Millenniumf
Sr Member
So I know the Bandai kit is technically more accurate, but I can't help but love the Finemolds X-wing just a little bit more, lol. The incredibly fine panel lines, no extra seams to putty, plus four options for decals give it a bit of an edge over the Bandai one. And the four decal options inspired me to start this project.
I'm working on making a Battle of Yavin diorama of all four X-wing options, and it's been such a blast from the past so far! I started out by painting the pilots. I am still disappointed that they only included decals for Luke and Biggs' helmets, but not Wedge and Garvin Dreis (Red Leader). So I had to resort to painting their helmets by hand. It's not the best paintwork, but it holds up well enough. I also used Luke's central red stripe for Wedge, whose helmet has a black stripe with yellow dashes, but who's going to know?
I then assembled the cockpits, adding some solder for the hoses that are seen behind the pilots' shoulders. The targeting computers I cut down since I wasn't planning on modeling them extended. I then painted them according to reference photos, then gave them a wash in black and a drybrushing of silver. Then I glued the pilots in place.
After assembling the laser cannons (leaving the barrels unglued so I could detach them) and drilling holes in the ends of the laser tips, I knolled the parts out on the workbench, because I needed to plan out which option parts to use for each pilot. This got interesting on the engine cans, because while the kit only provides one landing gear door option, the studio models for Luke and Red Leader have no raised ridge on them. So I used the ones sans ridge for the bottom engine cowlings, and cut some panel lines into them to indicate the seams for the landing gear doors.
Work continued till I got all the major subassemblies built and ready for detailing. Since this diorama will feature lights, I had to add them to the engines before attaching them to the wings. I robbed the road wheels from a 1:72 tank model kit to use as LED holders, since they had details on them that could be seen when the lights are off. I routed the wires through, and then realized that I glued the flat inner wing parts in too early since now I had to carve a channel through them, glue the wires in, and then cover them with superglue for the filler.
After the subassemblies were completed, I started to add extra detailing. I decided to replicate the styrene chip patterns on the studio models. This was trivial for Red Leader and Red Three, but Red Five and Red Two don't have great photo references, so I had to improvise a bit. I used the Moving Edition Bandai X-wing as a reference for Luke, since from what I can tell, Bandai did a fantastic job replicating the chip patterns on the hero filming miniature. Wedge's X-wing required that I reference a papercraft model kit, which had accurate details on it for Red 2. I also added some missing panel lines that I saw in references. Fun fact, it's abundantly clear that the guys at Finemolds referenced the Red 3 miniature for the details. The panel lines and chips almost perfectly match that miniature. Almost. There are a few inaccurate chips here and there, plus a few missing ones I needed to restore, but overall it's a decent replica of this ship. After the styrene chips were glued on, I added the missing sloped trailing edges to the nose cones of Red 1, 2, and 5 with sheet styrene, then added styrene rod to the trailing edges of the wings. I lost four of the greebles on the back of the wings, so I had to order another kit to replace them, but now I have another whole kit so I can make a fifth one later for a hangar diorama or something.
After gluing all those tiny chips down, I had to sand them flatter. Using my dial calipers, I determined that the chips on the kit parts are .005" tall, while I used .010" styrene strip to make the chips on my models. So I had to sand them down so they'd match and be in scale with the ships.
From there, I made the mounting points and electronic plugs for the models. I could have gone with simply stabbing the models onto brass tube and calling it a day like I normally do, but this time I wanted something dynamic. So I put the mounting points on the back ends of the models. I then drilled two holes for the electrical plugs in the bottom of the butt plates, inserted the plugs (which are circuit board interface pins), and then put the sockets from connectors on the other end of the pins before supergluing those in place. I then tied all the engine light wires together and soldered them to the sockets. On one of the X-wings - Luke's - one of the engines didn't light. I dunno where the wire broke, but somehow during construction I broke the positive lead on it. So I had to carefully break open the engine, thread another wire in, and rout it on the outside of the engine can and across the wing into the center of the assembly.
Anyway, that's all I have now. I'm pretty much at the point where I can start painting these suckers. I still have a sheet of vinyl masks for the canopy, minus one mask I used back in like 2002. I'm planning on painting three of them with base colors and their canopies, then recycling one of the sets for the fourth ship and using regular masking tape for the canopy to keep it paint free while I paint additional panels that weren't included in the decal sheet.
I'm working on making a Battle of Yavin diorama of all four X-wing options, and it's been such a blast from the past so far! I started out by painting the pilots. I am still disappointed that they only included decals for Luke and Biggs' helmets, but not Wedge and Garvin Dreis (Red Leader). So I had to resort to painting their helmets by hand. It's not the best paintwork, but it holds up well enough. I also used Luke's central red stripe for Wedge, whose helmet has a black stripe with yellow dashes, but who's going to know?
I then assembled the cockpits, adding some solder for the hoses that are seen behind the pilots' shoulders. The targeting computers I cut down since I wasn't planning on modeling them extended. I then painted them according to reference photos, then gave them a wash in black and a drybrushing of silver. Then I glued the pilots in place.
After assembling the laser cannons (leaving the barrels unglued so I could detach them) and drilling holes in the ends of the laser tips, I knolled the parts out on the workbench, because I needed to plan out which option parts to use for each pilot. This got interesting on the engine cans, because while the kit only provides one landing gear door option, the studio models for Luke and Red Leader have no raised ridge on them. So I used the ones sans ridge for the bottom engine cowlings, and cut some panel lines into them to indicate the seams for the landing gear doors.
Work continued till I got all the major subassemblies built and ready for detailing. Since this diorama will feature lights, I had to add them to the engines before attaching them to the wings. I robbed the road wheels from a 1:72 tank model kit to use as LED holders, since they had details on them that could be seen when the lights are off. I routed the wires through, and then realized that I glued the flat inner wing parts in too early since now I had to carve a channel through them, glue the wires in, and then cover them with superglue for the filler.
After the subassemblies were completed, I started to add extra detailing. I decided to replicate the styrene chip patterns on the studio models. This was trivial for Red Leader and Red Three, but Red Five and Red Two don't have great photo references, so I had to improvise a bit. I used the Moving Edition Bandai X-wing as a reference for Luke, since from what I can tell, Bandai did a fantastic job replicating the chip patterns on the hero filming miniature. Wedge's X-wing required that I reference a papercraft model kit, which had accurate details on it for Red 2. I also added some missing panel lines that I saw in references. Fun fact, it's abundantly clear that the guys at Finemolds referenced the Red 3 miniature for the details. The panel lines and chips almost perfectly match that miniature. Almost. There are a few inaccurate chips here and there, plus a few missing ones I needed to restore, but overall it's a decent replica of this ship. After the styrene chips were glued on, I added the missing sloped trailing edges to the nose cones of Red 1, 2, and 5 with sheet styrene, then added styrene rod to the trailing edges of the wings. I lost four of the greebles on the back of the wings, so I had to order another kit to replace them, but now I have another whole kit so I can make a fifth one later for a hangar diorama or something.
After gluing all those tiny chips down, I had to sand them flatter. Using my dial calipers, I determined that the chips on the kit parts are .005" tall, while I used .010" styrene strip to make the chips on my models. So I had to sand them down so they'd match and be in scale with the ships.
From there, I made the mounting points and electronic plugs for the models. I could have gone with simply stabbing the models onto brass tube and calling it a day like I normally do, but this time I wanted something dynamic. So I put the mounting points on the back ends of the models. I then drilled two holes for the electrical plugs in the bottom of the butt plates, inserted the plugs (which are circuit board interface pins), and then put the sockets from connectors on the other end of the pins before supergluing those in place. I then tied all the engine light wires together and soldered them to the sockets. On one of the X-wings - Luke's - one of the engines didn't light. I dunno where the wire broke, but somehow during construction I broke the positive lead on it. So I had to carefully break open the engine, thread another wire in, and rout it on the outside of the engine can and across the wing into the center of the assembly.
Anyway, that's all I have now. I'm pretty much at the point where I can start painting these suckers. I still have a sheet of vinyl masks for the canopy, minus one mask I used back in like 2002. I'm planning on painting three of them with base colors and their canopies, then recycling one of the sets for the fourth ship and using regular masking tape for the canopy to keep it paint free while I paint additional panels that weren't included in the decal sheet.
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