Star Wars Rogue One Book and Model: Make Your Own U-wing (Star Wars Construction Books) by Katrina Pallant and Neal Manning
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… certain spacecraft were so brilliant they just became iconic. The huge one looming over the end of the pre-title crawl, the X-Wing, the Y-Wing, the Tie Fighters, the Colonial Vipers (whoops…). But come a new series, and come a new craft, the U-wing. Will it ever have the same instant recognition – especially as out of all the lettered craft I first mentioned, it looks the least like the character concerned? Well this is an attempt at forcing that to happen, and the end results, when displayed fully eleven inches long on your mantelpiece, may well just make that attempt succeed…
| Star Wars Rogue One Book and Model: Make Your Own U-wing (Star Wars Construction Books) by Katrina Pallant and Neal Manning | |
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| Category: Crafts | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A mediocre booklet does stir interest in the recent Star Wars movie's new toys, but it's what it accompanies that matters here. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 50 | Date: December 2016 |
| Publisher: Egmont | |
| ISBN: 9781405285001 | |
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What results do I speak of? Why, your very own model U-Wing. What this item is, is a small-format yet bulky hardbacked case, containing a plastic sheath of eight card sheets. With the 27 pieces pressed out, you need only four pages of instructions, perhaps some supervision, and perhaps too a smidgen of luck when it comes to curving things over symmetrically, for you to create your craft. And there it is, fully formed, from the stretched lines of the U to the bulk of the cockpit and bay to the workings of the engine pods, through the simple manipulation of tabs into slots, and some folding. We get no age range suggestion on the product, but I can't really see anybody higher up in primary school failing here.
But of course, the U-Wing is not the only craft invented for the new Rogue One film. The At-At walker has been extended, the Tie Fighter itself adapted – those pesky Imperials have certainly been busy. But what we know and love – even the Death Star itself, so prominent in this film, as in part 4 (and 6) (and 7, more or less) – is detailed here. The pages won't offer you any clues as to the plot, so rest assured this is spoiler-free – we get a picture of the main characters, good and bad, and that's it. There are very few words, in a mature reader's small font, but it's neither here nor there.
If anything I can't see the booklet surviving once the shell of this book is rid of its contents and the model is made. It is the be-all and end-all of this item, and it certainly shines. It comes on a decent stand, so sits on the shelf OK, and of course can be grasped to fly around the deep space that is your bedroom. And so I have my own U-Wing here in front of me. I've called it Bobby. You can do with yours what you like – but I quite like the results. I've only seen similar products regarding the Harry Potter series, such as Incredibuilds: Buckbeak: Deluxe Model and Book Set (Harry Potter) by Jody Revenson, but if anything I like the results here more – they're all as easy to make, but this just looks more like the intended article, and of course is ready-coloured. There certainly was more oomph needed in making the text with it, but this is well worth considering as a gift item.
I must thank the publishers for my trial copy.
The Rogue One Art of Colouring book offers a very different kind of crafting, equally related to this sci-fi universe.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Star Wars Rogue One Book and Model: Make Your Own U-wing (Star Wars Construction Books) by Katrina Pallant and Neal Manning at Amazon.com.
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