Xwing identify help

[Creepjohnny]

Hi everyone. I've recently decided to sell a bunch of my old collection but don't want to steer anyone wrong. I'm trying to identify this Xwing I've had for years. It's grey in color. Non chrome r2. No wiring in it. The bulb spot under the nose still has the block off piece and no electronics in the battery compartment. The tail piece may have been added later on by someone because it's A noticeably lighter gray, and has the blue button with the top of battery electronics. As well as the rear molded engine detail. I know some palitoy versions came out in 1980 but this is stamped 1978. Anyone have any insight? Thank you!
Posting pics now

 

[spoons]

Looks like the later grey Palitoy version - made from the Kenner mould hence the dummy battery compartment

Lighter grey is discolouring - worth a bit more than the Palitoy white version

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

That's right. The light grey version was sold later on in the same tri-logo box as the white one came in. It had the battery box glued down and button but there was no electronics. It had a smoked canopy that made it look pretty cool.

I know that Palitoy created its own "tooling" mould for its X-Wing in 1977 ready for the 1978 release, which gave them the opportunity make it a more simplified version, saving on the cost of manufacture. Palitoy used to borrow the moulds from Kenner, so for some reason later on they borrowed the one for the X-Wing instead of using their own.

I have read that the light grey version was released in a Palitoy ESB box but from what I know, it was only tri-logo. The Palitoy ESB box shows a light grey X-Wing with a smoked canopy but without the light and sound – I think it was airbrushed. The toy inside was always the white Star Wars version with a clear canopy. As a child I seem top remember thinking that it was a bit of a rotten trick, to simply supply the same X-Wing with a sheet of stickers and call it "battle damaged."

My knowledge of the grey Palitoy X-Wing might be out-of-date. Are there any other brains on the subject?

 

[spoons]

It came in Palitoy ESB and ROTJ boxes too Craig. There is a good thread on TIG with all the box variations. Tri-logo boxes are rare as hens teeth!

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

I found the thread you're talking about. http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t7463-the-x-wing-fighter-variations-thread

I'm glad that it says that the ordinary white X-wing was also supplied in the ESB Battle Damage packaging, because that is all I have ever seen in all of my years. I have seen literally hundreds of white X-wings with battle damage stickers.

On the other hand, have only ever seen a handful of the grey ones with no electrical innards. I had always assumed that it was a very late addition to the U.K range, sold in Tri-logo packaging. In fact, I would have put money on the Tri-logo X-wings being the white ones initially too. If the light grey ones have been Palitoy stock since 1981, how come they are so rare?

Are there any forum members who have a verifiable grey X-wing in a Palitoy ESB battle damaged box? Or remember having one in 1981?

This is important because I would like to dispel widely believed mistruths in my upcoming book.

 

[palitoyjunky]

Hi Craig,
I have never seen the Palitoy BD X-Wing in the Empire box in grey only in white.

 

[spoons]

I have one in an ESB box but can't guarantee that it was sold that way - on the other hand the grey x-wings are far too common to have been tri only releases so I don't doubt its authenticity

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

Thanks for the photo. The picture on the box bares more resemblance to the white X-Wing than the grey one.

Are grey X-Wings common? I hardly ever come across the back in the 90's.

Putting "Palitoy Battle Damaged X-Wing" in Google Images turns up a load of white X-Wings with clear canopies in ESB and Tri-logo packaging.

I'm going to stick my neck out right now and say that Palitoy supplied the ordinary white X-Wing in 1981 with "Battle Damaged" stickers and re-boxed it in Tri-logo too. The grey one turned up for some reason at some point during the Tri-logo run.

The grey X-wing with its glued down battery hatch and useless button has an air of shoddiness to it. The kind of thing you'd expect towards the end of a range and not a product that would have appeared during the height of the popularity of Star Wars.

I don't mind being proven wrong though. I've been out of the collecting game since the 90's, you know.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Craig, the main X-Wing sold during the 'tri-logo period' actually came in a bi-logo box.

There is a tri-logo x-wing box design but as mentioned they are uber rare and only produced in tiny numbers (perhaps never even sold in UK stores). One apparently sold recently for £1,700. Still waiting for someone.... anyone... who has the link to the ebay completed listing to post it...

The 'Pali-Grey' x-wing is rarer than the white one but still reasonably common in the grand scheme of things. I've owned 3 or 4 of them. They can be found (as can the white) in the second version of the ESB box and possibly in ROTJ boxes too.

 

[spoons]

Craig, the main X-Wing sold during the 'tri-logo period' actually came in a bi-logo box.

There is a tri-logo x-wing box design but as mentioned they are uber rare and only produced in tiny numbers (perhaps never even sold in UK stores). One apparently sold recently for £1,700. Still waiting for someone.... anyone... who has the link to the ebay completed listing to post it...

The 'Pali-Grey' x-wing is rarer than the white one but still reasonably common in the grand scheme of things. I've owned 3 or 4 of them. They can be found (as can the white) in the second version of the ESB box and possibly in ROTJ boxes too.

Totally agree - and the ESB box with the white X-Wing pictured was mainly issued with the white X-Wing but they also appear to come with grey X-Wings but Palitoy kept the box art the same. I've owned a few and nearly all were childhood toys in battered boxes and yes ROTJ bi-logo boxes too.

They appear rarer than they are as most people assume that they are broken Kenner grey X-Wings and don't advertise the fact when selling.

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

If we're going to proceed with the assumption that the Palitoy grey X-Wing was sold in the 1982 "Battle Damaged" box, does anyone have any idea of the timing/reasons/method of its manufacture?

Since I assume Kenner was using the tooling moulds for the toy, Palitoy didn't do a production run of its own and simply issued the standard X-Wing, using the Kenner "battle damaged" stickers. Palitoy modified the box photos by obscuring the button and nose light. The light grey colour and the smoked cockpit canopy could I assume be excused by dim lighting in the photography.

If Palitoy manufactured the grey X-Wing that eventually emerged without electronics and a nose light, I assume that the tooling mould that was sent over from Kenner was modified to obscure the hole where the nose light fits through. The activation button was not so easily covered up and was left in place.

We seem to be getting very late in the day for the grey X-Wing to have been packaged in the 1982 Palitoy box but it's not impossible. Why Palitoy would bother to use and modify the Kenner mould is a mystery. A grey X-Wing with a smoked cockpit could have been manufactured from their own mould in 1982 and it would have matched the photos on the box.

 

[spoons]

I couldn't say whether the light and button were airbrushed out Craig, but the ship on the box art is definitely not the standard Palitoy white x-wing. The black inners of the engines give that away.

My money would be on a second factory - be intersting to see if the white and grey pal boxes have any clues?

Another thing to note is that the cockpits on the grey and white are different. A clear cockpit won't fit a grey shell

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

That's a good point, that the clear canopy doesn't fit the grey X-Wing. I have never tried to swap them over. The idea of a different factory rings true, too as Meccano also apparently produced the X-Wing later on and was simply assembled at Palitoy http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1003493-3/

I have done some more research and I believe I have come up with a definitive answer on the release of the Palitoy grey X-Wing. The grey Battle Damaged X-Wing was released in America in 1982 but was unlikely to have appeared in the U.K at that time because the tooling moulds needed to be sent from Kenner. Instead, Palitoy simply included the stickers with the white X-Wing and airbrushed the Kenner box photos. The 1982 Palitoy trade catalogue has pictures of the white X-Wing. Catalogue photographs from Argos, etc also show the white X-Wing.

http://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/info/File:X-Wing_Fighter,_Darth_Vader_TIE_Fighter,_Palitoy_1982_Star_Wars_range_(PalTradCat1982_p05).jpg

Palitoy, or more probably Meccano received the Kenner moulds and prepared its own version of the grey Battle Damaged X-Wing ready for 1983. The 1983 Palitoy trade catalogue pictures it for the first time. The reason why the Palitoy grey X-Wing was not derived from the Palitoy moulds was probably that Meccano ordered the Kenner ones.

The grey X-Wing was first issued in the ROTJ Bi-logo box, which is fitting for a Palitoy/Meccano product. There were stocks of the white X-Wing left over, so it was commonly sold in that packaging too. Catalogue photos from Argos, etc in 1983 still show the white X-Wing. In 1984, the catalogues show the grey X-Wing.

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?start=15&t=12059

Perhaps there was left over packaging from The Empire Strikes Back in early 1983 which was issued with the grey X-Wing but essentially the grey X-Wing was a Return of the Jedi product.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Craig, Return Of The Jedi wasn't released till June 1983 in the UK. I suspect for at least the first 6 months of 1983 that ESB logo'd toys were still selling (especially with the 11th hour 'Revenge' title change which might have slowed the transition to ROTJ). There are enough examples out there of the grey X-Wing in an ESB box (personally I have only seen them in ESB), and also of white X-Wings appearing in a ROTJ box. Let's not forget that the tri-logo X-Wing (which would have been the latest European version date wise) was white.

I think it's fair to say that the grey version was a 'later' version (from your evidence it seems to have appeared late '82 early '83) but I don't think we can say it replaced the white one - they appear to have been sold in conjunction.

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

I edited my last post before I noticed your reply!

The white and the grey X-Wings being sold in conjunction fits the evidence really well. If stocks of the grey X-Wing were being sent from Meccano and Palitoy still had its own stock of white X-Wings, it would have been pot luck as to which version was put in the box.

The main thing I couldn't figure out was why Palitoy would suddenly use the Kenner tooling. Meccano using it makes sense, and also why the toy looks a little shoddy.

 

[spoons]

Sounds good to me Craig - and good to see that old post again. I've said this before but it's a real shame that anything coming out of Billy Boy Rogers has to be taken with a pinch of salt. But in this instance I can't see why he'd lie.

 

[MotoXWing287]

I have an interesting find. I have a fully functional electronic version, grey xwing with battle damage stickers, black engine inlets, black landing gear, black cannons, tinted cockpit window, that is stamped 1978. Thats right gents... its belly is grey and stamped 1978 and clearly aged to the era.

 

[MotoXWing287]

More pics

 

[MotoXWing287]

Has any one ever heard of a grey 1978 stamped belly on what has to be a 1981 version Kenner Xwing with battle damage, full electronics, and black landing gear, engine inlets, and cannons. If this said 1981 it would make better sense to me. But its definately stamped 1978. Did some one just make a 1981 ESB full electronic version using a 1978 mold?

 

[MotoXWing287]

Maybe, some one took a Euro/Fr 1978 belly that was grey, and substituted it into a 1981 everything else. :idea: