The dark side of the brick

Barring a couple of the Y-wings and some of the Jedi interceptors, there isn't an awful lot of yellow in the Star Wars cannon, for some reason.  The big exception is the Naboo starfighter which is pretty much defined by its yellowness.   I will be open that this was never my favourite vehicle: it comes from my least favourite Star Wars film and is noted for being piloted by a very irksome Anakin Skywalker.  I think they wanted it to be beautiful and streamlined but I feel it misses on this, even in the film.  The Lego versions do their best to try and capture the flowing lines but are hampered by the brick nature.  As such, I've never been a fan of these. Over the years, Lego have released 5 minifig-sized versions, albeit one of them not including any minifigs and being (just about) part of the UCS series. Way back in 1999, one of the first SW sets was the "Naboo Fighter" ( 7141 ).  For its time, it was pretty good but, in my humble opinion, it's not r...

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 w...