Hi,
Well I have been off the forums for a couple of days so it has taken a wee bit of catching up to read through this thread. It has been a really interesting thread so far and the pics Anson has provided have turned out great
Thomas one mould was made and all seven faceplates were made in roughly the same time period unfortunately getting them shipped was the hassle as the prop maker works between two cities in the UK. I think you also experienced a very long wait for you faceplate but it wasn't due to it not being made it was due to it sitting waiting to be posted.
There are no differences in all seven faceplates made. I could contact the prop maker for you if you would like that confirmed.
I did at one point have 3 VPs in hand and looking at them all they could not be told apart from each other. The guy who made them is a professional and his standard of work is excellent. In fact the reason they were stopped being made was because there was a tiny tear in the mould taken from the master helmet and the propmaker was such a perfectionist he will not make any more unless he makes a new mould. Lesser propmakers would have tried a repair and carried on making more. Any lumps, bumps flaws etc seen on the VP are on all seven. They and definitely on the three I aquired and would doubt the other changed in any way.
For clarity the maker of the VP faceplates who is the same guy who works in the TV and film industry got his copy from a mould in the early mid nineties.
To my knowledge he has never said it is ROTJ to anybody which has been said in this thread. In all honesty he was sent to make a Vader for promotional work and was presented with moulds for certain items a faceplate, dome and tusks being part of this. He wasn't told it was ROTJ he was just told it was Darth Vader and he himself wouldn't have known the difference between ANH/ESB/ROTJ and to be honest the guys who allowed him to use the mould probably couldn't have told the difference either. I am in no way not saying it isn't, or can't be ROTJ era all I am saying is to my knowledge that was never stated.
The run eventually ended up producing seven faceplates Thomas (Sithlord) got one, I got three and the other three went to fellow prop collectors and friends.
The line were the VP neckline ends is I think were the master copies neckline is cut to. In hand this can be seen on the VP as where the neckline is cut you can see in some areas the line slightly.
Any clean up done on the faceplate I think was done by the propmaker. He unfortunately did sand off the tabs. If you are going ANH with a faceplate no big deal as they were not part of the original prop the tabs were screwed on. If you wanted accuracy for ESB/ROTJ then taking the tabs off is a shame. The reason for clean up was he got access to a screen used Vader that was owned by a UK collector and decided to make the VP master the same. That is why on the master there is writing in pencil and a larger chin vent marked up.
Fortunately after minor clean up he never continued with his Vader and it was left in storage for years.
Then as luck would have it I met a friend of the propmaker and after seeing the VP master pics organised a run of ten helmets going through the friend of the propmaker. The ten were never completed only seven but if the propmaker makes a new mould from his master then more may become available.
I am really hoping another run will be done if there is enough interest I will phone my friend and see if anything can be done. Also it would be great to get the dome that came with the VP made up. I will honestly try my hardest to see if copies from the master VP can be made again but it will depend on the willingness of the propmaker and his work schedule and if there was any real demand. Unfortunately nobody apart from the propmaker can dictate if any more will be made.
Because of this thread interest levels have been raised on this prop so please beware especially people who are new to the hobby unfortunately the VP is currently not available from anybody unless the original propmaker decides to do another run.
So basically anybody offering VP faceplates at this point in time is either a recaster or a liar
Jeremy Gonk27 do you work for the BBC? If you are who I think you are (sorry if I am wrong
) I have a feeling after talking through mutual friends you actually might know the guy who made the VP. Shoot me a PM if you like.
Oh yeah. As Anson pointed out VP isn't a propmakers initials like a lot of props it is a name stuck on it by a friend of the propmaker and if you knew the full story of the run and how 'slowly stop start' it all went then VP is very apt and very funny. I must say though after almost 2 years of trying to get the helmets made it all turned out 'Dantastic'
I don't think though we should get too hung up in the competition thing with the Vaders. I think we should maybe just appreciate the fact that a couple of new excellent Vaders have come along for the community to enjoy.
It is a great time to be a Vader fan.
Cheers Chris.