"For X-Wing fans: B-Wing model *does* turn" Topic

In this recent discussion on TMP, it was agreed that the stock position of the B-wing model (straight vertical) is boring: TMP link

A method attaching a magnet to allow the model to be mounted at any angle was also described.

But I was just fiddling with my own model, and discovered the B-wing will actually turn along the axis of the rear elbow joint! It takes a little gentle pressure, but the model will twist to other angles. I suspect this is by design, as the vertical position won't work with only one peg stand, and being able to add or remove a peg is a key design factor when bases are touching.

So give yours a try! But be gentle!

Be careful -- I'm just breaking in my new B-Wings. Turned one ninety degrees, and the elbow joint snapped off. He's now got a couple of magnets, instead.

I'm going the magnet route myself.
But then again, I got lots of magnets laying about from ,y ww2 1/300 projekt.

It should be compulsory to rotate the model after performing a barrel roll.

I went with a slight angle (about 15° off vertical); I really don't expect to change it, ever.

Be careful -- I'm just breaking in my new B-Wings. Turned one ninety degrees, and the elbow joint snapped off. He's now got a couple of magnets, instead.

Did the elbow joint break, or did it pop out of the model?

Mine snapped. Looks like the tolerances aren't very good.

I doubt that having to alter the peg height will be as important with the B-Wing as with other ships; I don't think it actually protrudes outside its base footprint.

I might try with 2mm magnets; won't be as obtrusive as the 5mm ones in that post you linked to.

Did the elbow joint break, or did it pop out of the model?

It broke -- sheered off, white plastic remains from something that couldn't stand being twisted quite so far.

So … any recommendations for best glue to adhere a magnet to plastic?

Don't know if it's the best, but I've been using regular epoxy, not the 5-minute quick set. i counter-sink the magnet into the plastic as much as is practical, and allow a thin film of epoxy to wrap around on the exposed surface of the magnet too, making a mechanical bond.

Using the regular set time epoxy allows me to do some testing. After an hour when the epoxy is pretty well set, but not fully cured, I try it out and make sure the model balances and sticks the way I want it too. If not, it's easy enough to pry loose, scrape off the epoxy, and adjust where its attached.

I like my method better.

Of course I might be a bit biased :)

My biggest disappointment with the B-Wing is that, exactly as I feared, it is woefully out-of-scale.

The B-Wing is a TANDEM two seat fighter, MUCH larger than X-Wings. The "Titanium" series of die-cast models are much closer to actual scale vis a vis the already released fighters.

The TIE Bomber is slightly undersized as well, but not nearly as badly as the B-Wing. The Shuttle is also way too small; Galoob "Fleet Action" shuttles are only sligtly too big, so we'll use those. And, while I haven't received my HWK-290's yet, from pictures I have seen it looks like it, too, is under-scale.

So, once I get a fourth Titanium die cast B-Wing in white, I'll be making custom stands for the heavier figure and probably selling the official models off on eBay.

None of this would bother me – and it doesn't very much, now, it's kust unfortunate – if FFG hadn't made a big noise early on about how devoted they were to "finally getting the relative sizes of the models right".

Apparently that commitment ended the second they knew they had a hit.

ADDENDUM: For those of you out there who are OCD Star Wars geeks like me, remember that the body of the B-Wing pivots around the cockpit, which cockpit itslelf stays "level" (whatever that means in space!). So to get an accurate modelling, when you turn the body, cut the cockpit and re-set it so the canopy stays parallel with the playing surface.

Having pegged the Geek-O-Meter for the day, I bid you all adieu! :-D

A shame to hear about the incorrect size on the B-Wing, since you are right about their statements regarding their dedication to scale.

I guess profits and convenience win out over accuracy, not that a little more plastic would have probably cost that much more, e.g. probably only a few cents to a buck or so, at wholesale.

I suspect dedicated players would have gladly paid the difference in order to get accurately sized B-Wings.

How is it out of scale? The cockpit is HUGE compared to an X-wing and according to wookiepedia it's dead on to 1/270th scale.

X-wing 12.5 m long In scale 46mm long.
B-wing 16.9 m long IN scale 63mm long.

They look great next to each other.

Bwing cockpit – 7mm by 8mm
X-wing cockpit – 5mm by 8mm.

I'd say you could easily cram another dude into that cockpit with space left over.

According to Wookieepedia, the 2-seater B-Wing was a variant, not the original design which this miniature represents, although the 3-view seems to be identical to that for the normal B-Wing.

The Shuttle looks about right, too; at 1/270 scale, a 20m-long ship would be 74mm long; spot on by my tape measure.

This picture clearly shows a single crewman:

@AndrewGPaul – nice catch! I was about to do the same thing, I don't remember the B-wing being described as a standard 2-seat ship.

I too felt the Lambda Shuttle seemed too small when I first took it out of the box. I think the hanger scene on the Death Star is to blame. The scene really makes it seem gigantic and you don't really ever see it on screen with other fighters much, if at all. Because of that you really don't have a good frame of reference. The numbers don't lie though. It is spot on size wise.

Talking scale about Star Wars is almost as foolish as talking scale about Star Trek. Things just need to fit visually. One ship should be larger relative to another. There was no set scale when the original models were built and filmed. There's no reference perspective to extract scale from. The various mat paintings when looked at closely could be by M. C. Escher.

The official scales were made up after the fact. I'd place as much faith in them as I do in Lucas's claim that he had nine movies laid out when he hit it big with Star Wars (no, he didn't--he didn't know Vader was Luke's father, he certainly didn't know Leia was Luke's sister and don't get me started on Vader building R2D2 and C3PO).

So an A -wing is smaller than an X-wing, which is smaller than a B-Wing, and all are smaller than the Falcon.

Lucas could have known Luke and Leia were siblings. He might just be into siblings kissing. Plus it makes perfect sense that random droids are still rolling around after 40 years! Think about all the complex appliances that are still running in your house from the 50s. Oh and the falcon is a veritable classic. It's like over 100 years old.

ADDENDUM: For those of you out there who are OCD Star Wars geeks like me, remember that the body of the B-Wing pivots around the cockpit, which cockpit itslelf stays "level" (whatever that means in space!). So to get an accurate modelling, when you turn the body, cut the cockpit and re-set it so the canopy stays parallel with the playing surface

Mine has simply entered the battle space with a different plane of orientation than the other craft. *Ahem*

But for ships, and planes now 50 years is not much, many planes and ships are that old now.

And the MF always needed new repairs.

Hmmm an argument about things being to small and the evidence is based on comparisons of a fanboys perception based on a collection of old, distorted toys that were sus to begin with, followed up by more evidence from the good old unreliable Wookiepedia which from memory got the Tie Fighter measurements totally wrong. Yet we have a statement from FFG that says they got their modelling data directly from the source………..
Who do I believe? Which camp speaks the truest true truth? Help me Obi-won your my only hope.

And actually we do have scale for many things. The scenery pieces in the various hangers with people around. We don't have it for the B, but the shuttle, the falcon, x and y we do.

I just bought the B-Wing and HWK-290 last night at my local game store. I really do not care that maybe the models are a bit smaller than they "should" be. I agree with Chriskrum that talking about scale in regards a fictional universe, et. all, is kind of silly. The models look fantastic and will work within the game mechanics. I am strongly considering seeing how far I can take the game and running an X-Wing scenario at a convention with tons of fighters and the other vessels. I think folks would have a good time.

And actually we do have scale for many things. The scenery pieces in the various hangers with people around. We don't have it for the B, but the shuttle, the falcon, x and y we do.

FWIW a B-wing does appear in one Matte shot in Return of the Jedi. It's the worst of the matte paintings for that movie (IMHO) but cockpit of the B-wing sits under the closed s-foils of an x-wing.

It's a terrible picture and there are a ton of perspective things wrong with it.

It's a slippery slope and I wouldn't trust it too much. Take for example the Falcon. Let's say you wanted a screen accurate sized ship.

The Falcon appeared on screen as a 3 FT model, a 5 foot model, a 1/1 scale mock up and in various matte paintings. Each one is slightly different and as a result there is no ONE accurate version of the ship.

What, no hinges! THIS IS SOOOO UNREALISTIC!

Besides, everybody knows that wings work better in the a zero-gee vaccuum when they are angled at 30 degrees…

I accidentally pulled the elbow joint out of one B-Wing, and the socket in the ship is actually diamond shaped.Not sure if anyone else has already reported that. Troll away if they have.

A Buddy of mine put the ship together so I had no idea that the elbow was already pre installed. When I went to break down stuff after the game, I assumed it was just stuck. That's why I pulled it out. I guess now that it's out, I can just either drill it to make it circular, or add magnets. Not sure which I'll try yet, but I guess I could drill, then add a magnet if it ends up being too loose.

I accidentally pulled the elbow joint out of one B-Wing, and the socket in the ship is actually diamond shaped.Not sure if anyone else has already reported that. Troll away if they have.

A Buddy of mine put the ship together so I had no idea that the elbow was already pre installed. When I went to break down stuff after the game, I assumed it was just stuck. That's why I pulled it out. I guess now that it's out, I can just either drill it to make it circular, or add magnets. Not sure which I'll try yet, but I guess I could drill, then add a magnet if it ends up being too loose.

Someone did mention it, but not as detailed. So I guess I basically just twisted the plastic, eh? Oops.

By the way, is the diamond regular (essentially a square) or is it elongated? If a square, maybe one could at least easily mount the B-wing at a 90° angle by pulling it out and then sticking it in sideways.

I actually just pulled it straight out. Took care not to twist, so nothing broke. It's more of a regular square, but at a 90 degree angle (so I guess more square than actual diamond) but you get the idea on orientation.

When you pulled it out, were you able to put it back in?

Now that you mention it, I haven't. I played with the other one, but it was just a random pick of the two when I set it up. I'll check it out when I get home to see if there are any issues.

OK. So, yeah, after pulling the curved rod from the back of the B-Wing, it does fit right back in snugly enough to not be a problem.

Though, since I had already removed it, I went ahead and installed a 1/8" magnet to the square/diamond spot on the ship. Then clipped the end of the peg and glued another magnet there. I simply used a set of 3 drill bits, moving from smaller to larger to make the hole big enough for the magnet. It fits nice and snug, and holds well enough for play.

I still wasn't able to pry the cockpit loose to make that turn, but I'm hoping it doesn't affect the look too much. I tried prying it loose with the exacto knife, but didn't want to push it too much.