Bandai 1/72 Gold 2 and Gold 3 (finished 7/30/2020)

[Analyzer]

I am looking to complete Gold Squadron

I already have Gold Leader done. Now I am working on Gold 2 and 3

Unless I am wrong, these are the correct designations?

Besides markings and weathering, the main differences I can tell are these

The sprocket or tank wheel bit in place of the LEM part for Gold 2

The two greeblies on the crossbars near the engine cans is reversed in orientation on Gold 2 and 3 compared to Gold Leader

The absence of the two bars on the rear of the main body

The absence of the rods on the steering vanes at the end of the engines

The last three are simple things. Just cut off the unneeded parts

Although I am kind of tempted to keep the steering vanes in tact as I like the look of them

Likewise, swapping the greeblie orientation is obviously a simple fix

The hard part will be the "sprocket" part for Gold 2. I don't if there are any aftermarket parts for it. If not I could make a mold of the part from the Fine Molds or Revell Y-Wing I guess

As far as the pilots

Supposedly Gold 2 was piloted by Dex Tiree

So... hand painting the markings as best I could. Not perfect, but close enough at that size. I might try to retouch it and clean it up a bit

I have not really been able to identify Gold 3's pilot or his helmet markings

so going with a generic helmet I saw...

If anyone has some more ref I would love to see it, especially for Gold 3's pilot

Also, what Astromechs should be in Gold 2 and Gold 3?

Looks like R5 is appropriate for Gold 3, no clue for Gold 2

 

[Jkirkon]

Nice job!

I seem to recall seeing 3D printed conversion parts for Gold2 on shapeways, but don’t remember the vendor.

Regarding Astromechs, the droids were pretty ubiquitous, if you consult ‘Chronicles’, and in the case of the on screen Y-wings in theTrench Run scene, droids were entirely absent.
In many of the Chronicles pics, you’ll see many different droids between ships. I think they swapped them around quite a bit.
On my studio scale Gold Leader, I kinda had fun with it, and picked a droid I liked.

Pilots on the studio models were the ‘race car drivers’, I think the helmets were plain white, may have had a stripe of some color on them.

 

[Analyzer]

For my gold leader picked the astromech with the black and white/silver? dome

I had seen pictures of it with the plain grey/silver astromech

for the pilots I thought I would try using the actors they show on screen, but I could not seem to find the Gold 4 one.

Of course they were not always consistent with that either as I think the Gold 2 actor was shown when someone refers to him as Gold 5 for example

 

[Analyzer]

I did a search and just found this for the "tiger sprocket"

1/72 Bandai Y-Wing Tiger Sprocket

3D printed 1/72 Bandai Y-Wing Tiger Sprocket to replicate Gold 2. Includes 2 parts.

www.as3dsolutions.com

 

[kokkari]

Gold 3's sidewall configuration along the fuselage is also rotated. There were definitely certain sub assemblies used over and over to cover seam lines and various parts. Gold 3 looks like they were just rotated if you compare to 1 or 2. You going for the original pipes on Gold 3 our are you going for the squiggly Ferrari pipes on the later modified version?

 

[Analyzer]

Gold 3's sidewall configuration along the fuselage is also rotated. There were definitely certain sub assemblies used over and over to cover seam lines and various parts. Gold 3 looks like they were just rotated if you compare to 1 or 2. You going for the original pipes on Gold 3 our are you going for the squiggly Ferrari pipes on the later modified version?

Hmmm..I did not know that. Any ref pics?

 

[kokkari]

There are lots out there. I'll post some when I get home from work later.

 

[Analyzer]

I found this Gold 3

Is this the area you mean?

or further back on the body/neck?

disclaimer, these are not my pics and I will take them down if they should not be here. I would give links to the source, but I can't remember where they came from

 

[kokkari]

Here are the areas that differ. Compare to the Bandai kit,which is almost exactly like Gold Leader. They only missed a couple parts. Gold Leader also has a bunch of extra stuff throughout compared to the Gold 2 and 3 models. Hope this helps.

 

[Analyzer]

Here are the areas that differ. Compare to the Bandai kit,which is almost exactly like Gold Leader. They only missed a couple parts. Gold Leader also has a bunch of extra stuff throughout compared to the Gold 2 and 3 models. Hope this helps.
View attachment 1252001View attachment 1252002

Thanks for that!

Sitting with the model in front of me I see now.

I also see what you meant by those squiggly pipes. They weren't on some of the early pics I had of Gold 3. Were they added later on for ROTJ, or did it get a makeover before going out on tour?

As for the side wall differences, not sure if I will bother with them, or not. Something this small will be harder to work with, but if I was doing a larger one like studio scale it would have to be a definite fix. I am on the fence.

Like I mentioned earlier, I kind of like some of the extra details from Gold Leader like the steering vane layout etc..

Some tough choices

 

[kokkari]

Thanks for that!

Sitting with the model in front of me I see now.

I also see what you meant by those squiggly pipes. They weren't on some of the early pics I had of Gold 3. Were they added later on for ROTJ, or did it get a makeover before going out on tour?

As for the side wall differences, not sure if I will bother with them, or not. Something this small will be harder to work with, but if I was doing a larger one like studio scale it would have to be a definite fix. I am on the fence.

Like I mentioned earlier, I kind of like some of the extra details from Gold Leader like the steering vane layout etc..

Some tough choices

I'm not sure when it got the overhaul. I kinda like the pipes the and larger cannons. Makes it feel like a hot rod to me. I did a bandai Gold 3 and didn't bother to do the side walls either. It wasn't worth the effort at that scale to me. I did do the top gun and pipes though.

 

[Analyzer]

So I am finally in the painting stages

Started with a mix of Tamiya Flat White (XF-2) and Deck Tan (XF-55)

In the past I have used Tamiya Haze Grey (TS-32) or a mix of Tamiya Ocean Grey (XF-82) and White for the canopies (basically the same color I would use for Tie Fighters) as seen here with Gold Leader on the left

But it always felt a bit too grey so for these I went with XF-23 mixed with white. It is a very close match to the bare plastic color

I used the same canopy color mix for the colored strips on the engine, but to better match the look of the studio model, I gave it a was of Burnt Umber oil paints. When you look close at it, it still has the blue grey,but when you back up, it becomes more of a brown grey color

Still lots of work to do

plus I think I need to tone down the yellow more. I will probably do a few mist coats like I did with Gold Leader to get a more faded look

 

[Analyzer]

Back to work on these.

I am curious about the astromech in Gold 2. At casual glance I thought it was an R5 astromech, but it appears it is only painted that way?

or at the very least, it seems unfinished

Likewise, Gold 3 seems to use an R2-D2 one.

Any idea what the actual "full size" astromechs might have looked like?

At any rate, here is where I am at

I made a copy of the sprocket part from the Fine Molds Y-Wing to use on Gold 2 in place of the LEM part

 

[Analyzer]

More work done on Gold 2 and finished the astromech for Gold 3

I am tempted to just go with the R5 head for Gold 2 instead

and a test shot to see how these would shape up in "on screen" style dramatic lighting

 

[edge10]

The took my guns Charlie!

 

[Analyzer]

The took my guns Charlie!

I had a second brass barrel set, the same I used on Gold Leader, but I have to figure out where I put them. I painted them up, set them aside and they got shuffled around somewhere

 

[Analyzer]

Finally got the guns on Gold 2

 

[Analyzer]

A few additional pictures using the Bandai Death Star tiles as backdrop
Gold Leader

Gold 2

Gold 3

Haven't fully dialed in the right settings to get more consistent result

Experimented with moving the backdrop during exposure to get a "motion blur" effect

 

[joscasle]

Spectacular Analyzer!!!! WOW!!!

 

[HMR]

That motionblur pic gets my internet vote this week!
Fantastic models. I cant believe you can make so many of each, with all those minute differences across them.