Starspeeder 3000 Kit ID

joez2391

Hello, I was trying to star off my first SS model with the Star Tours fuel tank but unfortunately, the limited amount of refrence caused that project to be put on the backburner for the moment so I decided to tackle the Starspeeder 3000 SS model. Since I am a complete newb when it comes to SS kit IDs I wanted to find as many parts as I could on my own before posting this up, this way I could kind of prove myself to you really talented builders.

Here is what I have so far on the ID's:



I am only missing two parts, possibly one, from the back end of the Starspeeder.



I have already ordered most of the kits needed and I will be starting the physical build in one week when I come home from college. Thanks for looking an any help would be great!

tgreco

is it just me, or does the nose of that look like the tail lights from a car

BTTFSpencer

It's just you. :P

This is an awesome project, I've always had a soft spot for the 3000, I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to paint it orange for ST2..but I digress...

I'd be very interested to see what you come up with in building one, so that I can make my own.

joez2391

Your talking about the piece in the middle only or the whole nose piece? I never really thought of that as a kit piece but honestly i really think that that is a really strong possibility, especially the smaller thin piece. If not from a car maybe even from the tailights of a truck trailer or something. I drew up what the piece should look like.



The entire nose piece seems too good to be true, shapewise to be a kit part since it goes with the lines of the rest of the speeder but keep an eye out!

Thanks Spencer, i am really excited to start this project, especially with the opening of STII only a few weeks away! If this turns out as good as im hoping it will, hey you never know, i might even offer a kit of it if enough people are interested

BTTFSpencer

That would be AWESOME! I'm looking forward to what you come up with.

Jodo

This has ALWAYS been my favorite SW ship for some reason...Can't wait to see more!

SurfingDoc

I love this buiild. I likewise can't wait to see the end result. How are you going to paint it? Like the original Starspeeder 3000 or one of the six Starspeeder 1000 variants (I think they are the same model)?

joez2391

Thanks guys, I am really glad to see that there is a lot of interest in this project! I am really excited to start this once I get home and will hopefully finish in the middle of the summer if everything goes well.

Thanks SurfingDoc, I am looking foward to the end result as well. Well, that is a very good question, I plan on casting a few of these because I honestly couldn't decide whether to leave it as the 3000 or paint it up as the newer 1000. Since I wanted to keep it true studio scale, I plan on making one of the 3000 completely accurate to the filming miniature, and another as the 1000 with full lighting. The other paint schemes are really interesting too but i would just want to see their significance in the new ride before i decide to do more.

tgreco

to me it looks like a rear tail light assembly, with the red tinted plastic piece not put in... but the piece that would hold it in place or hold the trim in place is plugged into the spot

that and it looks like it's a separate part on the pic above
the nose is wayyyy whiter than the rest of the ship

take a look at a 70 ford galaxy rear end... that's not the car, but it looks really similiar
then take the bumper off and flip it upside down...


or even an old Lamborghini

joez2391

Very interesting, it seems like the year of choice is a car from the early 70s or late 60s. I have been trying to research cars from that era for the past week but have come up dry everytime. But, today I stumbled upon something that looked like a much closer match than anything else, and had a kit produced of it by AMT, what do you guys think?

Its an AMT 66 Olds 442

If not this than at least its getting much closer

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tgreco

take a look at large scale LeMans car models
something in a 1/18th

I was looking through some sites and found this
The pic is from a 1/43 model

which kind of leads me to believe Tamaya would be the best place to start looking

and this

Dexvader

I have looked at making a Starspeeder, but in 1/6 scale. Would be quite a challange but fun build.

BTTFSpencer

Make me one too while your at it.

joez2391

That would be huge, but I would still love to see that! I wish I had room for that, even this 1/24th Starspeeder is big enough as it is!

Very cool, since i don't have any familiarity with model cars I was looking at 1/25th models since i didnt know their sizes, doh. I threw a picture up on scaleauto.com so hopefully some auto masters will be able to help. oh I made another ID also, the two fuel tanks on the side of the speeder are from a Hasegawa Karl. I also recieved the Tamiya Ferrari 312T3 and checked the sizes. More Updates later

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tgreco

you wouldn't happen to know when they shot the footage for the ride? knowing what years are too late would narrow down the search considerably

PS, I was also thinking that piece right in front of the window looks like a kit part as well

joez2391

Well the film was released at Disneyland in January in 1987, so that would have to date this model to be built in 1985-1986ish. Which means that there is at least a three year gap between ROTJ and Star Tours...that leaves a lot of room for new kit releases that possibly have not yet been IDd on a Star Wars vehicle before.

tgreco

it's the 24 years since that I was wanting to eliminate

so we can eliminate any kit issued post 87

joez2391

Yes, anything post 1987 is definately out of the question, just wanted to post a quick update just so you know this project isn't fizzleing out . I started constructing the skeletal framework so i could get the basic shapes and then build up the styrene details on top of the frame. It is very rough right now but all of that will be covered up with styrene anyways.



On a side note I also made the front of the Starspeeder detachable from the main body as it will be much easier to cast the body in two main parts to allow for all of the details to not be lost. I drilled out four matching holes for a pin and hole alignment system so the front nose will fit snug into the main body.

joez2391

Been working on the detail work in styrene plateing but I have to wait for some more to come in to continue...will post pics very soon. We have ID'd most of the kit parts and I havent had any luck finding the front piece unfortunately, but besides that I just need a little help on the last two pieces.

One part I need help IDing is the four engine thrusters, they are all the same kit part but just repeated four times:


and the other part is found on the laser blaster:

joez2391

Just a quick bump for help IDing the engine donors, I cant seem to find the donor kit for these, once I find them it'll kick me in high gear continuing this project, once I get some darn styrene

Jeff Herne

The nose piece does in fact look like the tail from a Revell Lamborghini Countach LP5000. It appears that a strip of styrene is faced over the middle where the lenses would normally go. For the Tirpitz turret, you can also use the Bismark kit - same sprues. If you have trouble finding one - the Revell Bismark kit will also work - same scale.

J

joez2391

Thanks for the reply, I just checked out the revell 1/350th bismarck kit over on the evilbay and its surprisingly more expensive than the tamiya bismark and tirpitz, who would've thought! I think ill stick with tamiya . The lamborghini tail just doesnt seem to match up correctly, it is too sloped on the outer parts of the taillight, the one on the starspeeder is almost parallel top and bottom. Worst comes to worse I'll just scratchbuild it, which seems like a much easier thing at this point in the build. The only other part that I am concerned with are these darn things




I can't seem to find this donor kit anywhere (those are just different views of the same kit part, by the way)

BTTFSpencer

Need more updates!!!!!!

DocNewborn

Hi Joe!

Alex Newborn here, from EndorExpress.net! Sorry to see that the fuel tanker has been backburnered, but it's VERY exciting to see what you've identified on the SS3K, a ship I have long desired.

Just to add some nuggets of info into the mix... the original filming model was built by Ira Keeler. I interviewed him via telephone a few years back for my Star Tours retrospective in Star Wars Insider, and we talked about him building this model. He said it was made of wood and was about eighteen inches long. It was painted by Steve Gawley and Mike Fulmer.

Speaking of the fuel truck scene, Ira was the actual cameo ducking down under his desk at the end of the ride, not George Lucas as the persistent urban myth has it. And Steve was of course Red Leader in the original Star Tours. I talked to him too, and they were both just a delight to chat with.

[And speaking of the various ILM employees with cameos in the original Star Tours, I also interviewed Dennis Muren, Sel Eddy,and Claudia Mullaly, who were rear-projected into a building in the hangar that the SS3K nearly crashes into. You could barely see them ducking down behind the windows, just before the cameo by the Mighty Microscope.]

As for the various models of the ship, I've also spoken with a freelance artist named JR (Ron) Dickson who had to re-create the StarSpeeder 3000 in 1/20th miniature for the Tokyo version's architectural model.



He too used wood, specifically maple because he said it can be machined to a great finish, although added that today's urethane modeling boards would also work. He made the guns from brass wire with acrylic boxes, and other such "nernies".

You do know that Disney is FINALLY making a StarSpeeder toy, right? It will be the 1000 paint scheme (drat) instead of the blue and white 3000, but I've seen some prototype pics where the toy was molded in white, and drooled all over my keyboard wishing that was how it would be produced.

I forget the exact length, but it will be right around the 18" long size, and will be sold only at the Disney Parks, with a price tag of about $55 at last report. I expected it to be much higher, though, so for that price I will happily buy two and paint one white and blue.

I think they said it was pushed back until the fall, so it should hopefully start showing up fairly soon!

Alex

joez2391

That is honestly some really awesome info, oh man! It makes sense that it was made out of wood. the toughest part of the starspeeder are those complicated little corners above the doors and under them that have a slight step to them. It looked like something requireing a giant chunk of wood cnc'd out. My original plan was to plate it all in styrene but there werer too many corners to it and would have been wayyy too complicated to plate it all by hand, especially since i do not have access to a vacuform table. At this point im just going to wait and see about the new starspeeder, then adding the correct kit parts to it, or maybe even offer an upgrade kit since i have all of the decals drawn up and all of the donor parts so far for the back end (except for the four engine parts...tricky tricky little guys they are). This may be the easiest and least time consuming way to get a studio accurate SS without spending a year plating it with individual pieces of styrene. I guess we'll just have to play the waiting game until they are released, when you find out let me know what you think of it and if its worth the $55 i will definately be investing in it.