Fan made replicas and helmets

[sergiurusu]

From what I know Museum Replicas and Rubies are having the armor license. Too bad both their products are crap, no need to show Rubies armor since everyone knows how bad it is, but the Museum Replicas is not much better either alas: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/8816-coming-soon-museum-replicas-anh-armor-that-lfl-and-museum-replicas-are-producing/

[JediTricks]

From what I know Museum Replicas and Rubies are having the armor license. Too bad both their products are crap, no need to show Rubies armor since everyone knows how bad it is, but the Museum Replicas is not much better either alas: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/8816-coming-soon-museum-replicas-anh-armor-that-lfl-and-museum-replicas-are-producing/

Yeah, you really don't need to show us anything from Rubies, we are already quite aware of how poor they are.

I remember seeing that Museum Replicas armor at Comic-Con a few years ago, but it wasn't there the last 2 years IIRC, I'd guess Lucasfilm shot it down.

[sergiurusu]

I would really like a licensed armor to have all the tells of an original screen used one. Even if they make 2 versions, a more idealized, cleaned up one and an armor for hardcore fans to keep all the warps and asymmetry. Too bad something this will not be in sight too soon alas...

[JediTricks]

The problem is that if you go full warts with a licensed armor, you risk annoying the ultra-rich fans who aren't that hardcore but want something brand name and looks slick and are willing to pay whatever it takes. The thin materials and warts and dents and such don't cut it for that set. If they're paying licensed prices for helmets and armor, they certainly wouldn't expect it to be made of the thinner materials actually used in the making of the films, those film-used pieces were as cheap as they could be and still get away with looking a certain way in-camera, and nothing more. Obviously creating 2 sets of tooling to make a clean fiberglass version and a shooting-accurate one would be very expensive.

[sergiurusu]

The problem is that if you go full warts with a licensed armor, you risk annoying the ultra-rich fans who aren't that hardcore but want something brand name and looks slick and are willing to pay whatever it takes. The thin materials and warts and dents and such don't cut it for that set. If they're paying licensed prices for helmets and armor, they certainly wouldn't expect it to be made of the thinner materials actually used in the making of the films, those film-used pieces were as cheap as they could be and still get away with looking a certain way in-camera, and nothing more. Obviously creating 2 sets of tooling to make a clean fiberglass version and a shooting-accurate one would be very expensive.

Look at the eFX Vader Legend and Limited. Then it seems the Scout helmet will also be made in 2 variants one of fiberglass and one of ABS. At least that is how they want to do it. Star Wars fans have evolved, they are not the same people who didn't know too much about real props. For those who don't care about accuracy on armors, they can easily get even today the Rubies Stormtrooper or Vader. An idealized symmetrical armor will sell to certain people of course, but it will not sell to the other people.

As for what is best to be made of, I would say that fiberglass is not the best either since it cracks very easily. ABS could be better sometimes, especially for armor, and recently new types of coated ABS were realized so these would work very well. Carbon fiber was another material some 501st talked about, not accurate to screen used but quite resilient.

[Snowtrooper]

I had an interesting delivery yesterday. I got a hold of a TIE Pilot chest box, mannequin, & tubes. When I ordered it they specifically asked if I wanted the helmet as well. I told them no since I already had it. Well it shows up yesterday and they sent me the helmet too, but didn't charge me. My first thought was that I need to notify them and return it. Unfortunately, customs agents had opened the box, took everything out of the plastic and them just stuffed it back into the box, resulting in styrofoam rubs on everything. After looking at it, I was fortunate that the armor and chestbox escaped much of the rubbing. The helmet is a different story. It has some pretty severe rub marks on it and one of the metal greeblies on the ears was missing,which I found later in the bottom of the box. I'm a little concerned that if I notify the company they may say I damaged it and want to charge me. But then again, its their mistake for sending it in the first place, so maybe I have nothing to worry about.


Adding the chestbox and armor really makes for an impressive piece. I'd seen plenty of pictures of the whole set, but I couldn't believe how friggin huge the whole thing was when put together. I don't have the hoses hooked up to the helmet yet. The original TIE helmet I have seems to have smaller holes for the tubes then the one that came with it. So, I'm going to see if I can rig up something to attach the hoses without having to cut out the holes bigger and risk damaging the helmet.

[sergiurusu]

Congrats! Do you have any pics of the 2 helmets and the chest armor/box? Who are the makers? My TIE Fighter Pilot and the AT-AT Driver bust are huge, but VERY impressive. Just ordered a cabinet for the bad boys last week, and it will be ready in January.

[JediTricks]

Look at the eFX Vader Legend and Limited. Then it seems the Scout helmet will also be made in 2 variants one of fiberglass and one of ABS. At least that is how they want to do it. Star Wars fans have evolved, they are not the same people who didn't know too much about real props. For those who don't care about accuracy on armors, they can easily get even today the Rubies Stormtrooper or Vader. An idealized symmetrical armor will sell to certain people of course, but it will not sell to the other people.

As for what is best to be made of, I would say that fiberglass is not the best either since it cracks very easily. ABS could be better sometimes, especially for armor, and recently new types of coated ABS were realized so these would work very well. Carbon fiber was another material some 501st talked about, not accurate to screen used but quite resilient.

The thing is, eFX is using shared molds and methods which you yourself have said you don't approve of, for authenticity's sake. So on the one hand, they are trying these sorts of things, but on the other that audience is not entirely receptive to their efforts when the price is so high and the results aren't 100% perfection.

And of course, it's one thing to make 2 versions of a helmet, but quite another to expand that to 2 versions of an entire armor. The helmets have the most character to them, they have more appeal for it; the armor is a lot larger and yet carries less of the personality, so it'd attract less buyers.

Fiberglass helmets and armor that aren't meant to be worn shouldn't be concerned over cracking since they're not generally meant to be bumping into things. ABS is difficult to use because it discolors over time, it generally has a very short shelf-life, around 5 to 10 years I think, and coatings aren't a real answer because it needs to impregnate the material to keep it from decaying. Carbon Fiber sounds very expensive and doesn't take color well, but as an undermaterial it could be strong enough.

I had an interesting delivery yesterday. I got a hold of a TIE Pilot chest box, mannequin, & tubes. When I ordered it they specifically asked if I wanted the helmet as well. I told them no since I already had it. Well it shows up yesterday and they sent me the helmet too, but didn't charge me. My first thought was that I need to notify them and return it. Unfortunately, customs agents had opened the box, took everything out of the plastic and them just stuffed it back into the box, resulting in styrofoam rubs on everything. After looking at it, I was fortunate that the armor and chestbox escaped much of the rubbing. The helmet is a different story. It has some pretty severe rub marks on it and one of the metal greeblies on the ears was missing,which I found later in the bottom of the box. I'm a little concerned that if I notify the company they may say I damaged it and want to charge me. But then again, its their mistake for sending it in the first place, so maybe I have nothing to worry about.

That's a pretty unusual situation. Having to go through customs again and fix the damage for just the lid may not even be worth their time. Legally the helmet is yours to keep since the mistake was on your end. My first instinct would have been to contact them, but realistically it seems like there's enough reason to not bother with all that. Keep it as a backup or give it to a friend or something like that.

Adding the chestbox and armor really makes for an impressive piece. I'd seen plenty of pictures of the whole set, but I couldn't believe how friggin huge the whole thing was when put together. I don't have the hoses hooked up to the helmet yet. The original TIE helmet I have seems to have smaller holes for the tubes then the one that came with it. So, I'm going to see if I can rig up something to attach the hoses without having to cut out the holes bigger and risk damaging the helmet.

I'm not surprised it's so big, consider wearing an X-wing helmet on your head and a box on your chest, that's going to take up a lot of space by itself without shoehorning a stormtrooper mask into the helmet and hoses between that and the chestbox - it's like a third of a person! Glad to hear your setup is impressive, but pics speak too. As for the holes not matching up, that sounds frustrating, maybe you could heat-shrink the tubing but I'd probably just try to find a smaller tubing to meet between the helmet and the included hose, the box's hose tubing should slip over a short accurate-sized tube and look ok.

[Snowtrooper]

Serg, its an SDS model. I got it from an outfit in Canada, so it has to go through customs before it arrives here. I'll bet the customs agents had no idea what the value of this thing is, maybe thinking its a cheap halloween mask and thus handled it accordingly.

That's a pretty unusual situation. Having to go through customs again and fix the damage for just the lid may not even be worth their time. Legally the helmet is yours to keep since the mistake was on your end. My first instinct would have been to contact them, but realistically it seems like there's enough reason to not bother with all that. Keep it as a backup or give it to a friend or something like that.

I'm not surprised it's so big, consider wearing an X-wing helmet on your head and a box on your chest, that's going to take up a lot of space by itself without shoehorning a stormtrooper mask into the helmet and hoses between that and the chestbox - it's like a third of a person! Glad to hear your setup is impressive, but pics speak too. As for the holes not matching up, that sounds frustrating, maybe you could heat-shrink the tubing but I'd probably just try to find a smaller tubing to meet between the helmet and the included hose, the box's hose tubing should slip over a short accurate-sized tube and look ok.

Your right about me legally not having to do anything with it. But I'd feel a little dishonest about it if I didn't at least contact them about it, especially considering what they cost. Who knows, maybe they'll just say keep it. After I got my brain out of 1st gear, I realized that I don't have to push the hoses all the way through the holes. Just pushing them partways in is enough and they hold just fine. I'll post some pics hopefully tomorrow. I've taken some pics of just the helmet before, but it always seems overexposed with the flash or underexposed without it. So don't laugh too hard when you see the pics.

[JediTricks]

I meant the mistake WASN'T on your end! What a mistake on my end!

I had the same instinct about contacting them, wrote a whole sentence about the cost issue, then deleted it for being too goody-goody when really it probably will be a pain in the butt for them to pay to ship back through customs and repair, especially when they charged you the same for the helmet as without (I'm assuming that's the case since they asked you if you wanted it).

If you have a camera that can take a long exposure picture (like 1/2 of a second or longer, the longer you leave it capturing the better the pic will be until it's so long that any nuance of light overwhelms it, but in natural ambient interior light I was shooting 4-second shots using the lowest ISO setting), I suggest setting the camera up to do so. Set the camera on a solid surface, pre-focus by holding the shutter halfway but use the timer function so that your button-press doesn't shake the camera, and take the shot that way. Black and reflective makes for a very difficult photographing surface, and the flash will turn it into a mess. If you can't get a long-exposure shot, the other advice is to take the shot from far away and zoom in to compensate for the flash.