1/24 Hero X Wing Build with Maxi Brute Fuselage

[427 Cobra]

(03-02-2010, 03:23 AM)PB BB1 Wrote: Cobra Cris, Thanks for the thorough reply.



So what is left to see? By my count we're only missing Red Leader. But which 3 X wings do we see locking their s foils in ANH. Red 5, Red 1, and...?!

We see four fighters going in with their attack foils opening,but only Red leader,Red six,Red 2,and Red 5 had hollow wings,as two of these were only incidental as to how they became the ones that would have motors in them. Red leader was first,and of course Red 5 were both designated to have motors,but Red 2,and Red 6. The hollow wings were intentional,so that everyone would know which ones had motors in them. Do we all remember when it was almost over,and Luke said to Wedge - "Get out of Wedge,you can't do any good back there!" Wedge was RED 2 - Red 1 was destroyed by this time,and so was RED 3! Both of these went right after Red 6 went down. This means that only two fighters survived the onslaught of the Empire = only Red 2,and Red 5 were left!

(03-02-2010, 03:23 AM)PB BB1 Wrote: As Cobra Cris mentioned all we can see are lighting gels with a painted border on the early shots of Blue Leader and eventually abandoning 'glassing' the canopies all together.

That is correct.

(03-02-2010, 03:23 AM)PB BB1 Wrote: Re: major construction accuracy. I can see places where the inside of the Hero buck was made to accept acrylic sheets attached to the tube of the armature. I'd like to include these in my construction as well, but I'm still wondering what exactly is going on for the hero bottoms. I do not agree the white thing on the end is just a weight to hold the mold in place. It is too precise and they did make styrene bottoms, if they used them or not; that is there vacuform buck of the bottom sitting right there. The hero fuselage, is already re-enforced by these acrylic sections to accept the fuselage tops and bottoms. Even though Red 3 has been repaired with styrene, the bottom is made of styrene. Look at the back, and the bottom mounting point. If its not styrene, its thin white something!

That WAS a previous mould failure that was cut in half,and filled with plaster - sorrry,I forgot. This was used as a weight afterwards. There are begining scribe lines,but they're not complete. "Everything was tried to make these not warp,but it was a dismal failure. We couldn't fill these with resin,or make them any thicker,so something had to be done to make a better fuselage bottom,so back to the drawing board. We tried styrene,but it warped,and it was too soft,and the original fuselage moulds are no longer of any use to us,as the design of the fighter has changed." - Lorne Peterson,Cinefantastic 1979

This is an old interview that I found while looking for archival footage. I know that this is correct,because everytime someone asks Lorne a question - it's almost always exactly what the other ILM guys remember as well. Styrene was used initially,but the hot studio lights,and the mismatch in materials made it impossible to make a realitic effect,as the fuselage bottom warped down the entire length of the aircraft itself! It was then decided to make these out of the same material as the top halves. Three of these bucks were made. Two,then another one after the fiasco with the mould.

It was decided that the last two gallons of urethane rubber be used,and another two moulds were made from the first castings to make it faster. This would explain why Red 3 from Empire was so haphazard looking in its' appearance. If one if the later bottom moulds was used,and the resin shrank generationally,then it would have the same distortion of the styrene bottom ones,especially if one of those were used to cast it with!

(03-02-2010, 03:23 AM)PB BB1 Wrote: Yes the mulions! That is what they are called... again having forgotten that Red 3 is not ANH Red 3. Still, if they used a file to cut the windows on the ANH Hero versions... with no panel line, edge, or intention of holding glass... it really explains how each bird gets its unique canopy.

The window mulions were supposed to be there to support glass originally. I think this was Steve Gawleys' idea,or Lorne Peterson,and Joe Johnstons' idea to do this. Most of the stuff at ILM was a group of ideas from more than one person. These came together to make the models what they were. It was usually a collaborative effort to get the job done,except casting,as this was a very new,and difficult process at the time. The man originally responsible for that was "Roger R" (Roger Rasmussen. He quit shortly after the first three inital moulds were made because he got hurt with some type of chemical agent they were using to demould this stuff. His name's not mentioned in the credits,as he wasn't part of the ILM crew anymore when the movie wrapped.



I understand what you're saying,Paul. The white you're seeing is paint. Remember,these were all painted white,and not after assembly. These were all primed with black automotive primer,then sprayed with gloss white,and steel wooled,as there was no satin paint in the seventies! You had three choices in paint sheen at that time - Gloss,semi-gloss,and flat. The top white coat was gloss white laqcuer made by plastikote.

The hard to reach areas were painted first,and any areas that glue was needed to be applied to were simply sanded off with 400 grit and glued together afterwards. There was also Valspar brand lacquer based primer that was used for Battlestar Galactica,as well as Star Wars. This was used for panel contrast on the X-wing fighters. The weathering was done for realism. Imagine if all the rebel ships looked identical except for their wing numbers!

(03-02-2010, 01:31 PM)MonsieurTox Wrote: Hey Chris, Im ok with what you said except for the white block on the right of the pic. It doesnt look like a weight and if you look carefuly it has a median line drawn on it. And the it's not flat but it's angled, just about the same angle that the bottom of an X-Wing, maybe it's coincidence, but I cant believe that ! Because it also has the same lengh than the pull and positive/neg molds.

Anyway great job on the maxi-brute fuselage it really looks like an original ! I think you should sand a bit more the front of the fuselage (where it meets the nose), it looks more rounded on the pic with pull ?

You're right,Julien. This was a failed attempt with the styrene,but it became an unahppy memory until one of the guys wanted to keep this as a doorstop,so John Henderson filled it with plaster,and used it for weight instead of clamping it.