A significant shift in plans is underway, as I've decided not to do a "Rogue One" inspired X-Wing. The lack of references clashed too greatly with my underlying scale tendencies. Also, I've come across a wonderful cache of high-resolution photographs of the Red 1 hero model that have left me floored. Trust me, the slide show associated with this auction listing is
incredible. Here's a link:
https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/mo...7278-89464.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515
This is one of the filming miniatures used for the production of Episode IV, and was thought to be lost. It came from the collection of an artist and modelmaker named Greg Jein, perhaps best known for his work on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the "Star Trek" movie series. How it came to be in his possession is apparently unknown. There's a estimate of $400K on this lot, but considering that a much cruder X-wing pyro model was sold for over $2M a couple of years ago, the sky is the limit on this auction. My guess is that someone named Musk or Bezos will quietly bid through a surrogate and the model will disappear forever.
So, my model will be based on these photos of Red 1, and I've grabbed a bunch of screenshots from the website. There's another Maxi Brute X-Wing kit in my personal stash, and if I ever get an itch to revisit the "Rogue One" example I can use that as a starting point, and I can ruse the molds and jigs from this project.
The assembled wings have already been repainted with a base coat of Tamiya AS-20 US Navy Insignia White.
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Work on the wingtip laser cannons has also been taking place in the background, and I should be able to share an update on that in the coming days. As an FYI, work on this has been slow due to an armor project, of all things. My brother served on an M3 Bradley in the first Gulf War, and I've always wanted to make a model of that beastie for him. I finally finished that project up yesterday.
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More later,
James