I took more of a compromise approach: The films over-ruled all else--PERIOD--followed by the novelizations/radio dramas OF the films. Pre-production or other work used directly in the making of the films was then the next choice to fill in the blanks. What was left was filled out using the other source material (common sense, historical precedence, and actual science came first, followed by the games, novels, comics, etc).
The one that would have been most interesting to do is the E-wing, because she's probably the fighter that has the most material on her WITHOUT having originated in the films. She's also my favorite ship in the EU.
Highlights of that page would have been:
The EGV blueprints are impossible. With a stated length of ~11m long, the schematics would make the ship no more than a meter wide at the cockpit. It wouldn't have been possible to fit a pilot in there.
Unlike the X-wing, which has the film model to go by, there IS no consistent visual reference on the E-wing. Although the general configuration remains the same, all other details vary depending on who's doing the artwork. Personally, I prefer the design as presented in Dark Empire. Although the artwork isn't the best, it's still the original source material so should hold the same precedence as the films do for fighters such as the X-wing. This changes a LOT of details about this ship, including:
The dorsal cannon becomes SIGNIFICANTLY larger. Almost twice the length of the two wing cannon.
The EGV locates a "pod" under the centerline that it labels as a single torpedo launcher. In no image of the ship within Dark Empire is such a pod present. Only the two under-wing pods where the aft landing gear retract can be seen in all representations of the ship.
The silouhette itself changes. The EGV ship is stubbier, with an X-wing-like nosecone.. The wings have a forward/aft symmetry and the wingtip is rather short with a strong anhedral. Her dorsal cannon is the same length as the wing guns. The wing engine pods are centered under the wings (forward/aft). The Dark Empire E-wing is sleeker and has more of a hawk-like nosecone. Additionally, the wings have a more gradual downward angle, and the span of the wingtip is greater. They're also more rhomboid, with a nearly straight trailing edge and a strongly swept leading edge. The dorsal cannon is also much longer, extending well past the canopy. The wing engines are not centered in their mounts, but instead extend further forward.
The engine location, well below the vessel's center of mass, is impractical. Without some other mechanism, torque from the off-center line of thrust would make the ship perpetually loop in space. This is solved by:
There is the possibility the ship has THREE, not two, engines. Incidental artwork in Dark Empire shows engine thrust originating from the fighter's aft bulkhead. This is further supported by Crimson Empire, which clearly shows E-wings with an engine array in the rear bulkhead. Additionally, there is the intake/cooling grill assembly on the flanks of the fuselage beneath the cockpit. No other fighter has this, EXCEPT when associated with engines (note the intakes on the B-wing for comparison). The wing engines already have such an opening (similar to the X-wing's). Likely the centerline engines counter the the rotational torque of the wing engines.
The DE E-wing has a prominent ovoid opening on each side of the nose cone. The structure is identical to the torpedo launcher ports on the X-wing. If true, this would DEFINITELY overrule the West End Games stat of a single launcher tube. Experiments I did with 3D models HAVE shown the E-wing can carry the 16-torpedo loadout (rotating launcher track similar to the Y-wing's in the Incredible Cross-section book).
There's some evidence that the E-wing carries a pair of ion cannon. First, the lead E-wing in Dark Empire orders his squadrons to arm their "Turbos and ion cannons" when arriving at Mon Calamari. Second, one frame of the comic shows muzzle flashes on the E-wing's wingroot, consistent with the comic's representation of weapons fire. These are clearly not the wing guns, which are well outboard at the tip of each wing. It's also not coming from the ovoid structures in the nose. No other weaponry is ever indicated in this position. With the laser cannon and torpedoes ruled out, this leaves only the ion cannon.
