[MOC] The X-Wing Strikes Back

[cehnot]

12 hours ago, NeoSephiroth said:

Hi everyone.

First of all, I have to say thank you to cehnot for sharing the .ldd-file for this awesome model.

I tried to build it for myself and with a few modifications I succeeded.
As you can see, I've decided to have round canon bases. Think it looks much cooler than the ones in the .ldd-file. The canons also have the blue stripes like the original Red 5 X-Wing.
Also I reworked the side panels in front of the nose a bit so they don't need to be bend as much as in the original design.
The slopes on the wings are from the 75003 A-Wing and the engine covers are from 7468 - Saturn V Moon Mission.

Hope you like my version. Thanks again.^^

<snip>

Would you please share your modifications to your side panels? I think I know what you did, but if you could do an exposed photo or a photo showing the parts from the inside or back of the side panel. Looks great. I didn't even think of those cannon ideas you did. Please feel free to do a tutorial for people in this thread. I went with a custom design with lots of custom parts, but I think this option will work best for purists. 

 

On 6/17/2018 at 8:28 PM, sovietxrobot said:

I am all finished, except for a few minor details. It looks fantastic. Thanks for all your help and this excellent model. The design and building techniques were very interesting.

<snip>

That is a great looking X-wing. 

 

I am excited for the new 2018 X-wing LEGO is doing. I cannot wait to use the stickers and parts on my version. I plan on doing a series of x-wings (rogue 1-5). 

Edited June 20, 2018 by BEAVeR
Please don't quote images

[NeoSephiroth]

Sure thing.^^

So basically I replaced the white 12x1 plate with a 6x1 plate and added another 6x1 and 8x1 plates at the inside. Then I added the white 6x1 tile on top of the 8x1 plate.
On the outside I added a white wedge plate which is covered with a 3x1 white tile and a 1x1 red tile to get the Red 5 look.

For the canons: You can see all the parts in the following picture. Ideally it would be one part with a 13 studs long technik axle but Lego gives us only 12 and 16 studs long axles, so I had to make 2 pieces with a 8 studs axle with stopper and a 5 studs axle with stopper.
It's pretty solid for a 2 piece canon, so it shouldn't be a problem.
If you want to have it as one piece, you have to cut down a 16 axle to a 13 one. But cutting Lego pieces is out of the question for me. Especially when such a piece is expensive. (The 16 axle is around 1-2€ each at Bricklink.)

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.^^

Edited June 19, 2018 by NeoSephiroth

[yungb448]

Loving the build, it looks great. I wanna try this out myself. Do you have instructions to this?

[cehnot]

16 hours ago, yungb448 said:

Loving the build, it looks great. I wanna try this out myself. Do you have instructions to this?

Go through the whole thing. I offered a link as an update and plenty of instructions on mods done for this x-wing version through the 6 pages. 

On 6/19/2018 at 5:22 PM, NeoSephiroth said:

Sure thing.^^

So basically I replaced the white 12x1 plate with a 6x1 plate and added another 6x1 and 8x1 plates at the inside. Then I added the white 6x1 tile on top of the 8x1 plate.
On the outside I added a white wedge plate which is covered with a 3x1 white tile and a 1x1 red tile to get the Red 5 look.

For the canons: You can see all the parts in the following picture. Ideally it would be one part with a 13 studs long technik axle but Lego gives us only 12 and 16 studs long axles, so I had to make 2 pieces with a 8 studs axle with stopper and a 5 studs axle with stopper.
It's pretty solid for a 2 piece canon, so it shouldn't be a problem.
If you want to have it as one piece, you have to cut down a 16 axle to a 13 one. But cutting Lego pieces is out of the question for me. Especially when such a piece is expensive. (The 16 axle is around 1-2€ each at Bricklink.)

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.^^

Thanks. For those who may not understand it, are you able to take off the side panel and show them your inside view of it? I Did this for those confused by the instructions. 

[NeoSephiroth]

Sure, hope this helps.^^

[sovietxrobot]

I just saw this: https://www.brickvault.toys/products/x-wing-starfighter-minifig-scale

it certainly looks like it drew inspiration from your model.

[cehnot]

Jerec posted on the forums here and acknowledged he drew inspirations from a bunch of us. I bought his instructions to figure out what he did differently. Since my gear structure requires a bit of modding and my personal one actually cut a lego piece I think I may try to modify my structure to house a stronger gear system. As for the rest of the ship, I think I may take his side panel idea and try to figure out a way to incorporate his smooth panels into my design. 

I also love his landing gear solution as well. 

In general I think the following can merge with my idea to make it more accurate:

1. Merge the side panels together

2. Modify my gear box

3. Incorporate the landing gear idea

 

[sovietxrobot]

On 10/19/2018 at 2:24 PM, cehnot said:

Jerec posted on the forums here and acknowledged he drew inspirations from a bunch of us.

 

thats a huge compliment- his models are awesome. I also bought the instructions, I'm interested in comparing the two as well. keep up the good work, I would love to see your take on some other ships. this x-wing is far and away my favorite, way better than even official builds.

[cehnot]

If I can get the x-wing done to my liking I think I'll tackle my falcon idea merging Marshal Banana design with new ucs cockpit. I saw a new picture surface that he already began doing this. I decided to hold off modding my ucs falcon when I saw this photo. I love how all the unique designs and alterations on the forum. I wish the ucs falcon redesigned the ship from the base structure instead of relying on the original idea. For now I'm working on small models and eventually want to do my firehouse now that I have all the pieces. My biggest issue I find is LEGO keeps coming up with awesome part designs that actually make my models better. I will be posting new vehicles in other sections soon. 

 

[mlawren]

On 12/10/2016 at 11:19 PM, cehnot said:

UPDATE: January 24, 2018

Final LDD File. 
T-65 X-Wing Final LDD File Download Link Dated 01/10/2018

For More photos, please visit page 4.
Click to go to Page 4
 

20180111_152233r

 

 

 

UPDATE: December 14, 2016

New fuselage back per request. I had a discussion in the PM about changing the back a bit to accommodate the lack of bottom 1x2 cheese slopes as in the original model. I pulled the bottom out and reworked the entire back to get it more accurate. 
As you can see I extended the "box" behind the round tile/plate area. I used the slope for the non gear and the gold nugget shape for the gears. 


UPDATE: December 12, 2016
As per request I modified the LDD file to include alternative wings without gear system, and the Gray Mouser conversion for the canopy. 

Easy to  Drag and Drop into the main fuselage.
Here is what is included in the new LDD:
1 set of Wings with gears to open and close the wings
1 set of wings without gears and a fake center gear that rotates as you manually open the wings. Basically the Gray Mouser wings upgrade I showed on his forum thread.
1 set of Gray Mouser canopy mod
1 set of my canopy mod. This uses the official Lego part seen in Poe's X-Wing
1 set of play mode Astromech holder and top angles. This allows you to pull out the astromech for play
1 set of display mode astromech holder. This has fake arms to make use the the streamlined angle slopes.
1 set of landing gear. Easy to place on the X-Wing once the wings are closed. 


 

 

 

 

With all the beautiful X-Wings out there how could I even begin to consider putting up another one? I gathered Gray Mouser, Inthert, Psiaki, and dmaclego ideas and fortunately Gray, Psaiki and Inthert had instructions on how they mastered their structures. My adventurer began as I saw Gray mold his own version out of Inthert's beautiful design. The largest question in my mind was how could I modify Mouser's design to fit the correct height and shape of the Fuselage and cockpit to ILM's officially licensed EFX model. I then got specs from Nexus Models on how he was able to grab the original parts from various out of production models in which ILM originally kit bashed into making their X-Wings for A New Hope.

The goal was simple, modify Mouser's design into a nice profile shot for the main fuselage body. 

In an ideal setting this curved wedge part would need a 2 brick notch. This would be the closest to actual design possible. 

The hardship and difficulty in doing so made me rethink how the nose and body held together with LEGO bricks. After 50 hours or so I ended up with a gutted shell and parts that I scrapped entirely. I decided to keep a nod to all that was before me and build my version with the intention that the shape had to represent the ILM model. 

 

Nose:
The nose is quite similar to those before, but modified inside to attach to the body so it no longer hangs. 

Tube: 
The tube going to the cockpit had to be strong enough and able to withstand the attached sides that make up the outer skin.

Cockpit: Bring back some of the angles from the model. I wish LEGO made a canopy that actually curved the correct way. We all do. I am planning on making my own by fusing canopy pieces together and using my old modeling tools. For the time being, the slope in the back (45 degree) angle will work for now, but I want it to come forward 1 peg to where his helmet is. I also want to stretch out the canopy 1 peg towards the front, making it 8 bricks long. Right now, I built my model to fit both. 

Astromech:
Technicaly R2 should be half a brick back, but that minor detail would screw a ton of other stuff up. 

I included 2 tops for the fuselage. One more for display, the other with the ability to hold an entire astromech droid with its legs.

 

Motor/Crank
Wing attachments: Everybody used a 6 or 7 brick long gap to hold the wings in the fuselage body. The model cutout called for a 8 brick long gap. This worked out better since I needed the space to house my gears. I decided to run the gear towards the back since the actual model and cross section models all claim that is where the main X-wing motor is. Makes sense. I decided to use the same. 

Wings: The engines needed to be 1 plate longer in the front and this gave me more space to fix some internal strength issues.

Landing Gear: 
Included in the LDD. If you wan to gut out the bottom inside the engine you could actually house the landing gear in it. I did it but didn't like it. 
You can also gut out the front where the landing gear goes behind the nose. I tried it with a simple few minutes and it works, but be warned. This compromises the structure holding the nose. 

Belly:
I hate that there isn't enough angle, pieces. The curved bottom should be straight and I think LEGO needs a 2 plate height line of slopes. From 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, etc. 

Cargo Bay: I made it able to hold a few brick boxes. The Hasbro toy and may lego toys place a small cargo hold behind the chair. My thought is, they didn't want to gut out the bottom to place the cargo bay where its suppose to be, where the slope is under R2. I decided to make the cross section accurate and keep the cockpit with the life support in-between the pilot and R2. 

Cross Section Details:
I loved Inthert's concept of showing internal components. Having the cross section model in front of me I decided to do the same, but this time making it closer to Lucasfilm's version. I decided to take out stuff that didn't affect the strength of it and make cross section parts. The nose has some details as seen in the official Star Wars X-Wing Cross Section, the tube and cockpit has approximately the same sorta internal components. I also added details in the laser tubes, wing engines and such to make sure the cross section was accurate to my model's ability. 

Colors:
I love buying new parts, but this projects begs for used and old parts. The more weathered the better. I also indicated in several of my LDD model old gray and old dark gray to add to the texture. I think the yellowed and random off white shades mixed with the light bluish gray, dark bluish gray, gray and dark gray will really enhance the piece. 

Printed parts and stickers:
I may cover some of the stripes area up with white sticker sheet extras to make the striped thinner and more accurate. I plan on decorating the cockpit out with LEGO star war stickers from other kits. I found some cool button patterns i can cut into shapes for the cockpit. We have more than a decade of Star Wars LEGO sets to choose from. so many options for buttons! 

Strings and Bands:
Just like Inthert, I love the idea of adding extra depth to the piece. I want to try his idea of bands and string to get wires and tubes in there.

Baseplate: Since the ship is about 49-50 bricks long I think I will create a small diorama hanger on a 32x32 or 48x48 baseplate. Have not decided whether I want to do a hanger or prop it up and have it fly over the Death Star trench. I want to build one of the great Tie-Fighters I see on here and definitely plan on doing a Trench for that. 

 

I wanted to say a big thank you for the incredible effort and time you placed into creating the X-Wing. I wasn't technically astute enough at the time that Psiaki made his version, and when I became more confident, spending more time understanding the modification process, understanding how customisable you could make you own build, then I realised I was able to have a good, reasonable grasp of interpreting MOCs to make my own.

In saying this, if you had time, how you would say your version differs from he's? I am considering this as a long-term personal build later onwards, and thought it would very interesting to hear your insights.

Thank you,

Edited November 26, 2019 by mlawren

[cehnot]

My build is longer and tries to maintain the original studio model proportions. I am slowly redesigning it now that several newer builds have surfaced. New parts have come out over the last year that I think will help my front fuselage area. I like to have a smooth side panel from cockpit to nose instead of using the tile method. the rest of the build will mostly stay the same as I already did a good job shaping it. I do want to explore a better gear system. I took the ship apart in sections to study it more and see if I can fuse the other design ideas into this build. The cockpit will likely stay the same. I'm mostly disappointed in my front area. 

Will try to post updates on it soon. 

 

 

[cehnot]

Version 2.0

WIP

I have followed many new T-65 designs over the last few years and collected a lot of reference. Jerec's design fixed many of my issues while exploring the gear box. I love how he used hinges to change the taper and straighten it back out  so the gearbox fits tightly in the body.

Wth this said, i reconstructed many ideas he worked on, but found them to break my initial designs based on the Nexus master models. I usually build the wings open so I could look inside the hinge section and make sure every part is correctly attached. I did not do this morphing his x-wing gear box and support structure. What started out as a simple mod, quickly turned into a beast making it fit my design. I moved so far away I forgot which part was a hinge. Suffice to say, the wings now are sealed shut and I cannot figure out where. I spent my time modeling and now I think its necessary to build the structure and repair the gearbox, wings and find out how durable the main body is. 

What is different: Overall, the new 2017-2019 parts changed the way my nose is built. Jerec's build slides the nose on. That was something I never thought of doing. I like engines and parts so I wanted to make sure there is enough room inside to build a proper cutaway ability t the structure like my Version 1 model. This was quite difficult figuring out how to build a frame inside the crowded nose, tapering to the cockpit. The final will house stuff similar to version 1 after i fugue out how much frame i need to keep it from collapsing. I mentioned th hinge idea on the body, i got rid of it after I realized i wanted to make the side walls come off for display. I used many of the V1 ideas and kept the shape and length the same. I noticed Jerec's design is shorter and built a front so smooth I knew there was a way to forge the two. 

The good part about the new design, I could just use my old wing design since it houses in the same place and would be a simple alternative option if i cannot make the new frame stronger. Besides, I really like my engine design and frankly it was quite difficult t build a similar shape and feel with parts turned sideways. 

I think I am mostly happy with the body. I may go back over the top behind R2. The side panel walls behind him are bothering me. I may go back to my original version where I used 45 Degree slopes.  I am sure I can figure out the R2 unit area. 

First Image:
 

Early work where I incorporated a hinge idea and pock the entire side wall behind R2. This will be an alternative solution if the one I am doing doesn't work out as well as I planned. 

 

Second image: Finished solving the nose and main fuselage leading tot he cockpit. You can see my 45 Degree angle slope idea from version 1. R2 is exposed...yikes. 

This next image gives you an idea how the new ship will look. As you can see, the overall wing structure apparels to be the same as my last one, but it houses a new gear box system and the turbines do not center over the 2x4 slope studs.If only they made these slopes similar to the 1x2 slopes I would be forever grateful. You can also see some of the newer  side panels behind the R2 unit. 
Ion cannons are standard LEGO from version 1. I plan on reusing my custom designs, but figured I would keep this in file for purists. 

The new gearbox needs work. I have a lot of room inside my mechanism area so I may widen the gap more and thicken up the support inside. 

 

 

 

If you all have any suggestions. I am all ears. 

 

 

[cehnot]

I tried to build a workable gearbox and wing support structure from the last post. It just isn't as strong as my other wing design. I took my white model apart and reworked the whole wing configuration and rebuilt the X mechanism because I couldn't figure out how to incorporate engine details inside the wings without stability issues. 

I  returned to my digital file and rebuilt the wings and gearbox based on the doc i built with my parts. I will try to do a nice photo shoot of the white x-wing model while I wait for parts I am going to order to build the gray model. Maybe I will turn the white one into Red 1 or Red 2 and keep it clean. The rendering uses light gray, dark gray, tan, sand blue, dark tan, light bluish gray and dark bluish gray. These help showcase worn effects better. I think I will buy all used parts and maybe they will have teeth marks on them or dents. The following images are highlighting my final design. 

The structure i built works. Almost as durable as my original structure for Version 1. The ball joints add a huge leap in durability. I think this may be my most durable model. 
 

One of the most important factors for me is accuracy. I brought back the Nexus model to show you how close I made the ship to lining up the actual model parts. In order to make the top turn the wings I had to move the round 2x2 tile half a brick back. I think it is close enough. 

 

All new interior. 

 

 

Reworked the bottom a bit. 

 

I moved the torpedo port back a bit since the last time. I looked up the Rogue 1 x-wing live size prop they brought to the premier and had a slew of great reference. The torpedo bay exit lines up with the canopy. 

The final shape and she is entirely based on the NEXUS models and Rogue One movie life size replica. 

 

 

[icm]

Thank you for this post and all the helpful pictures.  Do you plan to make an LXF or IO file available for this version?

[cehnot]

I do everything in Stud.io now. The file will include a stand design and an alternative nose featuring a variation of Mark Chan's work. I like how he designed the nose of his ship and I built one that will snap onto my front nose. Like all my other designs, you can visit my Stud.io gallery. I will be placing all my designs there from now on as a download page. I use Flickr or final physical builds and brick safe for my work in progress and old designs. Check links below. 

___________________________________________________
Flickr (Final Photography)

Bricksafe (WIP and Old Desgns)

Stud.io (Gallery and download page)

[cehnot]

Click Here to Download the Studio file 12-06-19

Final group shot of the Stud.io file

The final shape

Alternative Nose design originally from Mark Chan's X-wing design. I modded it to fit my ship. His nose is designed to be on a ship half a stud shorter in the tapering. He used brackets not plates to hold his panels. I think it works great on his ship, but feels too bulking on mine. The final file will include this option. 

Gear box and engine detail Like my first version I wanted to retain the depth inside the ship. I like the fact you see the engine parts and the gearbox. I added some grueling to it to make i look more robust. The pneumatic bar doesn't do anything practical. It helps hide the technique brick in the center of the gears. 

 

The display stand
If you are like me you probably want to display your X-wing flying in attack mode. 
I am going to make a custom nameplate for the model. Maybe style it like the UCS models with total parts and such. 

Just looks great flying above it, doesn't it? 

What about a white option? 

 

Landing gear option 1 (non-retractable)
The landing gear I prefer is similar to my v1 design where it connects onto the engine, but does not retract. The real full-size prop used in the moves have thick legs to support the weight. They do not fit inside my ship. I am sure you could hollow out the engine and place something similar inside, but you will lose the detailed undercarriage visible from the middle.
I have shared photos of my V1 landing gear in the past so I will only share one picture of it.

Landing gear option 2 (retractable)
I did, however offer you a design with retractable landing gear by removing 8 parts in the engine and swapping it out with 6 new parts to house it inside the rear engines. Most of you may prefer the retractable option since its more playable. I cannot guarantee it will support the weight without a locking mechanism. I could be wrong. Jerec's design works well and I simply tried to build a similar idea for my model. Its smaller, but effective. I may not like using 45 degree slopes, but they look better than using the curved slopes. You can also see that I used a 4x3 slope on the outside. If they did all their slopes like they did with the 45 degree ones I would be able to maintain the same angle as the top. The front retractable landing gear slips up tot he front of the ship like the films and schematics. I included a 1x6 tile with a turntable top to connect onto the side panels to act like the trap doors are open. 

As you can see the rear landing gear feels tiny. I removed the 1x6 tile in the front so you can see the bar clip. The 1x tile is shown on the first landing gear option in the above photo. It makes the trap door effect seen in the films. 

 

I had to remove a 1x2 technique brick to get the plate inside the space. 

___________________________________________________
Flickr (Final Photography)

Bricksafe (WIP and Old Desgns)

Stud.io (Gallery and download page)

Edited December 6, 2019 by cehnot

[icm]

I just downloaded the Studio file, thanks a million for posting it!  I really like the way you've handled the retractable rear landing gear on this version.  The bay doors look much more robust than they are on the Jerac model.

[stifos]

Awesome work! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely have a look at the stud.io file!

[KrasiniArithmetic]

Your V.2 model is looking very good and I'm interested to see what you'll come up with when you actualize it in physical parts.

Your V.1 model was a major source of inspiration for my own MOC - and while we have different priorities in our MOCcing, I do think that you may find some of the solutions I used there useful. I'm particularly fond of my designs for the cannons and landing gear.

[cehnot]

2 hours ago, KrasiniArithmetic said:

Your V.2 model is looking very good and I'm interested to see what you'll come up with when you actualize it in physical parts.

Your V.1 model was a major source of inspiration for my own MOC - and while we have different priorities in our MOCcing, I do think that you may find some of the solutions I used there useful. I'm particularly fond of my designs for the cannons and landing gear.

I ordered a bunch of old grey colors. I am going to fix my white model and mix in old light gray with the new grey. I think I will also look into some of the newer pale colors now available. I used sand blue on my updated Delorean model (need to take photos) and I like it. I think it will work better if people use it with gray x-wings. I did order a bunch of used old white pieces. Not sure what I will get. I want it aged.

 

You did see my V1 flickr model right? The cannons are round. The file uses the LEGO design people like. I cannot figure out how to show it in Studio. The goal is to keep the streamline approach I used here and incorporate other color elements in it. I am glad that I took a ton of photos before I took it apart to build the new one. Looking forward to fixing the ship. Parts were ordered last week. 

Flickr account

Edited December 11, 2019 by cehnot

[KrasiniArithmetic]

4 hours ago, cehnot said:

You did see my V1 flickr model right? The cannons are round. The file uses the LEGO design people like.

Flickr account

I did see your original V1 Flickr model - it and the version you posted in this thread were referenced quite a bit building my own!

My cannons are based on the mod of your model that NeoSephiroth posted above. Maybe based is too strong a word - heavily inspired by, maybe. They use the same wheels for the wing connection, but are significantly different in overall execution - and my flashback suppressors are entirely unique. It's those particularly that I think you may like.

My forward landing gear isn't particularly clever, but my rear gear is almost too clever for its own good - folding tightly into a small space while being relatively attractive and really quite solid.

 

All of which is a not-very-effective way of talking about how much I love your work here. It's a gorgeous craft you've built!

[cehnot]

8 minutes ago, KrasiniArithmetic said:

My cannons are based on the mod of your model that NeoSephiroth posted above. Maybe based is too strong a word - heavily inspired by, maybe. They use the same wheels for the wing connection, but are significantly different in overall execution - and my flashback suppressors are entirely unique. It's those particularly that I think you may like.

My forward landing gear isn't particularly clever, but my rear gear is almost too clever for its own good - folding tightly into a small space while being relatively attractive and really quite 

I need to go back to your thread and look at those again. It's been since May or June I think. I will check out those parts. I will also go back to the last 6 pages to see if I need to read over comments and such I may have missed when building v2. That was a great reminder. 

[KrasiniArithmetic]

2 hours ago, cehnot said:

I need to go back to your thread and look at those again. It's been since May or June I think. I will check out those parts. I will also go back to the last 6 pages to see if I need to read over comments and such I may have missed when building v2. That was a great reminder. 

Thank you. I'm sorry that my thread photography is so bad - I find building on the computer distasteful and I haven't any good equipment for photography. That thread also could use an update. The model itself has been comprehensively overhauled since then and is more attractive and significantly stronger internally. The photos in that thread are of the very first 1.0 version and of the quickly discarded 2.0. I'm now at about version 1.9 - incremental improvements to just about all of the internal structure will do that.

Your model is certainly one of the best models of the last few years! You've got a way of persuading the pieces that I envy

Edited December 12, 2019 by KrasiniArithmetic

[mattypatty40]

This looks super good

[cehnot]

I may have to host my files to download elsewhere. I got a notification from Bricklink stating that all my designs are IP and will be converted to display only. I do not sell my designs so I find this one of the first signs LEGO will alter the Bricklink purchase. If you have suggestions I will gladly listen.