[MOC] Star Wars: The X-Wing Story

[chc]

Bought the instructions -- really impressive. There are twists and turns like a good novel.... haha

Set up my Bricklink cart with enough pieces to make it in white and dark red, with some Inthert-esque gun mods, as well as some sand green, sand blue and tan thrown in for a more ramshackle look. There's definitely some really rare pieces in here, but between Bricklink, Bricks & Pieces, and a trip up to the attic next time I visit my mom, I should be able to cobble it together for just under 100 bucks. I'll try to post back once I've built it!

Edited September 21, 2018 by chc

[AfolFree]

1 hour ago, chc said:

Bought the instructions -- really impressive. There are twists and turns like a good novel.... haha

Set up my Bricklink cart with enough pieces to make it in white and dark red, with some Inthert-esque gun mods, as well as some sand green, sand blue and tan thrown in for a more ramshackle look. There's definitely some really rare pieces in here, but between Bricklink, Bricks & Pieces, and a trip up to the attic next time I visit my mom, I should be able to cobble it together for just under 100 bucks. I'll try to post back once I've built it!

US prices always amaze me, even with some thourough bricklinking I could not get it under 150€...
But everything is ordered, can't wait to build it !

[chc]

Just now, AfolFree said:

US prices always amaze me, even with some thourough bricklinking I could not get it under 150€...
But everything is ordered, can't wait to build it !

Yeah I'm factoring in some pieces that I already own, the basics (my collection is old though), some of the pricey parts like certain gears and wheels used on the guns and engines. 

I also went through and searched Bricks & Pieces for certain ones too and then set the Lego price as my maximum on Bricklink. There are some that are a lot cheaper through Lego, like the inverted tiles used under the wings and such. 

But yeah, either way, it's not a cheap model by any means. Has a surprisingly huge number of pieces.

[Jerac]

Gears you can go with tan. I didn't think of using these because I just did not expect a basic grey gear to be expensive, I apologize.

 

47 minutes ago, AfolFree said:

US prices always amaze me, even with some thourough bricklinking I could not get it under 150€...
But everything is ordered, can't wait to build it !

The best way to limit the total price is to reduce amount of lots. If you can get 10 lots less with 20 pieces scavenged from your collection, this might mean one shop less to look in, and one shipping less. I did what I could to limit amount of lots and I couldn't get it under 200 :|

[Inthert]

Really interesting to get a look at how you went about tackling this model, from looking at the instructions alone its tough to imagine how you found so many clever connections with minimal 'filler' bricks. But on top of that is the speed you produced it AND the instructions too! The fact you start builds from the outside in is really quite impressive, especially as the larger a model gets, the more structure you'd expect, I wonder how well that approach would work for something as complex as the Falcon though? (just thinking aloud ;P). 

I can't wait to build (at least) the nose of yours if only to compare it to my own hehe!

Oh and just a super quick clarification since you brought it up, the elastic bands on my model are purely cosmetic, not structural purpose what so ever ;)

[Jerac]

4 hours ago, Inthert said:

Really interesting to get a look at how you went about tackling this model, from looking at the instructions alone its tough to imagine how you found so many clever connections with minimal 'filler' bricks. But on top of that is the speed you produced it AND the instructions too! The fact you start builds from the outside in is really quite impressive, especially as the larger a model gets, the more structure you'd expect, I wonder how well that approach would work for something as complex as the Falcon though? (just thinking aloud ;P). 

I can't wait to build (at least) the nose of yours if only to compare it to my own hehe!

Oh and just a super quick clarification since you brought it up, the elastic bands on my model are purely cosmetic, not structural purpose what so ever ;)

Fast!? It took me more than four months for something relatively small... it was all but fast ;)

Building from outside in scales greatly with size. Actually, the bigger the build the better the result because you have more space inside for the structure. 

 

This is during construction of the Chimaera. The frame grows with the build, but it is the outer shell which was the most important at this stage. The frame was a temporary filler. Once I had the outside more or less done, I was then able to start doing internal frame, as lightwieght and minimal as possible. The same works for any build and if I ever wanted to do a Falcon I'd do it the same way. 

 

[ScottishDave]

Thank you Jerac for publishing the instructions to this wonderful build: they were worth every penny, and I'm now considering some of your TIE fighters as well.

I also built a white version of Red 5.

I'm still fiddling with the colours. I think I need more grey, tan and sand green.

The build went quite smoothly. I am very impressed with the solidity of this build: the fuselage especially.

I made a few changes:

I used 20L tubes for the guns (for better length) and a different cog beind the wheels.

In order to create a secure join between the engines and the rest of the ship, I replaced the yellow axles with 8L technic axle with stop (55013). The "stop" end goes through the Plate, modified 3 x 2 with hole (3176) to hold the engine securely in place. To accomodate the longer axle I replaced the truncated cones with 55981 wheels.
 

[Jerac]

It looks pretty good - if not all the rendering it would be a contender for fourth version in the instructions ;)

Don't you have a problem with axle stops pushing how against wide part of engines, as it sticks out of 2x3 rounded plates?

[ScottishDave]

Thanks :-).

The 2 x 3 plates are now pushed out slightly at the top. The engines would therefore be slightly angled down, but the new wheels are wider. The door rails push up on them, compensating neatly for the slight angling of the 2 x 3s.

[Jerac]

Well, I consider this unauthorized change in the wing/engine structure and now your warranty is void! :D

[ScottishDave]

5 hours ago, Jerac said:

 your warranty is void! 

What a surprise....

I’d love to see the paperwork on a Rebel warranty claim:

”Vehicle history: repeatedly damaged in firefights with law enforcement officers of the Imperial Navy. Extensively upgraded and repaired by the customer on-site using non-standard and unapproved parts. All internal DRM removed or overridden by a cranky astromech unit.”

”Reason for claim: cup holder broken.”

[Forresto]

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:07 AM, TemjinStrife said:

The Bomber is solid, with the exception of some of the 2x2 curved slopes in the front and the bomb dropper bit; the most challenging part of the build is the 1x2 curved slopes + clips that go onto the pneumatic T shapes that taper the cones. Once everything is together, they're less of a problem, but getting there takes some work. I don't think there's any real stress in the model (if there is, I think the only place would be the parts holding the bent portions of the wings in place; there is some stress on the Interceptor and Vader's Advanced on those parts, but nothing crazy).

The X-wing is definitely less durable than the Bomber and the TIEs generally. I'm definitely more careful with it than the Jerac TIEs or Inthert's N1 and B-wing, although part of that is because if you do break something in the front fuselage of the X-wing, it can be a lot of work to fix it (while the others are much easier fixes).

Thanks 

That's really good to hear about the Bomber.

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 2:18 PM, Jerac said:

T/B is entirely legal. Aside from parts noted already by TemjinStrife, it is solid like a brick. Its panels are of most solid construction in any TIE and bodies are built with plenty of SNOT interlocking. 
X-Wing is a different story, because there is less space inside and there are more angles. Compared to my usual MOCs this is a bit stronger, TIEs are much stronger, but at best this is MOC-level. 
Stressing is more interesting though. I THINK there is no stress here, because while the nose sides are pulled forcibly together a bit, it is not by much and should only close natural gaps between pieces. The sections being pulled together are over 20-stud long and it is by a half of plate height at best? 

Also thanks. 

That makes sense but it seems you struck a solid balance between stability and accuracy. 

TLG clearly has decided to focus on stability over accuracy though I can't blame them. Imagine your build as a set meant for kids to play with, it probably wouldn't survive long.

I think I'm going to build the bomber next then since it can double as the Tie Boarding Craft. Its a sign of the quality of your work when its so difficult to choose between models. 

Edited September 29, 2018 by Forresto

[AfolFree]

I finally got started on the build.

Three remarks so far :

• As someone already mentioned, it looks like I ordered 3 times the pieces for the stand 
• Page 14, step 2 : the piece count seems wrong, there should be only 2 1x4 DBG tiles (manual says 4) and 2 1x1 DBG tiles (manual says 3)
• Page 14, step 3 : this is a minor grudge, but one 1x1 LBG plate is floating at this step (resolved at step 4, but still)

I did not get very far yet, but I'm already really impressed with the X-foils mechanism ! Everything comes together stunningly well.

[Jerac]

Thanks for feedback!

Which colour variatnt and version are you building? Version is embedded within file name, should be 9 but I know some people got 8 and 7. If you don't have 9 then please ask BrickVault to send you the newest one.
Colour variant matters because they're slightly different and page 14 might be one thing in blue and another thing in red.

--edit--
riiiight you are right about improper parts count.... what the hell. And apparently in this one step only? I'll investigate it later. Thanks again!

Edited October 3, 2018 by Jerac

[AfolFree]

6 minutes ago, Jerac said:

Thanks for feedback!

Which colour variatnt and version are you building? Version is embedded within file name, should be 9 but I know some people got 8 and 7. If you don't have 9 then please ask BrickVault to send you the newest one.
Colour variant matters because they're slightly different and page 14 might be one thing in blue and another thing in red.

--edit--
riiiight you are right about improper parts count.... what the hell. I'll investigate it later. Thanks again!

Woops sorry : Version 9 (I received it by email after buying early version 8, very good customer service there), and I'm building the red5 variant (sorry blue leader, you're just not as iconic !)

[Jerac]

Version 9 sadly has the same issue. I think I know what caused it and hopefully it is contained within this one submodel only. If you happen to find it in other steps tell me! Thanks in advance!

[danielwerner]

The 3x stand pieces is no big deal - just a reason to build one in every color combination! ;)

[AfolFree]

 

I'm finally done with the build ! It looks amazing, and is really swooshable. The bottom panels under R2 are probably the hardest part of the build, quite challenging to set properly.
R2 himself is kinda hard to get into position, its body has really barely enough space to get in.

Questions about the model :

• Nose : there is a little gap on the left side on my build, is it expected or did I miss something ? I'm thinking about covering it up with an additional 11477, would that be ok ?
• Canons : why is there blue pins on 2 of them in the red5 variant ? I don't recall seeing that on screen ?

Now for some feedback  on the instructions :

• Pages 63 to 68 : 3040pb010  and 3069bps1 disappear after being added on page 62, step 6
• Same issue on pages 74 through 80

That's pretty much it, for such a complex build I really feel this all went very smoothly !
Oh and for a future update, may I suggest adding a way to store the "key" on the stand ? Would be cool 

[Jerac]

Thanks for feedback! I will investigate what's up with instructions and missing pieces later on when I return to my workshop... must be something with the rendering process because the model has these printed pieces and they don't just disappear. I was wondering about moving to Studio 2.0 but it is far too slow to be able to handle such a big model, sadly.

There should be no gap, and especially not any assymmetrical one. Can you please take a photo? 
As for blue pins, the guns have stripes which are kind of bluish in hue... I liked this detail so I added it.

[AfolFree]

Here is a picture of the gap I'm referring to :

On the other side it is covered by the 15068 piece.
I'm not sure how it is supposed to be covered, maybe I just placed the wedge wrong..

[Jerac]

Ah this gap.... no, sorry, it is a side effect of this being done the way it is (the top half is installed half a plate height lower than normally). You can cover it with additional 1x2 curve slope but to me it looked too bulky and the gap was an acceptable tradeoff.

[AfolFree]

Great, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong 

The blue stripes on the canons are growing on me, I wish the half pins could exist in some lighter color... I actually have some of them in tan, maybe I'll give it a shot

[Makin Bacon]

11 hours ago, AfolFree said:

Great, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong 

The blue stripes on the canons are growing on me, I wish the half pins could exist in some lighter color... I actually have some of them in tan, maybe I'll give it a shot

I think sand blue would be ideal, but unfortunately I don't think there's a way of doing that without painting bricks

[Kalekko]

Finally got mine finished as well. I decided to go with white and red. I think the clean color scheme makes the sleek lines of the fighter really stand out. And, when building out of used bricks, the white bricks are often somewhat yellowed, and that brings with it enough aged appearance for my taste.

I too wish to thank Jerac for this beautiful build! I was happy to purchase your instructions. I could have never designed something like this by myself. Having studied many official and MOC x-wings online, I think this may very well be the best one yet. I've dreamt of a movie-accurate lego X-wing for years, and this was finally the one to go with. It will find its place right next to my UCS Falcon!

The build itself demanded quite a lot of focusing, but everything worked out smoothly in the end. Some of the tiles and bricks at the bottom and the tail of the ship were a bit hard to get to stay in place, but that may well be a fault in my sloppiness.

A picture:

https://imgur.com/a/9RWz6e0

[PriorMarcus]

Do the newer style of Pilot helmets not fit in the cockpit? I've built mine to spec and the windscreen wont close all the way. There is a few millimetre gap all around.