Star Wars: 10 Secrets Behind X-Wings You Need To Know
2. Only One Full-Sized X-Wing Was Built For The Original Film
While filming the X-Wing dogfights, it's no surprise that George Lucas used miniatures of various scales. Depending on the shot, some of miniatures were a few inches big while others were several feet.
So, how many full-sized X-Wings were built for the original movie?
One.
Even though the final battle involves nearly two dozen starfighters inside the Death Star trenches, none are fully-sized. According to the special effects designer, John Stears, the only fully-sized starfighter in the movie is the one we see in Yavin 4's base hangar.
Now, you might be wondering about all the shots where we see the interior of the pilot's X-Wings while they're in the trenches. Surely, they had to built multiple vehicles for that, right?
Nope. To cut down on the budget, the production crew built a single full-size cockpit, which all the X-Wing pilots used for their scenes. The background behind each actor was changed for these shots to hide the fact the pilots are using the same cockpit. Using seamless editing, no one would suspect that only one X-Wing in the climax isn't a miniature.