Converting the 1:72 FM X-Wing into ILM hero-style model

Hey folks!

It's been a while that I built the 1:49 Red 2 and Red 5 to match the filming miniatures with help of 3D-printed parts.

Now it is time to test our 3D-printed products in 1:72 (or better to say 1:74) scale.

This time I decided to go for Red 3 - an X-Wing I never built before.

So, here are some of the new parts that I'll use:

the new backplate next to the kit part. Keep in mind - this is still a prototype.


The Saturn-V-parts, the laser-cannon mount, the heatsink for the laser (in this picture you can also see some parts for the 1:48 X-Wing).



The new engine nozzles. If you take a close look at the kit's nozzles you take these any of the week...
3 long and 1 short for Red 3.



prepare and sand down the wing details:





and here is the new canopy-frame. Just glued, not finalized yet. For Red 3 there needed to be an inner and an outer frame. so both were drawn as vectors and then plotted into 3mm styrene sheet.
Although they may appear quite big... it is a tiny tiny thing...



Days later, the heavily modified fuselage. Test-fit with the new backplate, the canopy-frame and droidstrip.

... it's been some time...

But now - time for a big update:

I finished wings and fuselage and primed the X-wing black:




and then... almost white.
The Revell Aqua Color is for size comparison. Note all the detail:

After that it is time for some masking-madness...

Color after color, after color, ...



And many masking-hours later -
Colors are a bit shocking at the moment:




Time to dry and prepare for the clear/grey/smoke-coat...

And finally - Red 3 - the dirtiest of all X-Wings(Pilot and R2-unit are still missing):






I am not satisfied how the red turned out. Everybody speaks of the carboose red they used at ILM, but when I look at the reference photos of Red 3 - the red color has a slighly orange nuance to it while the rest of the colors mostly fade to grey.

Any ideas on the colors?

Well, I don't know about the colours, but you've done a fabulous job as far as I'm concerned.

I think the red looks fine. Trying to interpret from just a couple photos without viewing the original in person can be a crapshoot sometimes, depending on how the printed photos were reproduced. Plus, the color might be a little off, but one could theoretically chalk it up to a form of "scale effect" since this model is only about 1/4 the size of the typical hero and pyro studio models.

One or two things can be ever so slightly off and yet they don't necessarily have to detract from the rest of the model. But I admit we are our own worst critics when it comes to such models, because we can spot the flaws almost nobody else can.

Very nice work!

Are there still plans to offer these parts for sale? The Model-Force.com site hasn't been updated in some time. I'm kinda holding off on my 1/72 builds in the hope that some of these fine parts will be available!

Gregatron said:

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Are there still plans to offer these parts for sale? The Model-Force.com site hasn't been updated in some time. I'm kinda holding off on my 1/72 builds in the hope that some of these fine parts will be available!

Yes, yes and absolutely yes!
We are really sorry for that delay.
The parts we created appeared to have a too high resolution for most of the 3D-printers to handle in larger quantities.
So we made lower-res parts and as soon as we approve the sample print the parts go into production.

It should be a matter of a few more weeks.

This looks awesome.

Did you re-scribe the panel lines on the fuselage?


-MJ

Wow, what a beautiful build! Nice work!

May I ask how you did the chipping effect?

Sean

Marko@Rockvoice said:

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Yes, yes and absolutely yes!
We are really sorry for that delay.
The parts we created appeared to have a too high resolution for most of the 3D-printers to handle in larger quantities.
So we made lower-res parts and as soon as we approve the sample print the parts go into production.

It should be a matter of a few more weeks.

Fantastic!


As some around here doubtless know, my first modeling love is STAR TREK. That said, I'm also a huge STAR WARS fan, and have long desired to hop the fence and model some ships from that great universe.

I've had two 1/72 X-Wings and two TIEs sitting in a box, unbuilt, since 2002.

Recently, I was bitten by the SW bug again, and bought the 1/72 Falcon and Y-Wing, with another X-Wing on the way.

I'm beginning to do research, and am seeking accurate parts and upgrades. These parts look fantastic.



I must say this, however--unlike with TREK, it seems difficult to find even the most basic info on the ILM models all conveniently collated into a one-stop shop. Nice to see that some parts for different variants (such as the X-Wing backplates) will be available.


What parts are in the pipe, currently?

Any updates, Marko?

That's really nice work! So much so that the scale is deceiving. Well done!