The X-wing (pictured here) is not only 5-feet long; it includes a water cannon. Couple that aqua weaponry with a few "pew pew" noises and you've got yourself a second degree sunburn before anyone even pulls out the Death Star beach ball.

Seriously, I'm calling a do-over to my childhood. But I can wait until Power Wheels releases a line of working mini Tie Fighters. [StarWars via OhGizmo!]

Sure, it may not be as big as the rocket-powered 21-foot X-Wing that exploded in an epic flight last year, but hey, you can fly this around your bedroom and/or bathroom.

• Digitally scanned from an original miniature body
• Quality resin construction
• Die cast and injection molded structure and details
• Machined aluminum "S" foils that can be displayed closed or in the open attack position.
• Fully detailed and lighted interior cockpit and engines
• Accurately detailed and lighted R2-D2
• Luke Skywalker pilot figure sculpted by Gentle Giant
• Dimensions. 23" L x 20.5" W x 4" H (5" with "S" foils open). Stands 10.75" of ground on stand with "S" foils open.
• eFX Display Stand
• Certificate of Authencity
• Numbered plaque

Of course, all this technological terror and precision comes at a price: $1,199. The X-Wing goes on sale in a couple of days, and you can reserve one for $350. And since we are in a crisis, you can further sink yourself in debt paying $283 a month. [EFX Collectibles]

You can see the full set on the Minneapolis/St Paul link. [Minneapolis/St Paul via Neatorama]

The fascinating illustrations above, some of them extremely good, come from a thread titled "Star Wars: Steampunk" at the CGSociety forums. They were part of the inspiration for models like this X-Wing, which is one of the entries of the Steam-Wars contest being held at From Bricks to Bothan forums, a place dedicated to LEGO Star Wars enthusiasts.

But as nice the Alliance star fighter is, I think the reconstruction of the TIE Fighter definitely beats it in terms of design and sheer steampunking:

Although I'm sure some of you will disagree. So,

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[CG Society Forums, FBTB Forums and Star Wars contest The Brothers Brick]

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I was going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars like anybody else: Hide the fact that I knew it was the 30th anniversary and go about my normal life. Instead, I decided to kick my sex life in the balls by moseying down to Plaster City, CA to see the launching of the homemade X-Wing.

Driving down an hour and half east of San Diego into the desert was a long ride, especially with the manchild in me crying as I passed Sea World and LegoLand. I get there and find myself at Plaster Blaster 6. Think Burning Man, but replace the art and drugs with rockets. It smells like the 4th of July and you got RVs and camps surrounding a launchsite. The atmosphere is kind of Mad Max (without the lovely Tina Turner) and all redneck.

I saw a dozen guys working on the X-Wing. They got permission from LucasFilms, bought a plastic model, and scaled it up. The first guy I run into is a middle-aged man with braces named Mike Brock. He's just one of the 20 people that helped build this 21 foot replica. Andy Woerner, the man in charge, is barking orders to everyone, including his 17 year-old son Alex, to help rig the recovery system.

"I've been doing rocketry for 10-7 years" Alex tells me. I can tell by his farmers tan that the Force is strong with him. I take a peek inside and it's entirely hollow except for a few motors that'll get R2 to spin its head and the wings to close and open. I look inside the cockpit where they keep all their parachutes (donated by army veterans).

Andy Woerner gets on the PA system: "The X-Wing is ready. Please donate. My bank account is empty. I spent 4,000 dollars of my own money. Please empty your wallets in the donation box."

While they're lifting up the model and attaching the wings, Mike Scarpati, one of their sponsors and owner of RMS Lasers, finds me. "I did pro-bono for all the laser routing and cutting: the internal structure, motor tubes, wings... Actually, my wife's a co-owner too, but she's not here, so I'm taking all the credit." He looks at me and whispers, "I also make drones for the government" in a creepy way.

Off to the side are Andy and Steve Peart. "We're brothers, not married," they say for the record. Their ¼ scale Y-Wing is attracting no attention. The crowd is with the X-wing.

Before long, the x-wing is ready to launch. And I'm ready to scream like a little girl being chased by bees in case things go haywire. The countdown begins with a T-minus 10 seconds. And I'm thinking about how many dollars, manhours and horsepower went into this thing: 1,700 lbs of thrust good for 90 mph, $7,000, 20 people, 8,000 man-hours (650 from Andy) all in the span of 6 months.

X-wing fires off its four red flames, launches in the air, then dips down, and then falls apart like wet tissue paper.

"We knew it was going to happen. The framed hollow body was too hard to make stable. "Success ratio was slim to none. Just happy to see the 4 red lines." says a giddy Andy Woerner.

They scavenge for parts by grabbing the chutes, motor casing and important stuff. The rest is going into a bonfire, so they "don't have to take the damn thing home."

"Lots of souvenirs out there," Andy tells me.

I decided to just come back home with nothing but memories of those oh so impressive 3 seconds.
UPDATE: We've got a video of the Y-Wing launch, complete with in flight camera footage.

[Rocket Powered X-Wing on Giz]

One Geek to Rule Them All [Trigger]