The OLD MPC X-Wing...

dockbay94

Well-Known Member
Hello all, been awhile since I posted anything but I've been a busy guy lately. I pulled out my really old MPC x-wing kit to build and kind of got carried away with it. what started as a simple out of the box build became a little more.
I threw out the cannons and replaced them with brass rods, spruced up the cockpit a bit as the kit one was pathetic, added two mounting points - one on the bottom with a plug and one in the rear with a plug. I cut out the round area in the rear area and glued in a magnet on the back. added detail to the interior wings and cut off the those two damn nubs/filled holes on the wings. lit up the engines with four red flickering LED's - The cockpit and R2 with FO along with styrene bits here and there. for those of you who have built this kit and many there are you will notice the addition of added. I wanted to cut the windows out of the canopy but being over 40 years old it was very brittle so it's not glued on as well as the cannons just sitting in place for removal later. hoping to find someone to 3D print me a new canopy and maybe a pilot as well.
a bit heavy on the weathering and in no way is this depicting any sort of RED # anything I just had fun with it and enjoyed every second of doing it. a far cry from my first time building this when I was 11 years old. enjoy and thanks for looking.

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It really was not that bad of a kit all said and done.

thank you! yeah, not bad! I like this profile better than other kits out there. much sleeker and streamline. I have a few more to build but not anytime soon. they are getting expensive and harder to find these days.
 
Dang! This really inspires me to tackle one of the ones I have in my stash! Beautiful job!!
thanks, doesn't take much to make this kit shine! a lot of potential! and a nice size to boot - not too big, not too small - just the right size for my home office.
 
Brilliant! Lights, paint, action!! I am just about to start this kit. Let me know if you want to split the cost of a pilot figure as i need one also. A resin printer would pop one out in no time. Did you use brass etch parts for the cockpit?
 
Awesome job! Always Love seeing an x wing!

Falcon 3D parts may have the pilot & cockpit you’re looking for?


They do them in various scales :) if they don’t have the scale you want listed, perhaps contact them and they may be able to help.
 
Brilliant! Lights, paint, action!! I am just about to start this kit. Let me know if you want to split the cost of a pilot figure as i need one also. A resin printer would pop one out in no time. Did you use brass etch parts for the cockpit?
thanks, I wouldn't mind splitting the cost. would like to have 2 pilots though. would be nice to have a new canopy with no glass as well. would like 4 of those if possible. keep me posted. very interested. and as far as the cockpit I didn't use anything photo etch, I have a bunch of old greeblee's hanging around and used a few small ship parts to add in, cut square tube styrene for the main display (red) and FO for the individual lights the same for R2. the 4 engines are red flickering.

Aloha
Paul
 
Awesome job! Always Love seeing an x wing!

Falcon 3D parts may have the pilot & cockpit you’re looking for?


They do them in various scales :) if they don’t have the scale you want listed, perhaps contact them and they may be able to help.
thank you! fun project! Yeah I forgot about them! I have a bunch of there stuff. they custom built lighting for my Nebulon B. I have their PG falcon light/sound upgrade and the Zvezda light kit. great company and they are in Canada as am I.
 
Damn, that is stunning! I don't think I have ever seen that kit look so fantastic. You did an absolutely amazing job on the changes and paint and weathering. You should be very proud of the great job you did.
 
Damn, that is stunning! I don't think I have ever seen that kit look so fantastic. You did an absolutely amazing job on the changes and paint and weathering. You should be very proud of the great job you did.
Thank you so much! I think this is one of the better versions of the old kit I've done. must say I am happy with the results in the end. It's strange when you start a kit out of the box with every intention of keeping it simple it ends up more complex. I love this kit! the profile, the long stretch body the sleek profile of the canopy, it's like the Corvette of x-wings compared to the short stouty look of all the new kits even the SS versions have that short nose look. with some thought and planning the old mpc/ertl kit kits can shine! I have a few more in my stock and will plan a better/more detailed version when time permits. thanks again.
 
Thank you so much! I think this is one of the better versions of the old kit I've done. must say I am happy with the results in the end. It's strange when you start a kit out of the box with every intention of keeping it simple it ends up more complex. I love this kit! the profile, the long stretch body the sleek profile of the canopy, it's like the Corvette of x-wings compared to the short stouty look of all the new kits even the SS versions have that short nose look. with some thought and planning the old mpc/ertl kit kits can shine! I have a few more in my stock and will plan a better/more detailed version when time permits. thanks again.
Brilliant work! Yeah, had my stab at one of these kits back in the day :(

If I recall correctly, the MPC X-wing kit was later used by ILM in either ESB or ROTJ for background x-wings.

...on a side note, the TIE Bomber filming model from TESB used modified Vader's TIE Advanced wings from the MPC model kit.
 
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Just finished one that also started out as a simple build but turned much more complex as I tried to solve the 'floppy, sloppy' wing movement and alignment. I jazzed up the foil interiors, added blanking plate bulkheads to the pivot mechanism, installed rare earth magnets to latch the foil open and closed positions, added extra detaling scavenged from a junker MPC kit and generally tightened up all those fit problems and warps. Trying to use what was in the box, I had to saw the cannon tubes lengthwise and reassemble to eliminate the molding mismatch (your method is much easier!) I replaced the aft canopy.glass with crystal case plastic and detailed the Astromech with stretched sprue lens. I call it my T67 "TIE Swatter" variant optimized for fighter 2 fighter work and equipped with ion cannons in place of the torps hence the different nose profile...
So I went overboard too for something that was intended to hang in my wife's classroom... but it was a fun rabbit hole!
Regards,
Robert
 
Great job!

It's impossible not to love that old MPC X-Wing kit. I remember when I got my very first one back in '78. The fun of pouring over all of the available reference photos at the time to try to make the paint and details as accurate as possible. Snipping off the stems that hold the wings closed and adding detail to the inner wing openings. I still have a whole stack of them in my stash that I bought really cheap when a local department store closed them out in the early '80s.

Now, you have inspired me to go dig one out of the stash and take another trip down memory lane!


E
 
Top notch work you made this kit shine! what is the base color you used and did you airnrush a mist over main color to tone it or weather it down a bit?
 
Top notch work you made this kit shine! what is the base color you used and did you airnrush a mist over main color to tone it or weather it down a bit?
thanks, it started as a simple build but ended up a lot more. I used a Vallejo air paints for the whole build. black primer then light gull grey as a base coat, airbrushed the basecoat to show a bit of the darker tones of the primer. put on the stripes and other colored panels lightly, liquid masking then a full coat of the color again. the weathering is Vallejo as well. a light mist of the base colors to tone it down. and German grey for detail blast marks, engine detail. and a bit Tamiya weathering pastels. still need a pilot! I have 3 more MPC x-wings and none them have any pilots, and I don't own a 3D printer.
 
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