Vader Helmet Opinions Sought

[LeAngeSolitaire]

I am seeing something that might be glue residue, though.

Interesting.

Yes, and there is also glue residue on the [our] left of centre dynode slats. This is very odd indeed.

 

[Dann]

I just meant that it looked like the left wire was possibly at one time in a position closer to yours, and was then reglued at a different angle.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

I can also tell for certain that the dynodes in the casting are not the same Electron Tube variety as those in the original reveal; the frame around the slats in this casting are noticeably thicker than the originals.

I'll go with that. But the number of slats are the same so something has to be off somewhere. The size of the recesses look ok to me.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

I just meant that it looked like the left wire was possibly at one time in a position closer to yours, and was then reglued at a different angle.

Lol, I did gather that was what you meant. I was pointing out that the dynoids in the screen used were a separate piece, when before I thought they were moulded and painted.

 

[Dann]

Ahh, word, gotcha.

Still, it doesn't seem there are good enough photos from the same angles to do proper comparisons between your mask and the real reveal.

 

[jme3]

I'll go with that. But the number of slats are the same so something has to be off somewhere. The size of the recesses look ok to me.

I offer a retraction on my statement; on closer scrutiny and with a good bit of squinting (your photo does not resolve as finely as mine) the slat count does seem the same. I still don't, however, think their depth is precise from mask to mask.

 

[jme3]

Great pic. Thanks for posting that.

Those dynodes look like they are actually separate pieces. I can also see what looks like glue residue. The braids are separate pieces too.

How odd. This raises some more questions as to why the braids were moulding in and the dynodes too.

Yes, sorry I didn't see your entire post.

The dynodes are indeed separate pieces, exact ones available still today if one knows where to look.

 

[OldKen]

Mac I didn't take more than a few quick looks at it...

The things that were RIGHT stuck out more than what was wrong...

I'm seeing what you are sayin.

Well that Sux. Woulda been cool to find out it had some new line of rotj lineage.

And btw I have held many nice castings of ESB and return but thanks for assuming I'm clueless. Was trying to be cool to you and give you props on your skills and knowledge. Kinda letdown to see u jab at my lack of knowledge on the subject.

I guess I shouldn't have gotten too excited and posted after a few quick looks. But still.

Ah was just nice to have something different about Vader to discuss without insults...

 

[CSMacLaren]

Mac I didn't take more than a few quick looks at it...

The things that were RIGHT stuck out more than what was wrong...

I'm seeing what you are sayin.

Well that Sux. Woulda been cool to find out it had some new line of rotj lineage.

And btw I have held many nice castings of ESB and return but thanks for assuming I'm clueless. Was trying to be cool to you and give you props on your skills and knowledge. Kinda letdown to see u jab at my lack of knowledge on the subject.

I guess I shouldn't have gotten too excited and posted after a few quick looks. But still.

Ah was just nice to have something different about Vader to discuss without insults...

I didn't mean to come across like I was jabbing your or assuming you were clueless. I'm often posting while at work which means I have to get my thoughts into writing as fast as possible. More than often, I've alt-tabbed to Window's Notepad with the web browser minimized, so I may lose track of who I am responding to, as I'm responding to a thought rather than to a specific person.

Be assured, nothing I said was written with any intention to undermine your experience. Worse, I often forget who people are... all these nicknames/user IDs are hard to keep track of.

 

[CSMacLaren]

In Post #27, KaanE made two very good observations about how the square vent was not lining up with the upper tube end of the left side of the face.

I found a different photo of the exhibit ROTJ Reveal and was able to achieve this comparison:

 

[CSMacLaren]

I was just sent the following picture by the owner of the Vader. This shows a very interesting feature that he tells me would be very difficult to replicate and would certainly not be known about by a fan in 1989/90. Tellingly, it's only on one side and not the other.

That's quite interesting! That may be a feature exclusive to the Reveal, as that is not on any of the non-Reveal production Vader masks. However, I also observe two issues there.

1. The red-outlined triangle on the grey casting looks like it goes halfway down the bridge of the nose, whereas on the LFL tour prop, the triangle only goes 1/3 down.

2. If you look at the base of the notches on the LFL prop, the first two are of similar depth, with the bottom rectangular notch's base slightly less shallow. The grey casting shows somewhat the reverse.

 

[KaanE]

I've made an overlay with diferent cuts. You must know that the helmet at the exhibition is laying at an angle (because of the cut at the tubes) so the top lays more pushed back than the bottom. Do I explain? What do I wanna prove with this? That the angles do not match anyway.

I think it's a modified cast of an original, or even an earlier cast of the original reveal. Just my 0.02$ :thumbsup

 

[OldKen]

All good Mac.

So wow. Was this just an amazing fan sculpt that is off in a lot of areas?

Or an oddly and wrongly "cleaned up" casting of something with some sort of actual lineage?

The plot thickens!

 

[KaanE]

Or an oddly and wrongly "cleaned up" casting of something with some sort of actual lineage?

This one IMHO :thumbsup A really nice base to start with, mod it, cast it, and offer a nice Reveal faceplate to the people.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

In Post #27, KaanE made two very good observations about how the square vent was not lining up with the upper tube end of the left side of the face.

I found a different photo of the exhibit ROTJ Reveal and was able to achieve this comparison:

It's interesting to note that the upper tube on the exhibition reveal stops at the point where the cutoff starts on my friend's helmet. Looks like someone said "Shorten those tubes". The upper contour looks to have been straightened out on the exhibition reveal also. That's another thing that doesn't quite gel if this was a fan build. If they went to all that trouble to add in some quite astounding details why half-ass it? Why leave on such basic errors? The more I think about it, the more this looks like an early version of the reveal. The still born older sibling, as it were. KaanE's latest pics seem to confirm this. All the differences seen can be modded very easily to this particular helmet but would be next to impossible to make the exhibition helmet exactly like this one without serious work.

 

[Dann]

Man, you very well could be right.

But dang if those "dynodes" don't look smaller than they are on the real guy.

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

The owner of the helmet just sent me the attached pic to reinforce how easy it is to mod this helmet to match the screen used one. Look at the contour that Mac pointed out above and see how easy it would be to straighten it with a blob of filler. The following took literally 30 seconds.

 

[KaanE]

Please, tell him to mould and cast it before any touches... :lol

If he wants, I could mould it :thumbsup

 

[LeAngeSolitaire]

Please, tell him to mould and cast it before any touches... :lol

If he wants, I could mould it :thumbsup

It's not permanent, it was just a newplast mockup.

Breathe a sigh of relief :lol

 

[KaanE]

Breathe a sigh of relief :lol

You can't imagine it :lol