Red 5 - Bandai 1/72 X-Wing

[Tomcat64]

My next entry for this SiG will be Bandai's 1/72 X-Wing partly as a tribute for Lysus since we'd normally be in the midst of his summer Sci-Fi SiG by now so hope all's well if you're reading this buddy

Here's the box


Once the box is opened the sprues are all well packed and sealed up


And here they are - the fuselage and other assorted griblies


The main wings and some more griblies


Two of the same for the engines and lasers etc


And finally the Death Star base including the infamous exhaust port


The kit includes both decals and stickers


And the instructions are on a fold out sheet


I'm planning my own colour scheme which means most if not all of the kit markings will go into the spares box, and I think I'm going to need to do some pre-painting before assembly so I suspect the instruction sheet will be mostly ignored in terms of build sequence.

[Tomcat64]

Originally seen in Star Wars Episode IV - "A New Hope" the X-Wing was the primary dogfighter of the Rebel Alliance and was armed with four laser cannon and twin proton torpedo launchers. The expanded Star Wars universe states that Incom Corporation designers defected to the Rebel Alliance and handed over the X-wing's design.


The fighter has two flight modes: one in which the wings are flat and another when they are expanded into "attack position", affording the wingtip lasers a larger fire area. "S-foil" servomotors control the transition between the two, hence the expression "to lock s-foils in attack position". Lacking an on-board navigation computer, they rely on an astromech droid to calculate hyperspace jumps. The Rebel Alliance adopted the military strategy of Doctrine of Space Denial, wherein the Rebellion would raid Imperial boneyards and shipping frigates, both to disrupt Imperial logistics and operations, and also to requisition desperately needed materials. X-wing hyperdrive capabilities allowed for this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire may react. The presence of a hyperdrive and deflector shields differentiate the X-wing from the Empire's TIE fighters, emphasizing the importance the Rebels place on pilots surviving their missions.


Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) Colin Cantwell sketched and built models that eventually became the final X-wing fighter in Star Wars. The X-wings were designed to appear more "traditional" than the Empire's TIE fighters. ILM built miniatures in various scales, with wing markings indicating which prop represented which pilot. When ILM fell behind on generating X-wing footage, Star Wars producer George Lucas and his editors temporarily used World War II dogfight footage for initial editing cuts. Each X-wing model was built around a hollow core made from surgical tubing, which allowed lighting, cooling, and electrical connectors for the wing motors to be installed and maintained. The cockpit windows were made from faceted glass so that accurate reflections could be filmed. Although the movie's initial script and novelization describe the X-wings as belonging to "Blue squadron", limitations in bluescreen photography led to the markings on the filming models, as well as the fictional squadron affiliation being changed to red.

In addition to miniatures, the production crew made a single, full-size X-wing for scenes in the Rebels' Yavin IV base hangar; combined with cardboard cutouts and careful editing, the Rebels appear to have dozens of fighters. The production crew also made a full-size X-wing cockpit that was used for all actors; the astromech droid visible behind each actor was changed for each starfighter. Background noise pitch and tone also varied between X-wings to further differentiate the characters piloting them.

[Fridgy]

I does love me an x wing
Cool historical info as well

Looking forward to watching this one come together

[Twokidsnosleep]

Excellent
The Bandai kit goes together flawlessly and looks wonderful
Just don't dump it into a swamp like I did with mine
Looking forward to seeing this progress

[Tomcat64]

I does love me an x wing
Cool historical info as well

Looking forward to watching this one come together

Excellent
The Bandai kit goes together flawlessly and looks wonderful
Just don't dump it into a swamp like I did with mine
Looking forward to seeing this progress

Thanks for the support guys - if I screw up the paint-job I've got in mind the swamp might be the best place for it

I remember that build though... might have to mosey on over and see if there's any nickable tips & tricks

[Twokidsnosleep]

I does love me an x wing
Cool historical info as well

Looking forward to watching this one come together

Excellent
The Bandai kit goes together flawlessly and looks wonderful
Just don't dump it into a swamp like I did with mine
Looking forward to seeing this progress

Thanks for the support guys - if I screw up the paint-job I've got in mind the swamp might be the best place for it

I remember that build though... might have to mosey on over and see if there's any nickable tips & tricks

I wil get there first and edit out all my screw ups
Actually the kit is a really lovely build, just be careful with the X wings and keeping the pairs figured out..I remember that being a bit of a pain.
Maybe I WILL go read what I did

Man, that guy babbles a lot. Things don't get rolling until page 4 or so and then page 12 the X Wing is pretty much together
viewtopic.php?f=454&t=12283

Now you have me wanting to make one of these again
Fun thing about forum based builds, you can go back over them and see what you did and all the fun interactions.

[Stokesy44]

Wow! TC’s building an x-wing?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Wow! TC’s building an x-wing?

Indeed and he is making me want to as well
Use the decals Neil, don't use the stickers...they don't stick!!

[Tomcat64]

Wow! TC’s building an x-wing?

Yep - had three in the stash; this one, a Fine Molds 1/72 and a 1/48 so decided it was about time to break one out...

Wow! TC’s building an x-wing?

Indeed and he is making me want to as well
Use the decals Neil, don't use the stickers...they don't stick!!

You know you want to...

Yah had the same thing with the stickers on the droid sets but would use the decals on the fighter if I was going with the kit markings

[Stokesy44]

Do the Fine Moulds 1/48 kit next, its a beauty!!! Maybe a member of Blue Squadron, the heroes of the battle of Scarrif!!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Ooooo that is lovely David
I thought you were a tank nut, guess that easily transfers to Sci FI

[Tomcat64]

Actually the kit is a really lovely build, just be careful with the X wings and keeping the pairs figured out..I remember that being a bit of a

Thanks for the tip-off Scott - the only thing I've spotted so far that are "sided" are the laser thingies, but I'll keep an eye out for any others that might be out to trip me up

Do the Fine Moulds 1/48 kit next, its a beauty!!! Maybe a member of Blue Squadron, the heroes of the battle of Scarrif!!!

I remember that build from last year - superb job... in fact I think that might be the reason I caved in and added one to the stash!

Anyway - it's amazing what a day off with nothing much on the agenda can do for bench time...

So I cut some bits of the sprues and starting gluing things together in no particular order... here's what got played with


Everything except the pilot and the lasers was given a coat of Ultimate black. Then the inner wing engine bits and the thruster bodies were sprayed with Vallejo Metal Colour Burnt Iron, followed by a dry-brush of Games Workshop Leadbelcher and a black clay wash and wipe.


I wanted a slightly different finish on the thruster nozzles so they were painted in Metal Colour Exhaust Manifold followed by the black clay wash


Finally the cockpit section was painted in Model Air dark ghost grey and again the black clay wash & wipe. This is primarily to help pop the details so they're easier to pick out for painting when I get there.


The engine sections should have had some wingy bits to attach to as well... but the cats forgot to order the white primer! So that'll have to wait a couple of days.

Anyway - we have lift-off; thanks for looking in and have a great weekend

[Twokidsnosleep]

Paintwork is spectacular. Loving the engines and the cockpit
Damn cats...earn your keep!

[Tomcat64]

Damn cats...earn your keep!

[Twokidsnosleep]

[quote=Twokidsnosleep post_id=314215 time=<a href="tel:1531429052">1531429052</a> user_id=2964]
Damn cats...earn your keep!

[/quote]


Yes your eminence, so sorry your worshipness
I shall get your num nums immediately

[Stokesy44]

Beautiful paintwork and cracking memes too!

[Tomcat64]

Yes your eminence, so sorry your worshipness
I shall get your num nums immediately

It's a good job our cats can't bend us to their will like that... oh, wait...

Beautiful paintwork and cracking memes too!

Thank'ee kindly sir!

So in amongst sorting some of the airshow pics today I did manage to wedge in some more bench time which involved the painting of spoons... and in one case dropping it, scuffing up the surface and painting it again


These are all Vallejo ModelAir and from left to right we have Red, Fire Red, Insignia White, Deep Sky and Blue; so now I've shown these colours it's time for me to reveal my hand and tell you that this is what I'm intending to base the scheme on


Yep - a Dead Sparrow! I've had this "what if" scheme in mind for a couple of years but haven't thought my masking and air-brushing have been up to it; I'm still not sure I'm consistent enough but decided it's time to give it a go. Anyway of the five colours in the test these are the three that look right to the naked eye - red, insignia white and deep sky (the white will most likely be Ultimate white primer when the delivery comes).


So with that momentous decision out of the way I took a swipe at the cockpit. Searching the interweb reveals as many different opinions on what it should look like as there are planets in the galaxy far, far away... so here's my take on it with the pilot painted up and installed as well


The colours are all Vallejo with some GW for the metallic. I've not done anything with the rear deck behind the cockpit as I think that gets covered up (if I'm reading the instructions right)


I hate doing close ups at this scale - everything looks so scruffy!

That's all for this one - thanks as always for looking

[Stokesy44]

A red arrows x-wing?

Well I’m as excited as a very excited man who’s got a very exciting reason for being excited (Blackadder)

[Tomcat64]

A red arrows x-wing?

Well I’m as excited as a very excited man who’s got a very exciting reason for being excited (Blackadder)

Steady on Baldrick! If I get this wrong it could turn into the stickiest situation since sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun!!

Now if only we knew someone crazy enough to try it with a Thunderbirds scheme...

[Twokidsnosleep]

What a cool idea...I like it a lot

[Tomcat64]

So in between sorting out the photos from the air show I've managed to grab the odd half-hour at the bench to move this along...

First up some wings - I mean what's an X-Wing without Wings? Just an X I guess... anyway... everything was given a coat of Ultimate white primer, which was then masked off and sprayed with the Vallejo Model Air Deep Sky to produce the St Andrew's saltire section of the flag


This was then masked again and the exposed parts coated with Ultimate Gelb primer followed by a couple of coats of the Mode Air Red


I decided the vertical white component of the St George's cross was too broad so re-masked it to add a bit more red


I then lightly pushed the two wing sections together so I could see the effect in place and decided I was happy enough with this


Along with this I'd followed the same process with some of the other major parts (except for the blue)… all the masking has been done with a mix of Tamiya standard masking tape as well as various widths of Aizu tape from Ultimate


Since I wanted to pick out the panel lines the main components were given a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss followed by a black clay wash, and then initial assembly happened I've also loose fitted it to the base to help avoid any more scuffing...


There's a couple of places where I've had to touch up some of the paintwork due to scuffing and general ham-fistedness so that'll need re-glossing to bring it all in again


As you can see the engine cowlings, lasers & nose are all missing at this point as I'm still figuring out what white accents I want where - actually I think I've got the lasers sorting in my head so they'll probably be next


Also need to build a droid and work out which canopy to use. [mention]Twokidsnosleep[/mention] Scott when you built yours do you remember if you used the clear parts or glazed the plastic frame?

Thanks as always for looking - hope you like where this is going.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Ok, now I nearly wet my pants
THIS IS AWESOME !!!
And I am not even British

[Stokesy44]

[Quax]

And I am not even British

Thanks to General Wolfe you almost are

I guess this throws down the gauntlet for a Tie Fighter with the Maple Leaf on the sides.....

amazing work Neil, really well done!

Paul

[Tomcat64]

Ok, now I nearly wet my pants
THIS IS AWESOME !!!
And I am not even British

amazing work Neil, really well done!

Thanks for the support guys - glad you like it

I guess this throws down the gauntlet for a Tie Fighter with the Maple Leaf on the sides.....

…and you had to make me wonder if someone had created a Darth Beaver meme...


Anyway... I've managed to get a bit further - as mentioned previously my plan was to get to work on the lasers, but surprisingly there were a couple of seams to sort out on each unit as well as mould-lines on the laser-pole doohickeys


So instead I painted up the nose cone; I was planning on some kind of red & white combo but in the end I was happy enough with plain white (looks like this needs another wipe to get off some black wash residue)


Then tackled the engines, these followed the same processes as the main paintwork and the inside surfaces were painted with sky grey to give a little variation


And here's how it looks now - the base had a coat of Ultimate black, Ultimate grey and a final misting of model air light blue-grey


So I think I'm onto the final stretch I think with the aforementioned lasers, rear panels, droid & canopy to do... although I'm still not convinced about that nose... may have to revisit it...

Thanks as always for looking

[Fridgy]

Mate she is looking awesome!

[Tomcat64]

Mate she is looking awesome!

Thanks mate

So the weekend plans were scuppered by the weather and a leak in the bathroom but on the upside it did mean that I could get the X-Wing progressed further than I was expecting and here's the final update...

Every X-Wing needs a beepy droid and this one is no exception. This is the only time I've used the decals from the kit and they were a real struggle and seemed designed to stick to anything except where I wanted them. Anyway - a little perseverance, strong language and Daco Red solution later...


And here he is in place with the rear deck also installed


Then the nose... I really wasn't happy with the plain white in the end and although I tried red & white stripes they didn't look right either so in the end it's gone completely the opposite way and is now plain red...


All that left were the lasers, rear bulkhead and cockpit


To see how it turned out after they were installed you'll have to head over to the reveal which is here.

This is probably the quickest build I've done on ISM and as always thanks to everyone that dropped in to take a look and offer encouragement

[ElCapitan]

Oh em gee... I normally don't check out the sci-fi builds (because I never know what they are), but saw this on the "What have you been building" thread and just had to come and have a look at the build thread! What a brilliant idea - I love it! Well done on the flag masking, it looks great

[Tomcat64]

Oh em gee... I normally don't check out the sci-fi builds (because I never know what they are), but saw this on the "What have you been building" thread and just had to come and have a look at the build thread! What a brilliant idea - I love it! Well done on the flag masking, it looks great

Thanks mate - really appreciate you checking it out

[AlexBB]

That looks so cool

The effect with the Black Clay wash is awesome, which one did you use?

[Tomcat64]

That looks so cool

The effect with the Black Clay wash is awesome, which one did you use?

Thanks Alex!

I used Flory Black wash for this

[Johno]

Wow looks awesome, totally makes me want to do a blue angels x-wing.

[pourquoi61]

If only the RAF had some of these, baby what fun.
Love your imagination.

[Tomcat64]

If only the RAF had some of these, baby what fun.
Love your imagination.

Thanks mate - it was a lot of fun and came together much quicker than I thought it might