Limited Run Mission Impossible Leather IMF Folder (original series)

[DB537]

Very nice work, DB537! :love

Very nice work @DB537 ! You're making this dossier build very easy!

Thanks! I want to do all that I can to ensure that it turns out as good as possible. I've wanted one of these for years.

I've tried to complete Barney's letter, but it can't be filled in with information about him in any way that it still makes sense. There's too much visible text that is clearly from an unrelated letter, so there's no way fill in the blanks to make it look like a letter of recommendation or anything similar. In other episodes, I've noticed that they used unmodified blank television studio contracts as prop documents, and that passport photos are embossed with old discarded corporate seals from businesses.

These are details that were never meant to be seen clearly in the 1960s era of small screen standard definition TVs. I can make the date and address on the Air Force letter match, but everything else will have to be replaced to make any sense at all. I'll also post a blank version of the letter if anyone else wants to give it a try, but it will be difficult unless you're trying to fill in the generic details already present.

EDIT: Here is my version of Barney's letter. I made it a letter of recommendation based on bits and pieces of real documents I found online and heavily edited sections of his character's Wikipedia description. If you want to try to make your own with the blank version, the font is 'Underwood Champion' and is the closest match I could find.

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I have updated the Hartford Repertory Company graphic with the full resolution version of the logo which I found on an unrelated prop from another production. I also managed to find the exact border/trim design element that was used for their full page, but I haven't had time to create a full size version of it yet.

EDIT 10/18: I checked some other episodes with the Air Force letter and the address at the top is not abbreviated as I had assumed it would be.
I have corrected the mistake. I will probably be making other revisions over the next few days. Today I am going to see if I can do Willy's weightlifting record photo (it's actually a magazine page), and at least one of Cinnamon's covers. I tried once already to make the Elite cover but was not satisfied with the result. I'll see if I can get it to turn out any better the second time.

 

[DB537]

Cinnamon's Elite magazine cover. The photo was very difficult to work with even using the best closeup screencap available.
I had to deal with a lot of film grain and color correction issues. It's good enough for me until a better reference image turns up.

I'm basing all of the magazine covers and pages on the standard page size of 8.375" x 10.875"

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I've noticed an issue where some of the images don't show up when I reload the page.
Even if you can't see them, you should be able to click on the attachment to load it.

I have found the blue border element that was used around the outside edge of the Nimoy/Paris photo.
I will update this post tonight with more info. I should also have the weightlifting photo of Willy done by then.

Here is the completed Hartford Repertory Company sheet. It had different photos added in different arrangements
every time it was shown. Because of this I have left the photos off and you can customize it however you prefer.
Size is 8" x 10".

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[temponaut]

Wow! DB537, that's outstanding! I envy your skills! :love

 

[DB537]

Willy's 'new world record' magazine page:



In the 'Want To Buy' section I have made an offer to pay anyone with access to Amazon Prime or CBS All Access who
can take HD screencaps from the dossier scenes in 7 specific episodes so that I can finish the other alternate photos.

 

[The Searcher]

Great job everyone! Kudos for taking on the “impossible.” I’m really loving the details going into this thread. Eitherways, good to know I’m not the only fan of the original show.

 

[DB537]

I found a better full version of the alternate Geller photo that was used in the TV scores soundtrack set.

It's not the exact same one that was used on screen, but it's clearly from the same photo shoot and looks similar.

I had to do a little work on it because it's scanned from a photo in a book, but it should print ok.

View attachment 849746

 

[DB537]

Here's the 2nd magazine cover for Cinnamon. I don't know if I'll do the 3rd one. It's definitely more complex, so I don't know if I'd be able to get a good result.



Thanks to @Clutch, I now have HD screencaps for the remaining dossier photos, and will finish the rest of those soon.

Here are Barney's last 2 photos. The first one is a cleaned up version of that decent resolution scan I found online, and the other one is a composite of about 4 different HD screencaps I put together. Both photos should be 8x10.

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I think Paris only ever had the one photo, and I still need to make that one, along with the last 2 photos of Willy. I'll work on some of the other guest agent photos when all the regulars are finished.

Here's a screencap of the Paris photo. It's straight enough to estimate the dimensions of the photo portion and the length of the holder based on the width. You can't see all of the bottom, but you can see the top edge of the silver tape. I've already calculated that the width of these holders including silver tape would have to be approx. 9.5 inches, with the silver tape being approx. 0.4 inches wide by itself. If someone can help me figure out the total length of the holder and the exact dimensions of the Nimoy photo, I should be able to complete it tonight. The border trim detailing around his photo will have to be added individually one segment at a time in Illustrator, so it will be a lot easier to get all the proportions right if we can determine the photo size.

 

[DB537]

I was able to make a much better version of Willy's 2nd photo from the clearer image that dbuck posted in the paper props thread.


I had a harder time with the 3rd version of his photo. Even in the HD screenshots it's always out of focus in the closeups, so this one is only barely passable.

 

[DB537]

Early season 1 Rollin photo

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Great work, DB537 ! At this point, I'm waiting for the plastic sleeves and chrome tape (bought three different types to see which will look best). The plan is to make a dossier consisting of 10 sleeves filled with various pieces. Once the supplies arrive, we'll post the final set. We won't be mimicking any particular episode, season, etc... just try to get a nice sampling of various characters, photos, inserts, etc....

 

[DB537]

Great work, @DB537 ! At this point, I'm waiting for the plastic sleeves and chrome tape (bought three different types to see which will look best). The plan is to make a dossier consisting of 10 sleeves filled with various pieces. Once the supplies arrive, we'll post the final set. We won't be mimicking any particular episode, season, etc... just try to get a nice sampling of various characters, photos, inserts, etc....

I'll have the main photos all done in the next few days. I only need one more photo each for Rollin (tan jacket/red letters), Cinnamon (green 'Fashion Preview' magazine), and Paris, and that should complete the common variants. I think an 8x10 of one of the other photos from the same shoot would be a good additional second picture for Paris. EDIT: There actually was an 8x10 alternate photo of Paris, but it was only used once or twice.

The prop magazines all have a blue photo on the back cover with the words 'Free Ocean Voyage on Palatial Ship!' with a large photo of some sort of old ocean liner. It could be a real ad from the 1930s or 1940s, but I haven't been able to locate it.

Quite a few of the photos that I have posted here had to be saved as jpeg or scaled down due to the large size and my slow internet. I'll upload the full scale final versions to Dropbox or something similar when I get them all finished. I also have a LOT of reference for fonts, recycled headlines, and text for prop newspapers if you need it. I know that there were a lot of newspapers used for clippings in various guest photos.

Also, can you help me figure out the rest of the dimensions for the Paris photo based on the known measurements that I listed in post #47 above?

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Also, can you help me figure out the rest of the dimensions for the Paris photo based on the known measurements that I listed in post #47 above?

The photo itself is almost certainly 7.25" wide. It's hard to estimate the height accurately since I don't have an image of the entire one-sheet... but you should be able to proportion it based on that, right?

 

[DB537]

The photo itself is almost certainly 7.25" wide. It's hard to estimate the height accurately since I don't have an image of the entire one-sheet... but you should be able to proportion it based on that, right?

Based on that, I have calculated that the height is 8.5". There was an error in my earlier calculation. The entire Paris photo insert measures exactly 8.7 x 14.5. From these numbers, and carefully checking against the photo as I'm working on it, I have been able to figure out that the holders are exactly 9.5" x 15", which includes the silver tape.

Here's the last Rollin photo. This one wasn't used a lot and it was usually not well focused.
Replacing the grainy background and the text helped to hide some of the weakness in the photo.



Paris photo will be finished and ready to post later tonight. I'm finishing up the last of the tweaks to the border ornaments around the photo.

 

[DB537]

I was finally able to finish the Paris photo.

Because of the size, this insert can help us determine the full size of the plastic holders or sleeves.

The Paris photo insert measures exactly 8.7 inches wide by 14.5 inches in height, and completely fills the holder.

When you include the silver trim/tape around the borders, the clear holders would have to be exactly 9.5" x 15".

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Tomorrow I'll try to finish that last cover for Cinnamon. EDIT: I have finished the cover photo without any text. It looks ok, but I can't find the 'Fashion Preview' font in any typeface reference. I will have to recreate it in the same way that I did with the NSA building graphic for the Gary Seven ID card. I will have to print out the title area, trace it carefully onto paper with a ruler and pencil, scan the paper, and create a vector tracing of the scan in Illustrator. The rest of the cover text is easy but the title will take time.

I also found that weird logo they used for the later 'Globe Repertory Company' page that took the place of Hartford RC in mid S4.

 

[temponaut]

After wanting a screen-accurate IMF folder with dossiers for so many years -- but lacking the skills to create one -- it's very exciting to see you guys putting this together. :love

Thanks, DB537! Thanks, Indy!

 

[DB537]

George Takei as Roger Lee, Allan Balter who was a co-writer of many episodes, and another unidentified reject.

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[The Searcher]

Updates of any sort? I’m really liking what I’m seeing.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

The folders are being made right now. We're waiting for the plastic sheets and foil tape to arrive to start on the dossiers.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Ok, we got three different kinds of tape to trial:

The straight chrome one is the correct size, I think, the other two are slightly wider. The "carbon fiber" silver one is a matte/satin silver, not super shiny, but the carbon fiber is a really cool effect. The third one is a black carbon fiber that is glossy... but probably too dark for accuracy. I'm thinking we'll offer both the chrome and satin carbon fiber versions... but we'll see how they look on the final sleeves, once those arrive.

 

[temponaut]

Ooh, I see that the leather folder has now shipped!

I had thought that the folder might be held until the dossiers could ship with it, but no matter.

So, in the end, how does the final, shipped version of the folder differ from the original description in Post #1?

Thanks, Indy!