*FINISHED* Star Wars B Wing Starfighter

[tatocorvette]

Hello,

  Sorry I've been away so long.  Been super busy with work, family, cameras and life in general. I was out of the country most of July. 
This is so out of the box you need a telescope to see the box. 
I am a big Star Wars fan ever since I saw the first movie in 1978 as a kid.  Huge fan is an understatement.  It is funny as I don't like sci-fi much. I don't even like movies.  Haven't been to a movie theater in about 3 years (since Star Wars Episode 9).
Anyways, as an engineer,  2 of the things I like the most are ships and droids.  However, for some reason I haven't build that many Star Wars models. Only 2 in all these years.  A recent trip to the Star Wars Disney park rekindled my life long interest.

So back home, I started checking the current plastic model offerings.  Vintage kits are ridiculous in prices. Currently, Bandai is making plastic models of the series.  But while browsing eBay, I came across this:




A prebuilt and broken old MPC B-Wing Starfighter.  I had to rescue it.  This model dates back from the early 80's. 

This will give you an idea on the size.



The canopy is missing and all cannons are broken.  It seems it was put together in a hurry, maybe by a kid to play with. Nothing wrong with that.












Fortunately, it is a snap together kit and no glue was used.  While quite a challenge, I was able to get it apart.

Typical soft styrene from the '80s that made me eventually hate AMT. 

Let's say the fit has some challenges...


This will be tackled in several phases. 
First: The cockpit.  The unique cockpit of this ship rotates 360 degrees so the pilot can stay properly oriented. But that means it needs to be assembled and installed before the 2 main body halves are joined. No way to address mold lines that way.  I'll re-engineer the kit.



Rusty Trusty is back!!!!



Stay tuned as this will be a long term project (like all of mine).

Thanks,
Ismael

[Joel_W]

Ismael,
Only you would see the end game GOLD in this Star Wars kit. Needless to say I'm looking forward to seeing you work your magic with it.

joel

[Ben_B]

Ismael, 

That’s going to look great once you’ve worked your magic on it! Or I guess in this case, you’ll be using the force. Ba dum, tsh. 

My wife and I are big sci fi fans, and we’ve recently discovered the Clone Wars animated series. We were kind of hesitant, because cartoon, but it’s turned out to be a lot of fun.

If you ever want a relaxing out of the box experience, try one of Bandai’s SW kits. The engineering on them is amazing. I’ve built the Y Wing, both X Wings, and the TIE fighter and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Ben

[tatocorvette]

Thanks guys!
Ben, I have Bandai's Luke's X-wing in transit.  I want to build it as the original trench run. T65B callsign Red 5. 

As part of my research, I actually watched an episode of Star Wars Rebels this morning, where the B Wing is first flown as a prototype. Season 2, episode 7, "Wings of the Master".  I too was hesitant been a cartoon series but it turned out to be really cool.  That's a badass ship that deserves more credit.  On the first test flight, the first blast of the weapon fried the Hyperdrive.  It was that powerful.  

Thanks,
Ismael

[Ben_B]

We’re planning to check out the other animated series after we finish Clone Wars. We just started season 4.

I built my T-65 as one of the Blue Squadron fighters from the battle at the end of Rogue One. Great kit! I wasn’t as impressed with the T-70 as I was with the others. I’m not sure why, it just seemed to fight me, where the others didn’t. My favorite was the Y-Wing. It has all of that exposed plumbing and Bandai engineered it beautifully so it all went right together. One of the most fun kits I’ve built.

Ben

[tatocorvette]

...and now there is also an old AMT Vader's TIE fighter coming in...

[tatocorvette]

Hello,

  So I'm doing my own canopy.  This has proven to be quite a challenge at this scale.  This is design/attempt # 5 or 6.  The tape strips are for visibility as these clear parts are INVISIBLE when dropped or when they decide to fly across the bench.



Other than heavily modifying the parts, everything in white is added material.


The wire is part of the canopy support.  I'll make something out of it like a heads up display or something to disguise it.



The rear section was glued and reworked the seams.  The raised details were sanded down and I re-scribed them as recessed panel lines. 


To disguise a very ugly seam in the back, I made up this added details.







The cockpit front and rear parts were separated to be worked independently. Afterwards they can be joined back together.





Why?  So the main fuselage can be glued together and the seams worked WITHOUT the cockpit, and have it installed afterwards.





And I am only halfway on step 1, of a simple snap tite kit  



Thanks,
Ismael

[Joel_W]

Ismael,

Just amazing work. Love the scribing as that cone shape had to be one heck of a job.

I'm sure that the Force is with You on this epic journey.

joel

[tatocorvette]

Hello,

  Can you tell the difference between the box stock and my scratchbuilt brass and aluminum Precision Targeting Laser?  It is about 10mm long. The challenge now is to do 2 more identical ones.






Also modified the GH72 Autoblaster 



After the PTLs the real fun will begin: Making 3 identical SW-7A Ion Cannons...

Thanks,
Ismael

[Darth Raulito]

Restore the B-Wing Ismael Kenobi. You are it's only hope.

[Joel_W]

Now that's some impressive scratch building.

joel

[tatocorvette]

Hello,

  Thanks Joel!

SW7A Cannons with their respective Precision Targeting Lasers.  (Not yet fixed in place so not perfectly aligned yet) Don't let the beauty fool you. This is a lethal weapons platform.



Need to remove the molded ones from the other wing. I think you can tell the difference, don't you think?


 Canopy design #9, modified autoblaster 



Thanks,
Ismael

[Joel_W]

Ismael,
As usual, you've taken a simple plastic model and slowly but surely turning into an amazing replica from the Star Wars fleet. Even the fact that you know all this "technical" stuff just amazes me.

joel

[tatocorvette]

Thanks Joel,

  I've never claimed to be normal 

So this part goes at the bottom of the ship. It is supposed to represent another cannon like that ones on the wings and the broken part was supposed to be a Heavy Laser Cannon which is actually longer than the regular cannon.  It is also missing the Precision Targeting Laser.










Sh*t is getting serious!  This sucker is carrying quite a heavy punch!


They are out of alignment as these are not fixed in position yet. They'll be straight in the final product.


Thanks,
Ismael

[tatocorvette]

Hello,

Kit's original design vs my way. The kit has the wings assembled into the swing axle. That is a problem to work seams and make sure the wings are smooth. So I re-engineered the kit to finish the wings first, then mount on the swing axle.

First, the front plate needs to be removed



Kit's original instructions:



My re-design:



Thanks,
Ismael