TIE

Alonzo Fonzo

Alonzo Fonzo

Active Member
After some years working on the studio scale TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor and several versions I think it´s time to show some of my (slow) progress on my final version:

First the start of the wing star and wing cap:
cap2.jpg wing1.jpg wing2.JPG

Finished and ready for casting:

wingfinished.jpg 1.JPG 3.JPG

Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Star Wars exhibition at Cologne and maybe I am wrong but it seems that the inner part of the back cone (where the hexagonal cut-out is) is not flat but curved. I´d love to hear the opinion of you guys, maybe its just an optical illusion? I built two to compare, what do you think?

backv1.jpgflat backv2.JPGcurved

Hope you like my work so far,

Stefan
 
Fantastic work Stefan ! But I already told you that ! :D

I think you're right and it's curved ! Nice find buddy !

Can't wait to see new updates !
 
Alonzo Fonzo said:
Some weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Star Wars exhibition at Cologne and maybe I am wrong but it seems that the inner part of the back cone (where the hexagonal cut-out is) is not flat but curved.
Click to expand...
View attachment 533556flat View attachment 533557curved

Incredible work! Maybe they used the leftover curved section from the cockpit sphere itself? (Just like they used the leftover section from the Deathstar primary weapon on the model, except they inverted it.)
 
Thanks David!

Thank you. Yes that was also my thinking, every hatch of the cockpit ball is based on a curved surface I thought it would be odd if the back is an exception.

I thought I might share my technique making the basic shapes for the TIE cockpit hatches. I am too lazy to build me a proper vacuum forming machine so I used a metal frame, some clamps and a small baking oven:

form3.JPGform1.JPG

I am still trying to get the bottom hatch right, not an easy task:

dow.jpg
 
Alonzo, that seems like so much work (creating the tooling anyway) plus the extra time waiting on the 'bake'. Vac boxes are really simple devices - I once made one using a cardboard shoe box, some cheap MDF (for the plastic sheet frame) a few wood scraps and some window screening (plus duct tape...)! It was self-limiting because the sides would pull inwards when the vacform was finished...

Nonetheless, can't fault your results!
Regards, Robert
 
Hi Robert!
Thanks for the description of your Vac box, sounds interesting I may try that sometime too :)

This was nonetheless the fastest (and cheapest) method for me to get the results I wanted, the metal ring is a piece of an oven pipe which was already lying around at my workspace. The hole has thankfully the right diameter. The heating of the styrene sheet takes only a couple of seconds in the oven. After about an hour I had all the pieces I needed :)
 
Well, count me educated... shows nothing beats actual hands-on experience. Having the correct metal bit laying around certainly helps, too!

Regards, Robert
 
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