Hasbro X-Wing Toy Conversion

Padawan311

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
So, I was going through some boxes that had been in storage and found this old 2002 Toys R’ Us Exlusive Red 5 X-Wing and decided that I would attempt a conversion. This will be something new for me, I am just getting back into building models after a break that lasted decades. I figured it would give me a chance to practice several things like some scratch building, adding details, do some problem solving and most importantly practice learning the ILM style of painting and weathering. I just recently received an airbrush as a gift from my wife and this is the perfect chance to test it out. My goal is simply to make it look less like a toy and a little more like a studio scale model. I am not going for screen accurate, but more of an “inspired by” type build for practice. Threads of similar conversions by PHArchivist and Randy13 have been studied closely and will be a big influence. Follow me on this learning adventure.

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One of the first things I did was begin to remove all of the old decals. On this particular version from 2002, almost all of the striping and details are decals, not paint. Some of them came off very easily after soaking in some warm, soapy water, others required some elbow grease and some goo-gone. For the really stubborn areas, I used the sandblaster at work, ha!

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The wings definitely need some added detail and work. For this I decided to add some small aluminum u-channel strips to the inside and make a completely new top panel. I work in a metal shop and used the CNC router to machine some new top panels from some scrap .040 Aluminum. It may be a little on the heavy side but is long enough to cover where the wings attach to the main body and it will also act to reinforce it and prevent any sag. I also cut a bunch of tiny strips of .020 aluminum and glued those details on the top panels using some reference pictures for placement ideas. It was very tedious but they blend well and are similar to the molded parts of the toy.

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As seen in the pictures above, most of the greeblies and details are decals. I plan to replace several of these and I started with the greeblies on the back of the engines. I drew up a simple design that resembles the parts and used a CNC router to cut them out using .063 clear acrylic, then glued them in place. I think I will do the same for some cockpit details.

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I have one of these -- I think it is the same version as this one, with the very ... wiry ... looking Luke Skywalker figure. I'll be watching to see what you do for the day when I am able to start messing with mine.

My philosophy with these toys is that if there is something I think I can improve without wanting to jump off a cliff, I will try to do so.

SSB
 
Is this the one that the engines light up, and you press Artoo's head and Obi Wan says "Use the force, Luke"?
I had one of those. Bought it as soon as I saw it. I wish I still had it, but I gave it to a friend, along with all my other Star Wars toys.

Can't wait to see what you do with it.
 
Is this the one that the engines light up, and you press Artoo's head and Obi Wan says "Use the force, Luke"?
I had one of those. Bought it as soon as I saw it. I wish I still had it, but I gave it to a friend, along with all my other Star Wars toys.

Can't wait to see what you do with it.
This is the version released after that one. Same details and sculpt but without lights, sounds or Luke & R2.
 
A little more progress this weekend. I designed a small cockpit terminal and used a CNC router to cut it out using some .063 acrylic. I think it will add some better detail to that area. I also cut some acrylic to fill in the area where the J- hook lever for the wing mechanism was. I then used some styrene pieces to fill in the speaker holes and add a little detail, as well as add a 3D printed “universal greeblie.”

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I haven’t had a lot of free time to work on this lately but did manage to come up with a mount point. I milled some .5 aluminum, drilled and tapped for a 1/4-20 screw or Panavise mount and glued it in place with some 2 Part epoxy. It seems rock solid and turned out great.

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Can't wait to see your version ! So far, so good.

I did a rebuild a conversion few years back (it's posted on the RPF, not trying to hijack your thread) and really enjoyed the process. I had zero model building experience and it was fun trying to figure out and solve problems during the build. I started with balsa wood and evolved to styrene plastics.

Good luck !
 
I started adding some details to the cockpit area using some styrene sheet, guitar string and small spare parts from model kits I had lying around. I also used some styrene tube to add the details on the sides of the fuselage that are seen on some studio scale X-Wings. I believe it was used for wiring.

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Outstanding!

In terms of toy conversion, take a look at the tiny Mission Fleet offering Ashoka Tano Aquatic Attack mini figure and vehicle.

The vehicle itself can be made into a spacecraft or added to a larger build. A lot of details and interesting shapes for its size.
 
I finally had some more time to work on the Hasbro X-Wing. This part was a bit intimidating but really needed to be done because the original cannons were not in the best shape. I decided to recreate the cannons using aluminum tubes (I couldn’t find them in brass.) I saved the flash hider part of plastic cannon, drilled it out and will reuse those. Cutting all of the aluminum tubes with the K&S tube cutter was slow and tedious but worked well In the end. I glued everything together using CA glue and am happy with the results.
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A little more progress on the Hasbro X-Wing. The next problem to solve was the droid slot. Being sized for the 3.75” figures, the scale of the droid just looked too large for the look I am going for. As others have done, I bought the Pez R2 and cut it in half and will repaint it. I also CNC milled some acrylic for the smaller droid to fit into and used some two-part epoxy to glue it in place. It took a few tries to get the size just right but I am pleased with how it looks.

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Progress has been a bit slow lately due to work/life but I was able to work on the canopy a little bit. I wasn’t originally planning on cutting the “glass” out of canopy but I thought it would look better in the end. This was not fun. The plastic is not easy to work with at all but once I started, I was committed at that point. What ended up working the best was a dremel cutting wheel, some files and going VERY slowly. It’s not perfect by any means but I think the weathering will help hide some of the flaws.

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Since I decided to cut out the ”glass” in the main canopy, I figured I should do the same in the rear part of the canopy. There was no ”glass,” just solid plastic painted black. It was time consuming but I used a dremel and some files and was able to cut it out. I added some details using spare parts from an old MPC X-Wing and some guitar string. I know it isn‘t movie accurate but I am not really going for that anyways.
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