X-Wing Red Five
as seen in STAR WARS "a new hope"

STAR WARS with all vehicles, characters, names and designs is © 1977-2004 Lucasfilm Ltd.

The ultimate conversion into ILM style hero X-Wing in 1:49

After having tested different methods on my Red 2-conversion I am now finally going to build an ILM hero-style X-Wing in 1:49* - as a conversion from the Fine Molds kit.
*1:49 is the calculated result on basis of the main kit parts used - assuming that the original Studioscale X-Wing is exactly 1:24 scale.

With the help of my friend and MODEL-FORCES business partner "ChrisGFX" we are able to have all the EXACT kit parts of the ILM studio model 3D-printed in almost any scale we want.

So - after a lot of research, especially on each of the unique hero X-Wing features we'll be able to convert the Fine Molds kit into any of the famous ANH X-Wings.

Here's my prototype build - a Red Five:

building process:

The fuselage... Apparently, Fine Molds used the big X-Wing model for reference on the fuselage, so there has to be some modifications done to the kit fuselage to match the ANH X-Wings shape.
click on each pic to get a hi-res image	In this case, I made a wooden dummie where I put the upper fuselage on and heated it carefully with a hairdryer until it could bend easily over the wooden dummie. Although the dummie looks a bit crappy, it works perfectly. After cooling down the part was almost correct in shape:
	The lower fuselage is the tough job with this kit. There is just no way to bend or modify this kit part to finally match the wanted shape. So, for this prototype I built the lower fuselage from scratch. Our plan is to have these vacuformed in styrene - just like the original ones. Casting them wouldn't make any sense due to the different panel lines, chips and position of the torpedos on each X-Wing.
	Next to the Fine Molds kit part.
	As I mentioned before - the shape of the upper fuselage was almost correct... It needs another mm stripe in the droidstrip area. The kit's droidstrip is too small compared to the rest. So another mm width and 3 mm length were needed.
	upper and lower fuselage glued together and the 3D-printed droidstrip test-fit.
	the new scratchbuilt back was a real pain and still not 100%. So, our next 3D-printed backplates will have the complete walls of the backplate with it.
	Some sanding, re-scribing panel lines, glueing chips and re-designing the nose later,... the fuselage looks like this. Note the position of R2 is layed back on Red 5 - compared to Red 1 and 3.
	Here is the new backplate - compared to the kit part: Note the typical "box" on the left side (Red 5 only) and the turned back cover:
	The new canopy frame. Built from 0.75 mm styrene + 0.3 mm for the inner edge. We are planning to have these canopy frames in lasercut styrene for more building comfort and even better accuracy. Each of these were slightly different on each of the hero X-wings.
	the side covers were unique too on the X-Wings. Unfortunately I didn't have too many good reference on the Red 5 side covers.
	And finally - some comparison pics with the kit parts out of the box:
	...
	the new canopy frame and environment. Looks even better with basecoat.
The wings... I'll focus on the engines and the lasers here. Of course there are some minor things to do besides that. For example, the engine"boxes". These are slightly off shape. But I decided to leave them alone. The difference would be barely noticable. For the inner engines of Red 5 the endpart of the Revell Phantom engine was used. But unfortunately the kit only has the 8 halves that are needed for the outer engines...
	Since I replace the comple engine interieur I used 0.7mm styrene for seperating the upper from the lower engine parts. I believe that they used 1.5mm styrene on the original ones, so 0.7mm would be a good match for 1:49..
	the Saturn-V-halves. For the hero models, the interieur reaches further into the wings, so the inside of the Saturn V-halves need to be sanded:
	Moreover, the very front edge needs some adjustment, too:
	Here are the parts for the engine interieur. The picture shows the replacement parts for both 1:72 and 1:48 Fine Molds X-Wings next to their kit counterpart.
	And this is how that whole thing looks when put together:
	The wings need an extra 1.5 mm . So I fit these in from scratch. The outer opening of the inner wing was given a new shape.
	Here is our 3D-printed new engine nozzle prototype next to the kit part. The final ones will have a smoother surface.
	... and here our laser mount. Completely different than the kit part.
	The new engine nozzle attached to the engine. Note all the fine detail!
	Here you can see the complete engine with primer. Amazing how studioscale it looks! Only my hand in the background can tell the real size.
Painting... quite a task. References for Red 5 are hard to get. The Studio Model was destroyed after filming. I wanted a model thats colors fade to grey - like the original one. No shiny colors.
	basic color is applied and some of the textured areas already painted.
	and here one of the wings.
	Painting mask for the markings. With Model-Forces we will offer corrected decals as well as pre-cut painting masks for the different X-Wings.
	brillant and shiny colors. This is before a grey-coat for the scale-effect.
	and this is after the coat of grey + some dirt and smoke.
	finished model - coming at you
	top view
	slightly different angle
	ventral
	droidplate, back and engines
	cockpit and R2 unit
	Red 5's back
	this is my baseplate. Deathstar-like.
	this is how it looks in the display
	another dorsail view