Magmafrost

For what its worth, I also have a lot of matte silver pieces where the silver paint has worn off to varying degrees. Not convinced I could capture it in a photo though.

The new mold doesn't look anything like a y-wing's cockpit though. Although I suppose it also doesn't look like a U-wing's cockpit either. Actually it barely looks like an x-wing's cockpit. It is a cool piece, put the old one really is a better representation

Well, it has no minifigs apparently. While that hasn't been the usual for UCS for a while now, its certainly not going to happen if its not UCS.

The one in Canberra at least. As far as I know its always been pretty on and off. Sometimes they do, sometimes they dont, but to my knowledge its been that way since it opened, them stocking Lego isn't a recent thing.

The drooping problem I mentioned. Inthert's X-wing drooping

Picked up 75149 from Costco for $100 (AUD. RRP is $140). Turns out, buy Lego from Costco, where possible. You'd never see a 30% off sale on Lego here, ever (and I can't say I've ever seen a clearance sale in my life. For anything, let alone Lego). They do have a pretty pathetic selection though (as in, single digits). They also had the spiderman bridge battle for $130 (RRP $170). Which I just bought a few weeks ago for RRP. That hurt...

Did you find a way to stop the nose cone from drooping? Its a bit of an issue I at least have with Inthert's design. Actually, I suppose you might not know for sure until you've build a physical one. Also, I just have to comment on the roller skate piece as the targeting camera. That is the greatest thing I've ever seen in an x-wing moc.

As others have said before, the issue with having the braid as part of the hair piece is that it would either have to be much too thick, or it would break really easily. It might instead be possible for Lego to integrate a braid made of string, but that might be too prone to deterioration.