Red Two was originally Blue 1!

[moffeaton]

I was looking at El Loco's excellent Red 2, when it struck me... it's very much the Blue Squadron X-Wing, with modified livery! Originally, the X-Wing had a blue stripe/wing coloring, but that was changed due to bluescreen concerns. Here's some interesting comparison shots using the Blue X pic from Sculpting a Galaxy and some pics Ken took of the Red 2 prop as it exists "today".

This should make a Blue "pre-pro" paint scheme a LOT easier!! Woo!

 

[Westies14]

good eye!

 

[vaderdarth]

Sure does appear to be so!!! Excellent observation.

Dave

 

[GKvfx]

And the original paint scheme for the TIE fighters was a deep maroon. It, too, had to be changed. Once the TIEs got small in frame, they just blended into the starfield. There's a photo of one of the bodies in the new "Making of" book.

Gene

 

[moffeaton]

Wow - and here I thought that TIE was just in primer!

 

[12Rogues]

Wow great observation! After 30 years it's amazing new things still pop up.

:thumbsup

 

[PHArchivist]

Jase another even more obvious connection is he grey blob on the top of the fuse just forward of the cockpit.

Also the yellow "masking" around the cockpit.

GREAT discovery!

 

[darth_daniel]

Wow I didn´t even know that a blue X-Wing ever existed! But then again, I don´t have any books that mention this. Thanks for the pic, this could make an interesting scheme should I ever get my hands on a SS X-Wing! This one´s kinda like the red Y.

Would this one be "Blue Leader" or "Blue 1" since it has only one small stripe on the wing markings?

 

[ralphee]

This is why i get starstruck around Jason Eaton LOL, i think your bang on too buddy, great eye!
The day i got my SAG i couldnt stop looking at the blue X.
So would this fit with the theory why Red 2 has a different hull (proportions) and some other detailing to some of the other minis?
Seeing as it started out as Blue Leader, maybe it really was the first Hero built and finished at ILM and like the Jammer Y, was a build master?
Just a thought!

lee

 

[el loco]

Cool Thread :thumbsup

There is another (little) Picture in the big " The Making of Star Wars" Book at Page 76.

Andre

 

[ralphee]

I also just checked the pic in Sci Fi and Fantasy modeler, i wanted to check out the turkey feathers too, but the pic is a tad small.

lee

 

[moffeaton]

I think it was the first built too! If you look at that pic I posted a while back (I don't have it handy) of Red Jammer and an X on a table, at Elstree, the Red Jammer is unfinished, and both were apparently being used a reference as the full-scale props were being built. It's a black and white shot, so that color on the X could either be blue or red!!! It's most likely blue, at that stage!

I bet both were sprced up when they were shipped back to the US - the jammer's engine was probably finished then, and the blue was changed to red to match what they were working with at ILM... just a theory.

 

[rider]

Didn’t the X-wing have a busted canopy in that pic? I figured it was a reject as there’s no pilot and perhaps no electronics which is why both models could be spared from production.

 

[GKvfx]

And the original paint scheme for the TIE fighter was a deep maroon color. It had to be changed too. Once the TIE fighter got small in frame, it just blended into the starfield.

There is a picture of it in the new "Making Of" book. It's hanging on the wall in the modelshop. I thought the modelmaker that told me that was smoking something from the 70's when he told me the color - but there it is.

Chalk it up to the 70's?

Gene