[MOD/MOC/Instructions] Resistance RZ2 and Rebel RZ1 A-Wings with simple shaping improvements

[mcphatty]

Hi everyone!

I was a huge fan of the X-Wing games growing up and the A-Wing was by far my favourite ship to hoon around in, I was definitely a pew-pew-pew... oh no what have I done, run away kind of guy! Being a bit disappointed with the 75175 A-Wing I modified my old set a while ago to widen it and subtly improve the shape of the body to be a bit more of a convincing 'A'. Following on from that I've given the new Resistance RZ2 A-Wing a similar shaping treatment!

As with most of my mods I've tried to reuse all of the parts that I take off and then add the fewest number of common pieces possible. The modified ships aren't movie-accurate but do remain solid. I really don't want to get into the situation again that I did with my TFA Millennium Falcon where I'd changed so much that the structure was compromised and added so many pieces that there was no way to replicate it... with that in mind, here are some visual instructions that I hope will help others who are also mostly happy but a tiny bit disappointed with the 75175 and 75248 sets, but still want their A-Wing fix :)

 

Snap Wexley's Reistance A-Wing RZ2

 

I stripped back the wings, removing the 2x3 inverted slopes from next to the guns, and removed the upper area of the nose as well as the black plates with dark green decorative parts next to the cockpit, the remaining ship was fortunately still fairly solid. The 2 white 1x2 plates and 2 white 2x6 plates (4 2x3s will work too) were the only essential extra parts for the wing shaping, these are structural and all the other extra pieces are all cosmetic. I originally repurposed four of the dark blueish grey 1x2s from the nose internals for the modified longer top of the nose as they’re weren't originally structural, they looked okay but then I had some luck found some spares of the plates in dark green in my spares.There are 2 white 1x8 plates to boost the top fins up a bit and 2 white 1x1 slopes for the leading point of the top fins, these slopes replace 2 white 1x1 plates which I needed for the modified wing internals but I think aren't structurally essential. As mod to hold the engines at the correct angle with no movement I jammed 2 1x1 plates into the underside of the light blueish grey 2x6 plate that sits above the Technic links (with blue friction pins) connecting the engines to the rear of the ship. It was tricky, a real squeeze and definitely an illegal technique but it does a solid job. There’s also an extra 2x3 inverted slope under the nose, I forgot about that in the parts list picture, sorry! And finally I swapped around those green tiles with the white stickers on so the green area tapers towards the back of the cockpit, I'm pretty sure that how they're supposed to be.

 

Arvel Crynyd's Rebel A-Wing RZ1

I like to think it's the one that finished off The Executer! I similarly stripped away the wing area and rebuilt the mod with a few extra pieces. There are 2 extra 3L Technic axles to extend the guns out by 1 stud, these are I suppose the least common extra parts but I've struggled to work out a structurally solid way to extend the guns without them. The rest are easily sourced and hidden away under the upper fins are 2 dark blueish grey 1x2 modified plates (with rails) that help keep the wings at the correct angle.

 

Tallie Lintra's Resistance A-Wing RZ2
 

I really loved the opening scene of The Last Jedi and Tallie, despite being in the film so briefly, was awesome. Luckily she was included in Battlefront 2, as you can imagine her hero ship became my new favourite for hooning! I'm still waiting on a few parts for this major overhaul of 75175 and I'm also working on instructions (which I’m not very good at, but I’m learning!). I'll post them all here when I'm done but here's a Stud.io render for now. @Gumbinger deserves a lot of credit for his amazing recent MOC, it was my inspiration for my MOD and I stole his excellent idea of using the blue 2x2 round tiles for the blue stripes, so thanks!

Edited October 30, 2019 by mcphatty

[TeeNuggetTa]

I'm not sure if its my end but there are no photos. 

[m4st3rt3ch]

Just now, TeeNuggetTa said:

I'm not sure if its my end but there are no photos. 

Your end.

[Sucram]

Niccceeee I really need to get an A-Wing

[mcphatty]

1 hour ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

Niccceeee I really need to get an A-Wing

Thanks! Apart from needing the mod this set seems much cheaper than average for Star Wars and if nothing else it’s a good pile of parts for your own moc, I think you might need to get this one :)

[Gumbinger]

@mcphatty nice work & excellent MOD!  I like the how you did the curved slopes and 10x3 wedges on the blue model -- it keeps it in line with official set, but shows the difference in the two variants.  

[Wurger49]

Great MOD, I used it to update my 75175, I used 2 1x2 tiles and 2 1x 3 tiles to cover the studs next to the cockpit.