The Origin of the CC X-Wing or the “Captain Cardboard” X-Wing
Grant McCune’s arm is in the above photo. After ILM finished Star Wars, pieces of some of the models were floating around; some of those made it “off reservation” at Apogee, which is where John Dykstra and others set up shop afterwards. Grant McCune was there for awhile; Joe Johnston as well, so were others from ILM. The pieces were a little bit like trophies, and usually represented cast offs, seconds or pyro parts of which many multiples were cast. The wings of the CC X-Wing were cast from pieces Grant McCune had, the fuselage was hand carved from jutelong wood by Scott Alexander, whose nickname is “Captain Cardboard,” or “CC.” Scott, who worked on “King Kong” and “Titanic,” is retired now, but still has molds for the X-Wing. I contacted him about making me one. Each year it gets a little harder to find a garage kit maker with clear lineage to the original trilogy, so I knew it was time to get cracking before someone else passes, sadly. Also finding the original kits used by ILM is an expensive challenge. I was hopeful, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up too much. I have purchased kits from Scott before. Timing is one issue; health is another; expense is the final part of the issues affecting a successful sale. All three have to be in the green.
A New Hope
Scott gave me the okay on Thursday. I remain cautiously optimistic at the moment. I ordered two gallons of “Quickcast” resin on Thursday. Shipping should be by truck to Scott on Tuesday. At that point, he will need two to three days to cast up the parts. This is a bit of a gamble but I respect Scott and believe he will be able to pull clean castings from his molds (remember these are old). Two gallons of resin is way more than is needed, but this will give Scott some leeway when he casts. Just in case.
You’re going to get a studio scale X-Wing off of original molds? Oh damn… 
Not many things make me envious, but this will certainly be one, you lucky dog! 
