At a quite remarkable Propstore auction an original screen matched Red Leader X-Wing fighter model has sold for $2,375,000 against an estimate of $500,000-$1,000,000.
The model featured in the 1977 Star Wars 'New Hope' movie flown by Squadron Leader Garven Dreis, aka 'The old man'.
Created by Industrial Light & Magic, the model is considered incredibly rare as the majority of the models were destroyed filming the battle sequence incvolving the Death Star.
The model has been screen matched by comparing every scratch and airbrush mark on the paintwork to the movie clips from 1977, including a particular pyrotechnic explosion shot, involving Red Leader, during the film.
The model was considered to be in excellent condition with its original unrestored paintwork, and several small holes to allow the model to be hung on wires during filming.
The first protoype of the X-Wing was designed by Colin Cantwell based on George Lucas's vision of a long bodied dragster with the pilot seated at the rear.
Several 1:24 scale models were build with the majority being destroyed during filming.
Mark Hamill's twitter reaction? "I should have kept mine."
The Propstore description gives the full details of the model:
"The X-wing fighter model presented here was originally built as the Red Leader (Red One) pyro model, and later in production adapted into a Biggs (Red Three) model by adding additional stripes to the wings and some additional paintwork. Red Leader's pyro shot in the film features an explosion on the back of an engine, but the ship itself remained completely intact (Red Leader then meets his end by crashing into the Death Star surface, in a shot that was an explosion only, with no ship model.) The shot of the Red Leader's engine explosion is documented in behind-the-scenes footage of the model against bluescreen, which shows this ship model remained intact, unlike other X-wings that were destroyed in full by their pyro explosions. The model was flown on thin wires to achieve the shot. Because the X-wing was intact, it was available to be converted into Red Three for possible additional filming work. Red Three's demise in the film shows a crude low-quality pyro model, and therefore this model only appears in the film as Red Leader, and never as Red Three."