Jeff Herne Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) So I scored this studio scale (1/24) kit of the X-wing...all resin, only 80 parts, but so far its been a great build. I started sanding and filling... The previous owner of the kit had cleaned up the kit amazingly well, including a nicely done upper/lower fuselage joint. I filled and primed the areas to check for gaps.... Next step was to fill and pin the wings...pretty straightforward. Everything pinned together... With everything in place I drilled the wing and block for the wiring... ...to take each of the pre-wired engine leads. I didn't like the R2 unit in the kit, so I found a metal R2 unit at our local comic book shop and chopped him up... That's about as far as I've gotten, I'm working on the cockpit fiber optics and wiring up LED leads while designing and building a controller board for the LEDs. More pics as I go... Jeff Edited August 16, 2011 by Jeff Herne Artful69, Lars Befring and Girlscanplay2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladder4boy Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 this oughta be fun to watch! If you get a chance, throw something in there for a scale reference... i wanna see how big this bad boy is! Cheers, Jerry Artful69 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Man what an cool score! This should be an awesome model when finished. I've always had a hankering for a large scale X-Wing. Do you mind telling who does the kit and is it available? I be watching to see how it progresses. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Herne Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Hi Barry - the kit is no longer available - but they pop up on Ebay once in awhile. The kit was originally produced by Captain Cardboard - and updated versions are sometimes released by Mike Salzo. I stumbled across a site called the RPF, they have a forum dedicated to studio scale modeling, and most of the producers of these large kits post their stuff there... http://www.therpf.com/studio-scale-models/ I'm hoping to get primer on the beast tonight, so I'll post up some new pics. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Looking forward to your updates Jeff! This thing is huge and cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Jeff Terrific kit and sure will be fun following along. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Hi Barry - the kit is no longer available - but they pop up on Ebay once in awhile. The kit was originally produced by Captain Cardboard - and updated versions are sometimes released by Mike Salzo. I stumbled across a site called the RPF, they have a forum dedicated to studio scale modeling, and most of the producers of these large kits post their stuff there... http://www.therpf.com/studio-scale-models/ I'm hoping to get primer on the beast tonight, so I'll post up some new pics. J Thanks Jeff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) OHHH!!!..Very nice. I've seen those built up and they are VERY accurate. Much better than my scratch build from the mid 90's. http://msfm.seryan.com/vaughn_m/xwing-vm.htm As to size, if I remember correctly length is about 24 in., span about 22 in. Nice to see another SI-FI large scale ship. Vaughn Edited July 13, 2011 by spacewolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Herne Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 (edited) Here's the latest update...I assembled the major components. With the wings open and those cannon, the only real way to set the model down is nose-up, so I took my turntable, threaded a bolt into some nylon rod, and ran it into the bottom of the fuselage. This is how the model will be displayed on a permanent base, eventually. I threw in the yardstick to give you an idea of the size. The instructions want you to glue the wings into the fuselage, but this prevents any access to the interior fuselage, so I drilled the wings, countersunk the openings, and ran threaded rod through to the other side. The holes will be covered with sheet styrene and tacked into place with canopy glue. If any of the electronics crap out in the future, I can access the boards by removing the covers and unbolting the wings. I have some 10mm hi-intensity LEDs in each engine nacelle to simulate the engines... The problem that I ran into was that the bare resin absorbed much of the light, so I lined the interior of the engines with Bare Metal Foil... When its lit up now, looking into the engines will almost blind you! I started running the cables to the cockpit section. The cockpit design is well thought-out, a resin drop in piece forms the basis for the entire pit. Here's the fibers running up through... The fibers are left long on purpose for two reasons - first, so the cockpit area can be touched up with paint, weathered, washed, etc. Trimming the fiber after ensures you don't mess up the fiber with paint. Second, there's two possible ways to finish the fiber. First method is to glue the backside of the fiber and simply snip it flush with the surface. This gives you a fiber with a diameter of .5mm. The second method is to heat the end of the fiber - it mushrooms and creates a 'lens'. The fiber is then pulled back through the opening and glued into place on the backside. This gives you a fiber with a nice rounded face anywhere from .6mm to .7mm - it just changes things up a bit. Finally everything is glued to the underside of the tub. The smaller black fibers are individual strands of .25mm that I ran to the instrument panel, and the wires power a small LED that backlights the main screen on the panel...the wires running to the shrink tube has two sets of 32-strand white fibers, each .25mm individuals that light up a small panel on the side of the instrument panel (which, btw, is supposed to be accurate to the original studio model but not the film). I used a piece of photoetched brass screen and ran 64 individual fibers into a 1/4" x 1/4" square, just to have different colors. From here, its more electronics work and primer... J Edited July 18, 2011 by Jeff Herne Lars Befring and Girlscanplay2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Herne Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hey Vaughn, That's a gorgeous X-wing! And signed by David/Anakin/Darth/Anakin too!! J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrongWay Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 That looks fantastic! Can't wait to see it with the lighting. Cheers, Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richter111 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Looking good there! Nice to finally see her built by someone who knows what they are doing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Hey Vaughn, That's a gorgeous X-wing! And signed by David/Anakin/Darth/Anakin too!! J Thanks Jeff, It was cool to meet him and getting the model signed was a real thrill. Your idea for lining the light area with foil is great. Another way to stop light bleed is a couple of coats of gloss black covered with a coat of gloss silver, it works great. Your access panel/ wing mounting idea is brilliant, I'll keep that in mind for future builds. Awesome work on the cockpit ! Vaughn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 (edited) Both of these look great. I can't wait to see more progress. I'm not sure if it's the same kit or not but there's a studio scale X wing kit listed on CultTV Man's website. http://www.culttvmanshop.com/Incom-T-65-Space-Fighter-from-Atomic-City_p_1754.html If it is the same one you're building, I may have to break down and get it. Which means no Mustang for me (for now). Carl Edited July 22, 2011 by BloorwestSiR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Herne Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 That's the one Carl! I messed up the intakes - so I'm at an impasse. It seems the intake cowls are labeled A and B...I figured they went top and bottom A on the top, B on the bottom, but they're left and right...A on the left, B on the right. As a result, I have two intakes which are incorrect. So, I have to either remove the intakes or swap the wings...removing the intakes will require a ton of cutting, while swapping the wings will require a clean break at the joint...either one is risky... I also noticed that my intake splitters are on the wrong intakes...they should be on the outer half of the intake opening. Fortunately, those were only tacked in place with canopy glue, so.... J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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