1/10 Scale Laser Cut Star Wars Jedi Interceptor: Design/Build Thread

[The Donut Man]

Calling all Star Wars/laser cutting/3D modeling enthusiasts! This is a project I've been working on for over a year now and I wanted to share it with the group.

What is it?

• This is a 1/10 scale (roughly 21 inches long) model of the Eta-2 Actis Interceptor used by Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in the "Battle Over Coruscant" scene from Episode III
• I am using SolidWorks 2019 Student Edition (while I have it as a senior in Mech. Engineering) to model all the pieces
• The finished product will be laser-cut out of 1/8" MDF (and potentially nicer materials if $$ isn't too high)

I love Star Wars ships, and I love designing in CAD, so I decided to bring the two interests together! I started modeling last spring and since then I've just kept whacking away at the design in order to make as detailed a model as possible (within reason ?). At the moment, the assembly is 369 pieces and counting but I'm getting close to the finish line. Only the astromech head and shoulders, cockpit details and display stand have yet to be modeled. After that, all engraving details have to be drawn and then I can start fitting parts into a 2D drawing to send to a laser cutter.

I started with some reference images...

I knew stills from the movie would be critical to getting accurate details, but many of the shots were too blurry to use. I found some renders of a nice 3D model on the web that are not quite orthographic, but definitely good enough for getting proportions right. This model isn't movie-accurate everywhere, but it's been by far my greatest resource for this project.

The model itself...

I wanted this starfighter to be big. Really big. For me, that meant a 21-inch total length and a wingspan of roughly 20 inches. I still don't have a perfect idea of how big that will look in real life, but I hope it'll be as beautiful and commanding as I imagine. I started with the wings and moved to the cockpit outline, as these shapes define the whole ship and structurally they hold the whole thing together.

I'm a detail-oriented person, so I quickly got wrapped up in making the curves and thin sections as realistic as possible. It was a bit tedious getting the belly of the pod segmented into panels (hence the high piece count), but it made for a great base to build off of. I also redesigned the front canopy window to make it thinner and easier to assemble. This is definitely not a project that will be easy to put together, but I didn't want to make it any harder on myself than I had to ?

Be looking for updates as I post progress! There's a lot I've already finished but haven't put up here yet. Enjoy!

 

[gotnitro]

Nice! So what motor/ESC combo you going with? How many servos does that thing take?

 

[jondilly1974]

EDF or nah?

 

[The Donut Man]

Nice! So what motor/ESC combo you going with? How many servos does that thing take?

EDF or nah?

Oh, nothing less than a MMX8S and 2 TP-powered EDFs ? This would actually be a potentially flyable aircraft if you made a simpler one out of foam board. Just put one propeller in the middle of each wing and send it!

 

[GRC]

This would actually be a potentially flyable aircraft if you made a simpler one out of foam board. Just put one propeller in the middle of each wing and send it!

Do it!
*Uses Emperor's force influence voice

 

[jondilly1974]

Oh, nothing less than a MMX8S and 2 TP-powered EDFs ? This would actually be a potentially flyable aircraft if you made a simpler one out of foam board. Just put one propeller in the middle of each wing and send it!

Only ONE MMX8S ??

 

[The Donut Man]

Only ONE MMX8S ??

On second though, one of these should do it

Update: after building the basic cockpit shape, I worked on adding to the underside of the wings. These box shapes have a lot of funky angles and really give the wings some depth to them (plus they answer the question of where the R2 unit's body goes without poking through).

I also started adding some shape to the inside of the cockpit which will be highly visible since the "glass" of the canopy is just empty space.

Lastly, I gave the rear of the ship some detail by adding in the engines. It's a fair amount of small pieces, but it gives the amount of roundness I was hoping for!

 

[LMC]

Are you using an r2d2 toy? Just cut it in half and attach, that way you don’t have to cut/drill a spot for his body. (Unless you want to be able to remove him) also they make thin enough lexan to cut for windows.

 

[The Donut Man]

Are you using an r2d2 toy? Just cut it in half and attach, that way you don’t have to cut/drill a spot for his body. (Unless you want to be able to remove him) also they make thin enough lexan to cut for windows.

I'll be making a laser-cut astromech to sit on the left wing. It'll only be the top half, but I'll slightly recess it into the wing to make it look like there's a whole 'droid there

 

[LMC]

I'll be making a laser-cut astromech to sit on the left wing. It'll only be the top half, but I'll slightly recess it into the wing to make it look like there's a whole 'droid there

Look forward to seeing it complete ?

 

[The Donut Man]

The astromech is in! I wanted the dome to be more curved than a stack of disks, so this is what I came up with. Without the face pieces...

...and fully complete! It may not be perfectly to scale in terms of the 'droid actually fitting in the wing, but it wasn't that way in the movies either so I'm happy with it. Now just some more cockpit details and I'll start the engraving lines!

 

[The Donut Man]

Cockpit details are complete! At least the modeled details, anyway. I added some mock "tubing" behind the seat to break up the boring back faces, a few control panels and operating levers in the front and foot pedals.

I believe this marks "completed" all of the modeling of the ship itself. I will next model the display stand and then start sketching the engraving details on the pieces that need it.

 

[Brandon]

Lots of work. Very cool.

 

[Doom!]

Great design work, that's gonna be a whole lotta cutting....then you get to peice it back together! ?

 

[Cheez]

You have a solid career ahead of you! Jump in and never let go! Dare to dream and embrace ?

 

[The Donut Man]

Update: ALL 3D modeling is done! The stand is complete so I will be laying everything out in 2D next.

 

[The Donut Man]

Man, has it been a long time since I updated this thread. I'm currently wrapping up orienting the pieces on the sheets, probably 80% of the way there. Most of the weird shapes are out of the way, so the rest should go fast. I'll next draw panel lines and other engraving details, then export it as one .SVG file for final touches before having it made!

A few of the 596mm X 291mm (23.5in X 11.5in) sheets:

 

[Monster Dork]

Make a tricopter out of it!

 

[Edough13]

Amazing attention to detail! Can't wait to see the finished project!

 

[1coopgt]

So what are you using for Anti Grav unit?




Looks cool.