Writing an introduction to a piece about X-wings honestly feels like a waste of time. It’s an icon of cinema, a hallmark of special effects, and a reason thousands of AFOLs roll their eyes every year when LEGO decides to release “just another X-wing.” Case in point: it is the spaceship that has the most LEGO products dedicated to it, surpassing both the beloved Millennium Falcon as well as the classic TIE Fighter.

With “just another X-wing” entering the market this month we wondered what makes the ship so fascinating and decided to sit down with Tom Loftus (Flickr/Instagram) to talk shop ships. Tom, a spaceship builder extraordinaire from the UK, just recently published his fourth take on the iconic starfighter (along with free instructions!), and considering his third has found a home in AFOL displays all over the world, we can only imagine how many people are frantically BrickLinking the parts for his new design already.

Who better to ask what makes an X-wing an X-wing and how one actually goes about building one?

Markus: Tom! I’m so excited to learn all about this iconic starfighter from you! First though, would you mind introducing yourself to our readers?

Tom: Before we get started I should say how thrilled I was to be asked to chat about one of my models and on a revered site like BrickNerd no less!

A little bit about me: I’m 24 and live in a small town just outside of London. For work, I design bespoke cardboard boxes for cosmetic products - no graphics, just the box itself. The process is pretty similar to MOCing really: lots of trial and error, knowing the limits of the medium and ensuring details down to 0.25mm are all present and correct.

On the LEGO side of things, my introduction to the hobby was an early one. With two older sisters, it was a lot of Paradisa and Harry Potter sets initially. I had no semblance of a Dark Age and my obsession has grown ever since. Nowadays I can be found making Star Wars ships in excruciating detail or creating the bizarre spacefaring craft of my own imaginings.

Markus: You clearly have a thing for X-wings and, by extension, Star Wars. What is it about that galaxy far, far away that fascinates you?

Tom: You've pretty much hit the nail on the head already—it’s all about the spaceships! That's what got me into the franchise initially at least—later on came an appreciation for the characters and themes but my interest is always rooted in the vehicles. Naturally the fact there's an official line of LEGO Star Wars sets helped!

But that fascination definitely carried forward in a big way from my love of Gerry Anderson productions like Thunderbirds, too—the common link being the physical models and practical effects. You know that the thing onscreen isn't as big as it seems, but it's still 'alive' in the universe. I suppose Star Wars just happens to have a lot of that, often at a reasonable scale for figures, so I'm constantly wanting to build the things and then go swoosh them around!

Markus: It’s arguably swooshable but it’s also been almost done to death. What made you tackle the X-wing all those years ago? Is it your favorite ship?

Tom: Ha! It's certainly a popular ship in the LEGO community, and yes, it's absolutely one of my favourites. It was even the face of Inthert for a while until those splat friends came along. I'm positive getting the 2006 set cemented it as one of those models I'd keep coming back to. Beyond that, it's just a plain cool thing to build—boxy yet sleek and with a transformative feature that's equal parts daunting and exciting to try and build.

Markus: How does it feel to have designed THE X-wing MOC of X-wing MOCs? So many AFOLs have built copies of yours for their displays after all!

Tom: Well I’ve got to say I'd prefer it be known as ANOTHER X-wing MOC rather than THE X-wing MOC. Jerac, Fukuusaku, Dmac and even the great Mike Psiaki's versions (and countless others besides) all have merits of their own and outstrip my latest version in various ways. While this is by no means a comprehensive list and I suspect there will be 'What about this one!?' comments that I missed, but there are a few X-wings out there that deserve to be highlighted:

Marshal Banana's first X-wing from 2010. Features a brick-built cockpit with transparent pieces and entirely SNOT wings. Both are quite rare approaches but are still pretty effective.

Mike Psiaki's infamous rendition from 2011. He generated quite a few iterations prior but the one that everyone remembers ingeniously used 3 x 12 Hinge plates with Angled Side Extensions (57906) for the sides of the nose. Mike generously created step-by-step instructions further cementing this beauty as 'one of the greats'—not to mention heavily inspiring my younger self! I’m blanking a bit on the years after Mike's version. I think he pretty much dominated the scene for a while!!

Kit Bricksto's T-70 is proof that ideas have a time. He posted this one using 3x12 wedge plates on the nose a few weeks after I'd thought to use them myself!

Erik's approach is a little different, building in the blurred line between minifig and midi scale. His X-wings and other Star Wars vehicles show that going smaller doesn't mean compromising accuracy.

Dmac's pretty much does the opposite! Like Mike's model, his is a cornerstone of collective X-wing MOC development. The build uses 4-wide engines, the official canopy piece and panels to achieve the deviously tricky tapered nose. Many of the techniques here can be seen in many X-wing MOCs that have arrived since.

With that said, it's awesome to see so many people excited to build my latest one. Better still is knowing that people are willing to modify the design to their liking. Already I've seen numerous paint schemes and colour swaps. Even people just blown away by a technique I used and wanting to use it elsewhere makes me so happy. It's a pleasure to see the model appreciated by others in multiple ways.

Markus: I can completely relate! But now for the question of all questions: How does one actually design an X-wing?

Tom: With extreme difficulty! My friend Caleb (Ricksbricks) summed this up really well: You're having to make the bricks work for you rather than working with the bricks. This is the case when interpreting any existing design into LEGO but is especially true when it comes to the X-wing. Assuming you stick to purist methods, you're stuck with the angles, sizes and proportions of the LEGO parts catalogue which, while vast, will never quite be a match for the intricacies of the source material.

At every turn, you're (voluntarily) forced to think critically about every area of the design. What parts could be used to make that shape? How will those parts connect? Will it affect the section next to it? (Of course it will). Then after all that you come back the next day and realise you've made it a stud too long!

It's a very tricky balance to strike, again especially with a small craft like the X-wing. If you stick too rigidly to the proportions of the real thing you'll find yourself passing up solutions that might've looked cleaner to the eye. But if you don't follow the proportions it's blindingly obvious that something's off because it's such a well-known vehicle.

Full Astromech or a pretend one? Solid canopy or brick-built? The challenges and decision-making go on and on. Each one affecting the outcome, often in unpredictable ways. It's really a case of picking your battles and ultimately accepting perfection just isn't possible in this medium... but that's no reason not to aim for it anyway!

A glimpse into tom’s latest X-Wing: Definitely no full astromech!

Markus: You did this not once, not twice, but four times over the years. What triggered wanting to improve each version?

Tom: Following each version there's always an accumulation of fresh ideas that eventually persuade me to have another crack at it. Whether it be a newly released piece, a technique I've stumbled across or a helpful comment pointing out a flaw in the current design I can't seem to avoid reasons to return to it.

For this latest version, it was primarily tinkering with 3x3 cylinders for revised engines and the shield elements that now adorn the nose cone. Those changes snowballed into a ship-wide overhaul.

Markus: Can you run me through the evolution of your four X-wings? What changed from one to the other? What do you consider the big improvements? Any leaps in design?

Tom: My first iteration began as a duplicate of Mike Psiaki's version. Over time I made adjustments using parts that weren't around when he designed it. I think the biggest defining characteristic of that one compared to others around at the time are the 3x12 wedge plates that form the sides of the nose section.

People had rightly pointed out the engines were a bit small for the size of the fuselage. So for V2 I went for 4-wide engines but kept the general approach of the nose the same. Suddenly I had a lot more room to play with which led to the cutaway idea. I love the cross-section books and I couldn't resist detailing the interior of the with all kinds of greebles squeezed around the structure. This iteration is the only one I've made so far to feature an actual wing mechanism, activated by turning the 2x2 round plate on the top.

There's a sizeable time jump from V2 to V3 (2016 to 2021!). During that time my own building style evolved quite a bit, a number of incredible X-wings MOCs were posted and a plethora of new elements were released. All those things contributed to V3.

The improvements on this version vs the previous are too numerous to list but the headline is that I went Light Bluish Grey (LBG) instead of white. It's a controversial topic among MOC builders and I can't say I have a strong preference either way. At the time I was looking at lots of ILM photographs that looked more grey than white so I choose LBG.

The other defining change on V3 is the return to 3-wide engines. Partly because I like my starfighters to look as compact as possible but also just to do something a bit different from 4-wide which seems to be the standard nowadays. Of course this meant everything had to be smaller and that meant new internals, a new nose cone, wings, the lot. I think I'm most proud of my idea to use train pantographs in the core structure.

That technique remains integral to my latest (V4) which is really * just * a more refined version of V3. Once again new elements and new-to-me techniques prompted the update. The shields on the nose cone and the use of a bracket not seen since the 90s are some of my personal favourite details.

Markus: Obviously, we do need to talk about the elephant in the room: What’s your opinion on the various LEGO sets that came out over the years? How does the latest version hold up to your arguably trained eye?

Tom: Each one they've made has positives and negatives but overall there hasn't been one I've disliked. The latest version might be my favourite. Its design does have flaws but I was amazed at how good it was for half the price of the previous. That wing mechanism was especially cool.

If I were to rank them all I suspect the 2013 UCS version would be near the bottom with its teeny tiny engines, I'm glad they're bigger on the new one. Speaking of which, I'm surprised at the amount of hate the new one has received. The official photos aren't showing it off particularly well if you ask me. It’s not a perfect model, the sizable gap between the closed S-foils irks me, but it achieves most of the tricky geometry pretty well for a model that's got to be buildable by all folks, not just AFOLs.

Markus: A respectable verdict! Thank you so much for taking the time, Tom. I really loved your insights and experiencing your passion for this most iconic of all star fighters!

Tom: Thanks so much again for the opportunity to talk about LEGO, X-wings and variations thereof at length!

If any readers are interested in taking a look at the free instructions for my latest X-wing they can be found in a Google Drive folder here. I’ve also included digital files and parts lists for the model. I’d love to see any colour variations or modifications people come up with.

I know my own building skills advanced a fair amount by building and learning from existing MOCs. I hope by making these instructions available we’ll have even more builders mad enough to tackle the X-wing in fresh ways down the line.

Best of BrickNerd - Article originally published May 4, 2023.

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