Jump to content

gino

Member
  • Posts

    255
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by gino

  1. Trust me, I have fantastic shots of every single one of those helmets you posted and clearly the bumps/texture is there. You can even see it in some of the ones you posted. Keep in mind that there is also the thickness of paint to consider which would also help mask some of the surface detail.
  2. Also, another thing to note because I keep coming across more and more people who don't know. This is not a slam against anyone, just a clarification. The TE2 back/cap has been so damaged to the point that in my opinion is not considered authentic. A lot of restoration went into making it usable. Chunks were missing from all over the surface, some of which can still be seen in some of the pulls. There's no way to re-sculpt the authentic surface nuances back into the mold regardless of how talented the sculptor is.
  3. Actually, all the stunts had bumpy back/caps. Just different degree of sharpness. It is sometimes difficult to capture the bumps/texture in photos regardless, but ESPECIALLY when the pull was soft. Matt is wrong once again. I only posted this because this is how inaccurate info spreads.
  4. You can read the full descriptions on the auctions. There's a lot to read. I figured I'd just post pics by themselves here as a showoff thread. Also, I put the auction links up in the "for sale" section for anyone interested. Also, just wanted to point out that the two stunt helmets could easily be turned into sandtroopers by painting over the stripes in the tears and traps. Here are the three: V.2 ANH HERO Unpainted just like originals. Correct 3 bump style earcaps. Has dark green (looks black from the outside) bubble lenses. Hand painted details and tubestripes. Yellow star foam. Chin strap. My personal favorite version of trooper helmet. V.2 ANH BUMPY CAP STUNT Painted white like the originals. Features the bumpy/textured cap. The only helmet available that has a non-cleaned up, un-restored version of back/cap and non-cleaned up face and ears. Hand painted details and tubestripes. Yellow star foam. Chin strap. This helmet is modeled after the screen identified 'Set for Stun' trooper and utilizes molds taken directly from that helmet's earcaps. The face and cap back come from the screen used original Brian R. helmet (click my banner for detailed explaination). This helmet could easily be modified into a sandtrooper by painting in the teardrops and trapazoids, or into an ESB by obtaining a set of ESB decals and painting the frown black. V.2 ANH SMOOTH CAP STUNT For anyone who ever wanted an authentic accurate helmet, but couldn't get past the ugly bumpy back/cap, this is the perfect helmet for you. It utilizes all the same components of the V.2 Bumpy stunt, except the back/cap is the smooth version. That is the ONLY difference. They are finished and detailed in exactly the same intentional sloppy way. Same materials and accessories. This is about as "idealized" as you'll ever see me make a prop. Just this once. :dry Also, just like the bumpy cap version, this helmet could easily be modified into a sandtrooper by painting in the teardrops and trapazoids, or into an ESB by obtaining a set of ESB decals and painting the frown black.
  5. It's real. It' s just that it has been very poorly reconditioned and re-fitted with inaccurate replica ears, lens, mic tips, etc.. I don't understand how when someone with an original trooper helmet goes looking for someone to do restoration work, (there's been at least 2 now) that they manage to get the totally wrong people for the job and end up with an abomination like this.
  6. Another scratchbuild? As far as I've seen, this is the first.
  7. How anyone can look at that faceplate and not realize that it is a reworked recast is beyond me. Pretty much all of the top trooper people are all in agreement on this one. Sculpted from scratch "from a certain point of view" indeed. But it is readily available to people so I suppose we should all turn the other cheek on this one.
  8. Sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic.
  9. I can agree with that. But what if a suit came along that had lineage AND the anh specific details, some of which a lot of people don't know about even to this day? In time.
  10. I understand where you are coming from Todd. The difference is, to the casual observer and at-a-glance, it looks correct. But when heavily scrutinized against film original pieces, it falls apart. For some, probably for most, that is totally fine. For me though, I don't care about what the prop should look like, or what it looks like in my mind's eye. I want it to look just like the film prop in every way as if you set it right next to an original. I'm interested in it from an artistic/historic//purist/anal-accuracy point of view, as opposed from a practical costumer's point of view. Although, I admit, I started out with one point of view and over the years grew into the other. I wasn't always a purist. I find that happens to a lot of people when they stay focused on a particular prop area. They start to want the more and more accurate.
  11. One thing I've noticed is that he goes from one board to another like a cancer, taking advantage of the non-informed for as long as possible until people shine a light on him. Then he gets banned and finds another board on which he can prey on people's ignorance. I used to think that about this forum when I first came here. Glad to know that most people here (at least I think) are not walking around with their eyes closed to this. Now there is a whole new crop, and a new playground unknowingly ready to swallow Matt's huge load. http://www.whitearmor.net/forums
  12. I can't count on one hand how many times Matt sold "rights" to people when he was supposed to have walked away afterward. Glad I got in on the ground floor to have obtained the ORIGINAL molds. Outside of Matt not honoring his deals and selling people recast molds, and other recasting scum, the only people who SHOULD have the ability to produce helmets/armor (non fx) is myself and GF/AP. That was how is was supposed to be. That is what people paid for loooong ago. Now, its such a cluster**** of incestual lineage, most people don't know the true histories, or the savy to distinguish between the nuances of 'makers'. I ask you, what would you do if you paid someone 5 figures for molds and "rights" and then they turned around and acquired recast items and started selling again? Then, made the same con to another and another. That's what it is, a con. They say a sucker is born every minute. Here's to no more suckers...hopefully.
  13. Actually, I'm fairly certain that hdpe was originally used so that they could easily and without wasting a ton of split rejects, remove the pieces from the mold. On 50+ helmets and on a time constraint, you'd want something quick, flexible and durable at time of removal. Besides, the stunt style were originally INTENDED to be used for background shots anyways. Not close ups. Technically, we are using the word "stunt" in regards to trooper helmets incorrectly. A stunt piece is specifically meant for stunt work. What we should be calling them are background helmets or 'B' helmets and hero/closeup or 'A' helmets. I doubt there were any true 'stunt' helmets made for SW. Maybe armor though.
  14. Actually, the whole size degredation is way overrated. Usually by people who don't have a true understanding of materials and processes. Of all the suits out there, Paul's armor is the LEAST closest to the originals from an accuracy standpoint simply because it was scratch built. Whether or not certain ANH specific details are present or not is inconsequential. Nothing scratch built can be as close to a film used original as something that was taken directly from it. And yes, jedi armor comes from ANH with only slight mods to some areas. Way less than most people think. Accuracy is not always in the details. Shape, size, proportion, but most importantly, the inherent sculptural nuances (waves, warps, etc..) that are present in the original film used pieces, can never be replicated by hand. Not even by the most talented sculptors on the planet. People don't seem to understand that. I believe that is mostly because they are not artisans. Regardless, it is true. In regard to Paul's armor, great if you want something idealized. But to talk about it in terms of being the most accurate out there is ridiculous.
  15. Jez, I swear, I am not trying to fight so please, if my post comes across harsh or whatever, apologies in advance as its not my intent. Here are my thoughts on this matter. Firstly, when someone says "original molds", the impression people get is that it is the EXACT piece of material that the originals touched when they were formed back in 76. I feel like it is more of a situation of "original molds...from a certain point of view". Now from that standpoint, AA might feel as if he is being forthright. That in and of itself causes people to feel misled because they don't see that "certain point of view" and makes them feel as if they are being lied to. Also, the way I understood it was that he felt he HAD to maintain the standpoint of "mold originality" if he was to stand a chance with the whole rights to produce thing. Could they be original molds? Possibly. But what does it matter if they don't produce accurate looking parts? If you follow this thinking through, you could take the ACTUAL original trooper helmet molds, add enough bondo and grind away enough material and transform it into a scout trooper mold. Is it still the original trooper helmet mold? Sure, "from a certain point of view", but now the parts it produces now look like a scout trooper. I think the biggest problem AA made for himself is that he shouldn't have marketed his product the way he did. If he would have been forthcoming about all the changes and true mold lineage, people still would have wanted his stuff because it came from HIM, regardless of whether his helmets matched the screen originals exactly. Instead, what he got was a lot of people who felt like he promised one thing and delivered another. And also, we ALL suffered from a huge split and war over the issue. Back then we fought viciously over whether or not his new helmets matched the originals. This issue caused a lot of relationships to dissolve and factions to be created on either side of the line. Now, it has become common belief that they don't exactly match the originals even from yourself. It sucks that this issue has UNNECESSARILY affected so many people, threads, relationships, etc... as I think that now after all the smoke has cleared, there is more common ground to be shared than before thought. Back to the SDS helmet pieces themselves. The true story of the cap/back and earcaps is an enigma that only AA knows the answers to. We know that they don't match the originals but why do they look the way they do now? As a maker of molds and helmets myself, I'm sure that if I spoke to him and he was totally forthcoming about the issues he encountered in re-establishing them, I could at least see what his thought process was that led him to where the stuff is now. That doesn't mean I'd agree with it, but at least gain some understanding. Were they originals that were cut apart and put back together wrong? Were they casts of casts of casts modified in places over time to streamline production? Rebuilt from scratch using other parts as reference? Who knows. The faceplate is still the one piece that I think there is still controversy over. We know the original faceplate mold started out as stunt/background mold and then later went through changes to become the hero/closeup mold. If AA was using the original mold (now in hero configuration), he would have had to re-work it back into stunt specs. By now this mold would have been so re-worked, that most of its 76 originality would have been lost. Again, I say what does it matter if it is the original mold, if it doesn't produce exacting 76 looking parts. The teeth area on the SDS stunt has been re-vamped, cleaned up and over sharpened. There are details on the teeth on the originals that do not appear on the SDS teeth. I used to think that the helmet that my molds came from were just damaged, but seeing close up evidence in these new screencaps proved these details should be there without a doubt. These details are little dents along the edgeline of the frown where they meet the teeth. Hard to explain without a pic. Jez, speaking specifically to you. I remember you saying that the reason you belived that AA was using the original molds for the helmet was because he gave you his word and you didn't believe he would lie to you. On other occasions such as the armor for example, you see him outright lying about their origins. Doesn't that make you at least re-consider his word on the helmets as well? I ask because red flags would be going off in most other peoples' heads. With all you have seen and experienced in the whole mess that is the SDS controversy, can you really not see it? Look at all the things we've fought over, # of hdpe vs. abs used on screen, consistency in the location of bumps-texture on the cap/back, whether or not the SDS cap/back & ears matched the on screen ones, etc... I'm hoping that at some point you'll see a track record of good judgement on my part and at least give me the benefit of the doubt. Do we all really still need to be divided over this issue of SDS??! I suppose it all starts with a willingness to accept the possibility that the other side could be right. Without that, forget it. There is common ground to be found if both sides are willing to look for it. I feel like you have never once even considered the possibility that AA could have been dishonest with you about these helmet molds. I feel like it is mostly because you don't want to believe that could be the case. I could be wrong, but that is the impression I've gotten from you over the years. Longest post ever.
  16. I hope people know that there aren't supposed to be those huge recesses in the cap/back. Those are from damage to the cap/back mold where huge chunks of the mold were missing.
  17. Another thing. I know for a fact that a lot of other "trooper experts" share my sentiments but won't step forward because they know that a huge majority here would come down on them, the same way they are coming down on me.
  18. Seth, There aren't enough pics posted to show what is necessary to "prove" to some people's standards. I asked multiple times for ANYONE to post pics and nada. Wonder why. I truly believe the faceplate is AT LEAST taken (and modified) from an original sourced faceplate. I do not believe that it was sculpted completely from scratch. Maybe with better pics, I'd change my mind. I'm not apologizing for what I believe to be recast. I've been down that road before many times and I've NEVER been wrong about it. If I am wrong this time, it would be the first. And if that is the case, I would apologize and compliment on my own accord. I've based my opinion on what I've seen posted. It will remain that way until I see something that shows different. It also sucks to see people giving free passes to people just because they've acquired or hope to acquire their goods. I think that's a lot of what's going on here as well.
  19. Don't go running for the popcorn just yet. I'm not trying to fight here. It sucks, but if I don't respond to BS allegations, people with take them as fact.
  20. That is such a twisted take on the reality of what transpired with almost all of what is being said were outright lies. I'm so disgusted with that response that I'm not even going to give it the time of day. I do however find it interesting that Paul posted this info on behalf of Matt. With all Matt's supposed knowledge, I'm actually surprised that he couldn't tell that Paul recast one of his helmets and tried to pass it off as a sculpt starting from a sole lump of clay. Maybe he's slipping.
  21. If you are referring to the three hump ear piece, then as far as I know, my hero is the only helmet to incorporate that detail.
  22. Another thing to note is that about 2.5 years ago, I supplied Matt with about 12 of my v1 faceplates in the glossy plastic because he couldn't make them. Most people who have a glossy plastic helmet from Matt is sporting one of my faceplates withouth even knowing as I'm sure he didn't tell anyone. His never looked that good.
  23. I wish you guys would use my v2 for the comparisons instead of the v1. There are plenty of good pics of it at: www.looksirdroids.com
  24. That's one of my v1 style helmets. There's a world of difference between my v1 and v2 but that's for another thread.
×
×
  • Create New...