[MOC] Star Wars: The X-Wing Story

[Jerac]

Everything is right! 

Additinally, the gearbox will be attached to fuselage panels with the clips, and it will further limit tilting. Which may mean that in PriorMarcus's the gearbox may just have unclipped and is loose?

[okumam]

The cheese wedges certainly make it look different.

[wookieejedi]

Great work, I especially love the foldout landing gear! 

[sovietxrobot]

I have been working on your version for a little while now, and I built the cehnot x-wing earlier. they are both fantastic designs, I am really amazed at some of the building techniques, and the finished product looks great. I am looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[Wonderpants]

Just brought the instructions for this today and am looking on BrickLink at the moment. I can get nearly all the parts for £130 before postage, but the hot dog, 24 tooth technic gear, and 2x2 wheels with pin holes are proving complicated. Do the hot dogs need to be black, and do the wheels need to be LBG or will grey do as well?

[Jerac]

51 minutes ago, Wonderpants said:

Just brought the instructions for this today and am looking on BrickLink at the moment. I can get nearly all the parts for £130 before postage, but the hot dog, 24 tooth technic gear, and 2x2 wheels with pin holes are proving complicated. Do the hot dogs need to be black, and do the wheels need to be LBG or will grey do as well?

The hot-dogs are piping detail in the cockpit. You can ignore them, they do not contribute to the structure at all. Gears can be of any color, they are not visible from outside. 
2x2 round tiles are visible from outside only in three places: on top behind the cockpit, in a similar location on the bottom and in the rear. The rear one can be substituted with whatever round 2x2 round piece you wish, it is a detail. The top and bottom won't break the ship if they are off colour, but at least the top one should match greebling. All others are inside the ship and can be any colour.

[Wonderpants]

Thanks, I was referring to wheels (on the cannons right in front of the wings, for example) rather than tiles though. 

[Chef]

Amazing build! I never liked the fuselage construction in the official sets, but your build is about as close to the real thing as it gets.

Have a few questions though:

1.      Your parts list have clips with some being thick O-clip and others thick U-clip. They are the same piece but the thick U-clips are of the older molds that are no longer produced. I'm wondering for your build (and maybe in general for how these clips are used by MOCers) if there is a difference? Since I see you use these clips in non-conventional ways like angling plates into them, I'm wondering if the type of molding matters. Same for the Modified 1 x 2 Plate with 1 Stud with and without groove, though this one I'm pretty sure doesn't matter

2.      As exterior plating for the body, the SNOT belly of the x-wing has a large brick-built plate section fitted upside down onto the gearbox. However I noticed the section cannot be pressed entirely down, it's like 70% pushed into the studs but cannot be pushed down further. I'm wondering if it's supposed to be like this, or did I do something wrong earlier on in the build.

3.      There's one part in the instruction for the stand that requires fitting four 1x1 clips onto two bars attached to the neck of the stand. I found there's not enough room on the bars to fit the clips there. Instead I had to build the top part of the stand to include the clips first, and fit the entire top part onto the bar, so that the four clips are partially secured onto the bar. I'm not sure if you know what I mean.

I don't have the instructions with me so if my descriptions aren't clear I can clarify further once I'm back home.

Thanks

[Jerac]

On 12/13/2018 at 8:04 PM, Chef said:

Amazing build! I never liked the fuselage construction in the official sets, but your build is about as close to the real thing as it gets.

Have a few questions though:

1.      Your parts list have clips with some being thick O-clip and others thick U-clip. They are the same piece but the thick U-clips are of the older molds that are no longer produced. I'm wondering for your build (and maybe in general for how these clips are used by MOCers) if there is a difference? Since I see you use these clips in non-conventional ways like angling plates into them, I'm wondering if the type of molding matters. Same for the Modified 1 x 2 Plate with 1 Stud with and without groove, though this one I'm pretty sure doesn't matter

2.      As exterior plating for the body, the SNOT belly of the x-wing has a large brick-built plate section fitted upside down onto the gearbox. However I noticed the section cannot be pressed entirely down, it's like 70% pushed into the studs but cannot be pushed down further. I'm wondering if it's supposed to be like this, or did I do something wrong earlier on in the build.

3.      There's one part in the instruction for the stand that requires fitting four 1x1 clips onto two bars attached to the neck of the stand. I found there's not enough room on the bars to fit the clips there. Instead I had to build the top part of the stand to include the clips first, and fit the entire top part onto the bar, so that the four clips are partially secured onto the bar. I'm not sure if you know what I mean.

I don't have the instructions with me so if my descriptions aren't clear I can clarify further once I'm back home.

Thanks

Thanks for feedback!

As for the clips, unless it is specifically marked in the instructions, it does not matter, so you can use whatever one you wish. I'll have this in mind with next buids though.
The sole exception is in few of the TIE models when I am using the narrow clips because they fit into headlight bricks' backs, which is useful technique in some places.

I am pretty sure the bottom panelling was attached tight but it is possible it doesn't attach all the way down, hm. For sure however I see no stability issues with it. Does it fall off yours ship?

The stand and clips thing... hmmm... right, I totally by a chance picked narrow clips for the neck and did not realize that. If I picked thicker ones I'd see this. 
The odd thing is that nobody reported this before.
Thanks for mentioning. I'll add this to the "pending update" list!

[Space_jaco]

BL order and PAB order done for RED5. With my stock of parts (I have the 75218 but when I saw this moc I took it apart... ) I managed to get all the missing parts for 100€ shipping included which is not too bad. Can't wait for the orders to arrive now ?. 

To reduce the cost of the BL order I changed some parts/colors :

- cockpit from 75218 (because I had it) 

- jumper plate are 3794b in the part list. I used the more recent one 15573

-the tile modified with clip 2555 I replaced by more commonly used 15712

- the wheel spoked 2x2 30155 are really expensive in lbg. Went for light gray instead. 

Will send a pic when I am done. 

[TemjinStrife]

20 hours ago, Space_jaco said:

BL order and PAB order done for RED5. With my stock of parts (I have the 75218 but when I saw this moc I took it apart... ) I managed to get all the missing parts for 100€ shipping included which is not too bad. Can't wait for the orders to arrive now ?. 

To reduce the cost of the BL order I changed some parts/colors :

- cockpit from 75218 (because I had it) 

- jumper plate are 3794b in the part list. I used the more recent one 15573

-the tile modified with clip 2555 I replaced by more commonly used 15712

- the wheel spoked 2x2 30155 are really expensive in lbg. Went for light gray instead. 

Will send a pic when I am done. 

Yeah, after you do a few of these MOCs, you get an idea for where you can search and replace with cheaper/easier to find parts (jumper (15573) and clip variations (Thick O and 15712) are key).

[OlHiHi]

Best T-65 X-wing I've ever seen

[DomMk]

Finally built this gorgeous model! To my surprise and delight it scales really well to Inthert's T-70 which I've had around for ages now (in blue and LBG). I appreciate inter-designer scaling consistency . :D

Some incredible techniques and shaping throughout; I was especially struck by how rigidly you constructed the front fuselage and how you managed to implement all those subtle angles which are nonetheless absolutely essential to the X-Wing front silhouette. The gearbox, though slightly too rigid for my taste, is marvellous and I'm excited to see if you can transfer it to the T-70 with its even more challenging wing design.

Two points though:
1) Regarding parts listed in BrickVault XMLs, I often have to replace separately listed left and right plate hinge pieces with the corresponding plate hinge assembly. I vaguely remember doing that for your models too and it's a simple change for future XMLs.
2) More seriously, opening S-foils knocks off bottom front engines! They're pushed against the diagonally attached wedge plate assembly which is held in place by a claw-and-turnstile connection on one end. 

[Jerac]

6 hours ago, DomMk said:

Finally built this gorgeous model! To my surprise and delight it scales really well to Inthert's T-70 which I've had around for ages now (in blue and LBG). I appreciate inter-designer scaling consistency . :D

Some incredible techniques and shaping throughout; I was especially struck by how rigidly you constructed the front fuselage and how you managed to implement all those subtle angles which are nonetheless absolutely essential to the X-Wing front silhouette. The gearbox, though slightly too rigid for my taste, is marvellous and I'm excited to see if you can transfer it to the T-70 with its even more challenging wing design.

Two points though:
1) Regarding parts listed in BrickVault XMLs, I often have to replace separately listed left and right plate hinge pieces with the corresponding plate hinge assembly. I vaguely remember doing that for your models too and it's a simple change for future XMLs.
2) More seriously, opening S-foils knocks off bottom front engines! They're pushed against the diagonally attached wedge plate assembly which is held in place by a claw-and-turnstile connection on one end. 

Can you please take a photo of the underside in open and closed position? This 2) issue is clearly not intended and was tested, so perhaps there is something wrong with it. Let me see it and I will help you.

The gearbox can be made less stiff if you replace the 1x1 technic brick in the core with a pair of 1x1 round tiles.

Big thanks for appreciation, too!

[Space_jaco]

Hi.

Started the build today for Red5. Really interesting so far.

One question though. P34 stage 16 we are supposed to add 8x technic pin connector round 1L (18654). It is working fine on the right with 4 studs available but I have got only 3 available on the left. These 3 studs can be seen on page 24 stage 9.

Do you see what I mean?

Thanks for your feedback

Edited January 19, 2019 by Space_jaco
Typo

[Jerac]

20 minutes ago, Space_jaco said:

Hi.

Started the build today for Red5. Really interesting so far.

One question though. P34 stage 16 we are supposed to add 8x technic pin connector round 1L (18654). It is working fine on the right with 4 studs available but I have got only 3 available on the left. These 3 studs can be seen on page 24 stage 9.

Do you see what I mean?

Thanks for your feedback

Sorry for that!

This is a slight error on my side, if you do next step it will hold. What I should do would be to ask to attach pair of 1L technic connector to 2x2 side-stud plate, and then attach whole assembly to the build. 

There is plenty of assymetry there for structural reasons and while this 1L connectors aren't needed everywhere, it just looks stupid without them, which is why there should be one attached only from one side.

I wonder if the 1x4 tile couldn't be replaced with 1x4 tile with 2 studs, but that'd I need to check.

[Space_jaco]

1 hour ago, Jerac said:

Sorry for that!

This is a slight error on my side, if you do next step it will hold. What I should do would be to ask to attach pair of 1L technic connector to 2x2 side-stud plate, and then attach whole assembly to the build. 

There is plenty of assymetry there for structural reasons and while this 1L connectors aren't needed everywhere, it just looks stupid without them, which is why there should be one attached only from one side.

I wonder if the 1x4 tile couldn't be replaced with 1x4 tile with 2 studs, but that'd I need to check.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[DomMk]

On 1/10/2019 at 7:05 PM, Jerac said:

Can you please take a photo of the underside in open and closed position? This 2) issue is clearly not intended and was tested, so perhaps there is something wrong with it. Let me see it and I will help you.

Sorry for the slow response. I think I've resolved the issue. As is sometimes the case, it went away when I swapped two superficially identical pieces. I essentially permuted the front vent assemblies so that ones with relatively low clutch sit at the top and more rigid ones attach at the bottom.

[Space_jaco]

Hi Jerac

Just for info and in case you will update the instructions, from p63 to 68 the slope 45 2 x 1 (3040pb010) and the printed tile 3069bps1 are missing in the views.

Same from 74 to 80.

Edited January 21, 2019 by Space_jaco
Added the same missing part on the other side on the ship

[Space_jaco]

Finished my Red5 tonight. What a beauty. And such a great building experience. 

Unfortunately the tooth technic gear inside the gearbox broke apart when I tried opening the wings. Surely due to the fact I have been using old parts, very old parts ... (at least 20 years old...).

Other than that everything is perfect.

[Chef]

I've finally completed the model with a few modifications! Back in 2016 I had the goal of building the best LEGO X-Wing but studies got in the way before I could finish. Since then several amazing X-wing MOCs have come up culminating with Jerac's, which is my favourite in terms of the design and most importantly accuracy. So when someone pointed out earlier in the thread that the rear is one stud too short (which was acknowledged by Jerac), I just had to come up with a solution. Luckily it wasn't a difficult one.

Extending the rear by a stud also enabled the rear to be built much more robustly. The rear in the original design was about the most fragile part of the ship, and the pieces just didn't really come together that well. You almost have to squish the components together to get the desired look but it's clear the pieces do not fit in snugly. However with an additional stud length all the issues could be addressed, and the rear is now about as solid as the front of the ship.

Since the four side panels enclosing the rear now fit snugly in place, this created problems fitting the underside panel in its original form. I had to replace the 1x8 door rail piece with two 1x2 door rail pieces on each side of the underside panel for it to fit.

 

While I was building the ship, I noticed that I could put a flex tube here inside the front fuselage held together by the two clips already in the design. This allowed the sides of the fuselage to remain straight all the way down the length of the ship by pushing out the tiles against the panels underneath. I understand that ideally the sides should be straight without assistance, but practically it was difficult to achieve so the flex tube here really helped. On a separate note I'm not sure if it's "legal" to cut flex tubes into lengths that are not multiples of one stud.

And voila! I now have my perfect LEGO X-Wing thanks to Jerac. As you can probably tell I picked to build the white version, but I substituted all the reds for dark reds because I think it looks much more authentic that way, or maybe because I'm just too used to seeing that colour in official LEGO sets. I'd post a pic of the entire ship if I'm not limited by the 102KB attachment limit. Hope everyone else is as impressed as I am building Jerac's X-Wing.

 

[Krazeh]

On 1/29/2019 at 9:59 PM, Chef said:

Extending the rear by a stud also enabled the rear to be built much more robustly. The rear in the original design was about the most fragile part of the ship, and the pieces just didn't really come together that well. You almost have to squish the components together to get the desired look but it's clear the pieces do not fit in snugly. However with an additional stud length all the issues could be addressed, and the rear is now about as solid as the front of the ship.

What internal changes did you make to extend the rear? Do you have any photos without the side panels on?

[Chef]

13 hours ago, Krazeh said:

What internal changes did you make to extend the rear? Do you have any photos without the side panels on?

Here are some photos with the side panels and the back plate of greeblings removed.  As you can see the internal structure housing the gearbox is unchanged. I just replaced some plates with longer ones to extend the rear. The extra stud length then allowed me to attach the side panels using more parts, increasing the hold. As a personal preference, I try to avoid connections using a single stud because the attachment is just too weak in most cases.

I also pulled a dirty trick with a flex tube between two 1x1 open studs to keep the two 2x2 plates from collapsing inwards when pressure is applied from the outside.

 

[Jerac]

This seems to be really nice mod. For sure it will strenghten the rear. I'd actually add another pair of hinges and perhaps think of a way to connecting bottom plating to the angled side sections somehow, but even without that it is an improvement. 

[cookiemonster]

Just a tip for the rims "30155" in light bluish grey. I ordered the parts over the last week to build Red 5 and there were two dilemmas: Either the price was ok but the quantity available was 1-2 or the quantity available was 3+ and the price was around 5-8€.

Then I tried to order the complete assembly rim + tire and I was able to find some more sellers with good prices. I ordered 6 for 0,11 cents per piece and 6 for 0,13 per piece.

This is the complete assembly in bricklink:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30155c02#T=C

Edited February 12, 2019 by cookiemonster