A-wing Pilot Chestbox Research Thread

Darth Lars

Master Member
I had thought about building the A-wing pilot's chest box, but I have scrapped that. Anyway, I thought that I would share what little discoveries that I have found and thoughts that I have found.

There are only two images available of the A-wing pilot's chest box that give much information. These can be found in Skaught's image archive here.
The left image is a screen capture showing the outline of the top edge of the chest box.
Skaught captured the right image from a VHS tape filmed at an exhibit.
It shows the underside and some details of the greeblies on the box.

Here is my preliminary blueprint:
blueprint.png

Box:
I am basing the dimensions on the X-wing chest box laid horizontally. If we assume that the white portion of the A-wing flak vest has about the same dimensions as the X-wing flak vest, and that Division 6's x-wing flak vest pattern is somewhat correct, then those dimensions match up.
I am also assuming that they have rougly the same thickness and that the sides are sloping at around 25° like on the X-wing chest box - except that here, all four sides are sloping.

Ribs:
I think that the vertical ribs could be found objects. They remind me of lightsaber T-track, except that there would be a rib between each track. From that likeness, I estimate 3 mm wide ribs, 5 mm apart.

Center:
I can not really understand them. I hypothesize though that the three black greeblies on top and the three shiny greeblies on the bottom could be the same type of circular greeblie with three circles in them that can be found on various other props, such as the Snowtrooper belt and the Hoth Rebel Locator box.. The size matches also.

Side greeblies:
I guess two greeblies. The top one being an indent in the box with two buttons on them - an indent just like the one on the Snowtrooper chest armor.
The lower greeblie remind me of the "range finder"-part on Veers' and AT-ST drivers' helmets - a part of the carburator from the Visible V8 Engine.

Bottom:
There are two hose couplings of some kind, centers roughly 10 cm (four inches) apart.
 
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I saw a real mouse droid this weekend and noticed the rails on the left and right of the circuit boards.
The next day, I visited a flea market and found such rails on a piece of furniture. One piece of plastic track has two channels for sliding doors.
I think the same kind of track could have been used for the fins on this chest box also.
The dimensions of the one I found was 16 mm wide, 8 mm high.
 
For some reason the A-Wing Chestbox reminds me of an old power booster or equalizer with heat sink fins...
 
My guess is that the box was vaccu-formed, but that the ribs are from a found part -- perhaps reinforcing ribs from inside a plastic box or plastic panel of some kind.
I think that they should be larger and closer together if they were real cooling fins.

I built a chest box for a friend some time ago. Unfortunately, I had missed the opportunity to take a picture of the finished one before giving to ther.
But I do have one from when it was almost finished. The only difference is that the topmost silver disc should be black.
awingchestbox-wip2.jpg

The silver discs are my sculpt, cast in resin with metallic powder.
The black box is sheet styrene, put together with plastic cement. V8 greeblie on the right side next to a scratch-built button greeblie. The ribs was some kind of plastic siding (dumpster find :p)

The lower box consists of a PVC tube with a styrene box on it. The cushion is a rectangular doubled piece of fabric with a large rectangular hole in the middle and padding at the bottom. It is wrapped around the tube and is held on with an elastic strap in the center that goes all the way around the tube through holes in the box.
I have put a foam "noodle" (insulating material) inside the hose. It is more flexible, more comfortable and also cheaper than a real hose. It is possible to store the entire hose inside the lower box. :)
I based the lower box mainly on screen caps from the hangar on Home one. Unfortunately, all shots were from a distance. The interpretation is a blend of details I have seen in different pics.

Some while after building this box I have begun to think that the discs on the original black box are not the metal discs at all, but the top lid part from the Visible V8 Engine model kit. This is because the orientation of the small buttons on that part matches pics of the real A-wing chestbox!
I had ordered the part from a board member so that I could verify this and adjust my design, but it seems like it has been lost in the mail. :(

The white box got heavier than I had anticipated. If I were to build a new one, I think I would instead use soft foam and make only the lower part out of hard plastic with flanging sides to let it hang in the cylinder.
 
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I think better reference images of the chest box have surfaced since last I posted in this thread. The details in the centre of the one I made are not accurate.
 
Umm I have been wanting a life-support chest box for an A-wing since I was a kid. Well with my 3D program and sourced greeblies I'm pretty dam close. I'll post it if anyone is interested?
 
Some additional news. The greebs have all been identified for the 4 sides. The grill has also been identified.

Edit: I did not find those parts. I helped a bit though.
 
So I used a heat sink for the left, the right was modified guns for an AT-AT, and at the top some modified badge greeblie and a interesting greeblie with some wires inside from something else. At the bottom disc heat sink and a tac rail. The box to the left is an X-wing box for size comparison.
20230409_115453.jpg
 
What where they? Reading through this I've only found a few.
Most of the Greeblies comes from an AMT 1/25 Bulldozer kit. The Greeblie on the left ist form Airfix 1/144 Saturn V and the part with the Rips is a Wakefield 623K Heat Sink. The size of the Box is upper 120x76mm, below 150x120 mm and high 50mm
box2.jpg
 

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Thank you Ywingfighter! I've found most of the parts mentioned and going to tweak my design a bit. I'm going to keep some of my found pieces to keep it a but more my design but that last greeblie helped with the final piece. I may kit bash a few things to help it stand out a bit more. Otherwise I look forward to the final build. If it all works out I will post and look forward to everyone's thoughts.
 
Thank you Ywingfighter! I've found most of the parts mentioned and going to tweak my design a bit. I'm going to keep some of my found pieces to keep it a but more my design but that last greeblie helped with the final piece. I may kit bash a few things to help it stand out a bit more. Otherwise I look forward to the final build. If it all works out I will post and look forward to everyone's thoughts.
I'm really looking forward to seeing your completed model.
 
Thanks! My greebs came out great and the last one took me a min. Thank God NASA posts numbers. The render and print was a pain.
20231201_201320.jpg
 
So here it is mostly done. Nothing has been glued. I need to cut the weight of the walls. Wish I had an FDM but I love the detail in resin.
 

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