Art Andrews

Just wanted to make it clear that all of the pics of the Brian R helmet were taken from publicly online sources... however... I got yet another letter of love and devotion from our good friend Matt this morning for sharing "his" pictures with all of you. I have edited the true sentiments of his love for the young here, but I hope this goes to help further solidify the nature of this individual and his willingness to threaten people and desperately try to horde information even though it is previously been available on the internet! From: trooperexpert@gmail.com Subject: You low life piece of **** Using my photos I took of the first helmet I owned without my permission huh? You are in some deep mother****ing ***. Stay tuned for what it going to happen to you for this. Perhaps he is planning to sue me like he was going to sue AA for using "his" brow trim design, or perhaps he will have another of his puppets make false statements about my personal life on the public forum in an effort to smear my reputation. Whatever the case, be sure to "stay tuned!"

You are very welcome. I am hoping to revamp my ref CD at some point and include these and a ton of other content that I have collected over the years. The problem right now is an utter lack of organization, time and desire. Maybe I need to get Rocko involved...

Here are all the Brian R Helmet pics I have in a zip file. As I mentioned, they aren't high quality, but it is all I have. http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/misc/RPF_Images/BrianR.zip

*Wonders to self why Mike hasn't managed to get over to Brandon's house to take pics instead of me flying up to take them....*

I would LOVE to have better pics of the Brian R helmet!!! I had a friend try to contact him but never heard back. We do have a number of pics of the Brian R helmet but they are all rather small, poor angles, bad lense distortion, and very compressed. Would be AWESOME to haev a nice 360 of that helmet! If I can get some $$$ up, I am going to fly up to see the Move Along helmet and hope to get nice pics of it. If you think the Dave M helmet is sharp... whew!!! The Move Along face plate is sharp as a KNIFE!

Hmmm... I see where you are coming from but I still think there is talent in what Gino and some others are doing. It is certainly not the CREATIVE type of talent that Paul uses, but in my opinion it is still talent and not just a developed skill.

I was pretty well with you right up until this point. I understand your reasoning but can't agree as Matt's sole purpose in an otherwise banal existence is to exert his supposed supremacy over everyone else in regard to anything trooper related. Does this board really need that? We all know Matt's contributions. We all can thank him for helping pioneer the way to many of us having the armor we have had. But to have to endure the garbage and hate he now seems compelled to constantly spew is really unacceptable. I would ask you to consider the purpose of this board or any board like it. Why are we here? To share information. What has Matt contributed lately... lets say in the past couple of years? He has held a lot of carrots out. He has teased and tantalized us with his secret knowledge... How would you feel if Mike or Paul did that? Would they be welcome if they told us about this amazing pack Mike had made but refused to share any information about it, or how Paul had discovered this and that but couldn't share it for some made up reason? Matt has been given a pass for his horrid conduct and attitude time and again due to the fact that he brought a more accurate set of armor to the masses. While I certainly appreciate that fact, it doesn't give him carte blanche to treat everyone else poorly. Jez, given how he has repeatedly treated you without any justification, I would think you would understand this better than most.

I believe using correctly colored HDPE will be the next evolutionary step in the replica trooper helmet saga. I know several people have played with it, but I have yet to see anyone produce one. THAT will be very interesting to see!

Thought it might interest a few of you to get a rough idea of the differences between the v1 and v2. The key to me is the sharpness of the face. Of course Gino will tell you the biggest deal is the addition of the correct back/cap and ears... I guess we all have our own things. I definitely look forward to seeing other helmets.

I think it is a shame to see some people belittling those who are reworking and recasting original armor. I understand the argument but what I feel that you fail to see is that comparing what someone like Paul does to what Gino does is comparing apples to oranges. Paul's talent and skill at sculpting is absolutely amazing and I give him all the credit in the world for it. From what I can see, his armor looks awesome! However, I have also seen the time and effort, research and study that Gino has put into reverse engineering the RotJ armor into the ANH. It isn't a simple recasting process, but one that has taken a tremendous amount of time and talent. It is very different than what Paul is doing and takes a very different set of talents but to blow it off as simplistic or requiring no skill is simply ignorant. While I won't take a thing away from Paul or his efforts, the reason I feel work like Gino's is so important is because having seen other screen used pieces vs sculpted pieces and have come to see that it is absolutely impossible to resculpt all of the same wonkiness into a piece that is in the original. You can capture the major things, like the bump in the eye, etc, but an original piece has details inherent to it that simply can't be copied, even with a 3D scan. I know this, not from experience with trooper helmets, but with Fett helmets. Comparing the best fan sculpt to a 3D scan to a casting from an original helmet... there are just dozens of small anomalies in the casting of the original that are really too small to be individually quantified but that come together to give the helmet "that look" that you don't see even in the 3D scanned version. I believe this to be true for the trooper helmets as well. Will the reworked RotJ armor ever be perfect? No. Certainly not. I am sure many of those small anomalies were lost after ESB when the suit was recast for RotJ and I am sure more will be lost in the conversion back to ANH. However, I still favor this approach as the base does have lineage back to the original and some of those anomalies ARE still present. These are just MY thoughts, opinions and preferences. If others prefer a sculpted costume, I say more power to you. Paul makes a GREAT item and anyone should be proud to own one. To me, it is simply a difference in taste and just because you don't prefer the RotJ resculpted armor doesn't require one to belittle the makers.

My first sandtrooper costume included a Gino v1 helmet and I really thought that helmet was awesome. However, having had the opportunity to review the v2 first hand has really shown me just how soft the v1 was in so many places. The most amazing thing to me is to know that Gino is using the same mold (at least for the face) as the v1 and it is only the thickness of the plastic being used that is making the dramatic difference in sharpness! If I could ever convince him to make another "Look Sir Droids" style helmet I might be tempted to pull another suit together. Just as a note, the challenge I posted on my site is not one of arrogance (I had nothing to do with the creation of these helmets) but simply of awe. I have seen a LOT of trooper helmets but when it comes to screen accuracy I haven't seen a better one. Not saying a better helmet doesn't exist, only that I have never seen one. TM definitely has a nice bucket and some of the TE helmets aren't too bad either. I think it would be really cool to see them compared to the dave m helmet. Mike, I agree with you about the weathering. I think the lack of scuffs and chips as well as more paint drips, especially on the face plate is a bit distracting as it makes the replica look really clean. When Gino sent it to me to review I threatened to go and roll it around the back yard and driveway but was threatened with death if I messed it up.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! GRUMBLE!!! GRUMBLE!! GRUMBEL! COMPLAIN!!! COMPLAIN!! COMPLAIN! VENT!!! VENT!! VENT! FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON SNEEZES ON ALL ONLOOKERS! OK, jokes aside, I applaud the administration for this move and will try to make sure I keep things more civil from here on out. Oh, and did you notice I mispelled "grumble"???

How long is the moderation of this board going to turn the other cheek and give Matt a pass here as a sockpuppet? Maybe I should create a "notBraksBuddy" ID and see how far I can get with it. The OMM thing was funny at first, but this has gotten to the point where the joke has worn off and it is now setting a precedent for this board, clearly showing that being a banned member means little and that sockpuppeting is an acceptable practice. If you are going to allow Matt to post, then simply unban his account instead of allowing new members to potentially be deceived by this bogus "huked on fonix" doppelganger. It is also fun to see Matt continue to bring up old news in yet another failed effort to smear what he sees as his competition. He NOW tries to claim that Gino purposefully damaged his mold although when he was in a pinch and needed parts he was all too quick to send Gino the mold in exchange for some faceplates, and told Gino when he sent it that the mold was all but shot. When it fell apart in Gino's possession Matt was a bit upset but admitted that he was not suprised as he knew the mold was in terrible shape to begin with. Now in his desperation, as he has done on multiple occasions before, he is going back and rewriting the history of what happened to make it appear that the damage of the mold was intentional. Again, a desperate move by a desperate man who is willing to lie at the drop of a hat in an effort to damage the reputation of his "competition." There was a time I might have been willing to believe this to be true, but having seen Matt pull this card again and again and again, refuting his own previous statements and expecting everyone to just swallow them because he IS the Trooper Expert!!!... well... all I can see is a king without a crown, nipping at the heels of all those who have surpassed him.

I got this email this morning in regard to my Davin Felth pages: Hi Davin My son, who is 4 years old is also named Davin, and is a Star Wars Nut! I came across your sight and showed it to him. Now he thinks your web-sight is his. He is also getting very persistent on me making his Halloween costume for next year. As He wants to be a Storm-trooper, and now specifically the Davin desert storm-trooper. The writer goes on to ask about making small scale trooper armor. I know some here have made armor for their kids but 4 years old... wow... that would have to be TINY armor! Any suggestions I can give this guy?

This is certainly an interesting topic. I have had a problem with even the MEPD requirements for a LONG time until they were recently explained to me that what is being sought is not necessarily "screen accurate" but the LOOK of what immediately comes to one's mind. While not all sandtroopeps had backpacks, the general LOOK of a sandtrooper is a dirty stormtrooper WITH a backpack. I think this would apply twice to the perception of fans. In regard to stormtroopers with pauldrons, what LOOK are you going for? How many fans are going to immediately recognize and identify with this mishmash trooper? How many fans (that are not in armor already) are going to say "Look honey! That is the trooper from page 23 of the Nov 2005, Dark Horse Presents! WOW!" Using some obscure reference from an artist who neither cares nor sticks to a truly singular design (watch the design in any comic change from drawing to drawing) is utterly ridiculous. This is simply grasping at straws by a group who want to somehow differentiate themselves from the masses, both the masses of stormtroopers and the masses of sandtroopers. I hate to tell them, but the Empire isn't about individuality and uniqueness. It is about conforming and being faceless... being one of many. I am an outsider and have never been a member of the 501st because I do not agree with some of their policies. Likewise, if these individuals don't want to conform, perhaps they need to seek an affiliation elsewhere, somewhere that they can be more free to express their individuality and uniqueness, instead of trying to bend the rules of an entire organization to fit their personal desires.

In all of this wonder and amazement, the thing that strikes me most.... you have a girlfriend!!! Heh heh

Also, if anyone would be interested in taking on the project, I would not be opposed to haveing my stock cast. Not sure what kind of interest there would be, but at least the offer is out there.

Agreed. I know that IMA had a few of them but I think they were wanting about $100-$125 for them as their supply was very limited. Apparently the bakelite stocks can break fairly easily (not suprising considering the weight of the overall gun) so there aren't that many out there. I can only assume that is why the bakelite/metal stock combo came about... to prvent the crushing of the bakelite tips.

YOUCH! That is a pretty hefty price tag, but I sure would love to have one!

Well, here is a closeup of my bakelite stock. Some are more black than others, but this is the typical bakelite color, which is also seen on the back of the MG-15.

I would like to challenge the commonly held belief that the MG-34s seen in ANH had woodgrained stocks. I think most people tend to believe this by default because most MG-34s have wood stocks and because many, if not all of the real MG-34s that have been cast, like the hyperfirm, have been cast from a gun that had a wood stock. However, I have seen no evidence in ANH to support wooden stocked MG-34s. The more rare stock used on an MG-34 was a bakelite stock. It is a bit more difficult to find and usually more expensive. However, the photos of the archived MG-34s from ANH clearly have this style stock. Please check out the images below. If you haven't seen these pictures before you are probably looking at the last gun and asking "wtf is that?" The story from bapty is that the Tunisian govt would not allow complete firearms into their country so parts of the gun had to be replaced. As you can see in the last pic, the entire back half of the mg-34 was replaced with a crude replica. This was also done with the E-11s as can be seen in this pic. The back end of the gun was replaced with a solid metal casting. I have posted these pics before but for comparison's sake will post them again. This is my MG-34 with a bakelite stock comapred to one of the LFL guns. I think the bakelite stock on the MG-34 is not only techincally accurate but gives a smoother look to the gun and a bit more of a futuristic feel. Just my thoughts. If anyone can show that one or more of the MG-34s in ANH did have wood stocks, please come forward. Otherwise, I believe the evidence strongly leans against it.

I'd encourage you to look at this pic as well in regard to the pauldron closure system. A lot of this is known info, but here is some "facts" that I have amassed concerning the pauldrons: If you have proof that any of these statements are incorrect, please let me know! They are based off of vintage motocross chest protectors They are symmetrical from side to side (front to back). The black section is broken into 5 ribbed pieces. These ribs are created by stitching. They are not individual panels. The ribs are fairly heavily padded. The strap that goes under the arm attaches to the pauldron where the colored area meets the black area. Right at the edge. The black pauldron is white underneath. The orange pauldron is black underneath White pauldron is white underneath Pauldron is padded all over It is thick, not necessarily stiff, but thick. The white pauldron MIGHT have inserts to make it more stiff. The white pauldron has two lines sewn down the colored area. The connecting pieces are separate pieces and are riveted in place with two rivets.

I will be there Thurs night, Fri night, then Sat night through Mon afternoon. Hope to get a chance to meet up with some of you guys.

Very cool! I believe I ended up completely reweathering my suit about 5 times... The first time the weathering came right off with soap and water but each time if became more and more difficult. By the final application I couldn't scrub it off with a scothc brite... seriously. It is not ON there for good. I assume it is mainly because the armor was so slick to start with and there wasn't much to realy cling to but as we wethered and washed the armor became more and more abraided and the dirt and hairspray had a lot better grip. Very cool demonstration though! I still would be nervous about going out in the rain mostly due to possible streaking or splattering from falling rain.