eltee

I've worked on movie sets as a cop and as an advisor dating back to 1979. They over do alot of things to make them show up on screen to the point that in-person it looks extremely exaggerated. Makeup is a prime example, the women look like Bratz doll harlots with extra long eyelashes, makeup, eye shadow, contour enhancing blush, etc. The men look like G.I. Joe or Ken dolls with pancake face makeup, dyed hair or wigs and, yes, eye makeup. Same goes for props and set decorations. To make something look worn out on screen, you REALLY have to weather it whereas that same item would look too fake when seen in person. Take prop gun replicas. Some builders finish their guns off with a total coat of the same rattle can flat black and consider it done. Others weather the gun so much it looks as if it were turned in a cement mixer filled with rocks and scrap iron. In person, subtle weathering makes an enormous difference but sometimes screen accurate weathering looks like it was way overdone. Some of the weathering I've seen on guns reflect exaggerated damage, in real life damage that would cause some of the big scratches and paint loss would disable the real weapon. Compare that closeup of the helmet to what the same helmet looks like on screen. Love threads like this one. Tons of great info and pics. Thanks. My 2 cents.

Hello, I am new here. I posted some pics of my blasters over in the E-11 thread. I realize that weathering of gear is important, but I was curious as to the philosophy / requirement to dirty up weapons. In the real world, a soldier's weapon is probably the cleanest, most well maintained item he has. A dirty helmet, uniform, even a dirty body is part of being in the field but a dirty weapon is unacceptable and can cost lives. So, my question is do troopers / MEPD members generally dirty up their blasters or do they leave them clean? Something in between? I've not seen any closeups / screencaps of how they treated this issue in the movies. While some of the weapons may show wear, I can't recall any evidence of them being muddy, dirty, dusty, etc. I did a search but did not see anything. Sorry if this has been brought up before, sort of a newbie inquiry.

@ Dirty Boy, Yep...I'll bet you do, buddy! The Sterlings are great guns. The UK police forces used them until the 90's in some areas for their special weapons units. In some areas, they used the 10 round shorty mags, rumored to be the inspiration for the E-11 mags. The ten rounders reportedly made the guns easier to secure and carry, were less intimidating to the population and discouraged cops from "spraying and praying."

Hello. New guy here, but a SW fan since the beginning. Been a cop since the late 70's, been a licensed gun dealer working on real and prop guns since the mid-80's. As I prepare to retire from real police work, I may join up with the MEPD Here are a couple of my blasters. This one is made from an MGC "non-gun" Sterling. It was partially built by the U.S. rep for BAPTY in Los Angeles: This one is made from a real DEWAT Sterling SMG with a real counter, etc.: Here's the one Lando carried when he was forced to help the Imperial Troopers in Cloud City. It differs in many ways from the "Rebel Blaster" and is made from a DEWAT real Sterling SMG: This one is displayed with my trooper mannequin. It is metal, but I cannot recall the history on this one. It is lighter than the MGC and real Sterling blasters but I don't remember the source (I have blasters dating back to the 80's): Here are blasters shown next to an unaltered Sterling SMG: I've got the MR E-11 and Rebel Blaster, some resin versions, an upgraded Hasbro or two but I thought these were the most interesting. Please forgive me if I am being a little show-offy.