Wow, did I get a response on that stir of the pot. Cool! I guess everyone had Sunday free.
Yes Nwerke, I fully expected to get some grief for questioning. But as you said, you got to go where the deductions take you.
That's a great shot of Muren with Red 3 hero. But I have to agree with Jedimaster's sarcasm, I don't see anything in the pic that indicates which film he's setting the model up. If there was Red Leader or triangles-Y sitting nearby, then that would nail it. Also if we could identify that the studio is their first digs they had until moving after ANH was released. Or maybe somebody has an article with Muren stating that he always wore his lucky red shirt during production on ANH until it caught fire while blowing up Red 4. I don't know if Red 3 hero is anti-social, it never seems to want to be around other models.
I'm still scouring my Bluray and my 2006 theatrical release DVD trying to match up the Red 3 shots with the Red 3 hero. I don't think there are too many lost model shots on the special edition on my Bluray, which allows a better view than my DVD. I think the digital replacements are the flight to the Death Star, locking S-foils, Red 5 pulling up, Red 2 flying through the TIE, some banking and rolling high above the Death Star, an additional X-Wing when Red 5 dives to the trench, and a digital flight away from the Death Star. While I'm away on the road, I've been reviewing it in low-res here:
The Battle of Yavin Part 1 of 2 - YouTube
The Battle of Yavin Part 2 of 2 - YouTube
It does make sense that Blue Leader would lack motorized wings if they were in a hurry to finish it and send it to the UK. Red Jammer tends to support that rush as they didn't even finish the starboard side of it. Since it has been stated that it took some trial and error to come up with wing mechanism, it is doubtful it would have been developed by the time Blue Leader needed to cross the Atlantic. So that makes sense to be one of the two “stage model” or hero X-Wings without motorized wings. But what was the other one with the manual wings, if Red Leader, 3 and 5 are the motorized ones?
There are only three shots in the battle where the hero X-Wings are necessary because the wings are closed or in the process of opening. There are three in the shot approaching the Death Star, and then I believe 14 in the head on shot leaving Yavin, obviously at least Red Leader and Red 5 visible in the bunch and composited several times to make the squadrons. The last one is the S-foils open shot (When I was a kid I always thought Red Leader said “despoils open”), and there are three models in that shot but we know from Famous Spaceships that only 3 could open their wings up on command. So if it is Red Leader, Red 5 and Red 3; then at least one is composited in. Looking at it, my guess would be that if they used three models then the three furthest were filmed together, and Red 5 was filmed as a separate element and composited over them. My guess is the models were mounted on the starboard side of the armature for the shot given the angle. But I can only confirm Red 5 in the foreground, I can't make out the other three for sure:
Thanks Jedimaster for the clarification on the “Blue 3 Biggs”. I was thinking if it was the hero, then that would be case closed on Red 3 hero, but alas no closure. I have the “Blue 12” and “Blue 4 John D” pics, but the “Blue 3 Biggs” is long gone from thread due to a broken link to it. I have a few shots of Blue Leader before she became Red 2, but none with the little note taped up with “Blue Leader”, so am I missing that one? I've looked for “Blue 3 Biggs” on the following sites but can't find it:
Red 3 X-Wing Studio Model
BRUCE'S DOMAIN: Studio Model Reference X-Wing Fighter Red 3 Part 1
Nwerke I meant that there were 5 heros and 9 pyros, which would be 14 total like you said. I didn't mean 9 total. Your list is about the best list that can be deduced/speculated. Are the Red Leader rough pyro, Red 3 [rough] pyro, Red 6 (pyro??), and Red 10 proposed missing models, or is there photo evidence of their existence? Red 10 is odd, because it is scripted, with lines of dialogue, but is absent from the models. It would answer the question of which of the three methods of numbering 7 through 11 is correct if it existed.
Interesting ESB video grab, I guess we don't know as much as we think we do
