So saw this on the Blu-Ray last night:
Started researching the variations, so I can decided what to put into the master patterns!
And I realized why there are weird holes in the Landspeeder. Landspeeders? Were two made? One for the gimbal and one for street use? Sure looks like it.
Streetspeeder - it has no breaks in the fins on the port side, and on the starboard there are two
Same photoshoot (I think Edlund took these shots in 1978?
As it looks today:
Port side, modern era
Here's the gimbalspeeder - no grill holes on the starboard side, but a mount hole below and between the two large divots between the engine and grilles. The dent in the body and grills are also pretty severe on this version:
Gimbalspeeder:
Not exactly sure which one this is, but there seems to be a mount point on the rear as well, so I am guessing it's Gimbalspeeder, set up on a stand. Maybe this mount point was used in the rear projection shots they aborted?:
A better shot of the mount point on Gimbalspeeder:
Another weird thing about Gimbalspeeder are the cut outs behind the grilles - are these for headlights?
Which one is this? I think the Streetspeeder was used here, but the grille looks to be Gimbalspeeder. The well for Threepio's feet is present. With the damn special editions, most of the stuff I need to reference is crappy CGI. Damn Lucas.
Streetspeeder shot from vintage source - note what looks like a perforation in the screen of the port engine intake:
She was repainted, sadly, for TPM. The restoration is pretty good, but not perfect - the black smuding is all sorts of wrong, for one thing. It also looks cartoony now - too much like it was masked with hard lines (that coudl be the film stock softening things though):
