Despite the advent of the superior E-Wing, the X-Wing remained the favored ship of most New Republic pilots, and was the preferred fighter of the growing legion of Jedi Knights. New Republic technicians have worked hard to keep the aging fighter competitive in the face of more modern competition. The ultimate fruition of this process is the XJ-class X-Wing.

The XJ has a refined structure that is both stronger and lighter. Most significantly, the XJ is powered by 4 state-of-the-art ion engines with advanced electro-magnetic thrust vectoring, giving the XJ a vastly superior performance compared to the standard X-Wing. The XJ can out fly even the latest of Imperial designs including the TIE-Advanced, TIE-Defender and Missileboat. The XJ also has a third torpedo launcher with an additional 3 rounds, giving a total of 9 rounds divided amongst 3 launchers. This goes in some way to address the small warload of the standard X-Wing. Most of the New Republic's Jedi Knights have converted to the XJ.

This flamboyantly decorated XJ belongs to Jedi Knight Catea Vor, a beautiful human female from Coruscant who used to be a top fashion model before her discovery of her latent Force powers forever altered her destiny. The outlandish color scheme, however, shows that Catea has not totally forsaken her glamorous roots.

The Model

This is a conversion of the accurized 1/48 scale X-Wing kit I mastered for SMT, and which is no longer available thanks to the C&D order from LFL. The new engines were made from styrene, kit parts and some cut up panels from an extra SMT B-Wing engine housing. The only other modification was the third torpedo launcher under the fuselage.

Image: Left front

Image: Underside

Image: Left side

Image: Patrol flight