Another 1978 MPC X-Wing kit build...

[Chrisisall]

Hello people, been a while since I was here.
After seeing the second season of The Mandalorian I realized I needed to do another X-Wing. The last time I made this kit was in 1978, and I really didn't do a very good job. I glued it together, painted the pilot, slapped on the decals, streaked it a bit with black paint & called it done.
This time I put a little more into it. I wanted to do the Revell 1/29, but a little research showed me that it was kinda inaccurate. Bandai is accurate, but a bit smallish for me. So I decided to revisit a classic. I decided to modify it as well as I could, which ended up being a LOT more work than I bargained for, but rewarding in the end (I began on Jan 14 & finished yesterday).
Basic mods: I added coat hangar pieces to brace the laser cannons, changed panel lines near the cockpit, added length to the upper & lower forward intakes, greebles to the too-plain fuselage & cockpit, detailed the pilot up some, slightly tinted the windows, detailed & closed up a bit of the inner wing openings, and made a pin to keep the wings open so that I could remove it to display them closed if I wanted to. I don't have an airbrush, so this is mostly all old school brush painting. Not 100% perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Pictures now:

 

[Chrisisall]

Here they are closed, but that's just an option- I'll have them open in general.

 

[Restart934]

I have two of these in my stash, hope they turn out as nice!

 

[neosporing]

this is a kit I mangled as a kid, I remember the fuselage not lining up...I hope to fix this memory of early modeling failure as well. I've built up bandai versions, but the lines on this kit hit nostalgia nerves for me that the bandai kit can't.

 

[Chrisisall]

this is a kit I mangled as a kid, I remember the fuselage not lining up...I hope to fix this memory of early modeling failure as well. I've built up bandai versions, but the lines on this kit hit nostalgia nerves for me that the bandai kit can't.

It just takes a degree of finesse that we did not possess as kids.

 

[ID10T]

Nice job!

 

[rbeach84]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing your work. I really appreciate the effort involved, I just finished one recently also... only took me two years!

Regards, Robert

 

[Analyzer]

With a little bot of work and a great paint job this turned out excellent!

 

[Metaluna mutant]

Beautiful job. The wonderful thing about classic SW kits it that heavy weathering, dry brushing and diluted black wash covers up a lot of these old kit's engineering problems. Poor seam fit? Looks like corrosion to me! Black wash it, then dry brush it with light grey!

 

[StevenBills]

NIce paint job!

 

[Chrisisall]

Beautiful job. The wonderful thing about classic SW kits it that heavy weathering, dry brushing and diluted black wash covers up a lot of these old kit's engineering problems. Poor seam fit? Looks like corrosion to me! Black wash it, then dry brush it with light grey!

I discovered almost by accident what was causing the fuselage fit issues! The wings seemed to slip out of place in the rear during dry fitting before gluing it together... it was a pin in the rear that comes off the top part that was put there to secure the wing assembly- it is too long, and not in the correct place. I shaved it down & put in two pins of my own made from the thickest sprues. Suddenly those big gaps (you know the ones I mean) disappeared. Just an FYI for anyone doing this kit again in future....

 

[Chrisisall]

Small thing also, I caught that the 'brim' of the rear endcap was upside down (compared to pictures of the filming miniature), so I inverted it.

 

[thud83]

I had never seen anyone reinforce the laser cannons before - usually I just see pictures of them scratch building new ones out of brass tubes. I really like your solution!

 

[Chrisisall]

I had never seen anyone reinforce the laser cannons before - usually I just see pictures of them scratch building new ones out of brass tubes. I really like your solution!

Thanks, my solution was born out of my local hobby store closing. Wasn't gonna order brass tubes online & hope they were the right size...

 

[dockbay94]

I know all to well the work that goes into making this kit come alive! top notch work. remember, no rush and build it to your desire. it took me some time to figure out my lighting and display options. my next one will be more upgraded than my last one. I learn with every build I do. again, Great work and thinking on this kit! I have 4 more kits in my stash but waiting to do them, I have tooooo many WIP kits on my bench right now.

 

[Chrisisall]

I know all to well the work that goes into making this kit come alive! top notch work. remember, no rush and build it to your desire. it took me some time to figure out my lighting and display options. my next one will be more upgraded than my last one. I learn with every build I do. again, Great work and thinking on this kit! I have 4 more kits in my stash but waiting to do them, I have tooooo many WIP kits on my bench right now.

Your last X-Wing was just incredible. You can't top that.
Can you?

 

[dockbay94]

Your last X-Wing was just incredible. You can't top that.
Can you?

thanks for the kudos! but I always learn from every build to excel on my next one. I can only strive to do better with every build I do. I learn everything day and I fail. I strive to do better every time, though it doesn't always go as planned. LOL

 

[Laspector]

I totally forgot about that star shaped stand! Wow, memories! I remember heating a needle over a candle to poke holes in the wings for thread to hang that baby from the ceiling.

 

[ID10T]

Yeah! I definitely had (maybe still have?) this one. I also remember the stand! I think mine broke...

I went looking again for my other models, and didn't find this or my Falcon. As I look at the other builds, I am having flashbacks of my build, so I know I did them; I just don't know if I can still locate them. So far, not looking too good.

 

[rbeach84]

I ended up mounting the kit 'star' stand onto a wooden plaque after packing it with epoxy putty and embedding two bolts to secure it with... plus I reinforced the 'mast' with CD crystal case plastic. It is a lot sturdier now! Also gave me room to add some fun graphical elements including an 'INCOM' corporate logo...that included a five-point star!
RE: the back plate cover, it changed position depending on how it is reinserted after taking it off to expose the mounting pipe. More a problem is that the rear plate needs to be reset some since the kit has it nearly flush with the rear edge of the fuselage.
To secure the wing pivot, I made full bulkheads to keep it in place instead of the 'trapping pin(s)'. I also added a couple of protruding square pegs on the forward inside bulkhead that fit into matching recess 'pockets' on the foil edges, which work in combination with magnet latches so when closed, the foils would stay in the correct alignment, being prevented from rotating by the pegs. Essentially, I built in stops to eliminate the 'flopping wings'. A second set of magnets hold the foils in the open position and proper alignment.
I made patterns for the bulkheads if anyone wants a copy...
Regards, Robert