This was my first Star Wars set. Very small and not much effort required to build. I really prefer sets to take a little longer to make, but there is just something delightful about this wee ship that once it was built I took a step back and admired it and couldn't help but smile.

The minifig is one of my favourites. So plain and understated (all red and not much detail) yet it is utterly charming in its simplicity. I see real character in that little guy. He doesn't need heaps of added bells and whistles to inspire kids to play with him and his ship, the kids can use their imagination they have plenty of it!

Pros: pilot minifig
ship looks great
nice colours

Cons: too small

I think this is a great set even though it appeared in Episode IV for five seconds. Those five seconds gave Lego a well thought out design of this set. I like the pilot and the storage area alot. This is really a great set to have in your collection.

I was very happy to get this set cause it wasn't available for a long time and it's a great collectable.
This set was quiet good and had a spare t.v. piece which was sweet and had a good minifig.

pros:
great collectable
good minifig
awesome spare pieces

cons:
a bit pricey

this "ship" is only seen in ep.4 when Luke plays with it as a model. Lemme get this straight- this is never seen as a ship in star wars. it is only a model. But it is very cool, and it looks exactly like the model in star wars. Its like a model-just in bricks!

The only times the T-16 appears in the movies are in the garage scene in A New Hope, in which Luke plays around with a model and you can see the back of the real prop though an open doorway.
And the other time is at the end of Return Of The Jedi, when some planets are seen celebrating the end of the Empire, a T-16 flies over an exited Mos Eisley. That's it.

With that said, I must say Lego did a great job at recreating such a rarely seen vehicle. With the exception of the lack of windows everything is top-notch, from the overall shape to the big BIG cannon underneath the craft to the li'l details as the painted top-fin and the griffin images at the hull (these griffins were also featured on Luke's T-16 which this set is based of) the overall colourscheme used looks fine and seems to be accurate enough for my liking :P
About the lack of windows, including correctly shaped windows would have been very difficult/expensive to do in Lego, so I don't really mind the choice of not including them. And it doesn't make the vehicle stupid-looking or useless, since the T-16 is an atmospheric transport vehicle anyway, the real thing isn't supposed to fly through the vacuüm of space as well.

The T-16 features wings that can move a bit up and down and the top-part (with the top-fin) can open to reveal a compartment big enough to put the added accessoires in.

Speaking of which, you'll recieve the requisite and quite basic megaphone-turned-blaster thingie and electrobinoculars. These binoculais are failry big, nicely sculpted and true to the source material. They compliment the included figure as well, as he can hold and use the binoculars in a convincing way.

The minifig is simply called T-16 Pilot, though I presume it's supposed to be Luke, since the Skyhopper bares his logo's. But the fig sports non-removable visors anyway, so it's hard to tell if it's really Luke. Putting the identity issue aside, this guy rocks with a neat red jumpsuit and a great red version of the Rebel helmet.

On a side note, this fig could have made a pretty accurate pilot for the Lego Twin-Pod Cloudcar, which features Lobot (a guy who was never spotted inside the Cloudcar) as opposed to a generic pilot fig.

To conclude
Plus:
-Overall accurate design
-Large cannon, non-functional, it's Lego!, but it looks great!
-Some nice details
-Great colours
-Opening top, revealing storage compartment
-wings are slightly moveable
-blaster and electrobinoculars are nice accessoires
-great generic T-16 Pilot/Luke (?) minifig with cool helmet

Minus:
-no windows, but this is the only way to keep the design unmarred and the price low, so I don't mind.
-uhm... the fact that it's not that an important or somewhat boring and kinda unneccesary addition to my collection? NOT, this thing might only have a five sec. appearance in the movies and it's not important to the story at all, but this Lego version is just dead-on to the real thing and I won't take points off because of the not-imprtant-issue.

Conclusion: this craft is simply a perfect rendition of the real T-16, and while it's not important, it houses some decent playability and makes for some great imaginitive gameplay, like having this baby destroy the Death Star (provided you build a Death Star Trench yourself) or engaging in a ferocious dogfight taking on the Millenium Falcon. It's Lego... just imagine! with this great set that receives a flawless 10!

May the Force be with you on your journey into your own imagination.