connect to the body are just too weak for play, but that doesn't matter because it is such a great model. The Psiaki X-Wing has exactly the same problem, and I now appreciate why Lego makes the sets in the way it does.