Phill Ash’s TIE Fighters

Attached are pictures of the Estes TIE Fighter and Darth Vader TIE Fighter.  Both are flying models.  One photo shows ‘display configuration’ and the other shows ‘flight configuration’.  The Darth Vader TIE Fighter (kit 2144 from 1997) has been flown 9 times.  The standard TIE Fighter (a 15th Anniversary re-release of kit 1299 from 1978) will have its first flight at our club’s launch in February.

TIE 1299 consists of a blow-molded body and injection-molded canopy, wing hubs (2 pieces for each), hinge detail and laser cannons.  Each wing is 2 pieces of vacu-formed styrene.  The flight pod is a 0.967” Estes body tube, balsa nosecone, lead weights, standard Estes 18” parachute, shock cord, a standard 18mm motor mount and centering rings.  The wing-support fins are bass wood with injection-molded interface parts epoxied on the Wing-end.  The launch lug stand-off is two pieces of bass wood glued counter-grain for strength.  For flight, the canopy is removed and the flight pod is inserted through the body.  Small screws pin the wings to the wing supports.

TIE 2144 consists of injection molded parts as follows:  main body (2 pieces), each wing is a single part with 2 detail parts, canopy, 2 laser cannons (which were missing from my kit – I didn’t bother recreating them), launch lugs and 4 detail parts. The standard 18mm motor mount is encased in-between the body halves.  The flight pod is two 0.967” Estes body tubes with cardboard coupler, plastic nosecone, clay weight, standard Estes 18” parachute, shock cord and an injection-molded coupler.  For flight, the canopy is removed and the flight pod coupled to the body.  Each of the first 4 flights resulted in a broken launch lug.  They were ultimately scrapped and micro-rail buttons (one on a stand-off, the other on bottom of the ‘cockpit’) were used instead.

Phill Ash