Ewing build

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Its been a while since I last posted a build. Last year was a bit of a letdown with builds mainly because I didn't have the brass to get as many as I wanted, having over stretched a bit the year previous, and then the couple that I did get caused me no end of problems, one way or another. So I hope this year will be better as I've got a couple of semi completed kits to finish off and a couple of brand new ones to build over the next few months when,hopefully, the weather will get warm enough to paint again.
Just after Christmas I visited Guy Cowen to pick up a spare Salzo kit he had for sale and I was lucky enough to see his collection up close. Most of you RPF regulars know Guy from the exacting builds he posts. Well, I have to say when you see them up close they are almost impossible to tell apart from the originals. The A wing inparticular is breathtakingly accurate, an "honest- to- blog" virtual clone of the ILM beastie and he has a Y wing which is an absolute killer of a piece. My thanks go to Guy for his sage advice, and for letting me see his superb collection.
Amoungst them was a piece that really caught my eye. I've seen the odd one pop up now and again, but until I saw Guys version I'd been a little undecided on gettting one.
The kit is Frank (Brundleflies) and Moes E wing, and I have to say Guys stunningly weathered paintwork in the Slave 1 colour scheme really makes it part of the whole Star wars universe! As there are not many kits out there at the moment I order one last week and recieved it this Thursday!
And I was not disappointed. The casting on it is brilliantly crisp and detailed,easily an equal to the Salzo X wing, which up until now has been the best kit i've had. The photos say it all really.

I have had about half a dozen tiny bubbles to fill in and thats it. The parts, other than cutting them off their casting stubbs are shown without any clean up at all, and the hulls matched almost perfectly when I put them together, with almost spot on alinement. I glued them together with heavy superglue and that was it!
There are also some nice ,well thought out bits to the kit, such as the clear castings for the engines and cockpit for lighting. Also great is the fact that the cockpit and canopy can be just "dropped in" after the main hull is fully built. I like this a lot as I find this part of SS building hardest of all.
So, what can you do with such a kit? Well for starters, as its not strictly a replica of a studio model the answer is anything you want. Included amoungst the very clear and concise instructions are as many variants as you want to paint. And the possibilities are endless.
So like the X wing I did , I'm going to free wheel it a bit and go for a heavily armoured rust bucket thats been a bit modified for a rogue squadron, with a few added features.
First up is I've tagged on a "rear" wing , think breaking flaps like on the snow speeders ,to give it a bit of extra manouerability in the atmosphere.I cut a few templates out of cardboard and then styrene.
The mockups looked okay so I've added them. There will be a lot more detail to add to them, but I'm more interested in feedback at the moment. If fairly possitive they stay and I've only wasted an afternoon on them.

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I am going to try and light the kit, depending on where I stick the engines on the main wing and add a bit more detail, though I haven't many plastic kits to scavenge. Any reccomendations ?

Personally I've found the build so far to be the funnest I've ever done , because (a) there aren't any problems at all with it, (b) you can get to exercise your imagination a bit if you want to. So I hope I can pull off something that will do it some credit.

 

[jedimaster]

I'm not really into the expanded universe stuff but this is looking really good.

 

[BrundelFly]

Its always nice to see someone enjoying our kits!!

The funnest thing about this kit, is you can do WHATEVER you want to it, and you won't have one of the fanticals telling you that: "IT DIDNT LOOK LIKE THAT IN THE MOVIE..OR IN ALL THE AMAZING REFERENCE I HAVE THAT I CANT SHOW YOU"

Thanks for the write up!!
Cant wait to see it finished!

 

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Didn't spend much time on the E today apart from adding a couple of rings around the inside of the top wings that will act as guides to help adjust angle of the wing and to drill out the engines to take the lights. Thinking about adding guns in some different locations and where to put additional armour paneling and " damage and repair " work next.

Frank, your welcome. Jedimaster , I did agree with you up until I saw Guys build. Once its done ,theres no denying it didn't come from the same shipyards as the X wing,although with a Guy Cowen build its the paintwork that really lifts it into the SW universe. And if you want to change it as I am doing, there isn't any reason why you cannot enhance it, as long as it works. Truth is there aren't that many kits to build out there that I know about that are available at the moment, and if you have succumbed to the charms of the concept X wing you really can't ignore the Ewing for too long.

 

[Barryjoe]

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as an extension to Jedimaster's comments, I was not even aware of this Star Wars fighter, but I really like the look of it. You can defiantly see the relation it has to the x-wing in is design philosophy.

Concerning the addition of the wings, I think they look good. I like the reason you have for them (added maneuverability in atmosphere) and I feel they add a nice balance to the overall structure. I always like it when I see a modeler take that added step to becoming a designer. It gives me a new perspective, allowing me to appreciate the original design in a new way. For example, on Modelers, miniatures and magic, there is an ss x-wing called, "Blue5" with blue markings instead of the filmed red one. It looks awesome. According to the description, ILM originally wanted to do a Blue squadron instead of the filmed Red squadron--a fact I did not know.

Finally, the producers of the kit did a excellent job on the moldings. They look sharp and really add to the mechanical feel of the model.

I look forward to seeing your continued build,
Barryjoe.

 

[moes1]

Nice - great to hear you're having fun with out kit and thanks for the kind words.

 

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Got the E wing mostly mocked up. The only real issue is how I light the wing engines. Getting a wire through the wing may prove difficult. I gave the nose of the E a bit of an X look. I wanted mine to look like an intermediate between the X and the E design, as an atmo- interceptor look. That means the wing cannons will be much shorter and I've shifted a couple of cannons to just under the cockpit. It almost seemed designed for it. A little more panelling to go on and some smaller alterations for the rear and she will be ready to paint, once I've sorted out the cockpit. I like this bird even more than I thought I would. The paint scheme will be heavily red ,rusted and yellows, like a sandcrawler. The nose looks huge in the pictures , but it ain't so bad in real life, I'll take a better photo tomorrow.

 

[Guy Cowen]

Awesome mate

 

[Barryjoe]

CutThunb,

I really enjoy the progression of your build. All the added detail really fit well, and create extra points of interest to an already cool looking model.
I especially like the extra paneling you have recently added to the sides. Great work.

Barryjoe.

 

[hollywoodhardware]

Those are some great modifications that really add to the design!

 

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Not much done today except to get the engines set up for lighting. Drilled the wing with 3mm bit so it would take a brass tube, which has the added advantage of giving the wing support. Got it about half way down then had to cut a channel to the engine supports. Threading the wire through was still very tight and a touch of oil helped get it through the brass. Infilled with Apoxy sculpt, thank god for that stuff!
Also a side shot of the nose to give a better sense of scale. Personally I'm leaning to leaving the cabin just black with a bit of detail, ratter than lighting it.

Moe, Guy, BarryJoe amd Hollywood thanks for your comments!

 

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Amazingly today has been warm and sunny enough for me to get in the garage and give the Ewing a prime just to see what she would look like after the bits and pieces. Overall I'm pretty pleased, particualrly with the nose section that really makes it look like it came from the same line as the X wings. I've left the "tail" unsprayed as yet as I'm still adding to it. And I may add some more piping around the wing engines and the rear greeblie areas on the hull. Lazers and lighting in the engines to finish off and then shes pretty much there. I didn't light the cockpit as its pretty tight in there anyway with the pilot, but it would be relatively simple to do if you have the patience. As I 've said its a great kit to play around with and I've learnt alot from it.
The finishing coats of paint will have to wait until much warmer weather now, though I'll work something out manually before I get to spray it on.

 

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Well, I decided to light the engines today and was pretty pleased with the result. The clear cast resin makes gives it an interesting " red hot glow" I've never seen before. Obviously as I paint it with subsequent undercoats and weathering that will disappear somewhat, but the interior will still look look like it has an afterburner effect if I get it right.

 

[PetarB]

This is looking fantastic! Those revised wings look really cool, and suit.

Just a question though - why is this is in "studio scale"? As far as I know this didn't appear in any of the movies. Would love to be proved wrong!

 

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Thanks PetarB. I posted it here firstly because it is perfectly in scale with the 1/24th X wings (even down to the pilot) and secondly because the other Ewing and concept X wing builds have all been posted here and they' re based on solid SW material. It therefore has a very worthy pedigree but if it needs moving I've no objection. I hugely admire all the effort that people put into their builds , whether it be making them virtually identical to the actual screen models and all the kit detection that requires ( and there are currently some brilliant threads for that here) or they come up with a great design and build based on a studio concept that is perfectly done ,through a lot of personal ingenuity and modelling effort.
The way I look at it is I applaud anyones skills who enhance this art, and it is an art despite what others might say and believe, as it requires a huge range of abilities. More so than a lot of crafts.
As a teenager I built dozens of airfix kits and I still have some of the original X wings I built from the 70's. I loved doing it but unfortunately for the last thirty odd years my life and work have meant I had to give it up. I literally had no time for it. Now I do I intend to cram in as many builds as I can until I have to give it up again ,due to old father times inevitable march onward. Its been very sad to notice the passing of alot of the brilliant technicians and people from the original SW trilogy and I intend ,as best I can, to try and pass on what little I have learned and can do in as many threads as possible for future builders. That ,ultimately is the point of the RPF in my opinion. It is an invaluable resource, a pool of talents, skills and knowledge from individuals that helps sustains these interests for future generations, and I think they will need it. If it hadn't been for this site and for what alot of others have posted here, I'd never have known these kits existed. And as you get older and inevitably start to loose a few friends you learn soon enough that as you cannot take anything with you, so you might as well pass it on what you know while you can .
All a bit deep for a reply to a simple question but its something thats been bothering me for a while I guess. Last year was a little hard. Makes you think.

There will be several other builds later this year that will go here that are definitely studio scale , and one of them planned will be a very modified X wing built from SS cast parts ,that I drew up about thirty years ago. Hopefully anyway.

 

[ralphee]

Thats a bang up job your doing, love the nose mod, gives it a bit more character.
Paint up should be fun, what thoughts did you have on paint, sorry if i missed it in the thread......be cool to see it take inspiration from some of the Pyro birds maybe?

lee

 

[masterjedi322]

That engine looks awesome! 'Can't wait to see it built!

Are you going to be providing details on the painting & weathering? I'm buidling up a Slave I model, and I'd love to hear some tips from the experts!

Sean

 

[almar bouwman]

The E-wing looks awesome. Wish I could work with electronics like that.

 

[Randy13]

I was not a fan of the E wing until now. Great job!

 

[CutThumb]

Finished the top wing yesterday with more panelling, sanded the rough edges and tidied it up so its basically finished. Seems to look more like a part of the E than just an addd on now. And thats the build part of her finished now. Waiting for some better weather to start up the airbrushes. I may finish off a B wing from last year that gave me some problems and tag it onto this build ,as it will be lit to and some people are interested in the electronics, so it will give them a rough beginners guide. Then I'll paint them both.