ILM X-Wing Weathering Versus Damage

PHArchivist

PHArchivist

Master Member
Yeah - has been discussed ad nauseum...

But...

Have we discussed or determined how much of the visible wear and weathering on the models today is artistic and original, versus real-world wear & tear? Perhaps we have; I don't recall...

But there are fantastic batteries of hi-res close-up detailed shots of Red 2 and Red 3 on-line (or have been), and in examining the images, I can't help but to think that some of the damage is real damage...

Has this board gone to lengths to assess and document what is original artistic damage opposed to real?
 
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Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

The nature of the X-Wings heavy weathering as it was makes it a bit challenging to determine, I think the TIEs got age weathered for sure, I prefer them clean. Fading and yellowing would seem to be the most likely things, but certainly scratches, touch ups, perhaps even subtle details that got rubbed off by handling.
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Good question. I've wondered about such things since seeing specacular Fett helmet paint jobs, for example, that replicate all the teeny tiny scratches that it has accumulated since filming and are not present in vintage reference.

They were using that foamy yellow resin, right? I would think any "weathering" that goes down to yellow would be a likely candidate for real-world wear and tear.
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Agree on all accounts

I think folks here or on TDH (or both) have reconciled the real-world damage on the ESB Fett hat versus simulated.
Also agree that in may X close-ups, it indeed looks like paint chips exposing old resin.
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Red 3, if I remember correctly, was used to represent Luke's Dagobah X. I think that's how it got all the extra damage on it. I don't thin ANH red 3 would be represented correctly that way.
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Doesn't look like too much had changed between 1977-ish and 2005 when I took the bottom pic though. Always tough to say!!

red3.jpg
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Here's a shot from the MR photo shoot (made public in KK's archive; hope I'm not treading on thin ice posting!) of the nose cone of Red 3. Were you in on this photo shoot Jason?

On the cone there are a bunch of pock marks revealing red or orange substrate material, surrounded by white This is an example of what I wonder may have been post-production damage...

1.jpg
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Similarly, here's a shot from Uwe Fischer's 2001 collection, showing Red 2's cone, with a similar red orange material showing in blotches. Again, wonder if that may be chipped paint

1.jpg

This canopy frame, even though originally designed and painted t look weathered, I think has seen better days. The "roof" over the rear windows - the black streaking I believe was part of the original design, but the brown splotches look more like spilled coffee to me!

2.jpg
 
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Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Watching this thread with great anticipation. Something about the look and weathering process of the original birds fascinates me, so any discussion about it has my attention.
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Enhancer4004 said:
Watching this thread with great anticipation. Something about the look and weathering process of the original birds fascinates me, so any discussion about it has my attention.
Click to expand...

And as I suggested earlier, this topic has been discussed before (well - weathering of th estudio models, in general). But there are always new perspectives, and new members!
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

PHArchivist said:
And as I suggested earlier, this topic has been discussed before (well - weathering of th estudio models, in general). But there are always new perspectives, and new members!
Click to expand...

Yeah honestly I had to check the date of the post when I first saw it, I figured someone had rehashed an old thread.

No doubt there have been many threads about this process with loads of valuable pictures, information (and opinions) about the methods used. It just seems to me that every time I find a new post about it I discover something new. Thanks!
 
Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Here's another shot that raises a question of mine.

More of the orange red blotches in the "cooling fins" of the gun, but more so, the white speckling on the red paint - I wonder if that is perhaps dust? I know on the Falcon they splattered paint on the model, but I'm not certain if they used a similar technique on the X-Wings. In the shots in this photo shoot, Red 2 seems it may be covered in dust. This speckling looks to me like dust under hi-res photography.

Or I could just be overly imaginative!

3.jpg
 
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Re: ILM X-Wing Weathering

Here's a similar shot of Red 3 showing no such speckling on the red paint. Though, elements I suspect may be post-filming damage are the scratches on the gun body that go around its circumference, and the black speckling on the white paint, that appear as a series of little pock marks in the paint.

R32.jpg
 
Couple shots of the nose cone Blue 2 / Red 2 showing the same elements. Blue 2 being pre-filming is telling...

Blue 2 002.jpg

Nose004.jpg
 

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Does anyone have a better cleaner copy of this? I had the puzzle as a ten-year-old back in '78 but its long gone now...

Puzzle 003.jpg

Game 002.jpg

Game 001.jpg
 
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Here is what I think your seeing in your photos. (Please understand that this is just my opinion. It doesn't make it correct).

On the nose cone, it looks like the NC is cast in a beige resin. I see what looks like a dremel tool was bounced of that area creating the color you speak of. The top hull has a different resin color (you can see where they dremel'ed some areas there. It looks grey.). And the lower fuselage was a vacuformed piece (on Red 3). Those areas reveal white styrene.

On the wings where the red stripes are, it looks like the used a new product back in 1975 called "Magic Mask" from Squadron Shop, I believe, to create the chipping effects in the red, light green, and the yellow (floquil dust?) panels. That's what I see, but I have been wrong before.

-emojo5
 
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