Alpha 3 Nimbus Class Starfighter (The V-wing)

[Commander Colt]

First Thing first, I’m really sorry about the pictures, I know they’re pretty horrible, but I don’t have room or time or materials to set something up.

Anyway, this here in front of you is an Alpha 3 Nimbus Class starfighter, better known by its common name, the v-wing. It is my first moc on this site, but earlier iterations of this craft are up on my Mocpages and can be viewed there. Thus, this is technically the fourth iteration of this craft and is essentially a mod of 6205 that has stretched over many years and gotten way more complex. This craft has had way too much time spent on it, and I still do not feel that it is complete. I am saying that this is the most detailed and screen accurate v-wing at the minifig scale, though at UCS there are a couple of nice ones including the fabulous one done by Brickdoctor. There are also a couple of very good ones at this scale as well, from Eric W. and EKO, but the majority are weak attempts and there is no multitude of excellent models as the x-wing has, with a brand new and even better looking moc coming out every week. Part of the problem lies in the lack of reference material for the underside and rear, which though it can be found takes time, and some references are different from others and it is hard to tell what is accurate sometimes. However, I have gotten this far, and would now like to make a list of complaints about my own model that I was hoping someone in this brilliant community could help with, kind of making this an almost finished WIP. Some problems can’t be fixed, but I believe most can. Another difficulty I have faced is the fact that while my star wars collection while not meager, is not the world’s largest and I have had to try to get around the fact that I don’t have many pieces that would fit much better in some places, and I have not made a single bricklink order for this ship, and have entirely relied on the hope that I can find the piece that I am looking for in my collection, as it is also not organized and some pieces that I have can’t be found. Anyway, I rant, and here’s my list of things that need improving:

1. The axle centers on the wings, the inverted domes, are red and do not come in dark red.

2. The wing hubs upon which the guns are positioned are too small and must be a 5 x 5 instead of the 4 x 4.

3. The dark red wing areas behind the hubs are incorrectly shaped.

4. The wings are too fragile and cannot keep the ship up.

5. The wing hubs are too thick and need to be slimmed down.

6. The connection between the hub and wings needs to be a tile not a rod, and be without the extra support.

7. The guns need small red tips

8. The small dark bley radiators around the engines need to be angled back

9. The top radiators need to be clipped at the bottom by thinner struts

10. The engine block needs to have a higher angle (however one that still keeps the cockpit sealed.)

11. The underside of the engine block needs more detailing, as well as four pipes in dark grey or bley (I don’t have enough wands or rubber pipes)

12. The axles need to be thicker

13. Maybe the cockpit needs more detailing but I have not seen a single cockpit view.

14. There need to be clips connecting the wing hubs to the hull, which would be easier with larger hubs

15. The dark red patch on the side of the hull with the symbol needs to be angled back

16. The underside of the hubs need wire detailing

17. Some colors are ambiguous in reference shots and may be off

18. That’s probably enough and if you didn’t read anything that’s ok too, the pictures are right ahead.

There is room behind the pilot's chair for equipment, enough for a gun, binoculars and provisions.

In this image you can kind of tell where I'm still missing a piece that I just can't find.

Next Up are a couple of reference shots that illustrate my point.

More images can be made available, at the same horrible quality upon request, although that was probably way more than necessary.

The reference shots are links on my third version on http://mocpages.com/moc.php/285772

Thanks for reading, and plenty of Comments & Criticisms requested.

[purpleparadox]

Awesome V-Wing! It looks quite accurate.

[Lance]

*oh2* Spectacular V-Wing, Commander Colt!

Super accurate, too

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME V-wing 'Commander Colt', impressive detailing and looks pretty close to the ones picture in the artwork.

Brick On 'Commander Colt' !

[Nightshroud99]

That's the best V-Wing I've seen!

[Im a brickmaster.]

I have memorised nearly every detail of the cross-section of this ship, studied every angle, and

I have to say that is amazing! I like the fact that you made it to scale, which is hard

with small ships. Vary nice job!

[Mr Man]

Incredible MOC, the V-Wing is my favourite small ship from SW, and you're MOC is a great representation of it.

[Admiral-Ackbar]

This ship looks fantastic, Commander Colt! The colour scheme (bar the inverted slopes) is spot on, and the ship is amazingly close to the source material! Good job!

[nrg]

WOW !

Nice one. Looks better than the 7915.

[DFOL]

That is one amazing V-Wing Commander Colt, very nicely done indeed! I love the angles and lines in your design, and by the looks of it your model is pretty close to the source material. If i may make an observation though, when comparing your model to the reference pictures you provided, i did notice that your wings are a lot narrower than the original. I don't know if you intended them that way, but in my opinion it would be more accurate if they were one or two studs wider.

[Commander Colt]

That is one amazing V-Wing Commander Colt, very nicely done indeed! I love the angles and lines in your design, and by the looks of it your model is pretty close to the source material. If i may make an observation though, when comparing your model to the reference pictures you provided, i did notice that your wings are a lot narrower than the original. I don't know if you intended them that way, but in my opinion it would be more accurate if they were one or two studs wider.

I would love to! I even have a great design:

However, This design, and any of that thickness, requires a very small angle, a seen with the 3x12 wedge on the left side, and the problem is, that I don't have enough of those wedges for such sharp and angled ship(as you can see by the missing wedge on the bottom of the ship)! All the other parts can be rearranged, shifted or found, but those wedges are necessary for such an angle. If you know of any way to improve my situation and get around that piece, that would be greatly appreciated!

[Bilbo Baggins]

Great MOC, thanks for posting the reference images , they were really usefull.

[THE BRICKTATOR]

I think this is UCS standard sir

[Mahtion]

Much better than the other V-wing attempts by Lego including the 75039. Great job, I will definitely have to make some mods to the 2014 version after seeing your amazing MOC. There are lots of problems with 75039 but the worst are the lack of front plating to streamline the starfighter and the totally absent weight to the bottom of the nose. The wings come very close to being a number one issue but are easily fixed.

[Diaaabo]

You did a great job, gotta love those angles it does deserve better pictures when possible!