1/24 X-Wing near 100% from scratch

Moska · Mar 21, 2013

Here again friends.

Currently working in the lower half of the fuselage. All external fuselage made of 2 mm styrene is finished, I'm working on internal reinforcements and other necessary details:

The part that more work has taken me is the armature insertion block. It's a piece of complex shapes and sizes to get the best possible fit inside the fuselage. As on previous occasions, I used the Google SketchUp to create a 3D virtual model that helped me to correctly define all necessary parts. The result, once constructed with styrene, is a nice piece that serves as insert for the octagonal block of armature, and also has guide holes for the central tube of the frame and another three for inserting the screws that allow to hold the model by the bottom and both sides.

The next step is to create the internal shape of the torpedo launch tubes. To do this I built two boxes that I'll fill with Milliput putty for modeling the inner curvature.

I took advantage of to build these boxes for also add a third layer of 2 mm in the front zone of the lower fuselage. This third layer is needed so that the upper half of the body rests on a sufficiently wide base in the front, where there is a big difference in wideness between upper and lower fuselages.

Thanks for looking

Rafa

ralphee · Mar 21, 2013

Rafa thats amazing, flawless even, I've not seen an X wing given this kind of treatment, you could teach many here including myself a good few things about scratch building!
I love the fact your work is so clean, and not covered in primer or gunk yet, so we can see the full styrene goodness.
Like your torpedo tube idea, that will work great i recall doing something similar to my old Cloud car when i modded the tubes on that.

lee

Rick Deckard · Mar 21, 2013

Rafa, Your work on styrene is just awesome!! I can call it as a styrene paradise!! :cool

Adolfo

Moska · Apr 30, 2013

Hi guys.

I've been a little busy the last few weeks, but I managed to steal a few moments and continue with my model:

The curved surface inside the torpedo launch tubes was fine with Milliput putty.

I also spent some time to make small but important adjustments aimed at getting the two fuselage halves fit perfectly. These works include placing two small adjustment pins and two guides placed roughly half of the front zone, over the boxes of the torpedo launchers. These guides serve to make sure that the two strips of the lower half protruding on both sides of the upper are equal and perfectly symmetrical.

I'm currently working on the nose. As you can see from the pictures, I've divided the nose into four parts and I designed and built very nice rib structures. The pieces that make up these structures are very delicate but once glued together, the assembly is very strong and durable, allowing me to work on an almost final piece and in a very comfortable way. The four parts will be almost complete with styrene and I just need to fill in the gaps between the ribs with Milliput putty to finish them.

Thanks for looking

Rafa

3d-builder · May 3, 2013

Great work looking fantastic!

atom · May 4, 2013

Agreed!

You did a really magnificent job on your nose cone!:thumbsup

Mike J. · May 4, 2013

Those rubbed structures are insane!

Moska · May 6, 2013

Hello 3d-builder, atom and Mike J.

Thank you very much for your kind comments.

Yes, ribbed structures do a very good job and the nose cone is almost finished.
It is worth taking to do a good job of planning, because it makes it much easier and ensures a good final result.

Will post a new update very soon.

Thanks for looking.

Rafa

Moska · May 16, 2013

Here again, folks.

Sorry I could not post earlier as promised, but I had some problems.

The nose cone was finished. I filled the gaps between the ribs with a few pieces of foamed PVC to save weight and putty, and then I covered the sides with putty that, once well sanded, left a perfectly finished piece.

Very nice, very smooth ... VERY BAD! :facepalm

I made a mistake with the measurements and, due the way as it is built, it was very difficult to fix, so I had no choice but to start over and build a new nose cone. I hate to repeat the same work, but it was my fault and that was my punishment.

I returned to recalculate and redesign the whole rib structure and, on this second occasion, I decided that I was not going to use putty, but it would make all the coverage with styrene. Thus, the lower half is covered with a layer of 1 mm. while the upper half is covered with a layer of 1.5 mm because I need thicker to round off the edges properly.

The curvature of the different faces of the piece is soft, so it was easy to bend manually the styrene parts before gluing to be well adapted to the internal structure. I also took the precaution of setting very well these pieces with rubber bands that should be well distributed throughout the piece while the glue dries to prevent distortion.

The result is far better than my first attempt. Besides the measures themselves are now correct, the side surfaces are also more uniform and easier to work on them.

The first three pics are of my first nose cone, the others corresponding to the new and correct nose cone. I also include two beautiful images that show how the internal structure looks translucent when illuminated with backlight.

Thanks for looking.

Rafa

ralphee · May 16, 2013

Absolutely flawless Rafa, i love it!

lee

indioskywalker · May 18, 2013

I have followed for :cool years and hope to see this project finished is great is doing a great job and I congratulate you a genius Rafa

regards

Moska · Jul 25, 2013

Hello friends.

More than two months since my last post ... sorry, I've been busy, but I've not stopped progressing with my model.

The second nose cone looks good on the model. I've joined it to the fuselage and does a great job as front closure, and the closure piece also serves to center correctly the two halves of the fuselage.

I've also completed the rear closure. I've incorporated a rear wall in both halves with some holes in which are inserted the pins that I've placed in the rear plate. Thus the fuselage is tightly closed and the rear piece perfectly aligned.

Once finished the close of the fuselage, I started working the IL&M cockpit. As always, I spend many hours studying in detail the few photographs I have of the original model to define all sizes, shapes and angles. I also drew the plans in 2D and then on the Google SketchUp 3D application. Even taking all these precautions, I had to make several attempts to get it as I wanted, tight and with no gaps in the adjustment to my fuselage.

Currently I'm back to microscopic work and I'm copying the details and instruments of the cockpit. This is a slow and painstaking work, and still take me a while to complete.

I hope you enjoy my progress.

Thanks for looking.

Rafa

indioskywalker said:
I have followed for :cool years and hope to see this project finished is great is doing a great job and I congratulate you a genius Rafa

regards

Hello Indioskywalker.
Thank you very much for your comment.
And don't worry. I've invested a lot of time and material in this project, so it's too late to turn back. I wonder how long will it take yet but I assure you I'm gonna end this. :cool

Talkierg · Jul 25, 2013

Hey Moska,great update,Those scratched Hurricane,Messerschmitt and Tiger looks really nice!:thumbsup
Looking forward for more of your cockpit.

Moska · Oct 8, 2013

Hello again, friends.

I took calmly the last months. I used the summer to relax and live a little more easy. :cool

Well, summer is over and it's time to put back to work and give the final push to my model.

I've completed the IL&M cockpit version. It was a difficult job because the reference pics I have are not very clear, and in the photographs of the original cockpit, details are poorly defined and with many bubbles, forcing me to use my imagination to try to define what could be its real forms.
I decided to divide the cockpit on two parts to make easier the resin copies.

Here you have some pictures of my completed IL&M cockpit. If any of you found a blunder in my work, please do not hesitate to let me know so that I can try to correct it.

Now I've started the "real" version of the cockpit. Unfortunately, I have no reference pictures of all panels and angles so, once again, I'll try to copy everything I can see and use my imagination to the areas without information. I've assumed from the beginning that my model can't be 100% accurate.

REFERENCE IMAGES ARE WELCOME!!

I still have to invest some months of work to finish my model, but I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for looking.

Rafa

Anakin Starkiller · Oct 8, 2013

That cockpit looks great. If you decide to cast that, I'd love to use a copy on my pyro build.

Great job

Talkierg · Oct 8, 2013

Hey Moska,miss ya.
Cockpit looks really great,nice work:thumbsup

Moska · Oct 10, 2013

Hi Anakin and Talkierg.
Many thanks for your support. :love

Does anyone know why thumbnails no longer appear when a image is attached in a post? :confused
It was much more comfortable being able to see the thumbnails before deciding to open a full size image.

Rafa

jawsmodels · Oct 17, 2013

Ridiculous work Moska.
So clean & crisp.

Moska · Oct 18, 2013

jawsmodels said:
Ridiculous work Moska.
So clean & crisp.

Ridiculous? well ... wait till you see my reproduction of the cockpit used in real action scenes :wacko. Soon…

Thanks for looking.
Rafa

eagle1 · Oct 18, 2013

Will look forward to it Rafa, you nutter!.
Amazing update with the cockpit mate, you really are a styrene master, beautiful!.
Stu

1/24 X-Wing near 100% from scratch

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