Four foot X-wing (ILM tribute)

[427 Cobra]

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.