Mon Cal cruisers at Endor

[Alan Bolte]

Alright, once more into this: There are three generally recongized types of Mon Cals at Endor: the Home One type MC-85, the Liberty type MC-80, and the wingless MC-80 generally designated the Reef Home. Now, I could just go and grab ROTJ from Blockbuster, but I know some of you already have it and have some nice video-capture equipment, so I thought I'd bring it up here first. I was looking through Saxton's picture collection, and noticed that there were some examples of the liberty that had ten engines, with one inside the ventral tailpiece, and some had nine, and were missing the one in the tailpiece. The wingless looks to be missing the ventral tailpiece entirely. Also, he cites the ventral cavity as being on the starboard side, but in one of the pictures it is on the port side. Was the film reversed in the movie? I know they do that a lot. Also, this picture looks like there is some alteration being done to the dorsal surface, but I can't figure out what the difference is. Maybe I'm blind. Are there any other differences between the two types? And which is the true Liberty?

[Wicked Pilot]

Also, this picture looks like there is some alteration being done to the dorsal surface, but I can't figure out what the difference is. Maybe I'm blind. Are there any other differences between the two types? And which is the true Liberty?

That model is being converted from the 'Reef Home' to the 'Liberty'. Only two cruiser models were built, the 'Home One' and the 'Reef Home'. Once filming was completed on the 'Reef Home', it was given wings and made into 'Liberty'. That is why you can't get good photos of the 'Reef Home' model.

[Howedar]

I've never seen Home One designated MC-85, nor have I ever heard Anonymous Pearly Wingless designated the Reef Home.

[Alan Bolte]

Got the 85 and the Reef Home stuck in my brain from various EU sources. Definitely not cannon. Not quite sure where I picked em up, but I'm not the first to use those on this board, either. I'm well aware only the one model was built, then converted, but that leaves the question: why do some pictures (not screencaps) show the liberty it with 10 engines, and some with 9? What I need is anyone who has ROTJ to take a few minutes to double check it and see how many engine glows are in the canon movie. Or I just go rent it tomorrow. Then someone gets to e-mail Saxton and point this all out to him, thereby scoring cool points.

Some new notes, looking at these two pics, along the rest of the site:
The liberty image is reversed. You can see a sort of patch job on the front of the liberty where the reef was removed to put that pipe through it. The major difference, of course, is that the reef has four lateral bulges, while the liberty has wings. the largish pod near the front of the reef looks like its been blown off the liberty, its gone but there's some dark structure there. The forewardmost flat bulge looks like it might of had some blisters removed.