awesome pics!

finally-the aforementioned AP/SDS comparison shot from Saturday. Can you see why i went home and trimmed my eyes? (SDS on the right)

Awesome...whats the chances you could give me your address and leave your house unlocked for me one night.

lol yah riiiight!

another thing I notice when comparing the above is that the teardrops under the eyes seem closer to the tubes on the AP....hmmmm the overall helmet just feels "taller" that the SDS...the SDS seems more flat-faced.

**scratches head/ squints eyes**

That may have something to do with the SDS cap-neck being too large.

Even for the Battle Spec?

perhaps. ya know the more you stare at them you start to see other things. I think the continuity of the gray on the frown on the AP is another difference. the fact that I carefully wrapped my teeth with gray forces the color around the tooth, scribing it to the "lips." this gives an up-and-down action to the color that the AP doesn't have. The aerators seem to flare a bit on the AP as opposed to more straight on on the SDS. Also, (I know the above comp pic isn't the best for this detail but) the ear caps on the AP seem more perpendicular to the axis of the helmet (they're flatter) where the SDS ear caps appear to flair back slightly. hmmmm

The ear cap angle is probably just an assembly difference. I doubt they are that different.

As for the teeth, here are closeups of mine.

more artsy shots I took yesterday:

Wow, that's a sweet bucket man!!!!

Dave

How did I miss those? They look great!

LOL thanks. messed with the levels in iPhoto a bit and voila...bucket wallpapers =)

Wow, great photos, Scott!

So I did a bit of Photoshopping. The SDS helmets have always struck me as handsome and very organic.

However, I've always felt the SDS pull looked skewed, as if something was pulled from a mold too quickly such that the helmet is drooping or skewed towards the left.

What do you think of this image:



Could the AA product have looked like the one in the right if it weren't skewed?

Regardless, you have a wonderful acquisition there!

nice job!
hmmm, well it may have looked like it was drooping to the left cuz I had the darned thing balanced on a roll of white tracing paper. Not only that, roll was actually making contact with the cloth material of the hard hat liner. (okay so Im not a professional photographer LOL)
Still, the battle spec does have a certain awkwardness to it...it's "flat-faced" in my opinion, in addition to its other "tells" which are the deep teeth and its stright-line cut on the underside of the upper eyelids.

Well, some TEs are a bit flat-faced too, Scott. I guess it really depended on the vacuum forming process and how they were assembled. The "Move along" trooper's face looks taller and narrower, and I'm not talking about just the brow trim or the higher skullcap.

Very nice though. What I like about the SDS, despite it's slight flaws, is that it looks more solid and thicker. How is it "battlespec"? Is it supposedly using a thicker material?

definitely thicker. it is quite a bit more substantial than my AP. I'm not sure on the numbers--Id have to check sds' product page as I think they list it--but i can tell you it is much more sturdy than my AP. it was "built for trooping" so they say.
All in all I love my sds, but you know how it is--this game we all play--searching for the holy grail is fun =)