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

I understand what you mean,but this isn't twisted around itself. What you're describing is exactly what I do for wire twisted together. This was tightly wrapped around a cylinder shape. This left small semicircular bends in the wire,so no amount of twisting will help in this case. The only way to get this straightened out was with a pair of needlenose pliers after much drawing this between my thumb,and a 3/8" (1 cm) drill bit. The drill bit technique worked to take most of the kinking out. The needlenose pliers have a flat space that makes straightening out wire a lot easier without leaving small tool marks in it.

Here's another ridiculously small update. This is a closeup shot of the piano frame mounted for example. This still needs a little tweaking at this time,so it's not glued to the Phantom engine. I soldered these after stripping the insulation off the wire.   

A little closer shot. This is for detail. You can't really see the sanding,and tiny tooling marks,but I tried to capture this in its' raw form anyway. You can't tell in any of these photos,but these are made from two sizes of wire,just as the original four foot X-wings' are.

Here's the piano frame for the other side in its' raw form. Each of these will be wetsanded with 600 grit before gluing. This will produce a smoother finish on the cast versions of this part.  

Please note the prototype of these to the right.

This is what it'll look like when it's done. This tube looks a too big in diameter,but once all the greeblies are on this it'll be to scale,and it'll have the proper appearance to the original ILM model. This is half a days' work. I had to bend,and sand forever to get these to look halfway respectable. These are soldered,as metal doesn't like superglue very well. It'll stick metal to plastic,but not metal to itself.

OOOHHH! Soft fuzzy memories shot.   This came out like this for unknown reasons,but I was trying to show the other associated parts with it.

This what the photo above was to look like. I just wish I could take a picture of all the hard work,and sweat that went into making these from scratch,and all the bending,and bending,and rebending that it took to get them this far! The rest of the greeblies for this will be the next step. Afterwards,this will be finished once the lip at the top of this tube is beveled,and banded.

Here're three comparison shots for you to see what I'm trying to duplicate.

Let it be said that I'm a humble person willing to admit his mistakes! 

427 Cobra

 This is what it'll look like when it's done. This tube looks a too big in diameter,but once all the greeblies are on this it'll be to scale,and it'll have the proper appearance to the original ILM model.

 

Let me correct myself. This tube looks too big because it is!!!  I held this next to the afterburner today,and it IS too big in diameter,so I had to strip this - again!!    Remember people,speed is nice,but accuracy MUST come first!

For those who are wondering - I edited out the background in this photo,as there was a bunch of junk hanging on the wall behind it. This was too much of a distraction,so I deleted it along with the bow on top of the cookie jar,and the refrigerator on the other side of the stove.

I feel there's enough clutter in this picture to look at with the tea kettle,spoon rest,glass cutting board,simmering pot,and cookie jar as well as the stove itself.

This is the homemade bandage I made out of masking tape. I pushed the knife blade I was using with my thumb. I taped it when it started to feel sore. (notice the hair stuck to the tape)

Any way,I'm so pissed right now!! Words can't describe it! I'm more disappointed than anything. I was so proud of my piano frames after all the hard work I did. Now,I'll have to reshape these to the 0.40" less diameter this tube is now. I didn't realise this was too big until after I held the two parts together. I'm glad I didn't glue anything to this yet!

I have to think like a model maker,not just a builder. I always test the fit,and the proportion before progressing to the next step,but this time I couldn't without knowing the exact size of these two once finished. This is difficult when trying to guess what this will be in relation to the overall diameter of the other parts associated with this part of the build. I figured that this would be correct,as it looked to skimpy when I held the afterburner to this before adding the last 0.40" sheet. I now realise that the parts laid on top of this give the Phantom engine it's bulk.  Oh well,back to the drawing board!
 
 Here's the proof. This afterburner is just a hair bigger that the Phantom body. This is only in the band of the afterburner. The Phantom engine is almost the same size in relation to this. After I sand this smooth (again) it'll actually be the correct diameter I'm looking for. This won't be noticable until all the greeblies are glued to this.

A horrible rash has broken out on this part,causing it to break out in hives! 

Actually,I melted some styrene pieces in a bath of acetone to soften them up. I then smeared these pieces into the depressions in the tube made from the knife blade going too deep while I was scraping it. This process makes the styrene pieces bond permanently to it. The styrene acts as a filler that bonds to itself. Once this has solidified,it makes an invisible repair when sanded smooth.  I put this softened styrene on last night. It has since hardened,and is now ready to sand. I was so excited to see this worked exactly as it should the first time,that I couldn't wait to post pictures of it.

(Notice the burned piano frame on the bottom right corner.) This happened after I tried to remove masking tape from it that was used to hold it in the correct placement. The flame made the copper too soft (annealed it),so I could no longer use it.

I've since made a couple of new piano frames. One of these was 1/32"nd (1 mm) too small,so I disassembled it,and used the round wire for another piano frame to solder it to. I was unhappy with the idea of having to make new ones,but I have to ensure that these are correct! The one on the far right was a dismal failure. I made this one after I tried this the fourth time. I've made five of these altogether now. The piano frame in the middle will need a little more tweaking before being glued to the tube. Then I'll make the rest of the greeblies for this now that it's the correct diameter. I hate the idea of redoing every part of this,as it's slowed my progress,and there aren't too many more parts that I've made that need to be finished. I guess that this is just part of the game.

This is the tube for the Phantom engine after a second time filling small holes,and depressions in the surface with sheet styrene softened with acetone. I put a small amount of acetone in a glass bowl to cover the styrene pieces. After about ten to fifteen minutes,this is ready to apply to my engine part with my fingers. I then smear it into the holes just enough to cover them over. Then after it has hardened for a few hours,I sand it smooth. This completes the process,and there is no evidence this ever happened to the finished product. It's quick,easy,and it leaves no trace of a repair.

As you all probably now know,this is the kit I needed for the vault of the hyperdrive motivator. I'll recast this myself out of polyester resin,so I can cut the tank body to the length of the original ILM model without destroying the Tamiya model. The Gepard body is 3" 5/8 wide,and 7" 7/8 of an inch long. When cut down,the body of the Gepard tank will be 6" long. The overall height of the fuselage will be roughly about 8". The Salzo fuselage end is 3" from top to bottom.
 
This is shown for size comparison. The Captain Cardboard,and Salzo kits used the same 1/72nd scale Sherman tank model body that ILM used back in the seventies. This should give everyone an idea of how big this four foot version is compared to the original studio scale models.
 

 
You can see that this is the correct version for this kit. This Flakpanzer Gepard model is 1/35 scale.
 

 

OK,people.  This is probably going to be my last post for a while. The holidays are upon us,and I need to take the stuff off the cardtable I usually work at. It'll be needed for the kids to eat on.

  My birthday is saturday,so I'll be 100 miles away from home,and the internet anyway,as I'll be visiting relatives for the holidays. This is likely to be the last I have to offer before Christmas. If I can get the rest of this done before then,I'll post photos of it.  There are a few other parts that need to be added to this before it's complete,but I wanted to show everyone what was happening in my recent absence from the forum.

  This is the Stug reinforcement for the wing stabalizer. Please,keep in mind that this is all HANDMADE to the the approximate specifiacations of the original from acrylic,aluminum tubing,and sheet styrene.

This is made from 3 pieces of acrylic for the base. I originally made only 1 piece for this,but it was too thin,so I had to make it twice as thick. Although the light I was using was bright,and washed out all the details for the most part,there is a bevel across the top edge of this acrylic as per the ILM model.

This measures a little over 3" 1/2 inches long,or almost 9 cm. The semicirclar part (center) is comprised of 10 indidiual parts,and it took me over 2 hours to make. The rectangular part next to it (which still needs to be trimmed) is 4 parts,and though you can't see it,there are tiny lines scribed into this just like the original part. The number 8 shaped part took 6 tries for me to get correct . This is made from 5 pieces. The "arm looking parts,and the crossmember that they're glued to came first,and were nailed perfectly on the first try. The circular part on the end by itself is 2 pieces. Last,but not least,is the oblong piece (top left corner).  This is made from 19 individual pieces of sheet styrene,and aluminum tubing - all cut,and shaped by hand. None of these small pieces are glued to the base yet,as I still need to make the other part to this. 

  When I have more time,and better opportunity,I'll take better photos of all these pieces in their details. I need to save batteries for family photos. If you have any questions,don't hesitate to ask. I might not reply right away,but I will check back periodically for responses.

  I'll let the photos the rest of the story. Merry Christmas,and happy holidays! 

This is for comparison.

Still not done,but the holidays are taking up my free time with shopping,wrapping presents,and baking. Tomorrow we're having company for dinner. This WILL be the last I'll be able to post for a while. Most of this is done,but there are still small parts that need to be attached to the base. I had to juggle last minute shopping,cooking supper,wrapping presents,and finishing this up. There were some last minute changes I had to make to this.

I know that this doesn't look like much,but I had to make four versions of the small styrene piece in between the acrylic parts. This is very difficult to establish the correct angle of incidence between the corners,and the braces of the styrene supports. I also had to reposition the brass tube pieces that I cut,and shaved into rings. I had to wetsand a lot of uneveness out of these parts,and remove superglue smudges.

This will be finished by the time you all read this in the morning,

OK. This is definately my last post of the year. It'll also be the last for a while. 

These parts are just in the prototype stage. The "bowtie" is wrong,so I made two new ones since this picture was taken.

This is the styrene fascia that I had to redo. It was too far inward towards the acrylic backing. I took this shot to show that this is the correct depth now. I know that the picture is blurry,but even after replacing the batteries,taking all the Christmas photos killed them,so there wasn't much power left to take this with. You can still get an idea of the thickness needed for the flange to be right. These are the four white spars,and bottom flange that make the enclosure for the "bowtie" shaped piece,and the transfer casing under it.

The remnants of the old flange surround. This is one of the most trying parts of this build,as there are so many small peices that make up the bulk of the Stug reinforcement.

The flange detail "bowtie",and transfer casing.

The first two failed attempts.

 I took multiple photos of this in an attempt to show all the fine details,and rivets that I made from drops of superglue gel. I applied these with the tip of a piece of sheet styrene shaved to a needle point.

This is it in its' finished form.  You can't really see the rivets made from superglue,or the bolts made from acrylic rod in this photo,but this will give you an idea of what this should look like when glued together. I realise that being clear,all these tiny details are almost invisible. This is why I took so many photos.

Please note the acrylic rods to the left of the white square. These are supposed to resemble bolts. The original ILM model had these made from scratch with styrene,only they were asymmetrical in shape. I used acrylic rod to avoid having them mis-shapened.

You can't see them,but there are FOUR rivets that stand up above the surface of the acrylic base.

In this photo you can just barely see the two rivets by the slanted greebly.

If you have an irregular 17" or 19" inch screen like mine - scroll to the right,and you'll actually be able to almost see all four of these rivets that I painstakingly made from several drops of superglue gel to make each of these stand up enough to have a convex shape. I wetsanded them with 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. 

A closeup of the parts that need to be cast separately. I can't master these to be cast as one piece,as there are undercuts,and details that require this to be three separate pieces during the casting process.

A shot of all the parts ready to be cast. I just need to clean this up in a couple of places,and it'll  be completely done.

not to bad Chris! How about some primer on some of those parts? That would make some of the detail stand out more.

Sorry,Jerry. Because of the reaction that a lot of silicone moulding agents have with different types of paints,I can't put any type of coating on it. I've since made a new transfer casing(part beside the "bowtie"),as this one looks absolutely wrong,but I can't post any photos of it,or anything else as the camera I was using is no longer working correctly. I need a new digital camera. Until this happens,I can't make any more progress because I can't document it.

No people,I haven't got a new camera yet. These are pictures that I took of the new transfer casing right before the camera I was using blew up. I just forgot I had them.

There are two little teeth in the middle of the "bowtie",but I have move the one on the left over a little. I'll just let the photos tell the story.

This is a photo posted by Beaz of the RPF. This is what I used for reference. This is the vault of the 00 Harrow train,where the fire is stoked to create steam. This assembly was originally a door that opens when the lever is turned to the right. The little rectangles in the middle are where the train engineer would check the fire. The hockey stick shaped levers are where the engineer would grab onto to slide them open. These slid from side to side. The outside bars that are bent on the bottom are the safety hinges this entire assembly opened on. Once the safety latch(the part that looks like the hands on a clock) was depressed these were lifted up out of the floor, this entire vault opened from the left,and was hinged on the right - inside. These were so the safety latch wouldn't just come undone,and the vault just flop open. This entire assembly weighs over 200 pounds.

This is the four foot X from the rear. This is one of the scenes cut from the original Return of the Jedi. This was restored in the anniversary edition. This is the only view I've ever seen of this particular model with the vault in place.

This is a scan of the vault I drew from the reference photos.

This is it with the aluminum tubing I bent yesterday. I taped it to hold it in place,and to keep it from scratching the surface of the scanner.

The outside line is too big. The inner line closest to the vault is the correct size. I resized this according to the Gepard body. When this is cut out,it'll be proportionate to the original version. I'll have to cut discs this size in multiple layers,and glue them together to make up the bulk of the vault,and it'll also allow me to round the outside edge to match the original part. This will be made exactly the same as the original ILM models. The outside "toilet seat" shroud will be cut out to the second line from the farthest outside line that I drew. I'll bulk this up with a couple layers of styrene,and make the curvature with smaller pieces glued to the farthest outside edges,so that I can make the contour of the original "toilet seat".

This isn't idealised,but it's what the four foot version also shared with its' smaller counterparts. I was going to make it like this anyway,even if I didn't have a photo of the four footer from behind. You can see that I traced out the smaller circles with a drill bit guide. I made small center marks to align these,so I could get an idea of what this would look like finished,as well as how this should be in proportion. I'll make all the greeblies for this,and glue them to the surface when I get the "toilet seat" made,and glued to it.

Here are the latest parts I've made for the vault. I apologise for the blurry pics that the scanner takes,but until I get another digicam,I can't take any more photos. This will have to do for now. I'm bidding on one of the pawnshop garbage digital cameras that were demo models for wallyworld on feeblebay,so until the auction ends,I won't know if I'll have another picture taker,or not.

The disc is made up of eight sheets of 0.40" thick styrene superglued together. I turned this on the homemade lathe I put together from a hand drill,and a table mounted vise with duct tape to hold this to it while I held a flat board wrapped with 60 grit sandpaper against the edge of it as it spun around. This sounds thick,but it's only 5" 1/16 inch from front to back. The other round parts are made up of multiple sheets of 0.40" thick styrene glued together,and shaped into a circle by hand with an emery board. I then drilled a hole in each of them,then I reamed the edge of each before inserting another rod inside for the complete effect of the inner ridge each of these have.

The rest of the details are washed out with the light of the scanner,but the little "clock hands" are made from one piece. This is the fifth try,as I couldn't get the correct proportions,and angle to my satisfaction. This has the step graduation in it on the top,and the sides from the bigger part of the "arm" to the smaller tip of it. The rest of the parts are made of multiple sheet styrene pieces as well. I'll post pics of this when I get a digicam. This way,it'll be easier to see the overall result.

The parts that look like a walkie talkie,and a rocket are the pieces that will make up the rivets,and the mounting pin for the "clock hands".

Finally - the moment we've all been waiting for!

 Now after all this time - I finally have a working camera,and a memory card for this. Everyone can finally see what I did up to to the explosion of rampant bad luck that was my mothers' camera. I only had a couple of photos come out fuzzy,but the new camera will make them a lot easier to take,and post for all to see.

These are a little grainy,but I have to figure out what setting to put this on for indoor lighting,and what quality of finish the pictures should have once taken,then saved onto my computer.

Now I see why everyone calls this a toilet seat - it looks like one! But only with all the parts off its' top.

For some reason,the camera wanted to make the pictures black & white the closer I got to my subject. I turned off the flash because it would make the tiny parts wash out.  It worked on the settings I had at the time. I'll have to keep re-adjusting it until I'm satisfied with it again.

I'll just let the last photos tell the rest of the story.

This isn't really an update,but rather a small offering of what I've been doing lately.   I have several projects going on right now,so progress has been a little slow. But  - the good news is that I haven't given up on it. Slow,and stready is the way to go right now until I get the rest of the kit parts I need for the vault end of the fuselage.

Please compare the photos of my parts with the actual ILM model. The top left corner is what I'm working on at the moment. I'm in the process of working my way to the bottom,then back up to the top of the right side. I just need the parts to finish the bottom,and the top right,then this will be finished.

OK - now I think I have it. After FOUR tries,this is the one that looks right.  This was so hard,as the angles,and shapes are so difficult to determine in their relationship in size,and space to each other. I kept thinking that this was more heart shaped. This is more elongated,but smashed together with the other end where it looks like eyes. This also has a bend from the top down to the side that looks like a speaker cone. This reminds me of an A arm support for a car,or truck suspension. What the disc behind it is,well that's anyones' guess.

This is the second attempt that I made wednesday. This is after I did the styrene,and acetone trick. I filled this in with styrene melted with acetone after drilling it once,and gluing styrene sticks that I shaved down from styrene pieces laying on the table that I glued together. I decided that I didn't want this to come out the same way the first one did. I just wasn't right,and I knew it. Sadly,this came wrong anyway! :(

Here,you can see the chronology of the transitional stages to get where I am today. Starting from left to right - the first,second,third,and final attempt at getting this right.

This is to show that looks can be decieving,but when you're looking for perfection,close enough just won't do! The correct version on the disc,and the second attempt beside it. Please compare to the photo of the original ILM model below. 

The green arrows show where that there are fins on the sides,and the red arrow shows an edge where the fin stops. The blue arrows show where there is a small tab. The dark blue dots denote a slight convex curvature to it. 

A close up shot of these two parts. Here you can clearly see that the final version actually fills the area,and it covers the disc more evenly,as does the original ILM X-wing model.  The first three attempts did not.

This is after I made the center rod for the middle. This is the way the old model masters made pieces for models that required difficult,or multiple angles,and surfaces.

Here are the angles of declination from the top by the "eyes" of the turnbuckle,which is what this part is called. The blue and yellow arrows show the dropoff this has towards the lenticular shaped "speaker cone" that makes the other side of the turnbuckle. The red and blue arrows are to accentuate this angle. I didn't take any photos of the piece I made,but I did include this shape on my part.

The green arrow shows that there is a deeper end to this lenticular shaped area.

This photo shows the angular shape,or declination from the top to the lenticular shaped side of the turnbuckle.

This is the backside of this piece. I forgot to snap a  photo of it until today.

This is all the latest progress. The worst is still yet to come. I have to make the rest of the J shaped pieces,and all these tiny parts,and greeblies that make up the bottom of the hyperdrive vault. There's a lot of intricate parts that I didn't even know existed on this model until last week! I need to hurry this up,so I can finish a canopy for a friend on another forum,and a couple of other projects I have in the works. I hope this will satisfy everyone for a few days until I can get back on this,then follow up all the parts I started earlier,but stopped to make the smaller parts you see in these pictures.

[
 

 

There're a lot of rod shapes to make on this. I don't think I have the ability to do this anymore,I'll have to call on some friends to help me out. If I can get the correct sizes from them,I can do it. Otherwise,I'll be here forever cutting styrene!!

"Plastruct don't fail me now!" 

A look at some of the other parts. Notice that there are TWO identical crankshaft arms here in this photo.

 
A closer look at these pieces. I turned all the circle shapes on a drill,as they were to small for a lathe. There are some parts that aren't shown in any of these photos,but I yet to make them. They're too small to be seen straight on,but they are visible from side views.

A look at the bottom right side. I hope to finish this today,and the canopy that I promised to make for a friend.

Impressive...!

WOW

VERY VERY VERY Impresive.

are you going to make any moulds of finished pieces before the main assembely ?

I can imagane there are people out there that would love A Garage kit that size.

and im sure a kit manafacture would pick up the tab on your fantstic build once it is finished.

might be worth a try.

Take a look on the Starship Modeler Web site. a great place to get in contact with the Right people.

All the best

Barry.

Barry C Hark

WOW

VERY VERY VERY Impresive.

are you going to make any moulds of finished pieces before the main assembely ?

I can imagane there are people out there that would love A Garage kit that size.

and im sure a kit manafacture would pick up the tab on your fantstic build once it is finished.

might be worth a try.

Take a look on the Starship Modeler Web site. a great place to get in contact with the Right people.

All the best

Barry.

First of all,let me say I hope that this will be a kit when I get it finished,as this was,and still is my intent to begin with. In response to your question,Barry - this is only the master for the moulds that will be made from this after I've finished it. I have a business partner already waiting for me get these parts made,and sent to him. None of these parts that I'm making right now will be glued as a complete model - EVER!  This WILL be sold to the general public as a kit,but the staff.and members of Finescalemodeler have been very good to me,and I don't want to undermine what they're trying to do here. There are other sites that sell the wares their members make,and some of these have become just a sales shop,and not much else. Now I see why Finescale has decided to stay out of this,and rightly so! Anyone interested in this can PM me for my email address,and be put on a list for the first ones in line to get one of these kits. I'll discuss the details through PM only,and not out in the public.

 This is another small sample of what I've done up to last friday,but I have other parts I'm making for another member of this forum right now,so until that's finished - I won't have anything else to show. Now you can all see why it is easier to kitbash than to scratchbuild. I just wish the models they used for this were still available,but only a few of these exist in unbuilt form now!

This is how I make my round parts true until I can get another lathe. These are small,so I can get away with doing it like this. I start by using a drill bit guide. I decide what size I need from that,then I draw a hole,and cut out a circular blank from it. Then,I sand with an emery board until it's about to the line,then I mount it to the drill once a hole is made in the center.

Then I use a machinehead screw from a guitar (that was an extra),then I tighten the disc against it,and while I turn the drill,I hold the emery board against the disc until is the correct diameter. I follow this up with 320 grit,and 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper to smooth it out. This completes the process,which takes about twenty minutes depending on disc size.

This is how my table normally looks when I'm making stuff.

The J shaped parts are supposed to be radiator,or airfilter lines. I can't decide which,as I've never seen these reinforcement lines on any real vehicle parts in the size that these are.  I had an AMT '57 Chevy in 1/25th scale that had lines like this coming from the radiator - I think this is just an example of bad workmanship.  Another inaccuracy that this company is nortorious for!

Speaking of bad workmanship - these J shaped parts don't have the reinforcement lines placed evenly on them! I was half way drunk that night (it was my cousins' birthday),and about three o' clock in the morning,so I didn't really notice,until it was too late.  I didn't draw the lines on these evenly WHILE I WAS SOBER! Hmmph! So much for sobriety!  I'll just sand these off,and start over,so that they'll be even,and professional looking. I'd hate to because,these lines are made from stretched sprue,and I don't have a lot of it left in this diameter.  Stretching sprue is like building a house in a hurricane! Any way, you guys get the picture.

The rest of these parts are in the works still. This is as far as I got before taking these pictures. The bar in the centre of this picture is too thick,so I'll just start over with all new materials rather than take it apart,and tear things from each other with glue seams,and parts being destroyed anyway!

This small circle was the beginning,and it was supposed to be the center of the bar in the photo above,but I figured out how to make it the way it should have been originally. This was what held me up most of friday.

The clear tube parts in this photo are the end of an oral syringe I got from the vets' office. This fit the size perfectly. It also fit the other part in this photo,and the body of the syringe that I cut these from has a diameter that  this flares to a perfect diameter for some of the parts on the hyperdrive motivator as well. I can't wait to get to that. This is why I need to hurry this along as fast as I can without missing a beat (or making any more mistakes),so the fuselage can appear,but before that I need to go back and finish the other parts that were slowing me down.

A closer look at the machinehead screw,and a failure to the right of it. This was too thick,and I didn't feel like sanding it back down to 0.40" inch thickness.

I'm not really ready to post these,but here they are. I was hoping to have more to show,but other projects are needed to help with the cash flow for this one. I'll be back on this tonight,or tomorrow. I'll finish up the Arnold, so that I'll have a little more time in between to devote to this until the other projects I need to get done are finished.  After that, it's full steam ahead on the wings, and all their related parts.

Incridable!  Just  Incridable!!   Thats going to be so cool when you get it finished!   So are you going to mark it as Red 5 ?  

Thanks, Roy! After seeing  your Ironman build, that's a great compliment. This isn't meant to be built up. This is  the master for a mould. I'm going to offer these as kits with an aluminum armature, and lighting kit. I'm just showing how to make one of these from basically nothing.  I might paint mine as Red 5, but the features of this will be modeled after the Return of the Jedi Red 3 model. I have a friend that is going to cast most of this in resin. The fuselage, and wings - most likely the fuselage at least will be cast from epoxy, and fibreglass.

This is the actual ILM model that I'm patterning mine after.  This is a picture that I photoshopped out the background for clarity.

Its going to be great to see this when you start making parks.  Its still very impresive work!!

I'm always amazed when fans do super scale projects like this.

It takes a certain level of love for the subject to dedicate that much time and effort to build it.

Wow!

It is Sunday here in the US and I sat down and read thru this complete post/thread!  I have @ times thru my tenure as a model builder have came across a few who are not just builders and that includes those who scratch, but those who dare.  You are are one such.  It is obvious you are a professional at your trade and your hobby.  I have seen many build for special effect, but you have done what I have never seen done before, reverse engineer a project to make it your own build.  This is not a easy task by no means.  I have learned a great deal today reading this thread and I believe that is the highest compliment I can pay you sir.  You stated in one post many here are master builders, rightly so, then you stated you hoped to one day be in that group, know today you are!  I look forward to your next posting and do hope at some future point we get to see the built and painted version in resin by the man who created it. Good day friend.

I came across your reply in an email tonight. Thank you so very much for your kind words. I'm a member of a few of these forums, and I've seen a lot of people do some amazing things with models. I am a professional model maker  . I've built all kinds of models over the years, and this one is my greatest efforts to recreate my favourite sci-fi ship of all time.  The original four foot ILM model is on tour of the world as I write this. I decided to do this as a tribute to the original ILM team (Mike Fulmer, and Ira Keeler) that made the Red 3 model that they created for Return Of The Jedi, but never saw more than a few seconds of screen time - all from the backside contrary to what was said by Lorne Peterson.  This has tested my artistic, technological, archtechtural, and psychological skills at their most! This has been a labour of love to say the least. There are a many who come to these forums to show off their skills, and a few that come to teach what they know, as well as those who come here to learn from others. I wish to be the kind that influences others to reach their creative goals, and dream big - bigger than they ever dared to before!  I don't want to just teach others what I know, but also how I know it.

Unfortunately, this project has hit a brick wall for the moment, as I've been commissioned to build for other people. This has taken me away from the X-wing for so long that I now haven't much drive to get back on this, but now that most of the projects I've had going on will be done, this will allow me more time, and I hope to be back on this tomorrow.  I've already put this off for two months, and now I'm almost out of time for building this project.

I've heard a lot of complients from others about my artistic talent, and feel that it's long overdue to be shared with everyone else. I've recieved all kinds of wonderful compliments on this build on different forums, but this is nothing compared to what I have yet to do!  This is by far one of the nicest things anyone has said to me. This means a lot to me personally. I know that most of the members here don't respond to all comments made in their threads, but I do enjoy reading, and answering them, as much as I enjoy building.  Thank you once again for your kindest words, as they have touched my heart. I only wish that all who see this build will feel the same way, and that they in return will be inspired by it in some way to achieve their dreams whether big, or small, even if they don't leave a response.  After reading your comments, and all the others before - I now know that I've achieved part of my goal.

This WILL be back in full swing this week WITHOUT FAIL!  Stay tuned people.

                                                                                                          ~ Cobra Chris

You are most welcome sir.  I very much look forward to you next postings.

I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything for a very long time, but a lot of things have come along to slow my progress to a standstill, but I'm back on this, and I hope to be on top of this project until it's completely finished. I know that everyone has asked about it, so here's the latest that I have. I hoped to have more to show, but I've been called away to finish other projects that needed my immediate attention. These are the humble beginnings of the wings. These photos are almost two months old now. I had to stop once I got to the point where I needed to cast multiple parts for them. This is a problem that I hope to soon remedy.

I had to cut styrene sheets for each of these to cover them over. This will make it easier to scribe the lines.

Acrylic makes for a durable base.

This picture was taken to show transparency.

I had to wash the glue residue from the protective film off the surface of each panel.

I had to reglue the pieces that I cut from the wing inside facing panels, as I removed too much from the beginning.

A blurry closeup of the repair before I sanded it smooth.