Unbelievable!
Its funny how you look at something over and over and then all of a sudden the penny drops.
Actually it's disturbing, but that's by the by....
Regarding the 5-6mm wide angled strip that sits behind the cockpit. I have often thought it weird that this piece of plating at the bottom appears on an angle, whilst the upper strip is noticeably straight. I figured it was just some wonky building by ILM to add character to this beat up ship.
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Stu, whilst you didn't really mention it in your video I figured that you likely already know this, however I had no clue....
It just dawned on me that the visible angle strip piece is what remains of the back of the famously removed cockpit rear cone as it was mounted to the original ILM pirate ship which later became the Tantive or Blockade Runner.
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They simply cut it 5-6mm (shy of 1/4") behind the front cone. Likely at a diameter to ease joining with the 6" plastruct cockpit tube.
Or it could simply be where they wanted to join the new cockpit for the BRunner.
Thinking this may also add some credibility to the old tale of the cockpit cone being intended to be rotated during filming but was dropped due to the complexity it would have added.
Awesome to see that T2sides has also incorporated this detail on his spectacular model. I just checked
Thanks again for the excellent video!