[MOC] Microfighter First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter

[Joemmo]

Here's the second of my Force Awakens Microfighter MOCs, a Special Forces TIE Fighter. 88 pieces so well within the Microfighter piece count range plus it's a sturdy, playable little model.

So far, Lego have produced 2 TIE Microfighters - An Interceptor from ROTJ and the Advanced Prototype from Rebels - but no 'classic' version - why?. I reckoned it was partly to do with capturing the wing design and making it strong enough so, to cut a long story short, I spent some time mocking up the structure with real bricks then, once I had something I was confident with, took it into LDD.

It was pretty clear early on that fitting the 6 struts onto the wings was not going to result in anything strong or attractive so I decided just to go for the shape instead and leave the rest to imagination / artistic licence.

The key construction element is a 9M cross axle that runs through the middle and the wings and 'beams' that contain 2x2 round plates to sandwich the whole thing together. It's really sturdy, much more so than plenty of the other MFs.

The mini-blaster doubles as the antenna when it's clipped in and there are 2 flick missiles underneath. That's about all, the design would easily translate to an Original Trilogy TIE fighter with a simple re-colour so maybe I'll put one of those together too.

Finally, here it is with my 'Black Leader' X-Wing micro :)

Thanks for taking a look, comments & questions welcome.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Joemmo

[JekPorkchops]

Very nice, it could be an official set. I also like the way the stored blaster has a purpose on the model itself.

[Calanon]

Pretty cool model! The biggest problem I see with it is that the rear of the cockpit looks more like a TIE/fo than a TF/sf. A 1x4 trans red tile would be more fitting - especially if it was slightly higher.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Calanon

[Joemmo]

Thanks! Yes, I know what you mean about the rear window but I couldn't really fit a rectangular tile onto the black dish without it sticking out so the small trans red dish is just a nod to that feature.

Update:

It got me thinking and I tried this with just the parts I had so could be improved with 2x1 slopes and trans red tile.. it's a bit bulkier than I'd want but could be another way to do the rear section.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Joemmo

[jhaelego]

Great job with this. I actually think this will definitely be a microfighter that lego will do. it's the only way they can give us a special forces tie pilot, since there aren't any with the special forces tie fighter.

[Calanon]

It got me thinking and I tried this with just the parts I had so could be improved with 2x1 slopes and trans red tile.. it's a bit bulkier than I'd want but could be another way to do the rear section.

*snip*

I think that looks a lot better!

Great job with this. I actually think this will definitely be a microfighter that lego will do. it's the only way they can give us a special forces tie pilot, since there aren't any with the special forces tie fighter.

Yeah, would've been nice for it to be the other way round!

[Joemmo]

Hi, I Just uploaded the LXF here if anyone is interested. All parts apart from the printed TIE window piece are accurate if you want to Bricklink it.