I just picked up 1 of everything from wave 3, and as usual they are beautiful and cool and all that jazz.

However, this is going to bug me if I can't fix it...

My lambda's wings won't deploy fully. They sit at a very slight angle, with the clips starting to bulge out a little bit when I try forcing them. A Lambda's wings are supposed to sit so the part before the curve is perpendicular with the table / parallel with the central wing, and thus the guns are level. On mine, though, I can only get it to about 75-80% before it feels like I'm going to break something.

I suspect the problem is the paint applications, or possibly some sprues or gluing issues. But I can't see anything obvious, and I'm wary of taking the wings off.

Does anyone have any advice on where to best trim or use sandpaper?

I would try some WD-40 first and move them gently up and down.

IIRC that's fairly caustic, so be really careful not to get it on the painted surfaces.

You might try some graphite. That shouldn't damage the surfaces.

I think the problem is in the geometry around the wing-mounted guns. There's a particular bulge that pushes up into the shuttle body that prevents the wings from going down all the way.

I've looked at mine and I think that's where the issue is, but I don't know how to quite go about fixing it. Taking snips to the model feels a bit drastic, but I believe that is the solution

Something I noticed was that I was able to get one of the wings into the traditional position, but doing so seemed to force the two halves of the body shell to push apart and separate. I am not sure which of the pivot clips is pulling on the lower assembly the hardest part, but I think you are right about the problem being the gun assembly. It doesn't help that I need to take a hair dryer to it and straighten out the guns...

I dunno. It just bugs me, because despite having a near-complete collection of Hasbro's Titanium 3" models, I much prefer these guys for their absolute fantastic detail - but having them assembled wrong annoys me. Like my B wing being about 87 degrees instead of straight forward to the front of the base. Or the HWK-290 having one of the wing assemblies misdone, so that the tail fins are at slightly different angles and one wing is swept back further than the other. Or my X-wings having the guns and wings at all sorts of weird angles. I try to observe for that kind of thing before buying (being a toy collector for 10 years), but you can't always tell in packaging.

Still, not as bad as the art being off in some cases. Besides my hated Y-wing image (where one nacelle is way longer than the other), does this game use concept art for the generic pilots or something? Omicron Group Pilot has a straight Y for the lower wings instead of the 90 degree and flare. Further, the Scimitar Squadron Pilot has the solar panels mounted backwards. The cards don't have artist credits on them, so I can't tell if they are concept or not. But that is getting off topic.

Another interesting note on artwork is that Captain Kagi's shuttle doesn't have the wings folded all the way down, and Captain Yorr's shuttle doesn't have the wings folded all the way up in landing mode. I guess for Kagi I can imagine he is mid take-off/landing.

Useful thread at boardgamegeek illustrates how to get the wings fully deployed:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1038612/lambda-shuttle-wings

In short, the back hinges tend to slide outward. Pinching them towards the center helps a lot, although fresh out of the box shuttles will be very stiff in this regard.

This solution helped my shuttle a lot, but one of the hinges still isn't quite perfect (there is still a small gap in the hinges). But it's a lot closer to what it should be.

So I see I am far from the first person to post about this, and for that I apologize; I usually try to skim and look for posts before I post something on my own, but somehow I missed it.

With that said, I think I've had luck based on this thread and a few others. The fact that it doesn't smoothly rotate around the hinge helps, so "pinching" it and trying to get the hinges to slot in properly (so there is no gap on the underneath of the clips) seems to be working. It still has a very slight tilt, but nothing noticeable or worse than any other fig.

So again, thanks everyone for the help/advice!

I'll also report that the pinch technique from BGG worked perfectly for my Lambda. Thanks Pygon for the link.

The hull is easily separated once you apply pressure to the wings. I will lokk closer at what can be done to fix the wing issue with the shuttle taken apart later if I can.

Useful thread at boardgamegeek illustrates how to get the wings fully deployed:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1038612/lambda-shuttle-wings

In short, the back hinges tend to slide outward. Pinching them towards the center helps a lot, although fresh out of the box shuttles will be very stiff in this regard.

This solution helped my shuttle a lot, but one of the hinges still isn't quite perfect (there is still a small gap in the hinges). But it's a lot closer to what it should be.

I can also confirm that this method works, no snapping or cracking sounds whatsoever. Something about the hinge gets misaligned while unfolding the wings (the person taking it apart might be able to give more insight on this), so if you can kinda hold the hinge in as you unfold, it can work. I did it one wing at a time.

I've also had luck pulling the wing away from the body as I unfold it (once you are getting close to where it gets stuck). This helps keep it seated and allows it to go to near perpendicular position. I only do one wing at a time, and it would be very difficult to do while on the stand. This makes it a lot less likely that I'll be moving the wings in game when overhang may be a problem.

The problem is the interior portion contacts the side of the hull before the wing is fully deployed. I shaved the section that is closest to the wing.

Works just fine now:

My hull separated along the axis. Unless it snaps together I am reluctant to do anything else to this model. I am not the most coordinated and if I tried to glue it back I'll end up with a mess, trust me on this. I now have a $30 miniature with the seams open up to a millimeter wide and I thought I was being very careful.

The problem is the interior portion contacts the side of the hull before the wing is fully deployed. I shaved the section that is closest to the wing.

Works just fine now:

I know this is asking a lot but could you post a tutorial on how you got the ship open and made the adjustments? I will likely want to do the same thing. My shuttles get really close to 100%, but it bugs me enough that I would do this.

Question: after you did this are the wings really loose? or do they still hold both the landed and flight positions pretty well?

When you apply steady pressure to the wings trying to them in the correct position, it will pop the hull halves slightly. As ken commented just above. You can easily just lift the top portion off then. There are four posts inside you can glue it back together afterwards. In my last pic above the hull is not glued back together, just sitting there for the pic.

No, the wings are not loose at all. The only think that changed was the "travel stop" effect created by the wing interior was reduced. I was tempted to remove the first section closest to the wing completely but only shaved it down.

My hull separated along the axis. Unless it snaps together I am reluctant to do anything else to this model. I am not the most coordinated and if I tried to glue it back I'll end up with a mess, trust me on this. I now have a $30 miniature with the seams open up to a millimeter wide and I thought I was being very careful.

I highly recommend contacting CS by the replacement function for a new ship. Part of xwing's appeal is the prebuilt and painted miniatures. This site features several pictures with the wings fully deployed. Just be nice and explain the problem clearly. I usually attach some photos. I have gotten 4 of my models replaced because of smaller issues than this. FFG has great support. I have never needed a large ship replaced but will be sending in for a replacement after work tonight.

I opened my first one last night and it had this same problem (to varying degrees) on both sides.

Too bad they didn't really get this feature right in the manufacturing process. I might try to fix it but I don't have good modelling skills, so I'm hesitant to attempt it.

To follow up, my request for replacement or repair was denied today. The message that I received stated that my wings were within THEIR tolerance range (they get about 2/3rds of the way to fully deployed). So it looks like FFG just screwed me for the first time. I will submit another request with further detail and explanation later tonight (their rep seemed focus on angle of wing but the big prob for me is the connective piece where the guns are being misaligned).

The problem is the interior portion contacts the side of the hull before the wing is fully deployed. I shaved the section that is closest to the wing.

Works just fine now:

Can I send you mine for repair

I'm afraid if I try to open it it'll crack right through.

Sigh...

Exactly what part did you shave a bit off of. I got mine apart and just need to know what to shave off.

A before and after would be the best.

The support bar with the red line on it is the one I shaved down. Sorry my MS Paint skill sucks.

On that same piece in this pic, I shaved off both the top portion and the side that would face the hull when assembled. This is the section closest to the wing.

Ohh I see.

Well, my FLGS finally got some wave 3 stuff in yesterday. I went in itching to get my hands on a HWK or maybe a B-Wing.

Turns out all they got in from the distributor was Lambda shuttles and TIE Bombers. Not that I don't want them, just didn't want them first. Oh well.

Wound up getting a Lambda, and the wings did the same thing. On mine, however, after a few times of pushing them down into the correct position, they now seem to drop fully without a lot of pushing, squeezing, folding, spindling or mutilating. Which is good because I haven't been able to get the hull apart. There is still a slight gap where the hull sections meet when the wings are fully deployed, but it isn't too bad.

I am happy to report that the ship does (barely) fit into the Plano tray I use for storing my fleets. Its a bit tight, but not excessively so, and the lid just barely contacts the folded wing when closed. I almost think the production models are a bit smaller than the pre-release photo back in May. I wouldn't have thought there was any way that thing was going to fit back then.