Scratch Built X-Wing Fighter

The Star Wars X-Wing fighter came about right out of the blue having completed a number of large scale military vehicles (see one Here), a friend at work said why don't you try something new? I asked for a few suggestions and Star Wars came up a few times; so, out into the universe I went with plastic sheet and model knife in hand.

As with all my models the first step was to try and find some plans from which I could work. The ultimate resource, the internet, came up with some reasonable drawings which I enlarged on a photocopier. But, take with any drawings you find on the internet I made the mistake of thinking that all the drawings were in the same scale, they were not. It was only after I had begun basic construction did I find that the front and rear views were very slightly smaller in scale than the main plan. I rectified my measurements and began with the main hull of the craft, which at first glance does not look very hard to construct. I found out the hull shape is quite complex. I had planned to make the wings open and shut as on the original models but would take a lot longer to achieve.

I cut box shapes into the hull section were the wings would be mounted. This meant that the wings could be constructed separately and then the hull and wings finally mated together. The main plastic sheet for both the wing and hull were 40 thou thick, the detail sections of both the hull and the wings was filled with evergreen rod and tube and various shapes cut from sandwiched block plastic. The wings were made from three layers. Two outer skin layers and the inner layer which gave the wing its thickness. This was done by cutting 40 thou plastic into 3/8th wide strips and then laying them along the wing outline and the section where detail holes were cut. This gave the wings a very strong feel when they were all glued together.

The main engine were just rolled up 30 thou tubes and then dressed with thin strips. Once more the very useful evergreen rod and tube were used.

Once all the sub assembly were completed I spent a good few hours test fitting all the parts to make sure that the wings had the correct angle and were secure within the slots I had built into the main hull. The cockpit was made when all the main structures were together. Final panel detailing was added next. Then the whole model was painted with Humbrol paints and then dirtied down to give that well used look. I lost count how many parts I cut for the X wing but it was a great many. The overall look was good and the model is as far as I can tell a little bigger than the originals.

I now have the Star Wars bug and have been busy on my next model watch this space