I was enamored of this set back when I first saw it in the catalog section of LEGO Maniac Magazine. I have craved it since then. I looked longingly at photos of it online, and at last (and belatedly) I looked up the instructions, so that I could follow them as closely as possible with the pieces I have and thus produce an approximation that would let me fully evaluate the design. And aside from color selection in some cases, my collection had everything needed.

The S-foils are mounted on vertical ratchet hinges, ensuring they stay fixed in place no matter which configuration they're in. The available adjustment of angles is not as fine as with other methods, but the engines make it too much of a task for even the black Technic pins (The angle used for attack position looks exactly right to my eyes anyway, and I've rewatched the battles of Yavin and Endor a great many times). There are some nice printed tiles on marking this for the attentive as Red Five's X-wing, a nice touch. The cannons look good, though they could have stood having 1x1 round bricks plugged into their backs to complete the look. The flashback suppressors in the movies aren't dish-shaped, but it's the closest as could be gotten at this scale. I've heard people complain of the engine tails being easily knocked out; I haven't personally experienced this, but I would ask them to check and make sure they connected the round 2x2 plate to the engine before connecting the round 2x2 bricks. The round bricks seem to not join as firmly to the engine as regular bricks of that size. If you've got the round plate where it should be and it still happens, try inserting a regular 2x2 plate.

I have heard some describe the main body as oversize, and that frankly leaves me scratching my head. I have looked at the area on this LEGO model, and on the actual film model, many times and from many angles. If anything, it's just a tiny hair on the small side. R2-D2's socket has no sides, but this is honestly very well disguised by the engines. Despite the photos I'd looked at I was unaware of it being sideless until I looked at the instructions. The cockpit piece is one of the few brand-new ones in this set, and looks the part perfectly. It is on ratchet hinges, keeping it tightly closed in flight. The lid to the rear cargo compartment is on a friction hinge, but that poses no problem when swooshing the ship around; the stern is the model's ideal grip point so your fingers make sure it stays shut.

The fuselage is very well done, and has another compartment in it for storing Luke's saber. And I think the use of roof bricks and inverted roof bricks does a better job showing the fuselage's shape than the hinge method employed by the newer X-wing sets. There is one visual fault her though: In the movies, the nosecone is noticeably just a bit fatter than the rest of the fuselage, but here it's flush with it. The addition of two 1x4 plates and two of those grey 3x4 angled plates to make it stick out more would have been nice.

The landing gear must be detached for flight, but there's honestly no way to do vertically-retracting landing gear on a System set. There just isn't. The later X-wing set's swing leg and giant non-canon underside landing fins aren't really any better, and in fact they look even less like the landing legs in the movie. The UCS version had accurate landing legs, but the UCS version is a giant set with a giant price-tag.

The colors are good. The tan honestly isn't that obtrusive (I actually think it creates a subtle optical color illusion to help things blend), and unlike all subsequent sets, this set remembers the little tiny fact that X-WINGS ARE GREY! Not white, GREY! It's a pale grey, but it's still grey! The Millennium Falcon is the same grey, but it hasn't been converted to white bricks, so why has this stupidity been done to the X-Wing? ARRRRGH! ...ahem. Sorry about that.

We get some nice mini-figures here. Luke with his pre-ROTJ face, his Rebel flightsuit, and his father's second lightsabre. Biggs Darklighter with a stock face but his own unique helmet print. A Rebel mechanic, with a re-used Pirates faceprint and beige coveralls. And of course, R2-D2. There's also a pilot carrier/maintenance mini-tram. A useful vehicle for one's personal Rebel Alliance base, and Luke and co. did ride one briefly in the movie, so it's nice to have that. A shame there's no port on the X-Wing to connect the fuel hose too.

Overall, a very nice set and well worth getting. It's a bit smallish, but if you remember the size of the average LEGO vehicle at the time... Plus, it's the only X-Wing set not to need a dip in an acetone-RIT dye mix, and you get good parts and figure value for the retail price... So if you can find it for a good price, get it.

When I first found a picture of this set on Brickplumber's hoth base, (You should see it, it's fantastic) I thought it looked awsome. Three months later, I have the very same set sitting on my desk. It's proably my favorite star wars set so far, much better then any clone wars junk with out rageous price tags

1) The ship
I like the fact that it is very simple to build but also very strong and robust, using roof bricks for the nose. However, on my copy it was almost impsosible to move the wings into the attack formation, so I don't think I'll bother in the future. Some people have complained that the colour is wrong, but this was lego's first attempt at making an x-wing, and I can always rember them being grey. The other good things about it are the great storage compartmants. They are handy for carrying around other items like guns or tools

2) The figures
We get three figures in this set, and one R2-D2. They are pretty cool, and each one has a diffrent facial expression which is good, and yellow skin (Which in my view is much better than the standard pink). Biggs Darklighter was always my favorite pilot, and so I am glad that lego put him in the set. Luke is pretty average (You can find him in most sets with the very same face, and uniform). Finally, the rebel mechaninc. He has a nice uniform, but unfortantly lego always change the design and colour so it's hard to get more than one of the same type.

3) The accessories
The main thing here is the train, or mechanic speeder. It is quite a simple build, and reminds me of the old blacktron sets. It is pretty easy, so I let my seven year old brother build it (And then break it when he got bored). It has a seating area for the pilots, a driving space for the mechaninc and a fuel area at the rear, where the tools are also stored. Tool wise, we gut a good choice of things to repair stuff with.

And so to sum up, if you can find one of these-boxed or unboxed-that looks about complete for around £20-£35 than I'd recomend buying one.(I'm still trying to convince my mum that one isn't enough. I could only find a few problems with mine-one being we don't get a red three number for Biggs Darklighter, but you can easily make one.
For me, this set has fufilled it's purpose-make people happy with hours of fun, and it looks great as a stand alone.

This set is great! everything about it is cool! I've been wanting to write a review on it for a long time! Biggs is cool and so is Luke! The guns look cool! there are two cargo spots in the
ship! And I LOVE how the wings can go into attack mode.
I bought one on ebay that didn't have any jets on the back and it didn't come with the train
thing but I built them out of some extra LEGO's that I had. This set looks great when you have the 1999 snow speeder with it. Great set and great playability, and I don't know why most people thought that white was better because in the movies they were gray.
another awesome thing about this set is it comes with R2-D2 most LEGO sets that do have R2-D2 only come with his head if you want to get an X-wing get this one the the newer one's!

This set is almost perfect

Pros
Luke
Biggs
Engineer
Wings open and close
The train thing
Good design
Great playability

Cons
Wings fall off easily

Minifigs

Luke- The first one with a pilot costume (I think)
Biggs- Nothing that special, face should have more detail, as it is to common
Rebel Engineer- Good detail

Get it if
You want a set with good playability

Dont get it if
You want one of the newer X-Wings

Rating: 9/10

This, in my humble opinion, is the best Star Wars fighter that Lego has ever released. Done up in the right colors (I hate the colors for version 2), with no stickers, a ground crew and shuttle, and Luke with a lightsaber. No fancy compartments, no attempt to be fancy, just a good serviceable ship. If anything falls off, it is not a mystery where the piece goes. Sure, it can break, but you practically have to fly it into a wall in order to break off multiple pieces. A little ground shuttle included has a mechanic as well. A great set, and a big 5!