The introduction of the Republic Gunships to Hasbro's lineup of vehicles was a welcome addition! The first time I saw one of these bad boys was on the silver screen and Attack of the Clones finally lived up to its name as thousands of Clones decended onto Geonosis to battle the Separatist forces and rescue the Jedi. The databank over at starwars.com succintly lays out the details of these massive ships:

"Rugged, combat-equipped repulsorcraft, Republic attack gunships rained down blistering barrages of laser and rocket retribution against the droid forces of the Separatists. Each winged gunship was covered in weapons, offering air-to-ground and air-to-air support as well as serving as an infantry transport.

The front of the gunship features hunchback-style cockpit bubbles, wherein the gunship pilot and copilot / gunner sit in single file. Chin-mounted on the craft are a pair of laser cannon turrets. On the gunship's dorsal surface are its primary armaments, two massive rocket launchers fed by a rear-mounted missile belts. The vessel's splayed wings have a pair of automated bubble-turrets, with composite-beam laser weaponry. A second pair of bubble-turret cannons extends on articulated arms from the troop cabin, and are gunner-operated by clone troopers encased within the armored spheres. Air-to-air rockets are slung on the ventral surface of each wing. Rounding out the gunship's armaments is a single tail-cannon that provides covering fire for troops and small vehicles leaving the gunship. ." - source: starwars.com

 

As far as the toy representation that Hasbro produced to compliment the toy line for Attack of the Clones, the gunships suffered from one serious flaw - missing bubble turrets. As described above, the cockpit turrets (as seen in the movie representation below) sported these massive turrets, very reminiscent of the B-17 bubble turrets on the under bellies of the bombers in World War 2.

The eBay seller, vader9900, created a simple fix for Hasbro's oversight and lack of attention to detail. He created custom bubble turrets for the gunships (as seen below):

A very nice addition to the Gunship and fans of these vehicles had an opportunity to bid on one of these customs in an eBay auction that ended September 9th. Vader9900's creation nabbed him $204 on eBay! Nicely done! If you are impressed with his work, you can find links to other custom star wars figures and vehicles that are being sold on eBay.