Brickwright

It didn't occur to me, but I can understand that the minifig thing can be a dealbreaker. I don't think that there is a method right now that is that accurate and practical that can also accomodate an interior and a minifig, as you said. As far as the Bricklink stuff goes, it's odd that the 8L's are so much more expensive and rarer than the 6L's, when they both exclusively come from the UCS Y-wing. There's even more 8L's than 6L's in that set to begin with. Like you guys, when building my Y-wing and Psiaki X-wing, I specifically sought out faded bricks for variety. Instead of using tan or light gray to add variation on the X-wing, the "white" parts of the ship actually are all white, but uses yellowed pieces here and there for more subtle differences. Making them monochromatic lets the dimension and detail more immediate when the color isn't in play as much.

Hi everyone. Thanks for your interest in the model and the instructions. I had never used Lpub, and had only used MLcad a little bit almost ten years ago before revisiting it last Friday for this project, so I'm pretty fresh at figuring out how they work. The process allowed me to go back through the model and make some refinements which make it a little sturdier and more practical in a few places. Plus, I finally got a piece count, which is something I've never had on anything I've built before. It comes out to 1,262, which is almost three times the parts counts of the '07 and '12 Y-wings. It's dense! Thanks for starting this thread, I'm really glad you like the instructions. If you are interested in a TIE fighter, I would highly recommend Jerac's TIE. The instructions are well done, and the parts requirements are fairly undemanding. It only took one Bricklink order to finish the one I'm building. He also has an A-wing, which is also my favorite of its type (and possibly the most accurate of any SW ship I've seen), but I don't think there are instructions for that one. I'd love to see your Y-wing when you are done with it. Thanks. I've thought the same thing about that part. One thing that can helps is skipping the copper tubes that run into the back of the cockpit. It reduces the width of the top corners, making it a little slimmer, even though the horizontal width stays the same. I liked them too much to keep them out, in the end.

Okay, hopefully this might shed light on things. If you watch the original Clone Wars series, you will notice that those Republic gunships also lacked the side bubble turrets. If the new series follows suit (which it probably will, since the RGS's in the trailer don't have them either), then it would make sense that the turrets will be missing for the set, as it is based on the series, and not the films. In actuality, I am a huge fan of this version. I have been waiting for a Plo Koon minifigure, since he is my favorite Jedi, but I hope it is a molded head, rather than a printed face + hood cop out, but even that I would be still be okay with. Shaak Ti is also exciting, too. The printing on the second cockpit is something that should have been done the first time, and it is an easy fix I'm glad they didn't miss again. The back indeed looks like the possible inclusion of a speederbike. I also like the bubble turrets on the wings, how they are whole, as opposed to the half ones before. The Salacious Crumb graphic is really cool, and I don't necessarily think it has any relevance rather than a homage to pinups in WWII, judging by the kills marker. It would be cool if the Shark mouth is also an option, though it does seem a little too recessed to fit as well as we might like. The compartments on the sides are now thankfully locking, instead of the rather freemoving ones in the first set, and the stickers are better proportioned, too. The one thing that kind've sticks out to me is the rather long size of the laser cannons on the nose, though this is an easy fix, and once again, I'm really happy that they utilized the ball turrets for it. Looks like you can actually point them both forward, too, instead of the perpetually splayed ones from the first rendition. A huge improvement, and I am definitely looking forward to it!