I thought it would be fun to see what an X-wing might look like in current US military service, as a regular fighter plane. I took an old AMT X-Wing and an old AMT “Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt Action Scene” and mashed them up. The only extra parts are a set of pretty nice Sidewinder missiles from Eduard (my first time working with resin), some decals I made myself, and a sheet of .040 sheet styrene.
First things first, I cut out the crummy seat from the X-wing tub so the A-10 seat could fit.
Then I cut out the long forward panels where the X-wing’s landing gear would go. I moved the landing gear bay farther aft (under the pilot’s feet), and built it up inside. I used a diamond-pattern panel from the A-10 kit, so you don’t see the inside of the model, and made sure there would be enough room for the landing gear to (theoretically) retract.
I cut off the little half-circle mounts on the wings to make room for the turbines and rear landing gear. Cut open holes for those, built them up like the front one.
I considered doing something crazy with the spot for the R2 unit – I thought a small CIWS would be funny – but it seemed too much. I just replaced the whole thing with sheet styrene; no need for all those greebles on a “real” jet.
I went back and forth on whether to include a tail or not. I didn’t want to ruin the classic X-wing lines. So I settled for just a nod in the general direction of aerodynamics, without getting hung up on it.
For the cockpit I just put the A-10 decals over the X-wing instruments. 
Assembling the upper and lower halves.
I had fun with the decals. [;)]
The base and ground crew are all from the A-10 model. I painted them as a Navy crew, but there’s not much I can do about that crazy old-school tractor. But I guess in a world where the Marines use X-wings, it’s not such a big deal that they also use old Air Force tractors. Maybe someday I’ll make a new diorama, if I can get my hands on a nice 1:48 Navy deck tractor kit and crew.
Anyway, that’s about it! An X-wing fighter with giant jet engines, external fuel tanks, electronic countermeasures, missiles, bombs, and of course, a GAU-8 in the nose. The Death Star wouldn’t stand a chance.
