Lego Review: Lego 9493 X-wing Starfighter

With the arrival of the new year, I decided to ring in the changes to this blog to give it a fresher, cleaner look. I hope you like it. If you're wondering why the sudden rash of posts on Lego sets, it's because I decided to get off my butt and start building stuff! 

To start us off in the new year, it's none other than my favourite Star Wars vehicle, the X-wing fighter!!

Box and contents

 As you can see from the pic above, the box is colourfully illustrated and looks pretty impressive. Now let's open it up to see what is inside:

1st  row: : Pack 1, Pack 3, Instruction manual
2nd row: Pack 2, Pack 4, Pack 5
3rd row: Lego Storage Box, Sticker sheet, survey promo card

 The thing that's different here is there usually isn't a storage box included in Lego sets so I'm not sure if this is a Korean Exclusive. I happened to get this from a seller on GMarket (now renamed qoo10). Cool bonus though!

Minifigs

Included in this package are 4 minifigs, 2 droids and 2 pilots. First the droids:

R2D2, R5D8

That is exactly the same R2D2 figure that was in the Droid Escape set I reviewed earlier, along with a R5D8 droid. Same easy assembly, just pop the head on and the legs into the torso.

Next up, the pilots:

Luke Skywalker, Jek Porkins

You get Luke Skywalker and Jek Porkins in pilot uniform. The torso, hands and legs are the same, the distinguishing features are the helmets, the heads (Porkins has a beard and visor) and the weapons (Luke wields a lightsaber and Porkins a blaster)

Assembling

Following the manual, you start with Pack 1. I'm not gonna go through the building process step by step but I'm gonna show the progress as I went along. This is what the initial base of the X-wing  looks like after step 22 Page 18 of the manual:

The progress after Step 22, Page 18

As you can see the parts are rather colourful, which helps you to identify different parts quite easily. End of Pack 1 is shown below:

End of Pack 1

Pack 2 onwards, you get to add more components to the base you created using Pack 1.

The following 2 pics below show how the tapered edge of the front of the x-wing is achieved. You attach this V-shaped portion as shown below: 

V-shaped section added to main body

 Next you swivel in the long edges of the V and secure it to the main body (as below)

Fast forward, this is what the front portion looks like completed:

Packs 3 and 4 contain the pieces to assemble the wings of the vehicle. The assembled wing looks like so:

Pack 3 contains 2 wings with the same orientation which you attach like so to the main body:

Pack 4 contains the pieces to the other 2 wings which are mirror opposites to Pack 3. All attached:

Now we're talking!! you can see the X-wing body at near completion.
On to Pack 5. Below shows rubber bands (2 in each cardboard pack, 4 bands in all) which you have to attach to the back of the vehicle.

Rubber bands

They are used to secure the top and bottom wings together  else they will be loose and flap all over the place.See the bands strung on the black knob?

Securing the Wings

Next up are the jets, see assembled example:

The red translucent piece is to give the impression that the jets are fired.
All assembled below:

Jets on!

All that's left are the weapons: 4 guns and 2 proton torpedoes. An assembled gun looks like so:

Assembled Gun

And there you have it, a completed X-wing (below)

All raring to go! 

Close up of the cockpit (this time with Porkins at the controls & R5D8 behind him):

Porkins & R5D8

Also in this picture, you can see the proton torpedoes (small stick with white rounded tip, resembles a microphone or a cotton bud), below the cockpit. Do note that the droid units (R2 or R5) are facing the side when you attach them to the vehicle, not exactly correct if I remember correctly but I'll let it go.

All in all, I really enjoyed building this. It took me slightly less than 3 hours to assemble (includes time taken to position the pieces for better camera angles). 

Available (should be) at Toys R US outlets and major stores wherever Lego is sold. Of course, you can also check out Amazon US, Amazon France or Amazon UK.

Alternatively, you might want to hunt down the Korean version of this set if you want to get the free storage box (as shown below).