[MOC] Sienar Systems TIE/LN "Eyeball"

[KrasiniArithmetic]

This build is inspired by Jerac - his use of the sphere octants was brilliant. I built his model without reservation - loved every moment of it. However, there were some things I did not like about the final product. The gaps in the wings bothered me, as did the sensitivity of the cockpit canopy and blasters to movement. I disliked that some connections seemed to be half-stud offsets, preventing full connection. I also was annoyed that the boarding hatch was blocked by a structural member, so the cockpit could not be opened in the correct fashion.

So I chose to try to revamp the model to fix these things. In the end, the only thing remaining from Jerac's original model were the sphere octants and the ring around the rear port. The wings and cockpit are entirely new. I based the wing dimensions off the Solo TIE Fighter set, which are not correct - they are however, about as close to correct as is likely to be possible at this scale. Believe me, I tried! Different versions of the wings with different construction styles occupied more than one month before I just threw up my hands and went with it! In comparison with Jerac's model, you will also note that the wing pylons are narrower. After reviewing photos of the filming models and technical drawings, I concluded that the pylons as Jerac depicted them were too large. Building them as I have them is not ideal - there's some structural weakness there - but it's plenty strong enough for swooshing.

Edited April 29, 2019 by KrasiniArithmetic

[icm]

Hi, @KrasiniArithmetic!  This is a nice forum debut, even if the pictures are a little fuzzy.  How are the wings built?  I'm not sure I've seen that construction method on other TIE fighters.

[Cylo]

Nice! Looks like a mix between 75211 and Jerac's.

[KrasiniArithmetic]

On 4/29/2019 at 7:37 PM, icm said:

Hi, @KrasiniArithmetic!  This is a nice forum debut, even if the pictures are a little fuzzy.  How are the wings built?  I'm not sure I've seen that construction method on other TIE fighters.

Hi! The wings are a sandwich of two different plate layers laid back-to-back with SNOT brackets lined up like zipper teeth on the tops and bottoms of the wings. In this construction, the two halves of the wings are held together by the gray plates that make up the outlining ring, which are mounted to those brackets. I could post some photos of that later, but right now the model is at Brick Slopes 2019 in Utah, so I can't get to it to take those photos for you until the convention is over.

[darththeling]

Excellent balance of scale and dimension with the smooth parts. Things line up very nicely.