Four foot X-wing (ILM tribute)

[427 Cobra]

For all intents,and purposes this is my tribute to the ILM guys of the seventies. This is based on the four foot four inch ILM Model that was filmed,but never saw any screen time. This was originally a pet project of Ira Keeler,and Mike Fulmar that was shown to Lorne Peterson(ILM head modelshop head at the time)who showed it to George Lucas. It was then decided to be filmed.

Lorne Peterson was quoted as saying " The footage we filmed was too blurry for the smaller details that we wanted,but it would cost too much to reshoot it for no longer than it would be on screen."

This is the beginning stages of planning. I started out with the paper model for this. I had to start again,as this was too small for the original design specs. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

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[JAWS]

This is looking good Cobra. Youve been making excellent progress. This is going to be a big mutha as Ive had the pleasure of seeing this model in person earlier this year. Keep it coming.

[427 Cobra]

Thanks,Jase. This will be the build of a lifetime for most people if I can get this cast. There are so many small parts that make this difficult to master,as these are multiples and they have to match the scale of the rest of the parts. I have no casting equipment,or supplies. This has been an arduous journey to say the least! Having you go to the exhibit where this was being shown was priceless! I owe you big time for that. Any way, starting over from scratch was embarassing,to say the least. At least this is in the correct scale and I don't have to wonder why my ID'ed kits don't fit the rest of the models' scale. Now that I have the correct dimensions,this should make more sense.

Well, here're more pictures to feast your eyes on. Even though these parts are in the wrong scale,it should give you all an idea of how this was done.

[Wombat]

Now this is scratch building!!
Wow dude,this is going to be a fantastic build and a most impressive display when you get it all done.
Keep up the good work there!

[dbhs]

This is freaking cool. Going to be a lot of work but very nice.

Man, when I saw the first picture of your patio table I immediatly thought that you were going to use the umbrella stand as a base for your model. HAHAHA. You'll need something sturdy to hold this up.

Looking forward to more.

[3d-builder]

Complete madness I love it!!

[427 Cobra]

More for you to feast your eyes on.

[3d-builder]

Ok let me get this straight this thing is 4ft long so there are no parts available?
So every single stink'in thing has to be made?

[JAWS]

There are some kit parts used on the Droid Plate, Butt Plate, Engines & Cockpit....

[427 Cobra]

(11-18-2009, 08:55 AM)3d-builder Wrote: Ok let me get this straight this thing is 4ft long so there are no parts available?
So every single stink'in thing has to be made?

This was mostly scratch made,but there are a few kits that are still used in the wing wells (engine bays),as well as the hyperdrive motivator,and the vault at the end of the fuselage (butt end) that are kitbashed. The problem is,most of these kits are unavailable to me even on ebay! So,I'll have to scratch make these parts to the same scale as the original model parts according to the known kits I do have

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[777]

WOW. Just freaking fantastic!

[427 Cobra]

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[427 Cobra]

This is Mandy. She thinks she's helping me. She jumped right onto the bed as soon as I started to snap this picture. She was playing with the brass fitting that I use to mount parts for photos.

[3d-builder]

Nice work with the brass cannons looking sweet!

[79 Daytona]

WOW!!! I agree outstanding work can't wait to see more.

[427 Cobra]

Thank you,guys for the compliments. I'm glad to hear that from you two especially after watching your wonderful work for months while tearing my hair out planning this. All your comments,and compliments are very reassuring that I'm doing this right! Here're more photos for you all to feast your eyes on.



These are the laser canons after two weeks of finagalling the details,and greeblies for them. I had to go back several times on different parts of these and start over to get it right,until I figured out that one of the triangular shaped panels is on the WRONG side! Meaning that the two are identical as the ILM model was,but the outside greebly for the laser goes on the opposite side,so that these will have the same detail face up where the square hole cutout is.





This is a close up of the chip detail.





Two of the stripes on the out side of these have yet to be attached. I'll post photos of this after I correct one of these to explain this better. These are just taped on for placement right now. The long chip on the left canon is too long. I'll have to scrape it off,and start over.





This is a comparison shot. There are small imperfections in these that aren't visible in the photo. I'll have to rework them to my liking. These need to be perfect for me to even consider casting them.





This is the actual thickness (0.20") that this is supposed to be. I thought that these greeblies went around the ouside of the engine intakes were supposed to be 1/8" of an inch thick,but after looking at the reference photos,I see that there's a blocked (Stug) part extending past the background piece that attaches to the wing. This is where I had to cut off the excess to make the correct shape. There's also a slight ridge on the outside of the Stug fender part. I'll have to recreate all of this for it to be accurate to the original ILM model.





This is the start of the laser canon base. This measures 1/2" inch wide by 4" 1/2 inches long.



This is the master for the afterburners. The small piece beside the afterburner is what most of the guys on the RPF mistakenly call "turkey feathers". This is actually called a thruster flap. This is what determines how much more thrust the engine will produce by how open these parts are. When the thruster flaps are open all the way it produces less thrust. When they're closer together it produces more thrust making the fighter go faster.





I was trying to show that this still needs to be rounded true. I didn't know that this was so far off until I looked at it in bright light. The sunlight washed out all the detail in this photo.





Here's a closer view of the thruster flap.





These are obviously all the parts for the intake greeblies. This serves no real life purpose. It's only ornamental. The one on the top is the original master. The one in the middle is the correctly shaped version,and the one on the bottom is the mishapened starboard side. This one will have to be redone. The angle of declination from the top point to the top edge of the bottom rail is wrong. This is the Stug part that will be glued to this separately. I'll have to fix this before I do.

I found this out after scrawling the horrible drawing that now adorns it. I was looking as I was doodling,and noticed that the part was out of proportion to the original version. This was after I cut out the bottom piece for the top starboard (right) wing. Needless to say,I had to start over by cutting the middle piece to the size it is now. I'm glad I didn't cut both of these out at the same time! I'll transfer the shape to the new piece I'll cut for the top right wing. The styrene sheet with this tracing on it was instrumental in figuring the correct angle in relation to the original specs.





I was trying to show more detail in this shot. This was done to give you guys an idea of what still needs to go on here yet.






These are the thruster flaps traced out to be cut. I didn't want to cut these out until I could get a picture of them. The bottom parts were scrawled to check for clearance - I wanted to make sure that there was enough material on this sheet for them.

[JAWS]

Wow Cris your doing great mate. This is a MASSIVE project buddy & will take some time to come yet, but you are really pushing ahead & have the total support of everyone here. Sending you the Leopold kit scans via email mate. Sorry haven't done it yet...

[427 Cobra]

It's OK! The wings are definately next. I started them right after I made the laser canon barrels. I've just been jumping around making the base parts,then adding the greeblies to these parts as I make them. This has made it a lot easier to figure out what to do next. I'll glue the sheet styrene to the wings,then scribe the lines. This will take a while as I have to assemble the engine bays after this. Then I'll have to make the details for the sealab parts. This will take more time than it sounds as I need to ensure perfection - especially while scribing. The parts I just posted will take about an hour to complete all in their entirety. I still have yet to make the wing details. This will be more complicated than these other parts were.

[JAWS]

What Sea Lab parts are needed Cris. I have 2 Sea Lab III's.

[427 Cobra]

Your parts will be too small for this scale. The ones I need have to fit the four foot Jedi model. These are the parts for the wings.

[JAWS]

(11-29-2009, 08:20 AM)jasonwright.1972 Wrote: What Sea Lab parts are needed Cris. I have 2 Sea Lab III's.

Oh a scale up scratch of the Sea Lab parts used on the smaller models. Gotchya!

[Kuhn Global]

This is coming along nicely Chris!

[427 Cobra]

Precisely! That's why they used other models for the hyperdrive motivator,and the engine bays. The 1/72nd,and 1/35th scale Leopold kits were the main donors for the wing wells (engine bays). There were airplane kits that went into them as well. The only parts that I need are on the hyperdrive motivator,and the butt end (vault) of the fuselage. Most of these were tank and motorcycle kits. I still have yet to identify all of them. I'll post pics of the parts from the kits I need as soon as I can get to it.

[79 Daytona]

WOW!!! This justs gets better and better, Keep up the great work!!

[427 Cobra]

Thanks guys! Kurt,I wasn't ignoring you last night - you posted right before I posted my reply to Jason. I didn't want to seem pompus by not replying to you. I would've responded,but the Vbulletin would've edited my last post,as opposed to allowing me to post a separate reply!

Well,here's more to look at.

These were taken late last night. I didn't get to bed until 4:00 this morning. Believe it,or not - This took 6 hours for me to make from beginning to end. What pisses me off is that this is still wrong! The long shaft is too small in diameter! I need to either restart this,or I need to find some way of fixing this one. Otherwise,I won't be using this part. The other two parts came out right,but this one that ties them together is the hardest part to make. I think this was either a kitbash in itself from three,or more kits - or it was completely scratch made.


Either way,I hope you all will enjoy these pictures.






This photo,and the one before it were taken while it was dark outside. If you look closely,you can see the stretched sprue I used to bulk this up. Unfortunately, I had to fill the spaces between the rings,and sand it all smooth. I have to make some minor adjustments to the piece that looks like an elongated fire plug (to the right of the one that looks like a pirate canon) on this yet.





These are the basic parts. I cut a small V shaped groove into this with an Exacto knife. I widened it a little with an Exacto saw,then cut the final shape with the machinists' drill bit beside it. This bit is less than 1 mm in diameter.






This is laying over the edge of the table because,I didn't cut the tab that I used to handle this part with while adding the stretched sprue to it. This wasn't glued together,but laid out for example.







A closeup of the tab I made to hold this while finishing the final greeblies,and stretched sprue.



Another look in blurrivision. (I think there's something wrong with the camera - now)






A closeup of the "elbow" part.






A far away shot for a sense of scale. This is about two inches long from stem to stern (end to end).







I still have yet to glue this together at this time,until I figure out how to make this right.

This looks a hundred times better in person. For some reason the camera I'm using makes all the detail wash out even in overcast conditions. I'm really starting to hate it! You can clearly see the colour variation between the night,and day photos. I wasn't able to make this better no matter what I did to it! I had to tone down the contrast of a couple of these pics for this reason. Unfortunately,this wasn't one of them.

[Kuhn Global]

No worries my friend.

I am very much looking forward to viewing your great work on this piece.

[JAWS]

Wow Cris you never sease to amaze me. Can you post pictures of the parts your trying to replicate. We might be able to find what their from if it was a kit part. Doing great mate. Just think Kurt will definately want one of these!

[427 Cobra]

Here it is - finally finished. This is the original part along side the new correct version. For some reason,I can't stop thinking about a doll house rocking chair back when I look at either one.



This is the other backing plate for the top right,and bottom left engines. I'll make the rest of this today.



Here's the photo I used for most of my reference. I used others for the length,and width,but they aren't very clear,or closeup. I think this is a semi truck brake assembly on a big model. I had to guess the diameter of the second part. It's not perfect,but damn close!

[JAWS]

Sweet. Excellent progress Cris & hell your good with Iding the darndest things. Keep it up mate. "Stay on target, Stay on target.."

[JAWS]

She's comin together mate bit by bit!

[427 Cobra]

Thanks,Jase! This part isn't in any kit scan I've seen on any site so far. So this will have to be a scratch made part. I remade the shaft as it may be called. This is the part that looks like an anorexic fire plug was too small. This entire part with the exception of the smaller "arm" coming out at angle is made from sheet styrene glued in layers,then sanded half round shaped with an emery board and a popsicle stick with 120,and 220 grit sandpaper (superglued to it),and finished off with 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. This is what took so long to make this - that and the small sprue I glued to it wouldn't stick very well!

The smaller "arm" part is made from bent sprue with 0.20" of an inch thick sheet styrene glued to the end of it. I shaved that down with 220 grit,then glued a second piece of sheet styrene that I glued to it,and sanded a slightly larger diameter around it with 220 grit. This completes the concentric circles that are present here.

I made a small indent with a machinsts drill bit as I did before,and I fitted it to the long part until it fit perfectly. I'll make the small curvature around the discs that are glued to the "arm" with Elmers' sandable wood filler. I'll post pics of this for example when I get to it.

Forgive the blurriness - damn crappy camera!



I was trying to show measurement with this photo. The top of the ruler is mm - the bottom is inches shown for scale.



I tried to adjust the camera exposure to no avail. I had to turn the lamp on for you guys to see this better. I thought this would've helped,but obviously,the camera has other ideas today!

[3d-builder]

2 parts less your getting there!!!
Looks good wow those are big .....well everything on this
thing is big though!!

[427 Cobra]

Thanks,Michael. These measure 5" 1/2 inches,or 15 1/2 cm. This is going to be a monster!!! I won't have any room to work on the fuselage on this little card table I work on.

[79 Daytona]

Nice work!!!!

[427 Cobra]

Here's my new cutting mat that I bought from http://www.myatomic.com This sure beats the glass cutting board I was using. This won't dull,or break my Exacto blades anymore! This has marks for stars,dowel sizes,angles,as well as measurements for inches,cms,and mms.
The squares are one inch each. This is twice what most other cutting mats measure. This is 12" X 18". I love the brand new smell this has too!



Here's the other side for the top right wing,and the bottom left wing assemblies. This is a little longer than the one used on the ILM model. I'm still debating whether to use this one,or make another that's more accurate to the original. I hate the one on the ILM X-wing,but I want accuracy,so there will be no complaints later! I think I might make two different versions and offer both. I like the way this one looks better.

[79 Daytona]

Looking GOOD!!! I need to break down and get one of those cutting boards.

[427 Cobra]

(12-03-2009, 08:13 AM)79 Daytona Wrote: Looking GOOD!!! I need to break down and get one of those cutting boards.

Yeah,it was worth it! It only cost me $9.41 with free shipping from ebay. I've been wondering where everyone else has been getting theirs,when I looked this up. They're here in my hometown. Great service,and this board only cost about $3.00 more that the other sellers on ebay were offering for 3" X 5" boards! Truly a great product at a price!

[427 Cobra]

Thanks Daytona! This is the afterburner in its' final stages of completion. I have to glue the thruster flaps to the housing yet. I glued a small strip of sheet styrene to the housing in the line where the tops of the thruster flaps stop. This would make the strip your see around the circumference of the afterburner,or the equator straight with the flaps themselves in accordance with original specs.



You can't see it yet,but there is a small trench in the bottom of the main strip that the flaps go into to help align them with the trailing edge of the afterburner housing. I'll have to snap a photo of this to show everyone what I mean. It's late,as I've been working on this,and the other parts for the wings all afternoon,and into the evening. It's now 1:00 A.M. where I'm at. I've made some progress,but not had a lot of time to take pictures - SORRY people!

More progress to get done tomorrow/today,so I need to get to bed. I'll post more pics when I can get around to them. Stay tuned.




Now,I'm not going to leave you hanging people! Here's a shot of the inside trench. I thought of this while watching a movie from the fourties. I took this photo in front of my monitor.

[427 Cobra]

More slow progress. It's hard to scribe straight lines on a circular surface. I've been working on this a little at a time. I'm slowly chipping away at multiple parts at the same time. I'm not ready to share the progress with the other parts I've done yet,as they're still in the subassembly stage.





This makes my arm look fat,but it isn't. It's the angle I took this shot at. I was trying to show the detail at this angle because the afterburner being a cylinder shape,keeps rolling over.






I hope this is visible enough to see all the scribe lines at this angle.





This is the other side. There are a lot of lines like this on these that I have to supersize the reference photos to see. I still have yet to put all the little greeblies on outside of the band. The thruster flaps will come last.

[427 Cobra]

More Greeblies,and scribe lines. The following pictures are a 360* view of this from all sides. This was made to resemble the same features as the original ILM model. Now I can put the thruster flaps on it.















This tiny piece on the top left running up to the lip is made up of four pieces that I glued very carefully,then applied. I glued the stretched sprue that makes up the length. I cut into it,then I glued a tiny piece of styrene to the empty space. then I glued another piece on top of it with a tiny drop of superglue to take up the space between the two for the solid triangle shaped part that was missing.

I sanded it all smooth with 600 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. This completes the part.






All these greeblies were handmade from sprue and the same sheet styrene that I covered the rest of this with. The scribe lines took longer than these to make. This was made from styrene sheet that I scraped with an Exacto blade to this shape. I then glued stretched sprue to this to make the tiny bands on each end. Then I glued a tiny square on the junction between the main strip,and the piece itself. I drilled into the top with a 0.15" of an inch drill bit to make a small depression in it.


I still need to clean up a couple of places where there are still a few burs from scraping,but nothing that 600 grit can't handle.











A view of this with the thruster flaps. These are all meticulously cut by hand to be identical to each other. This is what took me so long to get to this point. I'll finish the Saturn V engine housings next,then move on to the laser canons. I've been jumping around from one part to another to break up the monotony.





Closeup of the tabs that make up the ends of the thruster flaps. I wish these would've stayed straight with each other from top to bottom when I took this photo.











A clearer view of the details that went into this part.

[79 Daytona]

That looks GREAT!!! Your work is truely outstanding!! I can't wait to what you do next.

[427 Cobra]

Thank you once again, Daytona!

This is another 360* view of this in its' almost finished form. I filled this to remove the undercuts beneath the thruster flaps. I couldn't glue these down without making them deformed versions of themselves. This allows me to have them flat,and keep their original shape,and appearance.

This still has a little bit of woodfiller here,and there,but I'll clean the rest of this up when it dries. This will keep most of the filler under the thruster flaps without washing it all out.



I'll let the pictures do the talking now.

[JAWS]

Hmmm I think your measurements are wrong! Ok not a funny joke... Cris FANTASTIC work mate! That looks awsome dude!

[427 Cobra]

Not funny fool! I have a plasma screen that is 19" inches across. This isn't even from top to bottom,or side to side. You have to sit up straight,and not have your head cocked to the side,or it distorts the picture on it. I don't even know why! This makes for a terrible time if you're trying to make sense of abstract paint marks on a model!

[JAWS]

Sorry Davinci or is that Picasso. Seriously thats some really good work Cris

[79 Daytona]

That looks outstanding!!! You know i thought about trying woodfiller for seam work but after seeing your work i am going to have to pick some up and give it a try.

[427 Cobra]

I tried this out when decided that I hate Bondo,and it was too messy! It doesn't clean up with water,and it's a health hazard. It's also made for cars flat surfaces,so making highly detailed parts are impossible with it. It chunks out while scraping,and it sands hard.

Elmers' brand woodfiller works just as well,it's waterbased,and it dries hard as a rock after a few days. It comes in multiple colours, white,red,brown,and light brown.

The only reason I didn't use white is,because I couldn't see which was filler,and which was plastic. I needed this to get into small spaces where glue is impractical. Putties are worthless,as they become brittle,or they need to be fired. Elmers' is cheap,easy to find anywhere,and it works beautifully! If the woodfiller is too thick,just thin it with water when filling small gaps,or making details smooth. You'll want to sand it with dry 600 grit,once dry - not wet,as this softens it,and makes it wash out.

Elmers dries in fifteen minutes,but it's not hard enough to sand out for about an hour. If you make a mistake,you can wash it off,and start over. You can add more later if you have a hole,or two after this has dried. There's no odor to contend with,so you can use it anywhere inside your house. Try it out on your next project. I guarantee you'll love it!

[79 Daytona]

That sounds great thanks for the info and i will.

[427 Cobra]

This is it with the excess filler removed. I had to fill in a few spaces that weren't completely filled in all the way. I'm getting a little colour washout with the camera between the two materials. One side of the thruster flaps is slightly yellowed,but the other side isn't. This is from the lighting flashing back at the camera. The PVC is slightly yellow in colouration,so it makes the flaps look yellow on the side with the most light exposure. This filler can be cleaned up without having to worry about staining,as it's waterbased.

[79 Daytona]

Again outstanding work!! Now you just got three more to do.