crackerjazz
Sr Member
Hi, I wanted to post a reply to Sasmysquatch's fine repaint of the new snowspeeder, but strangely, I couldn't post photos. Anyway, I'm planning on doing that as well. I was working on accurizing the old snowspeeder when they released this new one this year for the 30th anniversary of ESB.
What I like about about the new mold:
1. The bottom has been redesigned to match the ILM model.
That part where the hull blends with the flaps is incorrect on the old mold. I cut off the flaps on mine to position them flaps down.
2. The size of the engine humps have been corrected and now have grilles instead of venetian blinds.
3. It now has recessed panel lines
4. The front jaw angle has been corrected.
5. The cannon mounts have details now
6. The rear detail has been corrected.
7. It has cockpit details, including the rear gunner - needs
a bit of correction, though.
I have several gripes:
1. It is smaller - to match 1:18 figures
as well as the new big AT-AT.
2. The guns splay outwards whereas they should toe-in
(this reminds me of the toe-in debate around
the Falcon mandibles
)
The toe-in should be there as the angled humps dictate the cannons'
position as in this Master Replicas photo from Toybox.
3. The shape of the canopy is too pointed and too shallow and
the bottom frame angles upwards - it shouldn't.
Don't worry about those cannons by the way - you have options on the new Hasbro for the cannons and the rear harpoon gun for play and display mode.
Correcting the new snowspeeder would involve:
1. Cutting up the canopy to shape
2. Modifying the hull to your re-shaped canopy
3. Closing up the tow-cable compartment
4. Cutting off the belly fins and landing gear
5. Sanding off the air intake ribs
6. Opening the air intakes
7. Correcting the starboard ram-air scoop
8. Correcting the air brake supports.
9 Cutting off the cannon supports that connect to the hull
10. Adjusting the angle of the cannons
12. Front air intakes need to be opened
11. Correcting the detail of the rear flaps
12. Correcting the cockpit detail - such as the rear gunner console
13. Filling the panel lines and making them finer (optional, I guess)
14. and as suggested previously, filling the screw holes
15. Shaving off unnecessary added details.
I waited a long time for this to come out as I wanted to do something
similar - a hyper-detailed cockpit with strapped-in pilot and gunner. This new Hasbro Snowspeeder can help in that regard as it is more scaled down and has some cockpit detail. And the new Legacy Collection Luke and Dak are so detailed you can probably re-create the full-size prop scenes.
But then, again, I thought about the fact that doing this wouldn't represent the prop with its ILM pilot/gunner. The ILM pilot/gunner were too large for the snowspeeder - but it had its own amour and the big heads/helmets almost filling the whole canopy is what makes the ILM snowspeeder look like the movie props.
Even the big pyro model had those oversized figures, although more detailed than the ones used for the distant flying shots.
These are screen grabs from the Making of ESB documentary - the one hosted by Mark Hammill.
These things have kept me mulling over them for the longest time, preventing me from doing anything further with my partially-built modified old Hasbro snowspeeder. I like looking at my half-built models models, though, it gives me satisfaction of what I've accomplished and the excitement of more building to come.
Here's my half-built conversion proudly "flying" on its mount:
What I like about about the new mold:
1. The bottom has been redesigned to match the ILM model.
That part where the hull blends with the flaps is incorrect on the old mold. I cut off the flaps on mine to position them flaps down.
2. The size of the engine humps have been corrected and now have grilles instead of venetian blinds.
3. It now has recessed panel lines
4. The front jaw angle has been corrected.
5. The cannon mounts have details now
6. The rear detail has been corrected.
7. It has cockpit details, including the rear gunner - needs
a bit of correction, though.
I have several gripes:
1. It is smaller - to match 1:18 figures
as well as the new big AT-AT.
2. The guns splay outwards whereas they should toe-in
(this reminds me of the toe-in debate around
the Falcon mandibles
)
The toe-in should be there as the angled humps dictate the cannons'
position as in this Master Replicas photo from Toybox.
3. The shape of the canopy is too pointed and too shallow and
the bottom frame angles upwards - it shouldn't.
Don't worry about those cannons by the way - you have options on the new Hasbro for the cannons and the rear harpoon gun for play and display mode.
Correcting the new snowspeeder would involve:
1. Cutting up the canopy to shape
2. Modifying the hull to your re-shaped canopy
3. Closing up the tow-cable compartment
4. Cutting off the belly fins and landing gear
5. Sanding off the air intake ribs
6. Opening the air intakes
7. Correcting the starboard ram-air scoop
8. Correcting the air brake supports.
9 Cutting off the cannon supports that connect to the hull
10. Adjusting the angle of the cannons
12. Front air intakes need to be opened
11. Correcting the detail of the rear flaps
12. Correcting the cockpit detail - such as the rear gunner console
13. Filling the panel lines and making them finer (optional, I guess)
14. and as suggested previously, filling the screw holes
15. Shaving off unnecessary added details.
I waited a long time for this to come out as I wanted to do something
similar - a hyper-detailed cockpit with strapped-in pilot and gunner. This new Hasbro Snowspeeder can help in that regard as it is more scaled down and has some cockpit detail. And the new Legacy Collection Luke and Dak are so detailed you can probably re-create the full-size prop scenes.
But then, again, I thought about the fact that doing this wouldn't represent the prop with its ILM pilot/gunner. The ILM pilot/gunner were too large for the snowspeeder - but it had its own amour and the big heads/helmets almost filling the whole canopy is what makes the ILM snowspeeder look like the movie props.
Even the big pyro model had those oversized figures, although more detailed than the ones used for the distant flying shots.
These are screen grabs from the Making of ESB documentary - the one hosted by Mark Hammill.
These things have kept me mulling over them for the longest time, preventing me from doing anything further with my partially-built modified old Hasbro snowspeeder. I like looking at my half-built models models, though, it gives me satisfaction of what I've accomplished and the excitement of more building to come.
Here's my half-built conversion proudly "flying" on its mount:
