3rd February 2004
I wanted to buy a lego X-wing fighter for my son Danny's forthcoming sixth birthday because ... Well, I wanted to say because he's into both Star Wars and lego, but the brutal truth is that I am into both Star Wars and lego. He's somewhat interested, but I know who's doing the pulling :-)
Anyway, it turned out that it's not as simple as that: there are a variety of official Star Wars lego X-wings on the market at the moment, and a whole swathe of others that have been sold in the past but are now discontinued - most of which are still to be had on eBay if you're prepared to pay a scarcity-value premium.
This page summarises my findings.
76 pieces.
This is a small kit in the Star Wars MINI-Models range, with tiny pieces making up the two ships. It's still available from Lego's own on-line store for $3.99.
I picked up one of these kits for £2 in Woolworths, which I think is a good deal. For that, you get two models: they're small (eight studs long), but they really capture the spirit of the ships.
563 pieces.
This is the current largish-scale model, which comes with mini-figures of Luke, Yoda and R2D2 as well as some irrelevant gubbins like Yoda's house and Dagobah swamp-weeds to dangle from the X-wing. It's available from Lego's own on-line store for $49.99.
I've not seen this in the flesh, but detailed photos suggest it's about 36 studs long and about the same width. That's the best part of a foot long, which is not bad.
263 pieces.
This appears to be the predecessor to 4502. It is no longer available from official sources. Pictures suggest it's a little smaller, maybe 26 studs long and 32 across. It comes with a ground-crew and their tractor instead of all the Yoda stuff.
Expert opinion seems to be that, while this is nice, the newer replacement set is better. ``Far more accurate shape, profile and colours''.
This appears to be identical to 7140.
1304 pieces.
This is from the Ultimate Collector series. It's much bigger than the others. 60 studs long, if I am reading the instructions correctly, and 52 wide.