FOUND PART ? Gauntlet missile

Simon Fett

Active Hunter
Hi all,

I have been real busy as of late. I think I have a very good lead that might help us find a part that has never been officially ''found''.

My source had a discussion with Jeremy Bulloch a few years ago and while talking to him he has found out that the missile part was constantly breaking and was fragile. It seems that part was actually not custom machined but really, like many other costumes or decors in Star Wars, a model kit part. While I cannot say exactly from which model kit it came from, I have a good reason to believe that it came from a Helicopter Model Kit. In fact, I can even venture farther and say that it was a missile pod from a russian MI-24 HIND helicopter. I have not calculated the scale but it might also be from a RC helicopter...

Here are a few pics for comparison :


The real deal russian MI-24 HIND helicopter :
1.jpg



From a RC helicopter :
c4df6f6110.jpg



I believe that it would be possible to find the real part with some help from the community. I also understand that the part might have been altered so that might be a small bump in the road.
 
Excellent! This makes much sense since LFL has a history back then of making props from found items like model kits instead of taking the expense to have parts machined. Hopefully a group effort will come about to locate the exact authentic parts.
 
For this model you might want to see if you can find the Mi-24 A, because if you look the model Mi-24 D has a tip at the end of the rocket pod, this allowed air to cool the pods down when they fired numerous rounds, you are going to want to see if you can find a Mi-24 A model kit which had a rounded missle pod.
 
I am with you in regard to the overall look of the piece matching up the Hind rocket bay... however, in a recent development, the original machinist and drawings were found, which fairly conclusively shows the rocket was custom machined, as described in Mark Harris' update sheets. I have seen the drawings with my own eyes so this isn't just random heresay. If not for that, I would be in total agreement that you guys were on to something.
 
This sure seems like a eureka moment! :cheers

But I'm sure you're all looking at the same stuff I am, and nothing seems to quite match.

It could be a fighter model too, this guy looks real close:

Sukhoi Su-22 of the Polish Air Force by Lukasz Kedzierski (Italeri 1/72)

but there aren't enough holes on this B-8M1 rocket pod.

The other rocket pod on the HIND might be a UB-32-73A (or just UB-32) with the air-cooling "tubes" on the front. Those could have been sliced off for the gauntlet missile, but that would leave 5 holes possibly, and there are definitely more than that on the first row on the nose.

It sure does seem like a model rocket pod is involved somehow. Inspiration if nothing else. It's just such a weird thing to machine from scratch. :confused
 
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It could be possible that due to the "model" piece breaking, that they decided to go ahead and machine one to match it. That M1-24 looks aweful close.
 
This new info from Simon Fett's source seems mutually exclusive to Art's info; meaning that they can't both be true. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Mark Harris update sheets were from Pre-production right? So the idea that it started out as a model kitbash piece but was later changed to a machined part doesn't seem to make sense if you follow the timeline of the creation of the costume. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened that way, stranger things have happened, but it doesn't seem to add up. I would have to say that something like one of these model pieces was at least the inspiration for the machined piece, but I am not sure that it was ever actually used as part of the costume. Before Art added his bit of info I sure would have thought this was on the right track, and it still might be...Who knows for sure...
 
I would have to say that something like one of these model pieces was at least the inspiration for the machined piece, but I am not sure that it was ever actually used as part of the costume. Before Art added his bit of info I sure would have thought this was on the right track, and it still might be...Who knows for sure...

I think this is right on track. The Hind was a fairly new/impressive/devastating machine at the time, so I would not be surprised that the rocket pod may have inspired the look of Boba's wrist rocket. I will try to bring more info on this as I can, but at the moment I am somewhat limited due to the current owner. I can only tell you that they did machine it and they did make custom drawings, clearly showing the rocket we all know and love. I am not trying to be crytic... I just don't want you guys going on a wild goose chase and spending great amounts of time on something that does appear to have been custom machined.
 
If this was indeed the inspiration for the Boba rocket, then perhaps the whole thing was never intended to be a rocket, but a mini rocket bay just like the real deal. Of course that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand, but forever there has been the debate of calling it a laser or rocket or missle or something else. Maybe in the SW universe it was supposed to fire mini rockets or projectiles.
 
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