X-Wing Part 2 - Getting Started

Basic Shape (Main Body)

The first thing I wanted to do when making this model was to get the basic shape done. I started with a cube and sized it to fit the schematics by editing the vertices, faces and edge loops. I then extruded upwards for the front window. I also found that changing the transform constraints to 'Edge' made it a lot easier to move edges/vertices without distorting the model.

Window

For this part I used the edge loop tool (which I use a lot later on) to create the window frames and then extruded the windows inwards.

I then used the smoothe tool to make the window and body look better as they both looked a bit jagged. The problem I had with this is that when it smoothed it rounded the objects too much. To get around this I put in edge loops around the sharp edges. This made the object look more defined and rounded while still retaining the sharp edges. I then extracted the objects of the window to make my scene more neat with the layers.

Front Nose

For the front nose I started by making the basic outline using a cylinder and editing the vertexes. I then used another cylinder and used the difference boolean to create a cut out section of the nose.

I then extruded the front part inwards and extracted and enlarged the back part of the shape to make it slightly bigger than the front part so it looks like a brace based on one of my reference images. I also created divisions on the front part of the nose and extruded them inwards to give it more shape and detail.

Wings

For this part it was more extracting with some boolean difference to cut out a shape for the fan. 

I used the inverse selections and the dragging select tool to model the details of the engine cover. At this point I also realised that I was using the edge loop tool a lot so I added the shortcut to my hotbar for easy access.

Fan/Engine

The next step was to add detail to the fan. To create the propeller I selected I selected the two edges inside and used the bridge tool to create a bridge across the middle. For the outside of the fan I just moulded the vertexes of a cylinder to create the right shape and then duplicated and cut the fan in half and smoothed the top half to make a cover.

To make the pattern on the outside of the shape I duplicated the fan cover, smoothed the object so i had more polygons to work with and then drew out a pattern on the faces based on a reference image in my moveboard. I then inversed the selection and deleted the bits that weren't part of the pattern. After this I positioned the pattern into place, changed the pivot point to the centre of the fan, duplicated the object and changed the x scale to negative so the pattern was replicated on both sides.

For the back engine I created it in a similar way, more edge loops, extruding and vertex moulding.

One shortcut I found useful when modelling the back engine was Shift + D, this allowed me to easily create the detail for inside the engine and the cover outside the engine by moving the pivot point to the centre of the engine, duplicating it and moving/rotating the object the same way. F to frame the object was also a useful tool.