UCS Naboo Starfighter - 10026

My Hermes delivery driver outdid himself just before Christmas and managed to deliver three Ebay purchases just before a well-earned break.  I'll get to the others in a bit - they still need to be cleaned and sorted (and one of them is definitely from someone who smokes like a chimney!).  The first, however, was the UCS Naboo Starfighter (10026) which I've been looking out for a decent copy of at a reasonable price for ages.  

My copy of the Star Wars Complete Vehicles states that the chromium finish of Naboo vehicles originates in a need for "protection from harmful rays in the planet's upper atmosphere".  While no longer needed, royal craft retained the look as a symbol - and only royal craft can carry the "hand finished chromium treatment".  

Regardless of the lore, chrome lego is pretty rare and its propensity to get scratched (how many chromed lightsaber handles have damage!) means that mint condition is a rarity.  But it looks incredible when you get it!  



Weighing in at only 188 pieces, this was a quick but satisfying build - though it turned out that there are four part substitutions which I'll need to fix over the coming months (though to be fair, all of them are pretty hidden - let me know if you can spot any).  The only real "defect" is the missing yellow stickers on the chrome wedges. Given the excellent condition of the other stickers, I'm left wondering why these are missing!  

My Ultimate Lego Star Wars book (a.k.a. "the authority") says that there have been four minifig sized Naboo Starfighters and, since the 2007 version, they all share a distinct design inheritance from this UCS set.  However, they are noticeably wider and, in order to fit an Ani minifig (where's the Phantom Edit when you need it), also much taller. From what I can see, this UCS set lives up to its purpose by being as accurate as possible to the original source material.  

Parting factlet... apparently the "rat tail" is an integral part of the starfighter and is used to recharge it in the hanger.  And the proper name for them is "finials".  Who knew?

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