Since we are bringing this post back from the dead....... My first job out of film school was working for the Skotaks. Prior to starting on "Radio Flyer" and some early tests for "Terminator 2", they had me come in one weekend and help out restoring the two Dropships and the Sulaco. Fox had shipped them back with zero padding save for the occasional styrofoam peanut. All of the antennae on the front of the Sulaco broke off. And the landing gear on the Dropships could not support their own weight. In fact, one Dropship had been restored prior to my starting and had been resting on it's back in the model shop. I say "had" because, in those days, the Skotaks shared their workspace with a set construction company and someone(s) came in one weekend and decided to flip the Dropship over onto its landing gears. After which they almost immediately collapsed. Robert was pissed. And we had to fix them again. (This is the ship that went to Bob Burns. I think.). Anyways, the buildup of glue and crud on the struts is a result of repairs made both on the set as well as our cleanup work. I wound up with a small piece of debris from one of the wrecked ones. That was about 25 years ago this summer.......
Gene