Action Fleet Z-95 Headhunter

[djcos25]

I've had this idea for years, I'm so happy to finally do it. I took parts from an X-wing, two A-wings and the folding wings of an Imperial Shuttle. I was thinking of doing a blue paint job but seem to see red the most in pictures.

 

[yodashizzle]

To see customs is always fun, ships are a treat and you have proven to be the the Action Fleet Guru, glad to see a new one from you! How do you carve stuff up? At this tiny scale there is no room for error I imagine.

 

[djcos25]

To see customs is always fun, ships are a treat and you have proven to be the the Action Fleet Guru, glad to see a new one from you! How do you carve stuff up? At this tiny scale there is no room for error I imagine.

Thanks for the kind words! I remember seeing a custom Z-95 in the Action Fleet section on Sir Steve's Guide years ago. I saved the picture but lost it in a hard drive crash, and wondered for the longest time how it was done. There was only one picture, but I could tell the A-wing cockpit was used. The pictures are no longer up with the old site shutting down. Now, years later, having done a lot of customs and more experience I was able to finally tackle this one.

So for the X-wing, I shaved down the rear cockpit (right in front of the R2 unit) and I opened up the cockpit with my dremel and basically shaved down the control panel inside. I also cut the wings shown where the black line is here.



Even though most of the wings are removed, they could still be opened. I superglued them shut. Then I added in some Tamiya Putty on the sides and once it hardened I filed it down with sandpaper, first a 220 grit then a 1000 grit to smooth it over.


For the wings, I used the folding wings from an Imperial Shuttle, and cut where the black lines are here.



I filed the cut areas down again with the 220 then 1000 grit sandpaper. I made a slice in the X-wing where I put some Tamiya Putty in and wedged the wings in, also using superglue so it would hold. Then I used Tamiya Putty to close the gaps and make sure it would hold. After it hardened I sanded it down again.


For the A-wing, I had to use 2 to make the bump behind the cockpit. For the cockpit itself, I cut the area on the left circled in black. Once the original cockpit of the X-wing was opened up enough, it fit right in. I didn't take a picture of it, but its the entire cockpit with the seat attached, so the cockpit window can still be open and closed, and when closed it makes that click sound. The seat is enclosed in a little box? Not sure what else to call it but that is the part that sits in the X-wing cockpit, taking its place. I used superglue to hold it in place for the time being. Then I filed down the rear of the bump, then cut the second bump off the other A-wing (circled in yellow). For the second bump, I filed it down and made it more narrow, then superglued it to the rear of the first bump. Then I added in Tamiya Putty to close the gaps. Afterwards I sanded again with the 220 then 1000 grit sandpaper, then painted.




Doing all this, a dremel is your best friend. The one I have wasn't expensive and its one of the best investments I made for customizing. Over time I've bought different accessories for it. Also the 220 and 1000 grit sandpaper works wonders. When you use the 1000 grit, it makes the area so smooth, it really feels like you didn't even cut up the area or anything. With this scale you're right, there's no room for error. What I do is if I'm cutting something, I'll cut off a bit more than I need and file accordingly. If I cut right where I need to and mess up, I'm screwed if I don't have spares.

Here's the dremel I use
Home Depot Dremel 200

 

[yodashizzle]

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to tell about your process, I need to get some of that Tamiya putty now! Totally agree about the Dremel, it's an indispensable tool for me too.

 

[djcos25]

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to tell about your process, I need to get some of that Tamiya putty now! Totally agree about the Dremel, it's an indispensable tool for me too.

Anytime! I use the basic white Tamiya Putty.

Going through my photos, I found a few more WIP pictures. Below you can see how much I opened up the X-wing cockpit. This was my first attempt, so behind the R2 unit wasn't shaved off on the second attempt. I did find what the A-wing cockpit looks like as well, so you can see that little "box" that would be placed inside the X-wing.





EDIT: Found one more picture. This is what the wings looks like after cutting them off. These are the parts I superglud shut, then added in the putty to close the gaps where I cut. It was perfect because after it hardened, even though it was a bit faded, you could still see a line right in the middle. I used that as a guide and made a cut there for the wings from the shuttle.

 

[djcos25]

I went back and added in more wing markings to the Z-95. I thought just having the red wing markings under the laser cannons was too plain. I definitely like this much better.




I decided to make the pilot Ace Azzameen, the player-character from the PC game X-Wing Alliance. During the second Rebel campaign, you fly Z-95s in Bandit Squadron. Ace has a helmet similar to Luke's, but a thicker red stripe in the middle and his visor is black. Not sure how well you can see it but I added those in.

 

[Batuurist]

I was aghast to see that you had the guts to carve up an Imperial Shuttle, but then I finally saw that this was Action Fleet, not 3.75" scale! Whoops!

Incredible work, especially at this scale! I was always partial to the old X-Wing vs. TIE model (which I think got ported to Jedi Knight/Mysteries of the Sith), in all its boxy glory:

I feel like this was one of the most prevalent customs made during the POTF2 days, the chunky X-Wing mold seemed to really work well for this design.

 

[djcos25]

I was aghast to see that you had the guts to carve up an Imperial Shuttle, but then I finally saw that this was Action Fleet, not 3.75" scale! Whoops!

Incredible work, especially at this scale! I was always partial to the old X-Wing vs. TIE model (which I think got ported to Jedi Knight/Mysteries of the Sith), in all its boxy glory:

I feel like this was one of the most prevalent customs made during the POTF2 days, the chunky X-Wing mold seemed to really work well for this design.

Thanks! Haha no I'm running out of room.

I do remember seeing a lot of Z-95s using the POTF2 X-wing.

Maybe one day!

 

[Tulgah]

You certainly know how to handle a dremel! Nicely done!