ANH Pyro X-Wing References - Mainly: Red 6 Search

Could we get a close up of the engine mount and maybe a look in the turkey feathers? Another shot of the gun parts would be apprecitated as well. Are the two conduits part of the cast or add ons?

Nwerke, I just feel like it's giving these models too much credit. Just because they have nice paintjobs doesn't mean they've got an internal armature or anything but foam resin construction. They sure are pretty but I have a feeling if we had a good look at them all the finishes may fall short of our expectations. There will probably be better versions of some of these paintjobs here.

I think we could safely call any mechanized builds of Franks hollow fuselage Hero Pyros. But how to light the engines?


I dont think its too much credit at all. Seeing the ref on Reds 3, 4 and 12, really amazed me, the paintwork is, IMO above what is adorned by some of the Hero's.
Red3 Hero....c,mon...its a pig, the paint is just thrown on, for me, the only top notch Hero is Red Leader.....as Red 5 never did anything for me from the get go.
Tech wise, wing build etc etc, yeah a Hero is the cream, but paint finish, at least for what i call "first gen" Pyro's.....is far superior.
Damn this thread, i suddenly NEED an X wing...and i SOOOO didnt want one lol.

lee
 
Seriously - they sport "hero-level" paint work. MULTIPLE colors on panels. Decals. Layers of weathering. Sharp masked lines...
pyroherodirtykneeslookatthese.jpg
 
Oh meant to add, i do agree with the guys here upstaging the ILM birds in Pyro form....id still regard Juliens 4, to be the best bird ive ever seen painted.

lee
 
Seriously - they sport "hero-level" paint work. MULTIPLE colors on panels. Decals. Layers of weathering. Sharp masked lines...
pyroherodirtykneeslookatthese.jpg

LOLOLOLOL indeed Jason.....yeah, thats the finish....just look at them, its enough to make a grown man well up :lol
Man i really LOVE that Pyro Red 3, she's a looker!

lee
 
Agreed, those are gorgeous pyro builds. Plus we haven't been staring at pics of these since 1977, so there's something still fresh about these models, in spite of their vintage.

And Lee, even though I know it bores you to tears and is not your cup of tea, I can't actually say which X-Wing is my favorite, hero or pyro, because that changes every month! :)

And I agree that so far Julien has come closest to capturing the essence of these pyros with his Red 4 build, which will be difficult for anyone to match, much less top. With all of these Cerney pyro kits landing in people's inboxes right about now, it'll be interesting to see who's really up to building and finishing these birds instead of just jib-jabbing about them here. ;)

Right, back to the shop then...
 
Wow, thanks for the "new to me" pyro pics, moffeaton! Awesome shots of Red 12 and Pyro Red 3!

I agree the 1st gen pyros do certainly have some awesome paintwork. It's as though the ILMers felt less constrained and more free to be creative since the ships were only going to be seen for a second. (If at all).

Getting back to the "Red 6 on the table" discussion with Nwerke ...when pondering it last night, I decided that I think that the mystery "red cannon" ship on the table is NOT Red 6, but is another hitherto undocumented X wing. In the larger pic of this bird, (hanging on fishing line) we can just make out the chevrons on the wing and can see that there are less than 6 - i.e. there is space for at least one more.

We know that not every ship built is on that table, for example Red 2 and Hero Red 3 aren't in the photos. So, it stands to reason that Red 6 isn't either but some other (Red 10?, Red 7?) ship is.

With respect to Red 6 - the canopy and red colouring along the edge of the nose that we see in the painting pictures appears to be a different shade of red than the main stripes and chevrons. Additionally, it seems to be drastically toned down, but still evident, in the shots where it's on the soundstage.

My SAG book didn't come with a DVD or CD that I can recall. Any chance someone can post the Red 6 pics from there?
 
bigbaddaddyvader, thanks for the pics! It looks like the raw resin might be blue-black - is that right? If so does that make these parts ROTJ pyro pieces rather than Star Wars? (Or did we never establish that question for sure?)

Paul, wash your mouth out with soap! :p I was going to suggest having another look at the Red 12 underside pic but Jason one-upped that idea in a big way. :D

Jason, is it really the case there's nothing more of 6 in that set? I'll take your word for it, man, it's just that I'd always assumed they were a complete set of ref pics. It seems odd that they'd skip that one - but then again we know she was one of the last 'good' paint schemes finished. And thanks for the pics, you've just made building a pyro 3 or 12 that bit more feasible.

Beaz - too true. I've not painted an X since the old MPC days. Both my old airbrushes turn out to have died in storage due to leaks and degrading rubber padding - I have two new ones in the mail but still, I KNOW I won't equal Julien. For me the question is 'will I at least not disgrace myself?'. Also agree with your 'unfamiliarity' remark. Makes them so much fresher. Honestly, Reds 2, 3 and 5 hold almost no appeal for me any more.

Keiko, the SAG issue with the DVD was the more expensive limited edition which also came with various other goodies and bits and pieces. The pics from there form the bulk of what has been posted here.

And yes, you're correct about the stripes. This is the reason people suspect the model of being Red 10. You can also see that at least one of the stripes appears to be interrupted like Red 12's, although whether this is intentional or a result of weathering isn't too clear. It could also be the Red 5 pyro, I doubt it though; that model seems to have been one of the "simple" ones. We know it had neatly masked wing stripes from Tread's pics, but it also had masking tape left on the fuselage stripe, like the fragments of the "Viskocil Plaque" model, and no sign of different fuselage panel colours. My money is also on Red 10.

Oh, something I just noticed while looking at the attached pic with Red 1 hero, Red 1 pyro, "unknown" half painted and 'red cannon' mostly in black primer. Looks like the "unknown" is Red 12. Yes? It has the yellow Saturn stripes, yellow cannon barrel rings and yellow cockpit. Anyone else agree?

Pardon me if that ID has been made previously; anyway; anyone wanting to build Red 12 can note three things from this pic - 1) white marking on port fuselage by cockpit, 2) a couple of inner port wing markings and 3) main red wing stripe markings wrap around the leading edge, unlike other birds.
 
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Who knew such ignorance could bait new images. Thanks moffeaton. Nwerke, you're welcome.

I do hope we see more of these pyros. Is there a chance any survived destruction? Just how few Hero s did they have? Red2/Blue Leader, Red Leader, Red 5 and?
 
LOL. :) Okay okay, thank you. :p

Me too. The Archives still hold MPC buildups from Jedi. There's that 'simple' pyro in the Japanese pic, so there's one survivor (if it still exists). Seems unlikely that any of the 'good' ones made it though; they started building those simple models *because* they'd burned through so many good ones without achieving useable results.

There were five heros and nine pyros, reportedly. I'm sceptical. Here's what I know of off the top of my head:

Red 1 "nice" Pyro
Red 3 "nice" Pyro
Red 4 "nice" Pyro
Red 4 "simple" Pyro x ??? - possibly more than one of these, at least one from Jedi but also an ANH one (Viskocil/Johnston pics)
Red 5 Pyro (simple type POSSIBLY, but masked stripes - Treadwell pics)
Red 6 "nice" Pyro
Red 6 "black and white pic" version
Red 12 "nice" Pyro
Red ?? "simple" pyro (Viskocil Plaque pics)
Red ?? Pyro - recent rebuilt-from-fragments auction model
Red ?? - six? from Japanese Archives photo

So that's eleven, unless I have doubleups and rebuilds and ROTJ models counted (that Japanese photo maybe).

The old story regarding the John Eaves fuselage (or at least, the at-the-time-mysterious progenitor of the Icons fuselage) was that it was a rebuilt post-explosion pyro. If that WAS true then that'd be another "survivor", of sorts. (I'm not calling the current story UNtrue, but if the old story was closer to the truth then there are good reasons to play it down.)
 
Martyn re the pic you posted - what in hell is going on with the upper fuselage form of the one in the background? Always puzzled me, that.
 
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Pardon me if that ID has been made previously; anyway; anyone wanting to build Red 12 can note three things from this pic - 1) white marking on port fuselage by cockpit, 2) a couple of inner port wing markings and 3) main red wing stripe markings wrap around the leading edge, unlike other birds.


Yeah Martyn I akready have ID'ed it as Red 12 in another X-Wing thread but I'm glad you confirm this ! This pic is very interesting to show the painting (layers) steps !
 
Colin, shadow, odd lighting or maybe even paint - can't tell. Not the shape itself though - I think.

Julien, I don't recall it but it didn't seem likely nobody else had made that call, heh. And yes, speaking of layers - the McCune pics of Red 6 are odd. Why is it that the cockpit, Saturn can, brick panels, lower fuselage and gun/s are already painted red when the rest of the regular markings are only being masked up and painted?

It looks like the SAME red at that stage! I guess it wasn't?
 
Red 1 "nice" Pyro
Red 3 "nice" Pyro
Red 4 "nice" Pyro
Red 4 "simple" Pyro x ??? - possibly more than one of these, at least one from Jedi but also an ANH one (Viskocil/Johnston pics)
Red 5 Pyro (simple type POSSIBLY, but masked stripes - Treadwell pics)
Red 6 "nice" Pyro
Red 6 "black and white pic" version
Red 12 "nice" Pyro
Red ?? "simple" pyro (Viskocil Plaque pics)
Red ?? Pyro - recent rebuilt-from-fragments auction model
Red ?? - six? from Japanese Archives photo

I was under the impression that the ROTJ Red 4 was ANH Red 5 scandalously repainted into a red 4 and then blown up!!!.
 
I was under the impression that the ROTJ Red 4 was ANH Red 5 scandalously repainted into a red 4 and then blown up!!!.


No, the repainted marking was carried out on the Hero, which is now a mere shell of the model it was, pretty much just an armature with wings now.

lee
 
And yes, speaking of layers - the McCune pics of Red 6 are odd. Why is it that the cockpit, Saturn can, brick panels, lower fuselage and gun/s are already painted red when the rest of the regular markings are only being masked up and painted?

I think someone in this thread had the idea they might have reused parts of blown up pyro ? It looks to me like the lower starboard gun of Red 6 and was reused on another model we can see in the pics posted in the previous page with the masked blue-grayish canopy.

It looks like they start with the base coat then with a basic weathering. Only after they apply the markings and add more weathering...
 
Julien,

Yes, I think I mentioned it, but it wasn't my original idea. It does look like the same gun. The red wraps around identically. If it is, can we decide whether Red 6 or Red Maybe-10 came first? From the tabletop pics it looks like maybe Red Maybe-10.

OH HEY! If that gun was originally upper-port Red-10, and Red 10 was blown up, but the upper-port wing MOSTLY survived...can you see where I'm going here?...then maybe they re-used that ENTIRE wing...as a lower-starboard one. And that, boys and girls, is the story of how Red 6 came to have a missing trailing edge! :D Well, it's a fun idea anyway.

Yes re the layering of the weathering. You can see why: in some cases the main markings are heavily chipped. With one of the techniques used (dabs of liquid latex masking underlying the main markings) you would otherwise get absolutely factory fresh white paint in the chip areas.

Thank god that bloody malware issue is sorted. I was having withdrawal symptoms! :)
 
Extrapolating further - Red Maybe-10 is in the background of the C-stand pic I posted above, so we know it was part of main construction. Jason, can you say whether it features in the ref pics?

I already speculated that Red 6 might not appear in the labelled reference photos due to being unfinished at the time of that shoot; if it also re-used parts from the first round of explosion shooting then this would peg it pretty definitely as one of - if not the - last of the "nice" paintjob models.
 
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