Building and Detailing the Star Wars A-Wing by Olivier Cabourdin

From 1998

Building and Detailing the Star Wars A-Wing   by Olivier Cabourdin

Note : This is a translation of an article that have been first published in a french Star Wars fanzine called HobbyOne.

The story

Built in secret by the Rebel Alliance, the A-Wing has significant manouverability, a high peak speed (it is the quickest fighter in the galaxy) and sophisticated sensor jaming system. All these advantages make the A-wing the perfect craft for quick attacks. The imperial convoys have to take care !

During the Endor battle, it is an A-Wing that is responsible for the destruction of the Executor, the admiral ship of Darth Vador’s fleet. Touched by a turbo-laser shot, this A-Wing comes down in a spin, and ends its course in the command module of the super-stardestoyer. This last one looses control and crashed into the Death Star II.

The AMT/ERTL kit

Upon opening the box, this kit seems correct in its general proportions. A pilot is supplied, as well as landing legs and decals. It is a snap kit, that could be built without glue, so we can take advantage of this state to verify the look of the bird once finished. There appeared the first errors while comparing with photos of the actual studio model.

The pilot seems too tiny, and in fact wears the helmet of a B-wing pilot and not the A-wing one. Even so, according the guides, the ship is said to have 9.60 m, as the kit measure 15.2 cm, this gives a scale of 1/64, so a pilot of 1.80 m will measure 2.80 cm at this scale which the size of the one supplied. But, from the photos, while extrapolating the size of the figurine from his head (man height = 7 times the height of his head) compared to the length of the ship, we can estimate the A-Wing between 5 to 6 meters long, that gives us a scale between 1/32 to 1/40. So it is possible to build this kit following to different scales (9.60m or 5.50m). As for me, I decided quickly because I wanted to build my A-Wing to look more closely to the studio model. This means changing the pilot; a 1/35 figure (which is a current scale for armor kits) will do nicely. Mine is a motorcylist of the French Army during the Second World War from my spares parts box. The insertion of bigger pilot implies modifications on some parts: remove the cockpit floor (part 1) and of the bottom of the seat (part 12). I was also obliged to cut the bottom of the figure to correctly sit it over the cylindrical part where the base comes. It is also necessary to remove the center of part 8. While on this part, sand the arcs that hamper the side engines to fit correctly and, on each side, replace the six spaces of the grids by quarter of cylinder of the same size (rod diameter : 3mm – figure A).

The raised panel details are really heavy so they need to be sanded and rescribed into the fuselage, the side engines, and the vertical stabilizers (part 1 to 6).

The three landing legs (parts 15 (x2) and 16) are really fancyful because they don’t exist on the studio model. So, they must be removed and there respective holes on the bottom of the fuselage have to be filled (part 2).

The back of the fuselage has to be completely modified. Part 9 must not be so near of the edge, and you will have to move it 1.5 cm back, except for the rounded triangular part that will have to move back of only 0.5 cm. So, the fuselage will have to be extended between this two parts with a plastic card of 1.5 mm thickness (Figure

This means you will be removing the clips and the position slots for part 9 on parts 1 and 2. Also, and this is the biggest change on this kit, you have to make new fusion reactor exhausts (part 13). For this, I used plastic cards of 0.5 mm thickness (Figure C) dipped in boiling water to give them the correct shape (lots of attempts are necessary, but if you fail one your try, you just have to dip it again in the water and try again – so, it is relatively quick to achieve). The profile of the two middle parts were achieved by folding and unfolding them. The four little reactors exhausts have to be removed from part 13, cleaned and completed, as a bit will be missing (but they may be replaced by new ones made from tubes of two different diameters), and glued on part 9. Then the new fusion reactor can be glued on this same part 9. You will also have to fill the hole in the side engines, whose function was originally to hold the part 9, that become useless and viewable due to the move back of this one

The side engines also have a big problem: the thrust vector controls, in the continuation of the reactors, are not really cylindrical. So, we have to find tubes of the same diameter and not too thick. After some searching, I found that the tubes of the big version of white glue in sticks were perfect size (and only the bit from where the cap attaches – As this part is not enough long for the two thrust vector controls, you will need two glue sticks) even if it is necessary to add details with plastic card (Figure D).

Now, onto the fuselage (parts 1 and 2). As I only found one photo (blurred !) showing the underside of the A-Wing, I can only suppose that the kit is correct there (I can dream, no ?!).

The upper part needs lots of work : hollow the torpedo-tubes and replace them with plastic tubes cut in chamfer, the three littles cubes aligned near the cockpit, remove the two rectangles with eight peaks and rebuild the eight peaks with very thin rod (half or fourth of mm), add four sections of 2 mm diameter rod (sanded round on the top face – Figure E). Take care of the top box illustration, this one have been retouched : there seems to be two air intakes at the front of the fuselage but this is not the case while verifying on other sources

The guns have to be correctly sanded to get a correct cylindrical shape. Hollow the stocks. Remove the side details and replace them by brass rod (Figure F). Do not use part 18 if, like me, you have replace the pilot, it will no longer go through there

The cockpit transparent part need also some works : wet sanding of the two clips and the excess width in the interior side of this part, polishing with toothpaste and finally dipping it in Future/Klir.

For those who would like to light this A-Wing like the studio model, replace the two cones inside the thruster by two yellow light bulbs, add an orange one between the instruments panel and the pilot knees. You will also have to replace the display base with a tube where the wires would go. On my side, I did not light it but I change the display base that I found unsteady.

My A-Wing is still not painted and decorated for the moment but I know how I will do it : brick red and white plus some panels with different shades of gray. The decals supplied are inaccurate (in shape and color !) so I will paint them (Figure G). Most time will have to be spent on the weathering : black/dark grey washes all over the fuselage, silver/light grey dry brush on the edges and some black/dark grey dry brush to simulate laser impacts and dirty marks on the side of the fuselage

Bibliography

– Star Wars Technical Journal.
– Star Wars Chronicles.
– The Essential Guide to Star Wars Vessels & Vehicles.
– The Alliance Guide de l’Alliance (Star Wars Role Playing Game).
– The Art of The Return of the Jedi.