When you were a kid wouldn’t you have killed for a Land Speeder? I would have, but this die cast is as close as I ever got. There are wheels on the bottom to give it that floating look, and in the cockpit of the Speeder are highly detailed renditions of Luke and C-3PO. The die cast body has quite a bit of detail and a good paint job. The clear wind shield is often missing in loose ships. In both loose and carded ships, the plastic also tends to discolor.

X-Wing Fighter

Kenner did a pretty good job with the X-Wing, but the bright red pilot kind of kills the look. The body is a combination of metal and plastic and the coloring is painted on. The wings open into the X foil position but tend not to stay that way. Although the body has good detail, the lasers on each wing are made of a very soft plastic that bends easily. In most loose X-Wings, the guns have been bent quite a bit out of shape. Ironically, once bent out of shape, it is impossible to get them bent back into shape. It is a shame Kenner didn’t do a better job on this die cast as it is one of my favorite ships from the movies.

TIE Fighter

What good is an X-Wing without a TIE Fighter to chase it? The body is metal and the wings are plastic. There is a removable sled in the back of the body that pulls out to reveal the pilot and empty cockpit. Both of the wings come off and are attached by plastic dowls. In loose toys, the dowls are usually bent somewhat, making it difficult to get the wings to sit straight. It isn’t uncommon to have a TIE Fighter with wings point in different directions.

Darth Vadar’s TIE Fighter

When I saw this fighter in the movie it sent chills down my spine. Unfortunately, Kenner didn’t try very hard when they made the die cast version. Instead of casting a body that actually looks like Vadar’s fighter, they re-used the body of a regular TIE Fighter, darkened the color, and attached curved wings. Still, they did include a pretty well detailed version of Darth Vadar himself to place in the cockpit. Like the regular TIE Fighter, the wings are attached by plastic dowls, but the bending in the dowls is even more pronounced in loose versions because of the much longer wings.