Warship Models

Thanks to:

Jeff Allen, artist and author of How to Build a Stormtrooper Costume, for provision of images.
Martyn Griffiths for copious discussion; particularly his discussion with Anthony Tully regarding asymmetries.
Anthony Tully for copious discussion; particularly his discovery and analysis of Executor's asymmetries.

Note the ridge running along the keel-line of the roof of the main docking bay area. Note how the irregular crenulated terrain is composed of carefully cut sections of what appears to be cardboard or plastic. Each layer corresponds to several decks of the vessel, which presumably are more functionally interrelated than decks of adjacent sheet layers.

Ventral tail detail.

Model builders wear surgical masks at one stage in the model construction.

Starboard rear quarter detail.

Starboard rear quarter detail.

Asymmetries

Executor

Anthony Tully declares the following definitions for use in the discussion, modified and clarified using suggestions by Martyn Griffiths:

brace trusses: = the double triangular reinforcements outboard of the middle group of engines.
wing drive blocks: = the box-like projections between the nozzles of the six wing engines.
fantail undercarriage: = refers specifically to underside/ventral structures of the fantail. [Cortex and engines on fantail underside.]
aft drives: = aftmost bank of engines; three nozzles on the fantail.
flank drives: = middle bank of four engines; divided into sub-banks of two on port and starboard sides.
wing drives: = the foremost engine bank; three engines mounted under each wing.

There exist armatures within the model. These are metallic internal support structures; a frame of welded steel tubes. The main amature runs in the longitudinal direction, along the ship's axis. It sprouts one transverse armature tube in the fantail section, and a vertical tube closer to the ship's centre. The axial tube is crossed by four transverse bulkhead frames at regular intervals, supporting the model's surface.

The keel (axis) armature has one mount point. Amount point has a plug matching the surrounding model surface. Plugs cover those mount points which are not in use at any particular moment. The mount point is a place where an external frame is connected to the internal support structure of the model, and power and cooling are piped to the light systems. The mount point of the axial amature branch is on a ventral surface.

The fantail armature has at least one mount point, on the starboard side. It is possible that no mount point was completed for the port side. This may be partly responsible for a bias in range of shots seen on film. With only one exception, all shots showing the fantail undercarriage are portside shots. The exception is the distant full-length image seen during the pursuit from Bespin. However it is likely that the whole sequence containing this shot is inverted horizontally. (The interior bridge shots are definitely inverted, according to the insignia of the officers.)

It is also possible that the starboard side of the model was less complete or less detailed than the port side. This would account for the lack of certain desirable shots in the films, such as any close flyover similar to the Devastator's debut in A New Hope. It is known that the Avenger model was significantly more detailed on the vertical crenulated surface of one side.

There are only two confirmed mounting points: ventral keel, and fantail starboard. Paucity of mount points (compared to the number on the Avenger) indicates the low priority to which the Executor was assigned in the screenplay and storyboards. The vessel's role in The Empire Strikes Back was upgraded when its full beauty was appreciated, but the lack of mount points was a constraint on the range of possible camera shots. It is possible that the number of mounting points was low because of the original low priority given to the ship.

All engines were probably completed and functional, for the sake of the cameraman's freedom. Absence of lighting in some engines (for instance the starboard nozzles) would have caused unaesthetic imbalance in the visible distribution of engine glow on the fantail undercarriage. It is possible that the central engine of the fantail drive bank has a removeable light element, in order to provide another mount point.

Other asymmetries remain on the dorsal surfaces of the ship.

Boxlike drive accessories sit in spaces between the engines of the wing bank. The dorsal face ("roof") of each box bears a nodular detail. Each of these is positioned to the starboard side, so the nodules are outboard on the starboard wing. The asymmetry of this arrangement may be meerely due to the use of preexisting identical model kit parts, perhaps tank hulls.
In the flank bank the portside divider has 2 nodules. The opposite structure is much flatter.
On the underside of the fantail undercarriage there is a longitudinal feature near the centreline with a projection to port. The size of the feature, several hundred metres long, suggests that it serves an important (but perhaps not critical) function. That this function is conducive to an asymmetric arrangement is intriguing.

This page was constructed and is maintained by Curtis Saxton <saxton@physics.usyd.edu.au>.
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