Design notes on the 1:18 Scale U-Wing Accessory Pack
It’s not necessary to read this if you just want to download and start making the interior accessories for the 1:18 scale U-Wing. I provide this here to archive my design process, for myself, and those in the future who google researching into designing models/toys based on fictitious vehicles. (If you want to use this Accessory Pack to build a standalone diorama of the U-Wing’s interior to display your figures, the notes below may also be of interest.)
(The scratch model I threw together to test my early design of the cockpit control panel.)
I discovered that the interior set of the U-Wing as seen in the movie is longer than the ship’s exterior as seen in the movie. This happens a lot in movies and TV productions. It suggests that the exterior of a vehicle was created first. The interior set was likely designed after, and adjustments were then made to accommodate for production details, like camera and lighting placement.
So it appears the U-Wing interior set was lengthened by adding two arches (one between the troop hold and cockpit, and a second arch framing the power reactor back wall) and four fold-up chairs hanging at the sides of the side doors.
The problem of course is that this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to cram all these elements inside a real-world model of the U-Wing that has been built to correct scale as its original exterior design. The papercraft model plans that I used as the starting basis for my 1:18 scale version is, in my assessment, very accurate to the exterior design of the ship as you see it in the movie. The creator of this smaller-sized, papercraft model did an excellent job.
I put together the following image to help me that illustrates the contradictions between the exterior and interior of the U-Wing:
Consider how wide the interior design elements of 1 and 2 appear to be, and how they should exist as located between the windows marked by 3 and 4. Could they *really* fit within the available space as seen in this exterior shot of the ship?
The same contradiction exists for the back part of the troop hold: consider the widths of the items in circles 5, 6 and 7 relative to the area outside of the ship where these things should exist inside.
(Circle 8 points out a design continuity error with this window. It is upside-down in the interior set.)
Hoppycreations managed to squeeze most of these things into his impressive U-Wing for 3.75” figures. (His U-Wing is of his own design, and is a little smaller -- about 1:20 scale, by my estimates, based on studying his videos and taking measurements from them.) Adjustments had to be made, though: he narrowed the width of the doorways of the side doors. In fact, I noticed it appears he added a wall section so there would be enough room to put in the fold-up chairs that hang toward the front of the troop hold. And the rear of his troop hold looks like it’s extended back a little, in order to fit the second set of fold-up wall chairs in front of the power reactor...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5zn0gPT2hs When it came to my Accessory Pack, I asked myself if I *really* wanted to put all these elements in. Doing so would require redesigning the bottom of the troop hold to be longer, thus, tearing it apart and rebuilding it. However, this would alter the original exterior design of the U-Wing (as it appears in the movie), narrow the doorways of the side doors, and change the center of balance of this ship making it even more rear-heavy. (This was a big issue I had to work out while engineering the wing swing-out mechanism. It’s one reason why my building plans instruct putting fishing line weights inside the cannon housing to provide counterbalance.)
My final decision came to this: my original goal was to make what would look like a hypothetical toy Hasbro might make (if they did the U-Wing in 1:18 scale). So from a childplay perspective, is it necessary (and “fun”) to have all four wall seats put in? To have the rear arch? Practically speaking, what additional play value would these two things add? None, really.
Thus, I dropped the two wall chairs that are set toward the back in the original movie set, and “flattened” the rear archway -- turning it into just a sheet of cardboard that frames the circular power reactor.
As for the two remaining wall chairs that are in front, they could be designed to actually fold down, I suppose. (And you can most certainly modify them to fold down, if you want.) But again I asked, what’s the play value of having them fold down? Is being able to seat two more figures going to make this huge thing more “fun” to play with? Lol
So this is why I came to the final design decisions I made for the interior pieces.
In my next upcoming post, I will share advice, notes, and pictures of the U-Wing fully painted. For now, know the first rule when painting cardboard: Lightly prime the cardboard and paperboard surfaces with gesso first. Then use *only* acrylic paint by brushing it on. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER KIND OF PAINT (e.g. enamel, oil, spraypaint, tempera). I'll explain more in this future post.
