9495 Y-wing Canopy & Other Pet Peeves

[emmtwosix]

Hey all, I'm a fairly new member, but have been watching the site for almost a year now. Any and all constructive comments and/or criticism is welcome. Glad to be here!

Why are we stuck with the look of this canopy again:


When we could have an appearance similar to this canopy:


It would be nice if it were printed, but if for some reason that's not do-able, I would be okay with applying a white sticker to the top of the old canopy. Many of the sticker sheets we get nowadays are white to begin with, how difficult or cost-intensive would it be for them to pre-cut a small 3 x 4 sticker that doesn't even need printing?

This is the same part they've used for 13 years now, and they've known at least since the UCS Y-wing that the top of the canopy should be white. With the huge leaps that have been made in the manufacturing and printing processes over the past 10 years, this seems well within reach. Is this a profit issue, exclusivity (to differentiate the UCS version from the system sets,) or something else?

I'd also like to open this topic up for discussion of other pet peeves. I love their products and think they do a fantastic job overall, but what minor LEGO issues are bugging other AFOLs that are seemingly very easy to fix?

[cas]

I assume the reason it's the way it is because it's economical (cheaper) than adding additional printing, stickers, or designing a new canopy entirely. At this point in the development of the Lego Star Wars line, however, I feel that particular canopy should have been retired along with the previous X-wing. It served it's purpose, but much better, more accurate, canopies should have taken its place. What's even more disappointing about this canopy as it appears in the new X- and Y-wings is it remains the click-hinge variety. In the early pictures, the canopy was clearly updated with a bar hinge (similar to the V-wing canopy).

[minimitch]

[quote="emmtwosix"]Hey all, I'm a fairly new member, but have been watching the site for almost a year now. Any and all constructive comments and/or criticism is welcome. Glad to be here!

Why are we stuck with the look of this canopy again:


What I don't like is how the canopy doesn't open the way it should on the y-wing. I wonder if anyone has modified one to open the correct way.

[Boyfromvalley]

Why are we stuck with the look of this canopy again:


What I don't like is how the canopy doesn't open the way it should on the y-wing. I wonder if anyone has modified one to open the correct way.

Seen one attempt, but it was done by cutting the canopy so it opened that way.

[Rook]

Nothing beats the windshield-less crap of 2008 with 7680: The Twilight.



"Look Anakin we're venting atmosphere!"
"I know I just had a space bug fly into my mouth!"

[majortom]

Emmtwosix: The second picture you posted, where did that come from? I assume it's a MOC, is it one of your own? would you mind providing a full picture? it looks like an interesting build. Thanks.

[Bellicose]

Emmtwosix: The second picture you posted, where did that come from? I assume it's a MOC, is it one of your own? would you mind providing a full picture? it looks like an interesting build. Thanks.

Pretty sure that's the old UCS Y-wing kit.

[majortom]

Thanks, Bellicose, I should have been able to glean that the rest of Emmtwosix's post. It is strange that the particular canopy piece is exclusive to the UCS set. It would work alot better with the minifig scale y-wing. Maybe there was financial sense to keep the 'blank' version to use with the other sets like the snowspeeder and x-wing?

I have seen better interpretations of the cockpit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177764@N07/5698675644/in/photostream/
-just thought it was worth considering alternatives to the single piece.

[fallenangel327]

Funny that you should mention the canopy but overlook the puny engine nacelles, ugly prow, and wonked rear fuselage. Those have been present since 7150. The TIE windscreen piece and 8L bars and Y-wing canopies used on the T-47s could also fall into this category.

I have seen better interpretations of the cockpit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177764@N07/5698675644/in/photostream/
-just thought it was worth considering alternatives to the single piece.

Wow. Nice use of the tiles with handle. I'll have to keep this in mind for any future Y-wing MOCers.

[THX 1138]

I, too, always hated how they made that great new print for the UCS Y-Wing and then never used it for their other System-scale Y-Wings. I did get some white sticker sheets for Christmas, though, so I could just put some of those on mine.

I have seen better interpretations of the cockpit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28177764@N07/5698675644/in/photostream/
-just thought it was worth considering alternatives to the single piece.

That looks great, but like the Twilight, it's technically an open cockpit, which I also hate.

[Blacknight]

I, too, always hated how they made that great new print for the UCS Y-Wing and then never used it for their other System-scale Y-Wings.

Pretty sure it wasn't printed, just a blank canopy you had to put stickers on. In that sense, you almost achieved the same thing with custom white stickers.

[atxdad]

The UCS Y-Wing canopy isn't printed, but the stickers for it were plain white and can be made yourself with a nametag sticker and an exacto knife. I did this for a used Y-Wing set I found that had no stickers applied. (Made the yellow stickers this way too.)

[emmtwosix]

Funny that you should mention the canopy but overlook the puny engine nacelles, ugly prow, and wonked rear fuselage.

That goes into the construction of the model itself, which is why I specifically put "canopy" in the title. I considered this to be a minor issue, or "pet peeve" that was easily fixable and, in fact, was already "fixed" per the UCS version. This little fix would have really added to the look of the set, would have been simple, and would have cost maybe 5¢ extra. The rest is rather subjective. I like the new nacelles and the greebling on the rear fuselage looks great. No one likes the new front section, which I felt was better in the previous version, though from different angles, I must say it doesn't look as bad as I thought in my original reaction. To each his own. They are still making progress, so that's good. If you want perfection, get the UCS version, or better yet, a model.

Pretty sure it wasn't printed, just a blank canopy you had to put stickers on.

Yep. I've only seen pictures, but if it's good enough for a UCS set, it would be just fine for a system set.

@atxdad Looks great!! Maybe that's what they expect us to do...

Oh well, something to look forward to on the next version, I guess.

Hmm, I just noticed the snowspeeder has had the same issue over it's lifespan. Maybe they just don't care