K'NEX T-65 X-Wing Starfighter - Star Wars

"Red 5, standing by"

- Luke Skywalker

Stand by as I will guide you through this instructable how to build your own K'NEX T-65 X-Wing Starfighter from the Star Wars universe! This starfighter was used by the Rebel Alliance against the mighty Empire in many fights including the destroying of the Death Star in A New Hope.

The X-Wing is a very iconic Science Fiction spacecraft, next to the Millennium Falcon, Slave I and the TIE-Fighter which I already made out of K'NEX. This model has movable wings, that can be put into 'attack position' (as can be seen in the movies). To do this, you turn the wheel on top of the body. In front of that wheel is a mock-up R2-D2. A little detail I wanted to add. Furthermore, the windshield can be opened and closed, but there is no actual interior. In each of the following steps I will explain how you can build your own:

Parts needed
X-Wing Mechanism
Front Hull & Cockpit
Quadruple X-Wings
Display Stand

Each step has an appropriate Star Wars quote to keep the theming right ;)

Step 1: Parts List

Buy K'NEX pieces atK'NEX User Group / K'NEX spares

Rods:

66x Black rod (16 mm)
21x Silver rod (32 mm)
3x Black rod (32 mm)
58x White rod (32 mm)
11x Blue rod (52 mm)
6x Flexible blue rod (52 mm)
25x Dark grey rod (86 mm)
6x Red rod (128 mm)
6x Grey rod (190 mm)

Connectors:

14x 8-way White connector
9x 7-way Blue 3D connector
27x 4-way Silver 3D connector
50x 5-way Grey connector
24x 3-way Dark Grey connector
12x 3-way Red connector
7x 2-way (V-shape) Grey connector
10x 2-way (long-shape) Brown connector
5x 2-way (long-shape) Orange connector

Clips/Other:

26x Clip with hole end dark gray (1-way connector)
19x Metallic spacer (1½ width)
5x Blue spacer (½ width)
34x Black clip with rod end
10x Silver clip with rod end
14x Clip with Ball end
3x Clip with Socket end
8x Clip blue
9x Interlocking clip Tan/bronze
2x Ball and socket Large
9x K'NEXMAN Headtop Black
4x K'NEXMAN Headtop Translucent Red
4x K'NEXMAN Mouthpiece Black
10x Orange Angle 3D part (8 in the model, 2 in the display stand)

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1706565 for the 3D file, supplied by Seempie!

Panels:

2x Tri panel mini Silver
4x Tri panel mini Red
2x Tri panel small Silver

Gears:

1x Snap-on gear Light Grey
10x Gear small Dark Grey
1x Gear small Dark Blue

Wheels:

1x Hub Motorcycle Grey (50 mm)
4x Hub Racing wheel (37 mm)
8x Wheel Open Centre Black (25 mm)

Other:

1x A4 Size paper and a colour printer

Step 2: X-Wing Mechanism

"What a piece of K'nex!"

In this step you will make the main part of the X-Wing, namely the mechanism that moves the wings apart. This is the most crucial part of the model, so make sure everything can move smoothly.

Since it is so crucial, I started with this part. I wanted to make the mechanism as small as possible. At first I used Medium size Crown gears, but they proved too big. I scaled down from a blue-rod cube to a white-rod cube. Because the wings still need to move, I had to use the orange 3D angle connectors. I try to use them as minimal as possible, because I know not many people have them, but here they are unreplacable.

As mentioned: the big wheel on top should make 2 parts move in clockwise and counter-clockwise direction. In the next step you will build the Front Hull and the Cockpit.

Step 3: Front Hull & Cockpit

"I'm going in!"

In this step you will make the front of the spacecraft, including the cockpit and windshield that can open up.

Before I made this version of the X-Wing, I made another version in inaccurate colours. The nose-cone was kinda ugly and not very well attached to the Wing-Mechanism. Therefore, the new Front Hull was the last part that I built for this X-Wing. It's much sturdier and won't fall of so easy. Also it is more accurate, because there is a cargo room under the spacecraft.

In the next step you will finish the model by attaching the Engines and the Wings

Step 4: Quadruple X-Wings

"Lock X-foils in attack position"

In this step you will build the Engines for the X-Wing first, and later you attach the wings. Pay close attention to which Wings you are attaching where!

In my colour-inaccurate model of the X-Wing, I used blue and grey for the wings. This time, I used the red and white, which is more correct, compared to the movies. It also adds a little colour to the model, something that my previous models lacked sometimes.

The wings are can be fragile. But I tried to attach them as good a possible. They are also heavy by the laser cannons on the edges. That makes them point down, because here on earth, we still have gravity :)

In the last step you will make the display stand for this model.

Step 5: Display Stand

"Use the force, Luke!"

Perhaps that's not necessary, because this is only a short step. You will build the display stand on which the X-Wing loosly sits.

I like designing the Display Stand. You have to create something that holds the complete weight of the model, without being too present. Also you have to find the Point of Balance. Once that is done, I always put the model on it's stand, photograph it once, and design the information plaquette myself using Paint. It's all very basic, but I'm happy with the result.

I hope you too and that you enjoyed reading through this instructable.

May the Force be with you!

~GWorks