First look: Keep your X-Wing in fine working condition with the latest Star Wars user manual

Are you a newly recruited pilot for the Rebel Alliance? Is your X-Wing making a funny ticking noise you just can't figure out?

Fret not, dear galactic freedom fighter — Insight Editions has your back with yet another Star Wars Owners' Workshop Manual (out in November). This time, Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff, and Chris Trevas are tackling the subject of Rebel Starfighters, and we've got an exclusive first look at the book's front cover, which you can check out below.

"As a huge Star Wars fan it’s an amazing opportunity to delve into the saga’s most iconic ships," the book's editor, Chris Prince, tells SYFY WIRE. "Starfighters, like the X-Wing, have become an intrinsic part of our pop culture, but outside of their appearances in the movies, so much has been written about them in comics, novels, and other publications over the years. The Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manual books really bring all this fascinating lore together to create a really dynamic experience for the reader with in-depth specs, exploded diagrams, the complete history of each ship, and tons of cool factoids. If you’re a fan of Star Wars tech and really want to know how an alluvial damper works or how s-foils are locked in position, then these books have it all."

Credit: Insight Editions/Lucasfilm

"The really cool thing about Rebel Starfighters is that it not only covers the X-Wing, but all the starfighters in the fleets of both the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance," Prince adds. "It also delves into each craft’s origins and as many had precursors in the Clone Wars era, you really get a sense of how these ships developed over the course of the entire saga. For example, the A-Wing is based on the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light inceptor that Obi-Wan Kenobi flies in [Episode II] Attack of the Clones. It’s really fun to discover and explore these kinds of connections."

The book also presents fans with a chance to scope out some of the lesser-known Rebel and Resistance ships like the A-Wing, B-Wing, and X-Wing.

"We only ever got a brief glimpse of them when they debuted in [Episode VI] Return of the Jedi and over the years, they’ve made a few appearances in other sources like the comics and the Star Wars Rebels show," notes Prince, "but here we really got the chance to get into the nitty gritty of how they work, including the gyro-stabilization system that allows the craft to rotate while the cockpit stays in the same place. It’s these kinds of details that really make these books special and a great resource for fans."

You can find the official description of the book below:

The Rebel Starfighters Owners’ Workshop Manual presents a thorough history of the starfighters that served the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance. The history includes design origins, production, and modifications for each Rebel starfighter, and is fully illustrated with numerous photographs, schematics, exploded diagrams, and computer-generated artwork by Star Wars vehicle experts Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas. Text is by Ryder Windham, author and co-author of more than 70 Star Wars books. This Haynes Manual is the most thorough technical guide to Rebel starfighters available, and is fully authorized and approved by Lucasfilm.  

"What I also love is the way that these books are exposed to so many levels of Star Wars expertise," Prince says. "The editorial team at Lucasfilm has a depth of knowledge that’s just staggering and they are always on hand to fact-check and make great suggestions so that the final book is just brimming with little-known facts and other treasures. And we’re always thinking about what’s coming next in the series, so planning which Star Wars vehicles we want to focus on in the future is always a lot of fun."

Star Wars: Rebel Starfighters Owners' Workshop Manual goes on sale on Nov. 12. You can pre-order a copy on Amazon here for $24.99 a pop. For more info on the workshop manuals featuring the Millennium Falcon and Imperial TIE Fighters, click here, here, and here.