McQuarrie X-Wing 3D modeling and build

Kiwimaddog

Well-Known Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Hi guys,
Ever since I had the image of the McQ X-wing in my childhood room growing up I always wanted a kit of it. I'm aware there are several kits out there but they're not that easy to find and if found, pretty expensive. Added to that this sort of build is kind of artist interpretation type of work so I decided to make my own model. Currently I'm midst of the modelleing work and I'm putting in the hours as I find them but they're few and sometimes far apart.
I'm using Catia V5 and Zbrush for the modelling work, I'll show some pictures of the current status and update as the build progresses.

A.JPG
B.JPG

Fuselage is modelled in Catia

IMG_3073.JPEG

Main reference picture


Status_JUNE_A.JPG

Pilot and cockpit is modelled in Zbrush

Status_JUNE_B.JPG

Cockpit module, more details to be added

Status_JUNE_C.JPG

Pilot as he sits right now. Not decided yet if I'll add a lower body or not

Cockpit.JPG
Capture.JPG

Main references for the cockpit and Pilot are these Joe Johnston sketches
 
Great work so far!.
I too had that McQuarrie image in my room as a child in the 70's & dreamed of a model of it.
Keen to follow your progress on this!.

Stu
 
Seen here are the first testprints of the Joe Johnston cockpit skeleton and some of the panels for concept test. The idea is to print the skeleton part in PLA and add the panel-sections, pilot and wires as separate resin-prints sionce I don't have a big enough resin printer to handle as one piece and as a positive byproduct I can also optimize the printing of the details when printing piece by piece.
I early decided that I wanted to design for 1/20 scale but after printing I'm now realizing that the finished model will be fairly huge so I'm a bit on the fence right now. Go big or scale down? as it stands now the finished model will be around 800mm in length... I would have to do several splits in the complete model to handle this size and also probably have the need to reinforce many of the printed parts for them not to warp as heat and time affects them. Could be worth it though possibly?
IMG-3732.jpg
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Nice ! I was just looking through the Original Trilogy sketchbooks. Always loved those cockpit drawings of the X wing. Make you feel like your right there in space. Or maybe it was just the shrooms, LOL, JK ; )
 
I would go studio scale. I can't remember what size that usually was... but maybe 1:24th scale.

I think you need a slightly longer breathing hose on the model. Any quick turns with the head could tear that short hose open.
 
Go big!
Design it for a metal pipe to run the length of it to support it all.
That will also give you a solid structure to mount it for display.

Yeah, that’s my idea as well.

I would go studio scale. I can't remember what size that usually was... but maybe 1:24th scale.

I think you need a slightly longer breathing hose on the model. Any quick turns with the head could tear that short hose open.
1:20 is because I have a few other models, built and unbuild in that same scale. And that hose yes, nice catch. I’ve actually already amended that one, I’ll show better pictures later :)
 
Hi fellow modellers,
Further testprints are queued for the cockpit-parts and the modelling-work is more or less done. Next up is some further work on the fuselage in Catia and to model the R2-unit in ZB to propel this slowpaced projects onwards. In the meantime I'll share some photos of the Zbrush cockpit as it currently stands, All split up into quite a few neat little pieces(so that I can print it a bit more easily and in the interest of optimizing details)
Cockpit_aug_A.JPG
Cockpit_aug_B.JPG
Cockpit_aug_C.JPG
Cockpit_parts_August.JPG
 
You probably won’t need a pipe to support the fuselage but definitely will need something for the wings. I designed my Hasbro Hero X-Wing S-Foils to accommodate brass rod with PLA prints.

TazMan2000
 
Wow love that pic also your 3d modeling very smooth what printer are you using Thanks for sharing can't wait to see more
Thank you very much. I have a few printers I use. Primarily I use a Zortrax M200 for ABS and a Voron 2.4 for larger prints. For resin prints I have a Zortrax Inkspire. I also have a E3D Bigbox fdm printer but that one needs a bit of tlc currently.

You probably won’t need a pipe to support the fuselage but definitely will need something for the wings. I designed my Hasbro Hero X-Wing S-Foils to accommodate brass rod with PLA prints.

TazMan2000
That is something I would not have considered until after the end result with sad dipping wings. Thank you very much indeed!
 
Thank you very much. I have a few printers I use. Primarily I use a Zortrax M200 for ABS and a Voron 2.4 for larger prints. For resin prints I have a Zortrax Inkspire. I also have a E3D Bigbox fdm printer but that one needs a bit of tlc currently.


That is something I would not have considered until after the end result with sad dipping wings. Thank you very much indeed!

I started that project a while back. Since then my design skills have improved and so has the printing technology and size. But you will see that I sandwiched the PLA printed core between two plates with supports. You may not be able to do the same with the Mac X-Wing. If I were to do this again, I would go a slightly different route. Most likely I would print it all in resin with cutouts for spars.


TazMan2000
 
First off I've decided to go for 1:24 scale after printing a wing at 20-scale and found it a bit... heavy ;)
Further more I've started the work of splitting up the model for printing and found myself in the need of making some decisions. The preferred route(A) is to print the parts using a large volume resin printer in few larger pieces. The issue with this plan is that I don't have a large format resin printer so I would need to buy one and create the space for that with regards to cleanup area and such, and that might be a bit...challenging. Not impossible though. . Also a bit hesitant due to price and also if it's too much of a hassle to clean up after printing I'd probably not use it all that much.
Plan B is to design a skeleton to be printed in my Voron FDM-printer and print panels in my regular sized Inkspire resin printer that are fixed directly onto said skeleton. Issues here are that the panels would mostly be fairly flat and quite a few to be printed and I know from experience that flat resin panels don't really keep the shape all that well so alignement will be an issue between the panels.
I'm cautiously leaning towards buying the Anycubic M3 MAX and go route A. I'll at least design the partsplits to fit the M3 print volume and testprint everything on my FDM first. I think....

Some progress pictures so that it's just not a text update for now while I figure stuff out:
Printer_Volume_issue.JPG

Inskpire print volume vs M3 MAX volume for the 24th scale build

IMG-4072.jpg

1:20 scale cockpit testprint and 1:24 complete wing setup. the brass rod is a D3mm.

IMG-4071.jpg

Different angle I suppose


Exploded_PARTS_WING.jpg

Parts explosion
 

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