WOW, WOW, WOW. What I miss for being on the wrong side of the world. Thanks to all for the great new SAG pics etc, and Jay, wow!! Beaz, thanks for digging up Famous Spaceships, I have no idea where my copy is. Love the first-gen sources.
Some thoughts:
* I'm still convinced the red-cockpit is a Red 6. On the upper-right wing I can count either five or six stripes depending on how I squint.
But on the lower-left one, there are two big bits of masking tape and six stripes of tape, meaning the ship has either six or seven stripes, depending on how close one of the thin bits of tape is to the bigger piece. Could there have been two Red 6 models?
(Aside: once they had the full set of moulds, I can't see why models intended for screen time wouldn't have been made up from them castings, as well as pyros. A big time-saver. So I agree that the distinction does seem likely to be blurred, especially if Ray's idea of models constructed for filming that was subsequently canned is close to the truth).
* Oh man, I wish that Japanese photo was in colour!
* Yes, the red panel forward of the red cockpit canopy does look like it matches the grey panel on Red 5. However we know this isn't an early incarnation of the hero Red 5 - the wings are solid, and the butt plate is pyro. Also, the OTHER side of the fuselage has the SAME red panel, in a rare instance of symmetry. :lol I don't think Red 5 matches, side-to-side.
* Useless aside: Lord, I love the red-cockpit ship too. It's actually my favourite. When my V3 arrives (where is it???) I'll be building her up as this ship.
* The cone-head droid on the yellow-cockpit is EVEN MORE puzzling than it may seem at first - I don't think it is an R5 model! I think it's that other cone-head type with the hexagonal or octagonal head made up of flat panels! The paint job matches some of the life-size versions in the movie - only this type had the big vertical stripes running down the middle of the panels. That's *really* strange. Love it.
* The pic everyone thought might be a built-up wing looks like just another casting to me. Acrylic would be unlikely to have bubbles, or for the trailing edge to split that way. You can also see the tan resin colour everywhere. Where is the interior panel people are talking about? Can't see it.
* Re the unweathered ship in the background, a white base coat isn't news is it? IIRC, Famous Spaceships indicated they were hit with white automotive primer as the base coat to give a hard, strong surface that could take the abuse that was to follow.
* HOLY FREAKIN CARP, in the new armature pic, are those FREON TUBES????! They look like a bit more than just ducting for cables! We coulda had Viper engines on these things!!!
* The Japanese article pic of Red 4 from above definitely looks rough-as-guts pyro - split nose, rough wing markings etc. No yellow cockpit. Does have the bluegrey bands on the Saturn V parts, which the "table cluster" pic doesn't show.
* What are the small-scale models on each side of the big X in the bottom pic on the Japanese page?
Cheers,
Martyn
