Ohhh that's really cool! 

And most importatly great to see your friend so happy with her! 

I have the same kit in a drawer at my workbench! Nice work, and great inspiration.

HA! I love it, the base adds to the fun. Well done! Prost!

Thanks sickdude! And luckily, I finished the diorama this past weekend and gave it to my buddy! It has taken me a VERY long time to finish this thing, but it's done, I'm happy with it and most importantly, my buddy is happy with it! I did hit one final snag- I must have soldered something incorrectly and the LED's in the X-wing engine would not light up. Rather then tear the whole thing apart to find the issue, I told my buddy about what had happened. He told me I had already gone "above and beyond " with the build, and told me not to worry about a few LED's. So, after gluing down some clear styrene rods, pulling apart cotton balls, and running some small wires, I had a lit diorama with a sweet looking starfighter on it! The x-wing was secured in place with hot glue. The kit-provided plastic base is surprisingly sturdy- not bad for 20+ year old plastic! I asked my lovely wife if she could drive me to my friend's house on Sunday evening. I figured that way I could hang onto the model on the ride over, and if it broke on the way at least it would be my fault! Those ten minutes seemed like the longest in my life, but we got to Kyle's okay and the guy was over the moon with his X-wing- just look at his smile in the one photo!  The wife even got an action shot of me showing Kyle how to replace the 9 volt battery (I'm in the denim vest). Kyle's X-wing is FINALLY home, complete with an action scene! Thanks to all of you who have been following this build, and to those who gave me advice ! 

Excellent, most excellent sir! I really like the job you did on the x-wing, and the dio you're doing with it sounds awesome! Tower and base look great so far, can't wait to see it finished .

Thanks for the kind words guys, and also I didn't know there was a snowspeeder kit out there, nor did I realize that this was THE X wing kit for the longest time. Thanks for the info guys! 

With the fighter and it's wiring/lighting complete, I've devoted my energies to building a diorama for it. I started with an old book shelf, cut down, and a piece of styrofoam cut to the same dimensions as the shelf. I bought a foam cutter and made some patterns that look like the surface of the Death Star. This surface was then primed, the scribed lines pre-shaded, and then the whole thing was painted cement grey. A large portion was also cut out to simulate a giant explosion (which is where the X wing stand will be placed). 

After that was complete, I built a battle-damaged turbo laser turret. And by battle damaged, I mean this thing took a direct hit from a proton torpedo. It's made from balsa wood and faced with sheet styrene. The one remaining cannon barrel is made from an aluminum tube, a dorsal turret ring from the Blenheim kit I recently finished, and a thermocouple bracket from a bad thermocouple I took out of a water heater about a month ago. Sometimes junk gets a second life as something else! I'm literally waiting on a handful of 270 ohm resistors to get here so I can get to work on the lighting for the diorama base itself. Here are some progress photos! 

Back in 1977 and until fine Molds did one, the MPC X-Wing was THE X-Wing model to build.  Even with its warts, like others said, it looked exactly like an X-Wing.  Fond memories - I built three between 1977 and 1983.

Oh wow that's a great job!!! Glad to see her all done! And beautiful work!

It is ineed the old MPC X-Wing! It's been a pretty neat old build, too. I have have since completed the X-Wing, complete with LEDs in the engine nacelles to simulate an engine fire/battle damage. Stuffing from a ripped up dog toy will be used as smoke coming from the damaged area. The stuffing was readily available, as my German Shepherd loves to rip his toys apart! Soon I will start the display base for it, And I have used the kit provided stand to fix the model to the display base with. I will also be using another piece of clear styrene to help secure the fighter because I don't trust the old stand!

Is that the MPC X-Wing?  Even with its age and all its warts, it still looks exactly like an X-Wing.  So many fond memories  from back in the day.

Holy smokes, how did I let THIS thread go by the wayside? I’ve been working on this X-wing, slowly but surely! I’ve finished construction, painting and decals on this thing. Soon, it’ll be weathered, finished, wired with LED’s and then attached to a diorama which hopefully won’t take me too long to build! But, this thing isn’t for me, it’s for one of my best friends. So this thing HAS to look good!  The windshield split over the many years that my buddy had this in storage. No big deal however, it’s just going to add to the battle damage!

Really nice work on that pit Andy.

I am really looking forward to seeing this built. Building Star Wars models will be a dream come true for me and then I can make my own Star Wars scenes in my garage.

Gamera

Now this is going to be cool! I built one or two of the vintage MPC kits back in the day and remember they weren't well the most detailed or well-fitting around. Looking forward to you taking her on. 

Ya know I'd be very much tempted to subsitute one of the new better quality kits. Unless you friend is really into SW models he probably wouldn't notice the difference. 

 

I recently found a close out store that had a Revell 1/30th scale X-Wing. Very large and very nice kit.

Kalifornia - That's hilarious!  

I did a great deal of work on the pilot figure for the X-wing tonight. I completely overhauled the helmet, and added bits of styrene to make the helmet look more like what the pilots wear in the films. I've also added a small section on the front of the pilot, which will be the "chest box". I also had to make a new chin for the pilot after reshaping the helmet. It looks worse than it is, once I get some paint on this guy, it won't look half bad!

Darn! I let yet another few months pass by without any work being done on this X-wing. I can explain, I was involved three other group builds!

I finally put my Defiant down for long enough tonight to get some work done on this here starfighter. I painted the cockpit and decided to add a bit of interior detail to make it look more realistic. I've painted some of the buttons and dials different colors, and I've added solder to look like hoses and cables. The solder was attached with super glue, and tomorrow I'll be painting over it with different colors. It's also become apparent to me that the figure provided looks more like a Russian cosmonaut than an X-wing pilot. Though it WOULD look cool if a miniature Yuri Gagarin was at the controls, it wouldn't be accurate. I've got some sheet styrene that will be used to modify the helmet to make it look standard rebel issue. Here's a photo of the cockpit for now. I'll be working on the pilot figure tomorrow night.

Nice to see this up and running.

Well, at least you have plenty of reference photos at your fingertips...

nice to see this back in progress!

Well after MONTHS of neglecting this build, I dusted off the part of my workbench where my X-wing kit was sitting....and started working on it again. I've got the wings assembled, and I'm working on the cockpit and figures now. The wings were a bit tricky, and the instructions weren't too clear about how far back/forward the laser cannons should be mounted. But, I managed to get everything looking good!

I know I'm responding to all of you guys REALLY late, but Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great holiday season, and I really hope you all got a chance to see Rogue One! And that's the part of the reason I was able to get back on track with this build. I saw that film twice, and was reminded of the fact that I have an X-wing on my workbench that's just screaming to get worked on! So after I was done working on a 1:72 Thunderjet this morning, I switched gears (and galaxies) to my X-wing. I have the laser cannons all set to go, and I've started working on one of the wing sections. I gotta say, this build goes together pretty quick and easy!

You're off to a good start. I've picked up a couple of the newer Revell Easy kits (snap together & pre-painted) on clearance at Hobby Lobby. One is Luke's X-Wing Red 5 and the other is the Resistance X-Wing from the Force Awakens.

"I might be able to find a ton of old Star Wars books, some action figures, and maybe the original three movies on VHS"

Exactly the same here.  Love this.  :)

Cool!!!

Thanks for the tip, Rob! I FINALLY started this X-wing today after a very busy few weeks at work. I used a very small amount of cement on the engine nacelles, and they went together without any difficulty. I'm hoping to do some more work on the fighter when I come home from work tonight!

I've built this kit twice; once back when it was released after first movie and a reissue after Desert Storm in 1991. One of the things I remember about it was that the upper and lower fuselage halves don't quite line up. I think you have to add some scrap plastic to the inner edges of one side of the lower fuselage so that there isn't a gap.

Be careful with the old MPC/AMT/Ertl plastic; it is very soft and too much glue with cause it to melt.

Now this is going to be cool! I built one or two of the vintage MPC kits back in the day and remember they weren't well the most detailed or well-fitting around. Looking forward to you taking her on. 

Ya know I'd be very much tempted to subsitute one of the new better quality kits. Unless you friend is really into SW models he probably wouldn't notice the difference.