Four Foot X-wing work in progress(UPDATED WITH NEW PHOTOS)

Very interesting project, but I don't think I understand the story behind it. Did the Xwings in ROTJ have different propotions than those in New Hope? Or just the model that didn't get filmed?

427 Cobra wrote:

This is a project that I have been working on for a few months now. I started this in May of this year initially,but I originally had planned it last year. (I wish I had released this then.)I originally posted this on another forum,but all the hostility from a couple other members has made it unbearable to stay there,and still feel welcomed. It seemed that no matter what I showed them,or what I said,that it wasn't good enough for them on "the other forum"! After months of lurking,I decided to bring this over here to share instead.     This is my tribute to the ILM version that was built about the time that Return of the Jedi was just begining production. This was originally a pet project of two of the ILM guys who were working there at the time that Lorne Peterson was shop supervisor. He saw this,and showed it to George Lucas at the time,and it was agreed to film it. This was never seen in the Return of the Jedi movie though,as it was edited out for budget,and time constraints.

.........and I thought all the rivet counters were into model railroading!  Looks great to me! 

 

  Just this model itself wasn't used. There were smaller models used in Jedi,but no one knows how much footage of the four foot version was used,as opposed to the other models that were used in the filming of The Empire strikes back.  A couple of the models from Empire were used for the X-wing shots in Jedi, but to date, there still isn't much more known about them. These were seen in the movie, but the four foot version never was!

    Thanks for your comment Sumpter250.  Accuracy is a must when making a model of this size! I want to make the most accurate, and correctly made model possible. I'm a machinst, so it helps especially when I need the tools of the trade for 0.01" of an inch accuracy on my builds. I hope that I can show others that you just need a little imagination, and the right parts to make anything out of simple everyday household items.

 

~ Cobra Chris

 

 

Wow, an impressive project and off to a good start. This sounds like something that should end up in a Star Wars museum when completed.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product! looks great so far.

   Thanks guys! I'll post the latest pics tonight if I can get all the image codes copied to here from my photobucket account without any trouble. I hope to have even more progress to show tomorrow.
 

  This is a comparison shot. I wanted to show this for all to see as the smaller (incorrect) five inch version is the one that I started first. The larger nine inch (correct) version beside it is the one that I just recently made and it will be the one I'll use for this build.
 

   In this photo and the two photos below are just small bits and bobs of acrylic. They're only in the rough right now.

 

   This will be the Phantom engine part as soon as I can get it turned the rest of the way to the correct diameter.

 
    This is the finished engine intake,and the first prototype showing how many steps have to be taken to make this the size required for this scale. I hope you guys like!

    This is the flash supressor. I had to shave this down with a Dremel moto-tool. The one on the left is too thin. I'll have to reshape the one one the right to have the correct thickness.

 
 
    This is photo is for comparison. 

 

    These are the pieces of the laser canon disassembled for easier view. This is so you can see what parts I made this from.

 
     These are the musicman covers that I made for Eddie Van Halen model guitar bodies that I make. These will be the engine bells inside the intake shroud.

    This ugly glob of Bondo,and plumbers' two part epoxy putty will be the heatsink - if I can get this to harden all the way through. If not I'll have make another one completely out of Bondo and not mis-matched materials.

 
   This is the epoxy putty end.

   This is the Bondo end.

 

 

 

Here,you can see that I'm measuring the brass tubing to see if it's in spec with what I need for the tip of the bell shape parts used inside the engine intake shroud.
If you look closely you can see small lines that I scribed into the end of this for spacing the discs that will start the first row the be attached to this tubing before I cut them to size.
Here I'm measuring to see that the brass tubing is big around enough for this as it is what I'll be using for the base of the discs. This will make it easier for me to attach them to the 1/8th inch thick plate which this assembly will be mounted to.

 
I'm using the engine intake shroud to size up this plastic mount to which an RC car was originally bolted to. This will help me decide if this will be usable for this part of the build. Luckily it does. This will save me a little time scratch making this. The holes in the discs will allow me to insert this into them and then shave them all down accordingly to create the stairstep effect of the original. This will make it look like the bell housings of the Jedi model.

 
I'll have to sand the mould marks off this and use superglue to replace the plastic that is now missing on the outside ring at the bottom. This will make a perfectly round shape when finished. This will be the larger ring in the middle of the bell housing.

 
A trial test to make sure that this is a snug fit.
This will make it easy to see how much of this disc I need to shave down to the correct specs. This is 1/8th of an inch thick. This is the plate that I'll use to mount the engine bell to the bottom engine shroud.

 
Measuring to ensure that this is in the proper thickness that I need. It actually needs to be 3/32nds of an inch thick. I'll have to shave it down.

 
 

Here,I'm cutting the tubing to the length I need for the other end of this to go through the bell for support with a pipe cutter,as the piece that I'm using to glue the discs to - is hollow up to the inner stub.

I cut small tubing with an Exacto saw so that it doesn't collapse as this pipe cutter is too big. Tubing this size (5/16th),and smaller that need to be bent I fill with water and freeze to keep them from being crushed and collapsing on themselves during the bending process. 5/16th tubing for small parts. This will be the tip of the engine bell inside the engine shroud. I'm also using this same tubing for the laser canons.

 


This piece I shaved the entire length with a Dremel Moto-tool (the original version) for the back of the wing detail. This will be glued to the wing and cast as one piece with it.

This took me a half hour just to cut this at an angle so that it'll look exactly like the wing reinforcement spar in the back of the wings.


 
A closer look at the tubing that I've cut for this project. 11/32nds,5/32nds,and 1/8th of an inch.

Another look.

This is to give you an idea of how long this piece is.

I still have yet to cut the rest of this to size,and make the end of the reinforcement spar for the back of the wing. I'll post photos of the parts that I'm copying. I of course have made a blueprint style drawing of the wing and all the dimensions of the parts are made according to this. 

 

 

~ Cobra Chris

           

Howdy, You obviously are very devoted and have already put forth alot of research and effort to get to this point! And with the background of this model , which you've shared, at ILM in itself makes it noteworthy as well! But, may I please submit for your consideration that speaking of interboard (or past boards) "politics"/issues/controversy only detract from your own presentation here?

 I say that hopefully in a constructive fashion (in no way pretending to be a mod) as an interested reader/member, here at FSM who finds the rest distracting at least and even possibly casting an unpleasant mood on your thread. I look forward to following your project.

Duly noted. Post edited. I wish not to be associated with such forum hyjinks! I don't want to seem off balance with the other members here.

 

~ Cobra Chris

I'm sure this will be terribly impressive when it's done - got my popcorn out to watch!

Thanks for the compliments! I was just checking my mail when I came across this forum post in my inbox. I have a bad cold right now,so I'm out of action. I only have enough strength to post a quick message.  Here's the latest progress. 

                                                                                  ~ Cobra Chris

 

 This is not yet glued. You can see that the outside edge still needs to be shaped to the outside of this shroud.

  The edge overhangs here,and in the photo below this one as well.

 
I taped the bottom part of the shroud to keep its' shape. After routing this to 3/32nd of an inch,this wants to spring out - especially after being cut in half.

 I taped this first,then slid the tape a little at a time(holding it with one hand)while this was sitting on top half of the engine housing,so that I could align the two without a lot of hassle.

This it to show the step between the two pieces. For whatever reason,the ILM modelers did this purely out of asthetics.

The dirt in the surface of this is from the 600 grit particles of the wet-sanding paper that got into the cellular core. The outer core is harder than the inner core,which is porous.

 

I shaved this down into the core,so this will have to be sealed with lacquer before I glue any parts to it. This will ensure a smooth surface once cast is resin. This isn't yet glued at this time,as it still has the protective covering over it,and only shown for example.

 
In this photo,I'm using a piece of MDF to weigh down the acrylic so that it glues evenly. This will ensure that there is no asymmetrical warpage.

                                                                                     

This is the original pattern cut from cardstock before I found out was too small (wrong scale 3'ft. 6" in.)! Now I have to start over with the fuseglage dimensions,but everything else I've made since then is correct to the four foot scale. For those who might be reading this right now - I'll have to edit this later as I'm sick and feeling light headed. The medicine I took an hour ago is now starting to really kick in and making it harder to concentrate on what I'm doing right now.  I'll edit this and the previous post with explanations of what each photo represents when I feel more lucid (clear of thought).

                                          ~ Cobra Chris

 

This is all penciled with roughed out lines to show where all the parts should be once assembled.

 
 
All these parts had to be remade by hand.  Everything in this post had to be re-drawn,and re-cut for the four foot version.

 



 

 



 
 


 


All this was the original plan for the X-wing,but all of it is too small.

'
 

 



 

 

Here,I'm making a template for the bell housing. This will help guide me along as I make the small cuts that will create the shape that I need to acheive the look of the original model.
 

Each one of these steps have to be carefully taken to ensure accuracy but for now - I'll just rough this out with my Moto-tool and then refine the shape by hand. Using the RC car mount for an inner structure saves time.

 
 This is the paper pattern made from tracing the cone. This will make it easy for me to determine the correct shape and angle to follow while cutting out my acrylic pattern. I just trace this out onto my acrylic first,then refine it later after I establish how thick each disc needs to be in order to make the correct outside angle of the bell shape.

 
The cone on the left is how this originally looked,and the one on the right is after I sanded the outside ring to look like the middle ring on the ILM model. I'll post comparison pics to further illustrate my point.

In this photo - I'm measuring to see how wide this is. This helps me to establish whether or not my tracing is too big or too small for this acrylic piece I have chosen for this pattern. I'm not one for wasting anything so I'm making this from a piece of scrap.

Here, I'm measuring to see where the center line should be,so that I can place the pattern on the reverse side and make the same shape as I trace it out before cutting it to shape.

 
This is a sample photo for comparison. This needs to be sanded with 400 grit to the final shape before sanding with 600 grit for gluing.

 
 I'm making my mark on the pattern here to ensure that it's straight so that it'll be evenly cut on both sides afterwards. I have to take into account the thickness of the ballpoint pen and move the yardstick over a little until the very tip of the pen touches the center line I made earlier. That way I know that the mark will be centered all the way through my pattern piece. I'll have to extrapolate the dimension of width from the engine housing to make sure that it'll be proportionate to rest of the model.

 
Ensuring that the line is true to the center,so that after this is cut out - it'll be even on both sides and not too small for the cone shape that this will form once all the pieces are glued to it.

Traced out on this side.

 
Finally traced out on both sides.

This is it after being cut on one side but I wasn't too sure about making the fine cuts with the Moto-tool so I'll leave all the fine cutting and fitting to being shaped by hand. I'll cut the basic shape out the rest of the way tomorrow as I started to cut this out at twilight. It was getting to dark to see what I was doing so I had to stop for the night.

 

~ Cobra Chris

 

 

   This is a photo taken to show the clarity,and scale of these wings. The wells,or engine bays  (the plenum where the Saturn V parts go)are separate from these and will add about 5" inches more to their overall width from the wingtip to the fuselage.

These are the wings with the acrylic pieces replaced where the hole for the inside detail was cut too big.

The half circle shapes are the pieces that go at the ends of the engine housing for the Phantom engines to mount.

  The little retangular piece cut in half at an angle is the original replacement for the acrylic that I cut for the wing detail. The hole was too big,and the wrong shape towards the leading edge (towards the nosecone) so I made one to fit. This was a tiny bit too small so I made a second piece that now fits to my satisfaction. The other triangular pieces to the left of the wing are the details that go on the front of the intake plenums. They have no real life function but decorate this area for a more realistic look.

 

These are the intake plenum ends. These are the parts that are covered by the ornamental triangular pieces.

 

~ Cobra Chris

 

Here I'm doing the water test. This is to make sure that the glue has sealed all the way around - it did.

Here is the acrylic that I used to make the ribs for the bottom of the shroud facing toward the front.  If you look closely you'll see that there is a slight gap between the shroud and the ribs themselves. I'll glue 60 grit sandpaper to the shroud with 3M brand spray adhesive as it's a soft glue and is easily removed with mineral spirits. This will allow me to draw the acrylic across the sandpaper and sand the exact shape into these pieces. This way there will be no gap between the two surfaces when glued.

A view from above.

 
This was a vain attempt to round these out evenly.

 
Another view. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! This failed miserably no matter how well I taped this to the cone that I intend to use for the bell housing.

 
 
These last two photos are for comparison. Although not very visible you can see that I filled the gap in with superglue and baking soda. I still need to sand this to 600 grit smoothness.

 

~ Cobra Chris

Here're the two photos that I used for reference.

 

 

 

 

~ Cobra Chris

    This is the beginning of the bell housing. I turned these all on an arbour made for polishing wheels. I put a power drill into a vise mounted on a workbench.  I had to make an adapter for this to hold these as the holes in the vinyl discs cut from the EVH musicman control covers were drilled to 3/8"ths of an inch. This made holding them in place easier as they were being machined. The acrylic discs were turned on a 1/4" inch hole (the same size as the bolt for the arbour).  These didn't require any special adaptor to file them as they were being turned on the drill. I held a rasp file at an angle against the table and the discs and filed them as they were turning.

 
    I cut the acrylic discs out with a Moto-tool after scoring a circular line on them with a drafting compass. I then drilled them with a 1/4" inch drill bit. Afterwards I turned them on the drill. I had to stop periodically to ensure the diameter of each was within the exact tolerances of the original.

   This is a "3/8ths drill bit. This is to ensure that this has the correct symmetry all the way around.

 
    This is another shot for your amusement.

    Acrylic discs. These form the rest of the bell housing behind the reinforcement ring. I'm using acrylic,as I ran out of the vinyl EVH musicman control covers that I cut up for this.

 

    I decided to cut the cone off instead of trying to cut the insides of all the discs to match the symmetry of the cones' structure.

This isn't glued together yet. These are just laid on top of each other for example.

This is what this should look like when finished.

This is it from the other side. I hope you all like this so far.

 

~ Cobra Chris

  This is a piece of stretched sprue that I inserted in too far,and I had to drill out,and make another piece. (It was superglued in)

 

  This is the tip. I had to round it off to look like the actual model. Doesn't it look like the top to a waterbottle?

 
  This is a 1/2 MM. machinists' drill bit.

  Yes I AM crazy enough to drill into this 3/32nd of an inch styrene tip.

 
  This is standing up at an angle - how is beyond my comprehension.

 
  The shadow makes it look like it's crooked on the second tier but it's perfectly straight all the way around on all three.

 

~ Cobra Chris

very huge work

Thanks! I appreciate all the comments. 

    I'll let most of the pictures do the talking. 

 
 
 

 

 

This is the replacement disc for the reinforcement. This goes half way through the bell. The original one had a gap between it and the disc behind it. I didn't want to fill it and still have a sloppy looking joint between them.

I turned this on a Millwaukee corded drill. This picture is only for demonstration and to show how I made this. I clamped the drill to a vise on the workbench then I held 60 grit sandpaper glued to a board. I smoothed this to shape with a rasp file held at a 45 degree angle. I followed that up with 220,320,(Wet)and 600(wet)sandpaper.

 

I shaved this down to the same diameter of the first disc.

 

This is to show the clarity of this piece.

 
I love the look of this so much. I don't want to cut it in half.

  

 







 


This turned into a dismal failure. This was supposed to be the reinforcement ring in the middle of the intake bell.

 
I wetsanded on these discs so much that I wetsanded through my fingertips. This made them bleed uncontrollably for a couple minutes.

Here's the mess I made on the countertop while doing this.

This is the cutting wheel that I made from a fender washer with the Moto-tool. I was tired of breaking cut off discs,so I made this. It slices right through plastic like a knife through hot butter.

 

~ Cobra Chris

Not only are you scratchbuilding a four-foot X-wing, you're scratchbuilding your own tools.

Sweet.

Thanks for the compliment! Sometimes you have to improvise to get the job done. Being a former machinist has its' advantages.

Here are the latest reference photos that I used for this. 

Click on photos to see them in their original size.

I know that everyone is sick of seeing this in the form that it was made in - I know I am.

Now you don't have to.

I had to shave this down,it was too tall.

Here you can see the lines I scored into it for cutting.

With its' final shape. This is for the F-4 Phantom engine mount. F-4 -it seems ironic,as this is the stamp the U.S. government uses for "rejected" projects. Um, actually it's 4-F. Same difference - I'm rejecting these parts.

The cut off  wheel that I made is very sharp. I found this out the hard way.

The discs I cut for the finial behind the flash supressor.

This is it in the rough. I turned all the discs at the same time. This was too long,so I had to remove one of the discs. I didn't glue these together to keep me from having to shave this down.

The smaller disc was to be shaved to the correct diameter later. I only cut it out at this stage to approximate its' size with the other parts.

The heat from turning the discs melted them together even after polishing them to high gloss.

This is to show scale.

I turned the ruler over for both english and metric measurements.

More damage. It's easy to see which hand does the most work. I tore this open while cutting these discs. I have over half a dozen cuts now.  I know what everyone is thinking. You don't want to see a cut up hand. I won't be able to work on this until I heal.

Well if you don't see any updates for a while you'll know why.

This is the finial in its' final shape.

 A closer look. I polished this for clarity. This way,I could see if there're any imperfections.

This won't be highly polished when I'm done with it. This will have to be satin finished so that paint will stick to the cast version of it.

 

~ Cobra Chris

  Here's a birds' eye view of the barrel. I took several photos of this. I can't make up my mind which one is the clearest,so I posted all of them. I haphazardly assembled this for you guys to get an idea of what this will look like when finished. None of it is glued together yet.

This is Mandy.  She thinks she's helping me out. No sooner than I started taking these pictures,she jumped right into the camera view. She was playing with the short brass piece that I use to mount parts for photos.

 

 

I just wanted to chime in and say how much I'm enjoying this project. Your passion for the subject matter really shines through your work.

Thank you. All the comments are very much appreciated. Now I don't feel like I'm talking to myself.

Here are two of the reference photos that I used to make this with. Click on photos to see them in their original size.

 

~ Cobra Chris