I have hit a snag with my build. Not the first, I might add, given the delays, missing issues and replacement bonus items. In the movies, it was R2's job to repair the X-Wing in flight, but in my model, he seems determined to stop it working.

I shall explain...

After having to pause my build for over 9 months when delivery 14 went missing in transit and then took an eternity to become available again, I resumed my build and have assembled the motors and much-maligned control board, got the wings installed after a 2 hour titanic struggle to get them aligned, and then finally got to the point where the motor to control R2 was installed.

The drive shaft on top was clearly NOT standing upright and was at a slight angle so did not rotate along it's axis correctly. I had no option but to try to use some "gentle persuasion" to get it upright. It got close but then would slip when turning and would be stopped by the reversing switch so I added a tiny touch of glue to hold it, which seems to have solved that problem.

So, now I had assembled the section, it was time to test it again. The lights in the cockpit worked, the lasers worked, the wings open and close properly and R2 lit up and his head turned and reversed. Success!! Er...no! I tried it a second time and when I tried to work R2, everything else stuck in the on position. It appeared that the remote had stopped working. To get it working again needed the main on/off switch to be reset, then I was able to turn off the lights and close the wings. Activating R2 again did nothing except stop the other buttons working again and the motor did not start.

Eventually, I disassemble it and checked the motor. The damned thing worked! I reassembled the motor housing and gears and it still worked. I put it all back together and it worked...once! Then the same thing happened again! He refused to move and the other buttons froze. The batteries are all brand new. Before pressing button 4, all the others work perfectly over and over. Another strip down, same thing. Works in the build-up, works briefly when in the body then goes wrong every time until I turn it off and on again by the main power switch when the other 3 buttons work perfectly but R2 refuses to budge or only works briefly. If it weren't for the fact that it cost over a grand, I would already have hit it with a hammer!!!

I read about the issues with the control board and don't think the way it is wired helps with the reliability of the model but for the price charged for this kit, the very least I expect of it is that it works. I haven't contacted customer services about this as trying to get the last missing issue was a nightmare I will spare you from, but my Trustpilot review went from 4 stars down to 1 star at each attempt and would have been negative at the end if it were possible to do so. I also wish that they had made the lasers flash in the correct sequence instead of just all being lit up constantly and why they put all that detail inside that is completely hidden is beyond me, other than to bump up the price and keep in line with their 100 issue policy. I have seen replacement parts that allow these details to be revealed so why the hell couldn't they have done this for us, or at least for the more expensive option that I subscribed to? I'm sure that would have done more to interest new subscribers to this option than the included bonus items alone.

I have now stalled the build again until this gets sorted, but I am clueless, so any help would be appreciated! Does anyone know if someone has scrapped this control board in favour of a more sophisticated option, such as an Arduino to control the motors and program the lasers to flash in sequence, linked to a sound board? That would be amazing. If only I knew how?

Cheers!

Hey Mark,

I appreciate the reply!

"Thanks" to the delays in getting my deliveries, I was well aware of having to wait to test the electronics. Didn't have a choice! The gears could be getting stuck as you say, but they seem to work when I have stripped it down and reassembled it each time.

The main thing that I have been focusing on is the fact that when it goes wrong, which is only when I press button 4 to activate R2, everything else fails to respond as well. So if the cockpit lights were already on, I can't use the remote to turn them off again. Same with the engines, nor can I open and close the wings. These all work perfectly prior to R2 going wrong and also during the brief time he does works properly after a rebuild. I can't see how stuck gears could stop the other functions from working, but resetting it by turning it off and on again via the main power switch gets them working again, just not R2, which starts the issue all over again! Obviously, if the gears got stuck, R2 would not move, but everything else should still work, shouldn't it?

Having read about and experiencing the issues with customer service from DeAg, I am reluctant to even think about getting in touch to ask for replacement parts, which is why I wondered if there was an alternative way to make all this work that was more reliable and had better control of the functions. I saw a link to a sound module in another post and got a bit excited, but listening to the included audio clips, I was less impressed. Mostly R2 sounds and speech, the supposed X-Wing flypast sounds were ok but the firing sounds didn't sound like an X-Wing at all to me. At least it said you could install your own sounds.

Anyway, back to the drawing board!

Cheers Stefan,

That makes perfect sense!