MPC 1:43 X-Wing
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/2/3/6/1621236-121752-22-720.jpg)
First step was to clean up the glaring sea lines and rescribe
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This kit was built with that nasty testors glue - so it broke apart very easily. This was a good thing as it allowed me to repaint the components.
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/2/3/8/1621238-121752-41-720.jpg)
I planned to repaint the kit - which meant the original decals would be lost. Since I had no decals to replace this with, I made a template guide for the markings with masking tape.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/2/3/9/1621239-121752-44-720.jpg)
This kit had no details whatsoever, so I had to use styrene to recreate that using the Bandai 1/72 as a reference.
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/2/4/0/1621240-121752-36-720.jpg)
Primed and painted the panel lines
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/2/4/1/1621241-121752-10-720.jpg)
More of the masking
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/2/4/2/1621242-121752-92-720.jpg)
Lasers after sanding, priming and darkened panel lines
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/2/4/3/1621243-121752-36-720.jpg)
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/2/4/4/1621244-121752-85-720.jpg)
OK - finally starting to look like an X-Wing
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/2/4/5/1621245-121752-95-720.jpg)
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/2/4/6/1621246-121752-42-720.jpg)
I tried to jazz up the cockpit a bit by adding a styrene rod and wiring, but the cockpit was atrocious.. in the end, I scrapped the mods and tried to rebuild the cockpit from scratch.
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/2/4/7/1621247-121752-69-720.jpg)
Yeah - my skills really sucked back then
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/2/4/9/1621249-121752-49-720.jpg)
Using web references, I crafted a better X-Wing cockpit. This had to be redone a few times so the pilot could fit! Note that glass efffect handn’t cured yet.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/2/5/0/1621250-121752-67-720.jpg)
Modded the pilot and repainted. Pilot got an upgrade from Sucks Rocks to just barely passable. Barely. I don’t blame the kit, this was my lack of skills at the time. The oversized hands however, that’s on ERTL…
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/2/5/1/1621251-121752-20-720.jpg)
Maybe I should have matted his suit down…. Note the not-so good panel lines. Should have also done a better job on the post-shade.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/2/4/8/1621248-121752-95-720.jpg)
Finally assembled. And no, I was not planning on mounting Harpoon or AIM-7 Sparrow missiles to it - I was just working on the 1/72 ordinance for another kit at that time. ?
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/2/5/2/1621252-121752-28-720.jpg)
Pew! Pew!
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/2/5/5/1621255-121752-19-720.jpg)
Oh if I had only discovered AK Xtreme b[metals back then, I would have made those nozzles better…
…and lit it with LEDs!
…and lit it with LEDs!
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/2/5/6/1621256-121752-61-720.jpg)
I don’t know if there was some detail in the open areas in the wings, but I flourished it with wiring to add detail
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/2/5/3/1621253-121752-90-720.jpg)
I added a few laser scorch marks, but kept the X-wing clean. My weathering skills were non-existent, so I kept it fairly new.
Kommentare
13 19 December 2023, 06:02
![](/profiles/img/121752-978-s.jpg)
Thanks James! This was torturing me for a long time when I got back into the hobby - screaming to be redone properly. What was supposed to be a "quick" touch up and repaint ended up taking a lot longer than I anticipated. I've since purchased a second kit and plan to tart the up a lot more with LEDs.
So many kits, so few weekends….
3 March, 21:11
![](/profiles/img/128829-863-s.jpg)
Ha, I know what you mean. The 'Kits to available days' ratio is heavily leaning towards the plastic stuff 🙂
3 March, 21:58
Album info
For its time,, the MPC X-Wing was the best kit you could get for that scale. It was reasonably accurate on the outside ('though some purists may disagree) - but the interior cockpit was…. Crap. I built this over 10 years back when I thought rattle can painting was adequate - and before I knew that X-wings were BOT Dark Gull gray! So it was time to deconstruct it, fix the obvious gaps and ugly seam lines, fix the toy cockpit and make it look like a real X-wing!
This was one of my earlier re-builds since I got back into the hobby - so the scribing wasn't all that good, but I learned a lot from fixing this kit that I was able to apply to the subsequent builds.