[MOD/MOC] GotB’s UCS X-Wing Starfighter 75355 with Landing Gear & Light FX

[Aeroeza]

On 5/30/2024 at 12:48 PM, Neophyte_brickie said:

I suppose the one major feature of the 'real' X-Wing design you and your team haven't replicated in your mod is the way the canopy kind of slopes down from front to back (ie the base of the canopy isn't horizontal).  I'm assuming you must have attempted it, but not found a satisfactory solution, given the attention to detail that is evident throughout the rest of the mod! Did you look at whether that was achievable?

I’d just like to add to Rilted's last post that early on with our dabbling’s adjusting the angle of the canopy was considered. Jerac had executed just such a trick to great effect with his minifig scaled X-Wing.

Unfortunately, the system scale X-Wing canopy verses the UCS’ have very different proportions. Angling the UCS canopy to capture this slope can disrupt the silhouette of the model rather than improve upon it. Not only do you run the risk of dropping the height of the canopy too much, but the angle of the forward windscreen can look oddly acute. Basically, the same trick doesn’t play out so well with this canopy piece and you can lose far more on the swings than you gain on the roundabout. At least, that was our impression...

Also, we didn’t want to change the look of the side panels of the front fuselage section so much that it was no longer recognisably Henrik’s X-Wing. Our whole design philosophy was after all to maintain his aesthetics as much as we could.
 

[RedWolfwere]

Impressive work out there guys!

Cheers!

[Aeroeza]

On 6/20/2024 at 7:45 AM, RedWolfwere said:

Impressive work out there guys!

Cheers!

Molto apprezzato RedWolfwere! 

[Neophyte_brickie]

I’ve had a bit of a frustrating time acquiring the additional parts for this mod, but I finally have them all! My last shipment arrived this morning (after more than 3 weeks apparently lost in the wilderness - gotta love Australia Post!) The shipment that was delayed includes two of the five different types of Technic gears required for the wing opening mechanism - the part of the build I’ve been most looking forward to - but in the meantime I’ve been able to build most of the parts forward of the wings, and the stand.  I have to say the attention to detail that’s gone into this thing is really impressive, and the instructions and various inventories provided with the purchase are extremely well done.  It really drives home how disappointing the original UCS set is by comparison. I can’t wait to finish it!

[Neophyte_brickie]

It's finally done! What a transformation. 

This MOD/MOC turns 75355 into the set it really should have been all along, and resolves all of the important problems (they are many and significant) with the original UCS set.  

The mechanism that controls the S-foils and its attachment to the wings is the most egregious design problem with the original set.  It really never should have passed quality control.  The basic problem is that each wing connects to the concealed mechanism via a single 1x12 technic brick.  The entire weight of each wing is suspended from this one long skinny part - it is hopelessly under-engineered.  Now a model like this is always going to suffer from some wing droop - the wings are a considerable size for a thickness of only two plates, and carry not only their own weight but that of the wingtip cannons and the engine assemblies.  But putting all that force through a single technic brick is madness - the technic brick will inevitably deform.  Not only does it guarantee a truly ugly degree of wing droop, the orientation of the set on the stand (ie, with the nose tilted upward at an angle) combined with the lack of support ensures that the wings are permitted to flex in other unwanted ways - namely, toward the back of the ship, and around the long axis of the wing.  Over time, this leads to a very noticeable loss of alignment of the wings themselves and everything that is attached to them (the cannons and the engines).  In the case of my set, it also led to the mechanism failing to function as it should - it would open the S-foils, but then the mechanism would jam in the open position.  

The original S-foil mechanism and wing design introduced some additional serious cosmetic problems - when closed, the wings don't come together completely but are separated by a gap; there are additional gaps between the fuselage and the engine housings (most obvious with the S-foils closed); the underside of each engine housing, where the wing attaches to the inner mechanism (achieved via 4 technic axle 3L with stop and 4 technic brick 1x2 with hole and dual liftarm extensions) is unsightly and looks nothing like that part of the wing is supposed to; and the control for the mechanism, in the form of a Hero Factory Weapon Barrel, sits smack-bang in the middle of the top side of the fuselage, creating a very conspicuous "hey, look at me, I'm a play feature!" that looks very out of place on a UCS set.  

GoTB's MOD/MOC utilises a completely different S-foil mechanism that is quite simply brilliant engineering.  Based around a series of technic gears and technic liftarms, it is much more robust and supports the wings much more securely.  It also incorporates a realistic-looking underside to the engine housing that simultaneously provides additional attachment points to the wing itself, an example of inspired design that satisfies the demands of form and function.  When closed, the wings come together with no gap; the engine housings are shifted inward toward the body of the ship, reducing the gaps there; and the control knob for the mechanism is moved to the panel on the ship's rear end, utilising a much more subtle round tile that blends in seamlessly.  The greebling on the top panel behind the cockpit, now free of that horrible Hero Factory Weapon Barrel, is completely reworked and looks absolutely fantastic.  

The changes don't stop there - the astromech socket has been adjusted to provide R2 with a higher and more realistic vantage point, the cockpit itself has been given a substantial upgrade, with additional control panels (complete with custom stickers) flanking the pilot's seat, which itself has been completely redesigned for greater accuracy, and the addition of a couple of black hoses and metallic silver accents behind the pilot's seat.  The nose of the ship has been redesigned to incorporate a smoothly tiled, gentle slope down from the front of the cockpit to the nose-cone, eliminating a lot of the gaps along the way that marred the appearance of original set's forward section.  The nose cone itself is also masterfully re-worked to be one brick slimmer, more aesthetically pleasing, and to fit more closely to the front of the X-wing.  It is still too broad compared with the source material, but I think probably as good as it's possible to get without narrowing the entire nose of the ship itself, which would require a completely new cockpit canopy part (and we know that ain't gonna happen any time soon!)  The improved support and method of attachment for the wings have allowed the  wings to be lengthened, making the overall proportions much more realistic and pleasing to the eye.  Everything feels substantially more secure, and as you can see in the before and after comparison shots below, the wings, cannons and engines are now all perfectly aligned, with the wing-droop problem much improved.  

The most remarkable thing about this MOD/MOC is that its DNA is still unmistakably that of Henrik Andersen's creation, the original 75355, it's just better in every conceivable way; it's 75355, 2.0.  The GoTB team has gone to extraordinary lengths to re-use as many parts as possible from the original set.  Although 75% of the original parts are used in the upgrade, you do need to deconstruct the set almost in its entirety - the only elements completely unchanged are the four 'fusial thrust engines'.  1252 additional parts are required, but I can confirm these are all easy to source and none is particularly rare.  Furthermore, the designers supply a series of inventories that make the process of working out which parts from the original set are required and what part of the build they are used in, as painless as possible.  The instructions are not exactly cheap, but they are exceedingly well-done and absolutely worth it for the cost.  If you own 75355, I can highly recommend investing in GoTB's MOD/MOC; it elevates the set to another level entirely.  It really is so disappointing that Lego put out a UCS set with so many faults that a mod like this was needed!  

Now, for the photos:

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The sexy cockpit upgrade:

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The rear panel.  The central round tile is the control for the S-foil mechanism:

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Detail of the inner wing surface, showing the representation of the engine internals.  A very clever design element that looks fantastic and adds to the stability of the wing:

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Looking straight down the barrel, S-foils in attack configuration, before (above) and after; from this angle the faults of the original aren't too noticeable:

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S-foils closed, before and after - notice the terrible wing droop and unsightly gap between the wings in the original build:

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From above, S-foils closed.  Note the gap between the wings and the fuselage, the much improved execution of the greebling, and the fact that the wing on the left on the original (above) bends toward the rear:

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View from the left.  Note again how poorly the wings are aligned on the original set:

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And the view from the right side:

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Edited June 29, 2024 by Neophyte_brickie
Minor copy-editing

[Aeroeza]

On 6/29/2024 at 6:54 PM, Neophyte_brickie said:

"It's finally done! What a transformation. 

This MOD/MOC turns 75355 into the set it really should have been all along, and resolves all of the important problems (they are many and significant) with the original UCS set...."

We’re absolutely delighted to know you enjoyed our build so much & your comparison photos are just awesome! You’ve reminded us of why we deep dived into this MOD/MOC in the first place & have really made us feel like the hard work has paid off.

Your review is genuinely humbling… Thank you.

I’ll be sleeping easy tonight!! 

[Neophyte_brickie]

On 6/30/2024 at 10:15 PM, Aeroeza said:

We’re absolutely delighted to know you enjoyed our build so much & your comparison photos are just awesome! You’ve reminded us of why we deep dived into this MOD/MOC in the first place & have really made us feel like the hard work has paid off.

Your review is genuinely humbling… Thank you.

Kudos to you and your collaborators, you did an amazing job! Seriously, Lego should hire you. 

I do think Lego needs to rethink their approach to some of the UCS sets; building your mod I got to thinking about why Lego would put out the piece of shite that is the original 75355 rather than produce something more like the GoTB version.  It can’t be lack of access to talent.  Part of it I think is feeling they need to avoid buiilds that are too difficult - GoTB’s S-foil mechanism really is a very challenging builld experience - more difficult than I think I’ve encountered in any UCS set - and I think Lego doesn’t want to risk bad reviews from people who just don’t have the focus and patience for such a complex thing.  But then I think, these are supposed to be 18+ sets, right?  And the target market is hardcore SW fans - the people who really care about having something that looks movie-accurate despite being made of Lego.  And I guess another part of it is the piece count.  They’re trying to keep the cost down to something that buyers will be comfortable to pay for a set of this size.  But again, the demographic is collectors who are already willing to drop hundreds of dollars on a set (and more for sets like the AT-AT & Millennium Falcon).  To compromise so badly on a set like this makes no sense - because now I’ve seen what the set could have been, I’m just pissed off with Lego that I dropped Au$369 on something that looks like crap after a year on display (and if I’m being honest didn’t look that great even when first built).  I would gladly have paid an extra $100 for something that looks as good as GoTB’s version.

Edited July 5, 2024 by Neophyte_brickie

[YavinBase]

On 7/5/2024 at 7:35 AM, Neophyte_brickie said:

Kudos to you and your collaborators, you did an amazing job! Seriously, Lego should hire you. 

I do think Lego needs to rethink their approach to some of the UCS sets; building your mod I got to thinking about why Lego would put out the piece of shite that is the original 75355 rather than produce something more like the GoTB version.  It can’t be lack of access to talent.  Part of it I think is feeling they need to avoid buiilds that are too difficult - GoTB’s S-foil mechanism really is a very challenging builld experience - more difficult than I think I’ve encountered in any UCS set - and I think Lego doesn’t want to risk bad reviews from people who just don’t have the focus and patience for such a complex thing.  But then I think, these are supposed to be 18+ sets, right?  And the target market is hardcore SW fans - the people who really care about having something that looks movie-accurate despite being made of Lego.  And I guess another part of it is the piece count.  They’re trying to keep the cost down to something that buyers will be comfortable to pay for a set of this size.  But again, the demographic is collectors who are already willing to drop hundreds of dollars on a set (and more for sets like the AT-AT & Millennium Falcon).  To compromise so badly on a set like this makes no sense - because now I’ve seen what the set could have been, I’m just pissed off with Lego that I dropped Au$369 on something that looks like crap after a year on display (and if I’m being honest didn’t look that great even when first built).  I would gladly have paid an extra $100 for something that looks as good as GoTB’s version.

I believe the reason is the Lego designers are given a budget for the UCS sets, $230.00 in this case, and they are required to deliver a design that meets this budget.  UCS sets that are similarly sized, such as Slave I, TIE Fighter, and the latest version of the Y-Wing, A-Wing, and Snowspeeder, were in the $200.00 USD range.  The newer UCS sets, such as this X-Wing and the TIE Interceptor, are similarly sized and are in the $230.00 USD range.  GoTB's design drives up the piece count of a modded 75335, but the increased piece count only yields a minimal increase in size of the X-Wing compared to 75335.

Certainly the designers at Lego are talented enough to deliver a design similar to what GoTB has published.  Cost is the contraint in this case.  For the UCS sets that I mentioned above, the X-Wing is the outlier in terms of an almost flawless design.  75335 was designed well in some areas, but fell short in critical areas (nose cone and the gap between the wings in flight mode are my biggest beefs).

I would have easily paid Lego more for an UCS X-Wing that is on par with GoTB's design.  You and I may be in the minority, however.

I have taken the plunge and have embarked on modding my UCS X-Wing using GoTB's design.  My 75335 was unopened as of a few days ago.  After opening it and four Bricklink orders later, I am approximately 40% complete with the build.  Incredible and innovative are the best descriptive words that come to mind relative to the build experience.

[Aeroeza]

On 7/5/2024 at 9:35 PM, Neophyte_brickie said:

Kudos to you and your collaborators, you did an amazing job!

Thanks again! 

On 7/5/2024 at 9:35 PM, Neophyte_brickie said:

I do think Lego needs to rethink their approach to some of the UCS sets...

I agree. For me the cost of including exclusive minifigures was a backward step which can only compromise the proposed budget of a UCS. I'm wanting clever builds that approach a high degree of accuracy with full printed parts & exclusive pieces (such as that elusive X-Wing canopy) if required. That's it. Minifigures are a distraction unless the build, by happenstance or design is tantamount to minifig scale (which, let's face it, has a wide degree of interpretation).

I understand people love their minifigures though, & clearly including them in UCS sets has proven a commercial success for Lego over the last decade.

On 7/6/2024 at 11:32 PM, YavinBase said:

Cost is the contraint in this case.  For the UCS sets that I mentioned above, the X-Wing is the outlier in terms of an almost flawless design.  75335 was designed well in some areas, but fell short in critical areas...

Cost is certainly a constraint but the S-Foil in 75355 was likely a design choice committed to early on for the set. It might therefore be that deadlines were a consideration in this case too. Had the S-Foil been more robust I doubt we'd have felt compelled to attempt this MOD. By & large recent UCS sets have been excellent, but outliers clearly happen. I guess that's all part of the drama of being an AFOL! 

On 7/6/2024 at 11:32 PM, YavinBase said:

I have taken the plunge and have embarked on modding my UCS X-Wing using GoTB's design.  My 75335 was unopened as of a few days ago.  After opening it and four Bricklink orders later, I am approximately 40% complete with the build.  Incredible and innovative are the best descriptive words that come to mind relative to the build experience.

I'm happy to hear you've taken the plunge & heartened to hear thus far it's proving a fun build for you! Let us know how it turns out! 

[YavinBase]

I completed the GotB mod of UCS X-Wing, set 75335.  The approximate cost over four BrickLink orders plus shipping was $200.00.  I had approximately 16% of the pieces required for the mod in my personal inventory. 

The added cost was worth it in my opinion since it took an average set with some significant deficiencies and made it elite.  Increasing the length of the wings and essentially eliminating the gap between the wings while in flight mode were the biggest improvements that bothered me with Lego's design.  The added details at the rear fuselage and the cockpit and stud reduction are icing on the cake details.  There is some sag of the wings while in flight mode despite the smile suggestion in the instruction manual.  I plan on displaying the X-Wing in attack mode, so this is not a significant issue for me.

Here are photographs of the completed set:

IMG_20240717_221838711 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_220824490 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_220745335 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_220917992 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_221241800 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_221158595 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_221002583 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

IMG_20240717_223156374 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

The final photograph is how the set fits in with my Lego collection:

IMG_20240718_001421709 by Yavin_Base, on Flickr

[Aeroeza]

On 7/20/2024 at 9:13 AM, YavinBase said:

"I completed the GotB mod of UCS X-Wing, set 75335....

..Here are photographs of the completed set:"

Thanks for sharing YavinBase. I’m loving your last image in particular as that’s one hell of a collection you’ve got there! And it’s good to see that X-Wing in such auspicious company! 

I noticed also you’ve raised the canopy piece by a plate which got me thinking that you may want to check out KK3D’s modification of this area in the UCS X-Wing 2023 – Mods thread as it absolutely has its merits! However, in case you're interested, this wasn’t a direction we wanted to go. The main issue (mostly) is the height of 75355’s rear fuselage rather than that of its canopy. Lowering the top of the rear fuselage by the width of a 1x1 brick & the base of it by two (even three given its angular front/rear profile here) would be ideal.

My image attempts to communicate these observations. The red lines are those of the studio model (as depicted in the Rebel Starfighters Owner's Manual), the blue is 75355. I’ve scaled the UCS’ fuselage to that of the orthographic image while matching their centerlines.

Notably, the canopy’s position on the UCS is actually quite well placed, lining up almost perfectly with the height of the studio model’s rear fuselage. Unfortunately adjusting the fuselage here to match in Lego would necessitate the lowering of the S-Foil in our MOC (not possible given how it is mounted). The angles of the front & rear profile would also significantly suffer if not simply no longer line up. The point at which the fuselage begins to taper toward the front might also need to move back 4 or 5 studs if you wanted the underside to be more accurate, which really could put the cat out amongst the pigeons as I'm not even beginning to consider how the internal structure here would then need a powerhouse of an overhaul! Alternatively, raising the canopy, likewise, introduces proportional challenges to the sleekness & broad accuracy of the forward fuselage....

So, you really have to choose between your 'evils' here! 

Henrik’s solution is understandable given the balance of issues at hand. We certainly didn’t think we could resolve these problems to our satisfaction without introducing an even greater degree of 'proportional dysmorphia' throughout the model! We ultimately found we could do more justice to the build by better matching its orthographic view from above while focusing only on the side profile of the forward fuselage rather than its rear.

I’m not saying it isn’t impossible to solve…. But we’d have probably had to throw the baby out with the bathwater with this UCS as well as our S-Foil which wasn’t really in our design brief. Henrik’s DNA needed to stay & so did our lift arms!

But what really matters to us here is that you enjoyed our MOD/MOC! Go MOD it some more!!! I'm now leaning toward the happy thought that there's got to be some rather careful swooshing going on in that Lego room of yours!!! 

Edited July 26, 2024 by Aeroeza

[Aeroeza]

UPDATE!!

Allow me to present to you our NEW Directors Cut of GotB’s 75355 UCS X-wing Starfighter...

Although these ‘add-ons’ are not critical to the completion of the model found in our main instructions, what we have endeavoured to create with this additional free release is basically a smorgasbord of display choices and optional little ‘extras’ for you to enjoy should you be wanting to push the potential of your X-wing to its absolute limits! Hopefully you’ll find something in our Directors Cut that floats your boat, elevates your heart rate or simply pushes all the right buttons in all the right places because it sure did for us!

To begin with we’ve added a couple of additional ‘greebles’ we just had to throw in at the last moment. Our initial build succeeded in keeping much of Henrik Andersen’s DNA intact but there was the odd personal preference we had left out in deference to his build which we’ve now decided to present here for your consideration.

Next you will find a modification for properly incorporating Luke into his cockpit. Although not to mini-fig scale we’ve come to appreciate that many AFOL’s would enjoy this UCS with our erstwhile hero at its helm. This MOD wasn’t as straight forward as it sounds but we are ecstatic with the result. Again, not a necessary change but a welcome one for many.

But the biggest challenge we set ourselves for you to explore is a display variant of our model with ‘accurate’ and stable landing gear. It seemed only natural for a UCS X-wing to have this capability, especially as we had already hidden a little ‘Easter Egg’ into our build’s cockpit to augment this very display potential. You see, there are already 3L bars in place which can be extended to ‘hold-up’ the canopy much like the pneumatic pistons present in the film’s full-sized cockpit mock-up.

What a feature to waste!

So how did we go about making our landing gear? Well, let’s make a short story long in the expectation that you’ll enjoy the ride….

There’s a plethora of differences between the original four ILM X-wing models, their pyrotechnic copies, the life-sized soundstage props built, and the off-the-shelf commercial modelling kits used for filming in the ‘Original Trilogy’. That’s not to mention a simplified 3D version found in Star Wars: A New Hope’s ‘Special Edition’ and a whole new era of practical, digital and full-sized assets and props created for the Disney era.

Luckily, we had been spoiled for choice when it came to available primary source material with our initial X-wing project regarding the very era of Star Wars that mattered to us the most. First, there were fantastic orthographic blueprints reproduced for the Rebel Starfighters Owners’ Workshop Manual which, as we had come to understand it, are at least in part based on 3D scans of the ‘Red Three’ hero model. Second, but by no means least, were high-resolution images of the hero ‘Red One’ which had only recently become available due to its auctioning in the United States. These all proved an invaluable prize for detailing our X-wing and in understanding the more esoteric oddities of ILM’s masterpiece just when we needed clarity the most.

However, there is no equivalent primary source material available for an X-wing’s landing gear. Of course, there are images and scenes from several of the films you can gaze at as well as toys and model kits, BUT no Lucasfilm blueprints existed publicly providing their dimensions or angles for what would truly satisfy our thirst for accuracy beyond Steve Gawley’s initial X-wing blueprints from 1975. And these had long been superseded by what eventually appeared on the silver screen.

Furthermore, not only did the original and ‘Sequel Trilogies’ differ in their depiction of both gear and corresponding undercarriage details but even the computer game Star Wars: Squadrons has its own ‘take’ on the look of it all! To be fair, when conceivably supporting the weight of a Lego model that tips the scales at just over two kilograms, some of these takes are more forgiving than others!

For instance, the gear found on the full-sized studio prop of the X-wing in Rogue One has less ground clearance to that found on the prop in A New Hope. Also, its front gear’s main strut is strikingly beefy, angled more directly to the ground with a skid constructed to hide a wheel underneath so as the prop could easily be towed around a sound stage. In contrast, the full-sized prop used in ANH sat higher above the ground and being built from less robust light-weight materials, was designed instead to be re-built in situ and then lifted about by crane for a ‘Repulsor’ lift-like effect in the movie.

It seemed to us the wisest candidate to base our landing gear on would be that found in the Disney era of Star Wars however the purists in us were compelled to attempt the dimensions found in the original films. After all, it was Luke’s Red Five we were recreating here, and our own ‘love note’ on the subject matter demanded its full pint of blood, sweat and tears!

Having made this decision our second problem to solve was to work out the length of the primary, secondary and even tertiary landing gear struts with their respective skids and undercarriage doors from ANH’s full-sized prop. It’s a given that at this scale Lego can only really approximate these, but we still wanted to get as close as feasible and in so doing understand our own margin of error.

But how could we maintain our own high standards of reference material for this phase of the project? Well, given none existed, the simple fact of the matter was we just had to make our own….

Time for a little context!

Stage H, Shepperton Studios, Surrey England, June 1976. A solitary full-sized X-wing prop has been transported in various parts from Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire where it is then rebuilt beside a full-sized Y-wing. The Y-wing’s starboard engine nacelle is altogether missing but, never-the-less, both constructs prove a convincing facsimile of the draughtsmen’s plans especially after receiving their final dressing from the prop-department.

Stage H is the only soundstage both available at that moment in Great Britain and large enough to accommodate Lucas’ vision. The hanger set’s temple columns stand over ten meters tall but still, despite the size of the space, only via the art of filmmaking can a vast fantastical Rebel hanger-bay, and the squadrons of snub fighters it is meant to house, be fashioned convincingly enough for the overwrought, budget conscious production to pull off. Forced perspective, the use of a matte painting and five wooden cutout fighters carted about on shopping trolley wheels complete the illusion.

It stands to reason no one on set that day could predict just how iconic a design these two fantasy starfighters would soon become or how much the zeitgeist generated from this film would capture the imagination of so many throughout the decades that followed.

And it’s within that blissfully unaware moment that a quick anonymous snapshot was taken of the X-wing prop, levitating gracefully above Stage H’s floor, with a 35-mm camera lens.

It turned out that a poor low-resolution digital copy of this snapshot was the best reference for us to use in our particularly geeky mission. Screen grabs of the Rebel hanger scene from our Star Wars Blu-Ray disc collections either did not show the fighter from the best angle or the focal-length of the camera distorted its fuselage too much for our use.

Basically, the solution posited by us was to build our own 3D model of an X-wing using the Rebel Starfighters Owners’ Workshop Manuel orthographic plans and then match that as best we could to the photograph. Once done we could generate 3D topology of the gear itself from the overlaid ‘match’ and finally render out new orthographic portraits of an X-wing with its undercarriage doors and landing gear deployed.

There could never quite be a perfect overlap between our model and the shot used though as not only did ILM back in the day have rather poor trans-Atlantic communication with the carpenters at Elstree but each had their own take on Steve Gawley’s production blueprints. Throw in some lens distortion and an unknown zoom setting and you end up with quite the challenge!

However, those inaccuracies aside, our photogrammetry proved useful enough for the task at hand and we now had our own schematics based directly on primary source material. Judging by the latest measurements cited for the length of an X-wing fighter we could now confidently state just how high the gear held the X-wing above the ground, the dimensions of each skid, the length of each strut and what angle they should ideally be positioned in.

Having just solved our second problem it only remained for us to build the damned things in Lego!

Did we happen to mention already that the model weighed two kilograms?

Okay, well we knew we wanted our landing gear to be modular so as it would be simple enough to swap out and return the model to its flight stand. This sounded like a plan! We did however ponder for a long time on whether to use a base plate or small stand as the primary source of stability for the undercarriage or rely instead solely on a trio of robust gears to support the whole model.

Gears alone would be ideal, but we had learned through several iterations of our undercarriage MOCs that the whole thing tended to sag sadly over an hour or two of pained observation. Even the subtle draft of a passing cat added cause for anxiety, promising imminent catastrophic collapse of struts or skids with sudden force and equally bruised aspiration!

Weight wasn’t the only obstacle. When it came to pins and bars and such Lego’s building software, Studio 2, wasn’t always as helpful as you might think with its confusing array of connective possibilities and impossibilities. The preponderance of old variant friction pins in our Lego collections was also an early unexpected obstacle when problem solving the build. We quickly learned that only through prototyping with the newest available pieces could we bring reality to a promising Studio 2 hypothesis and then again of course only when the cat wasn’t in the room or had instead found a possum to chase away during the witching hour of a frenzied Lego building night!

Only in our wildest dreams did we think we could engineer a solution strong enough to support this UCS without the constant use of a baseplate or stand for stability. But we like to think we got there! We certainly knew we had hit a home run when a solitary rear gear MOC held aloft a 2-kilogram laptop!

With the benefit of hindsight, our solution now seems all so obvious. Make each primary and secondary strut reinforce one another, fully weight bearing and firmly connected to the fuselage. Lock the rear primary struts into their skids as though hammering in the foundations of a pier. Remove any sideways give and use friction pins where possible to prevent forward lean. Finally, take no prisoners regarding the strength of the lower forward gear as it will need all the help it can get!

All this had to be combined with an eye to accuracy and scale, not to mention our hope to execute it with a degree of pleasing aesthetics which could be in keeping with the colour of the source material and overall style of our X-wing MOD.

 

In the end, regardless of strength, we decided to include an elegant stand to use with the three gear modules. Its purpose though is primarily for long term display and storage. We know the rear gears are as tough as a proverbial tough thing armed with a list of proverbs long enough to startle a hibernating sloth from a cryogenic deep freeze sleep! However, the front gear just might not enjoy the cruel test of time as much as the rear ones will. Don’t get me wrong, it is very strong, especially when combined with its two laptop bearing cousins, but it would be remiss of us to assume it could win every bar brawl that came its way over the length of time it might take for Lego to release another UCS X-wing. Even Rocky Balboa had to call it a day eventually!

To make the Landing Gear Stand a bit more useful we threw in a modification for it so that when it wasn’t acting as a walking cane for an aging geriatric MOC it could moonlight as a flight stand that angled the model parallel to its display surface. The centre of gravity of our X-wing MOD is pitch perfect for just such a pose and positions it purposefully for a Death Star trench run.

 

For those of you who dig our landing gear solution but prefer to keep your 75355 UCS X-wing in all its fragile, un-swoosh-able original glory, we’ve designed a conversion kit! So, for a few dollars more and a fist full of extra bricks any 75355 can perch atop our MOC and rest those weary S-foils from their droopy tendencies.

But why end there?

We thought it prudent to also update our initial instructions based on fabulous feedback and support we’d received from the community over the last two months. This has further strengthened and simplified our build, making it fair to say that this final incarnation of our X-Wing MOD is not only even more solid but also gets a fair number of bonus kudos points for extra swoosh-ability when compared to its namesake! There are also new custom printed stickers, including an updated placard design, offered by our friend Stefan over at CustomStickersGermany.

Bonus Tip!! We cunningly used a 1 x 8 rail plate for our greebling on the wing tips so as the wings can be closed flush with the help of a rubber band or a slightly modified paper clip!

And that’s it!!

This is not only the end of my diatribe but also our first, hopefully not last, project. We would therefore like to shout out a big thanks to folks like hypodorius and ron_mcphatty who have generously shared their ideas with the MOC community. We are also very grateful to mountainridernzl and jmkiska who have contributed directly to the success of this project and really helped us fine tune our processes.

It’s done now and with it too an era within our lives that allowed the three of us to pool our talents, hone our art and make new friends….

Gotta love The Brick!

Download GotB's 75355 X-wing Starfighter UCS - MOD on Rebrickable.

Also, checkout our free Landing Gear MOC and 75355 Upgrade Kit here.  
 

Cheers all,

Aeroeza, rde and Rilted – GotB September 20th 2024

Edited September 20, 2024 by Aeroeza

[Sucram]

Wow the way the nose fits with the fuselage with those curved pieces is crazy.

[icm]

That is incredibly impressive work. Your dedication to the craft is amazing. Heading to Rebrickable now!

[Aeroeza]

On 9/27/2024 at 12:20 PM, Sucram said:

Wow the way the nose fits with the fuselage with those curved pieces is crazy.

Cheers Sucram! It felt really a eureka moment when the penny dropped whipping up that solution for the nose! I'll be spilling a yarn & waxing lyrical about it to the grandkids one day, with my dentures flying loose and hearing aid turned off so as all protest can easily be ignored. Hope you enjoyed reading the 'update blurb' this time around too!

On 10/1/2024 at 7:00 AM, icm said:

That is incredibly impressive work. Your dedication to the craft is amazing. Heading to Rebrickable now!

I genuinely appreciate your comment icm. We didn't want to leave any stone unturned, and really hope AFOLs who decide to invest their time in our MOD enjoy it all the more as a consequence... 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Aeroeza

[Rilted]

Lighting it all up!

After having put together the instructions for the added Landing Gear MOC to our modified version of the 75355 X-Wing UCS, it was a proud moment to finally being able to step back and take it all in. Your response and feedback has been a great joy to take part of with a few remarks that needed to be addressed, quickly adding those to the revised instructions. This, I have found, is a guilty pleasure of mine to find any excuse to keep tinkering with our creation but it has reached a point where I think it is safe to say that we have reached our final revision of our instructions...

However, in the back of my mind I always had an idea of adding lights to it. The scene from "The Empire Strikes Back" in the swamps of Dagobah pops into my head where you can clearly see the "landing lights" close to the landing pods.

Not only coupled with the engine exhausts and a cockpit that was begging for the attention of its spectators, we also now have an excellent self supportive landing gear so there were many options to find an excuse to put a light source in. Having spent nearly two days of disassembling, wiring, testing different light combinations, rewiring (too many times) and then putting it all together, I must say I'm very pleased with the final result. Have a look!

 

The bricks used can be found here and the lights were all sourced from lightmybricks.com. The light components (all LMB version 1.0) used were:

1x Large Bit Lights (Cool White) 30 cm - for the cockpit
12x Bit Lights (Warm White) 30 cm - for the landing gear, wings and rear panel
4x Bit Lights (Pink) 30 cm - for the engine exhausts
4x 6-port Expansion Boards
1x 8-port Expansion Board
2x Connecting Cables - 30 cm
2x Connecting Cables - 5 cm
1x USB Power Cable
1x Power bank (5V/2A)

I'm sure there are more clever ways to do this using less components for connecting it all together (or more if you only want one wire from each wing), adding effect boards such as a Multi-Effects Board for pulsating engine exhausts, etc. But since we do not have a flashing Christmas tree in our house, I decided to go with a static light display.

Cheers! -Rich

Edited November 18, 2024 by Rilted