1/24 X-Wing near 100% from scratch

eh up buddy,that is well smart mym8.a true master piece!!

Your work is so clean and precise its ridiculous . In a good way that is.

Hi peza and Ray22. many thanks for your kind comments

-------------------

I have some doubts that I would like to clarify before continuing my work:

1 - The piece that goes in the rear channel of the wings: I will use the parts from the Hanomag, but now I hesitated whether I will use the correct one. There are two types of similar pieces in the Hanomag (p.16 and p.18) and I've seen that, in other models, has been used sometimes one and sometimes another.
I wonder which one is correct?

2 - Returning to the same piece, I have doubts if it must be placed as it is, or if I have to sand it to create a flat base that fits better in the channel.

3 - The same thing happens with the Sherman machine gun detailing the front sides of the wings. Should I leave it as is, or do I need to sand it for fits better? If not sand it, the barrel will not be properly seated on the base, and will be an uncomfortable gap under it that make it very difficult to copy in resin.

4 - Back in Sherman machine gun, must I keep the little detail that hangs from the barrel, or more correctly remove it?

I'm not asking what's most easy or comfortable. What I want to know is what is more accurate.

Thank you very much for your attention.
Rafa

Hi -... . .- --...

Thank you very much for your help.

Your answers are very helpful. It's exactly what I needed to know, and I'm glad that the IL&M boys do things logically.

Are these the Tamiya 8Rad parts I need? (see image)

If yes, Would someone be so kind to share some photos of these pieces with good resolution? Please.

Thank you very much again. I'm so glad you enjoy following my progress.
Rafa

You're welcome!

Just looked back through this thread.....awesome work!

Thanks to the generous support of -... . .- --.. I have my scratched version of the Tamiya 8Rad part, and this is definitely the one I will use in my model.
This has forced me to change the depth of the wings rear channel as it was designed to use the Hanomag parts and, therefore, was deeper than I need to use the 8Rad parts.
The channel depth on the end of wing was correct but the on the wing startup I had to reduce their depth in 1.5 mm. For this, I cut new channel bases of 1.5 mm. and carved wedge-shaped with a blade to refine them at their ends towards the wing tip, leaving a very thin end zone of about 0.2 mm.
The goal is to get the 8Rad parts protrude from the channels as in the reference images.
Once I returning to work in those rear channels, I have taken the opportunity to also reduce the thickness of the walls, achieving a thickness of 1 mm. only in the inner panel of the wings and not 1.5 mm. that I mistakenly gave them.

Thanks for looking.
Rafa

Hey people.

It's been over a month since my last post, but don't you think I've abandoned my model. Quite the contrary. Actually I have been very busy these past few weeks preparing my pieces to make molds, making resin copies, soldering brass tubes ...

The idea of ​​being able to make copies of all my pieces makes the work more complicated than I expected. But, well, I keep going.

I found interesting the type of plastic that I used to make the molds boxes. It's the first time I use this stuff and think it's a good find because it makes the work easy. It is a cheap material, is easily cut, is also folded very easily, and is more than sufficient strength for this application.

Again, I got this material through my friend who works at a signage company.

I hope any of you can check it and find it as useful as it has been for me.

Here I show you a few pictures of my latest progress.

Thanks for looking.

Rafa

Just amazing Rafa. Its still hard to comprehend, you making all these "donor" parts from styrene......you have some patience bud.
Mold boxes, ive pretty much started out casting, but i find using Lego the simplest method for me, though your corrugated board seems to work like a charm!

lee

That's stunning Rafa ! Once finished noone could tell it's not the original kitparts !

I can see you have so much love and patience on this,without that,its impossible to scartch build those donor kit parts shape as nice and accurate as yours,your work is Rafa!

Hi ralphee, MonsieurTox and Talkierg.

Of course, this is a labor of love. Love for Star Wars. This film struck me deeply and, in one way or another, has been part of my life since 1977. You know what they say that nothing can beat the imagination of a child? well, George Lucas was able to surpass mine and told me a simple story, but in a way so spectacular that I never would have imagined. He was able to combine all that I liked and put it together to make the best movie I had seen in my short life time, 35 years ago.

Clearly, my goal is that, once I finish my model, no one can tell if the parts are original or if I've done from scratch. But I don't intend to deceive anyone, and anyone following this thread will know exactly how I built every detail.

And patience is not a problem when you fully enjoy what you're doing.
The fun part is building the model. Once finished, the fun is over, so ... I'm having fun!

Many thanks for your support.

Rafa

The pleasure is all ours Rafa, having the priviledge of viewing this tremendous build!. Thank you again for sharing every step of the way.

That material you are using for your mold boxes is a great product. It is called corruflute here in New Zealand & is mainly used for signage such as real estate signs for example. Stationary stores sell it quite readily & I did wonder myself if it had any practical uses for us modelers. Looks like you found a good use for it mate!.

I must say this is one of my most admired build threads Rafa, your dedication & skill with styrene is outstanding.
Your droids still blow me away each time I re-visit the thread.
Stu

Rafa, amazing man, just amazing. The skills and devotion to make this...

I don't think anyone will be able to top this when it's done in terms of a scratchbuild.

That is so awesome, Rafa. With your skills nothing is impossible.

And they call me nuts, This is a Masterclass in modelling my opinion. Brilliant!!!

I haven't posted in this thread before but I have read it from the beginning. I will echo what every person has already said many many times, your skills and attention to detail are simply amazing. I can't wait to see how you do the main body. This thread needs to be stickied so that it will never vanish and serve as inspiration to others.

By the way, I love your R2! He's so cute.

Wow, never have seen such a detailed and excellent scratch build.
Your skills are outstanding.
Looking forward to the further build

Hi NAZGÛL, Ray22, crackerjazz, RCnut, Robiwon and Turrican.

Really. You are a bit excessive in your praise. It's not that hard. My only merit is to take the necessary time to make things right.
But I really really appreciate your support and, as I've said in previous posts, your kind words encourage me to continue with my project.


Hey Stu.
You call my work "tremendous build"
And what about your 5 FT Millennium Falcon? Now that's a great project!
Mine is ridiculous compared to the size of yours.
Look at me, shaking with fear before facing the construction of the fuselage.
I don't know what new excuse invent for further delaying that phase of my model.
You also put your hand in my project and wish I could help in yours as you did in mine.

Greetings.
Rafa

Now Rafa if you can recreate the donor parts to look like the original parts, I have faith in you that the fuselage will be a breeze for you look forward to seeing it .

Hello friends.

I very much regret my delay in posting updates.

I'm engaged by molds, making many mistakes and learning a lot of techniques that I still don't control well. You know: sprues, vents... Obsessed in avoiding bubbles and mold lines on my pieces.

Maybe I made a mistake breaking the model building process to make those molds, but I needed to feel confident that I could make all the neccesary copies to complete it.

I think I have all the pieces ready to make their final molds and, if all goes well, will return in a few days to build the model and, yes, it's time, the fuselage.

I hope to post new updates soon.

Thanks for your patience.
Rafa

YOU CAN DO IT! Lol.

One word: Wow!

MonsieurTox tipped me off to this thread, and I'm glad he did! =)

Styrene is such a fantastic material to work with... of course, my little build project that I used it for was a much larger scale than yours!

Amazing work and great skill! =)

Looking forward to reading more! For a while I was considering scratch building an X-wing myself, but that was before I really started looking at the details.

Fantástico trabajo! =)