Astatine-209 Posted August 16 Posted August 16 I'm not sure if this post should've been posted in the Star Wars forums, and I apologise if I'm mistaken in posting it here. I've only seen 1 X-wing alt-build of the 10497 Galaxy explorer, that being the one designed by Clinton Matos (he has a blog post about it, it's pretty cool!). This surprised me, considering that the 10497 has the official X-wing canopy included, with quadruples of important engine parts. I decided to take a shot at it myself. I wanted to see if I could make a working S-foil mechanism with the Galaxy Explorer's pieces, as Clinton Matos' X-wing's foils have to be moved individually. I based the S-foil mechanism on set 75301, the 2021 play-scale X-wing. It's a very simple and elegant design, probably the best out of any official X-wing yet (even though the wings don't all rotate around the same central axis) and was quite easy to implement with the available technic parts (or so I thought). The S-foils are connected into parallelograms (red and blue), which are then sheared into the X shape by another assembly (highlighted green) being pushed downwards. After deciding on the mechanism, I designed the nose. I was inspired by pictures of BaufmanBricks' X-wing. The nose is too square to be accurate to the actual X-wing, but I think it looks decent on the "finished" model. I then built up the core section at the same time as the wings. This was by far the hardest part, as I kept running out of plates (and parts in general). Below is a render of the "finished" product. As far as I can tell, no illegal techniques were used. Finally, it was time to build it and test if the mechanism worked in real life, with the weight of those massive wings. After finding out that building it was almost impossible, and making some last changes, I could try it out. Spoiler It broke after about 5 actuations. I actually suspected that this might happen, as the push rod (previously highlighted green) in the mechanism relies on clutch power to stay together. The problem lies in the fact that you push on the middle section, which transfers the force through stud connections, highlighted below with dotted green. I left it be, because I thought that I would be transferring the force tangentially to the stud connection, which wouldn't force it apart, i n t h e o r y. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well. It broke and I'll have to fix it. I think I'll be able to replace the assembly with the two white technic beams included in the set. Unfortunately, one of them is used in the nose, where it's quite important for structural stability. Finally, here are some photos of the built model. I apologise for the relatively low quality pictures, I'm not getting the DSLR out for a broken moc. PS: This thing is HEAVY! I was quite surprised. According to Lego Studio it weighs almost 0.7 kg. I think it must be denser than the Galaxy Explorer. It's also swooshable, excepting the fact that the wings don't hold together. PPS: I built an astromech too. Quote
SpacePolice89 Posted August 16 Posted August 16 Nice! Very innovative use of the Galaxy Explorer pieces. Looks better than all the official X-Wing sets. Quote
danth Posted August 19 Posted August 19 This looks great, especially the angles in the main fuselage. The R2 unit looks cool too. I don't understand the mechanism or how it's broken so I'll just trust you on that. I just know it looks good. Quote
icm Posted August 19 Posted August 19 This looks a lot better than the other 10497 X-wing alt build I've seen. Your write-up is clear and informative. I hope you can get the mechanism worked out, because I'd like to build this someday :) Quote
danth Posted August 20 Posted August 20 On 8/16/2025 at 9:37 AM, Astatine-209 said: I actually suspected that this might happen, as the push rod (previously highlighted green) in the mechanism relies on clutch power to stay together. The problem lies in the fact that you push on the middle section, which transfers the force through stud connections, highlighted below with dotted green. If you put a plate under the white ingot tile, would it but up against the studs on the red brick enough to hold everything together? Quote
Astatine-209 Posted August 21 Author Posted August 21 On 8/16/2025 at 8:05 PM, SpacePolice89 said: Nice! Very innovative use of the Galaxy Explorer pieces. Looks better than all the official X-Wing sets. Thanks! On 8/20/2025 at 1:12 AM, danth said: This looks great, especially the angles in the main fuselage. The R2 unit looks cool too. I don't understand the mechanism or how it's broken so I'll just trust you on that. I just know it looks good. On 8/20/2025 at 4:42 AM, danth said: If you put a plate under the white ingot tile, would it but up against the studs on the red brick enough to hold everything together? Thank you as well! The reason it's made out of two parts is because they move closer to each other when the mechanism is actuated. So a plate placed under the ingot piece could not help - the assemblies need to have a gap. On 8/20/2025 at 1:19 AM, icm said: This looks a lot better than the other 10497 X-wing alt build I've seen. Your write-up is clear and informative. I hope you can get the mechanism worked out, because I'd like to build this someday :) Well, then I have good news for you! I've not only got the mechanism worked out, but I've also put together the instructions (it's actually buildable, a miracle!). I've already submitted them to Rebrickable, but their approval process usually takes ~3 days. Once it's approved, I'll add a post here. To accomplish this, I extracted the second white technic beam from the nose. The 'pusher' assembly now juts out a bit more, and whilst this may slightly detract from the looks, it improves playability. Although... "playability" It weighs 1 kg now, using 1098 parts. Quote
danth Posted August 21 Posted August 21 7 hours ago, Astatine-209 said: Thank you as well! The reason it's made out of two parts is because they move closer to each other when the mechanism is actuated. So a plate placed under the ingot piece could not help - the assemblies need to have a gap. Ahh, right right right. I knew I didn't understand it, but now I see why. This MOC is pretty mindblowing, especially now that I understand the mechanism, and see that there are landing gear, too. And it just looks so good! Bravo! Quote
Astatine-209 Posted August 22 Author Posted August 22 Well, I said I'd make a new post once it's approved, and that came much sooner than I expected! You can now get the instructions for free on Rebrickable. Quote
icm Posted August 23 Posted August 23 16 hours ago, Astatine-209 said: Well, I said I'd make a new post once it's approved, and that came much sooner than I expected! You can now get the instructions for free on Rebrickable. Awesome, thank you so much! This is really an amazing alt build. It could almost be the A model; it could almost be the UCS X-wing itself. I downloaded the instructions this morning. Quote
Cyclone Titan Posted 12 hours ago Posted 12 hours ago Why can't we get this sort of thing for Rebuild the Galaxy? Come on, LEGO... Super cool. Great color scheme, and it looks so, so sleek. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.