July 1, 2021 – To commemorate this, the posting of our 1,000th article (1,000!), we are going to take a nostalgic look back at some vintage Star Wars mini-rigs over the next several days. These smaller-scale vehicles were designed by Kenner designer Mark Boudreau, and the first wave was released in spring 1981, 40 years ago.
Billed as off-screen vehicles never seen in the Original Trilogy, their existence was hinted at and sometimes even captured in other media, such as in the animated Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Kenner designed the smaller vehicles in response to inflationary pressures of the 1970s/early-1980s and to appeal to budget-conscious consumers. The truncated vehicles typically retailed for $4.99 – compared to prices of $15.00 and more charged for the standard-sized Star Wars vehicle toys. However, because of the popularity of Star Wars, it was not uncommon to see stores charge around $8.99 for each Mini-Rig.
For today’s review, we will focus only on the nifty Desert Sail Skiff.
Mini-Rig Desert Sail Skiff
For a small one-person vehicle, the Desert Sail Skiff has a lot of play features and clearly echoes its larger cousins, Jabba’s Tatooine Skiff and Jabba’s Sail Barge. The box art hints at what’s inside, including the iconic red-orange sail mast.
The Desert Sail Skiff is a scaled-down version of Jabbaās Luxury Sail Barge. The small vehicle allows you to place one standing figure in the cockpit. It features a rotating driverās cockpit, two steering fins, an adjustable sail, and a retractable small gangplank (hidden beneath the forward nose) just long enough for Luke Skywalker to stand on.
The rotating cockpit makes a satisfying clickety-clackety sound as you rotate it from above or from below using the small turn knob. Better yet, if you rotate the cockpit to the left, the twin steering fins move to the right. Turn the cockpit right, and the fins move left. In addition, the two laser canons on either side of the cockpit (they are flat and not that impressive) can rotate 360Ā°.
Additional color and details are provided by stickers applied to the cockpit, to the left and right of the vehicle, and beneath the ship.
In the Droids animated series (1985), the mini-rig makes an appearance as a spin-off model, the Floater-935 (minus its sail).
The Desert Sail Skiff was released in USA (Kenner), Canada (Kenner Canada) and Europe (trilogo packaging). Measuring just under 8 inches (20 cm) long, the small ship has made a big impact among vintage collectors over the last 40 years.
FUTURE of STAR WARS 