An X-Bomber model kit? Maybe.

[dsherratt74]

Right question time, You've probably seen my CGI X-Bomber on here http://www.sfxb.co.uk/cgi-bin....;t=1183 or On Crash's site or deviantART. With the current state of 3D printing it is possible to make this into a real model and from there turn it into a resin model kit.Now I'm sure many of you would like a model of the X-Bomber, I know I would. So if you'd like a model of the ship please take a moment to post a reply and let me know.Also if you're feeling kind your answers to the following questions would also be appreciated. - 1: How big would your ideal X-Bomber kit be (sorry life size is NOT an option )?2: How much would you be prepared to pay for it in that size?

[felice]

Maybe? I'd want to see a photo of an actual sample before committing. How small can you make it while still keeping most of the detail and structural integrity? There's international postage costs to consider as well, at least for some of us.

[dsherratt74]

Well it's possible to do it quite small, I've made detailed wargaming mecha models at less than 6cm tall, but to be honest I think anything smaller than 15cm while possible, would just be a wasted opportunity that would do no justice to the ship and I or one would like a much larger scale model about 60cm long or so. Something that would look seriously impressive sitting on your shelf or desk. That's why I want to know what people would like in terms of size. I don't want to make something only a few of us fans can afford but at the same time I don't want to create something that won't do justice to this great ship. So at the moment it's just information gathering with the possibility of us progressing beyond this point. There's no commitment here by answering, just gathering information that can help me find out what people would like.    Postage wise, yeah that's always an issue. I know from experience living in the remote parts of the UK that too many people make you pay premium for postage up here, even when using  normal mail. But for the most part Royal Mail has a single rate for international shipping which is quite reasonable even with an extra  £5 on top for insurance.

[Bladez636]

A model would be awesome. I don't know measurement specific, but I'd say not terribly big- like perhaps as big as a large kleenex box (probably wider anyhow) would be the size I'm thinking.

[Crash]

I agree that anything less than 15cm is a wasted effort.At the same time, 60cm takes a lot of space - more than everyone has.This android screen is a 25cm diagonal. I saw in the other thread mention of a 30cm model.25-30cm seems the right length to me - not too big to be likeable and big enough to show the detail.It costs what it costs in my view.

[dsherratt74]

Yeah, I know 60cm is a bit massive for the majority, but if I was doing it just or myself that's the size I'd be gunning for. Something round 30cm I think would be a happy medium, that would make it about the same size as many other spaceship kits out there. Based on the 200 metre length given on your site if we did it at 34cm long that'd be a little over 1/600 scale which is a quite common scale. Out of curiosity is there any official word on the actual size the X-Bomber is meant to be?  Of course I'd like to hear more peoples thoughts on the matter before any real decision is made on how to progress with this.

[Vanessa]

I think it's a great idea, and I for one would be interested. I have a couple of things I've been thinking about though:- I like the idea of having some of the Alliance ships as well, and to be able to display them together. So scale becomes important. However a big problem here is that the Alliance Cruiser is huge, and would make the size of the other ships very small if they were to the same scale.- Would your X-Bomber model have the small Dai-X ships attached to it?- It would be cool if this was the case, especially if you could remove them and combine them into a mini-Dai-X. I do have a little pose-able dai-x that is about 8cm tall, and that looks OK.- I guess the kits would be unpainted. I am rubbish at painting plastic model kits, so this would be a bit of a pain for me.But I'm not trying to be negative, I still applaud your proposal.

[Crash]

I imagine, it would show the Dai-X fighters mounted on the hull. I don't see the point in omitting them.It gives some welcome colour to an otherwise brown ship.I would spray the Dai-X areas red then mask them off when dry and spray the rest of the ship grey/brown.You could always cheat and use a Gundam Marker for details and small bits after that.I think Brad worked out that, if the Carrier is 1,600m, as claimed in the show, then the X-Bomber should be about 170m.

[dsherratt74]

@Vanessa,Actually I was thinking the same thing. I've done all of the key ships apart from the Cruiser, which I'm working of on and the Skull.On the Dai-X front I'd actually been thinking the best way to do it would be to do the three of them as a separate kit not only would it keep the cost of the X-Bomber down but also to allow folks to have them as separate ships or stowed in the XB.  Ingenious modellers could even make them removable using rare-earth magnetsAlas a transforming Dai-X is a no go, it'd be a bloody pain to build for one and of course there's the folding issue with Legtrax. But I build enough articulation into the CAD models to allow for a lot of poses to be made.There'd certainly be no problem making Dai-X, the Alliance Carrier and Astrofighters to scale, but the Cruiser would be an issue. And if the Carrier was something folks wanted then It'd have to come with six fighters anyway.Scale matching for them is no issue once we have a size for the X-Bomber as the CAD models are already to scale with it. They just need to be scaled down for production and so long as I remember the scaling factor I use then they'll automatically be the right size.On the painting, well Crash is spot on, the Bomber is a basic off white colour with some brown. Not really that tricky even for a novice painter and a Micron pen (or Gundam Marker if you prefer) are fantastic for doing those panel lines. The only other tricky part is the arrow and XB mark on the front, and for that I can do a decal sheet.@Crash,I disagree, I think they should be separate. It'd be cheaper for one which is a big plus as it would allow folks on tighter budgets to buy the XB then Dai-X later. plus the prospect of having the removable is pretty darn cool.  170 metres, okay that's cool. So we're looking at 38cm for 1/450 scale or 1/500 coming in at 34cm. Not really much in it at that scale.If we want to really throw the boat out we could go all the way up to Z Gauge or 1/285 which comes in at 60cm.

[Crash]

If the Fighters can be made to be separate, so much the better.If not, with is preferable to without.I guess the length of the ship will be detailed in the encyclopedia as well as the DVD extras.