I was under the impression they did a laserscan in order to have the computer mirror-flip one side of the face so that the resulting helmet could be realized using a 3D printer.

Wasn't there a company in the UK who used to deal with making promotional Vaders at some point? I cannot remember the name of the company for the life of me. I will trawl through some of my emails to see if I can find their name.

I might be able to shed some light on this...

I was the Lucasfilm Archivist from 1988 until 1994, and then again from 1995 until 1996.

There were a total of 18 Darth Vaders made for the Fox marketing campaign of 1995, and I believe 32-36 stormtroopers made. Fox needed so many for different campaigns around the world, so they were sent off to places such as Australia, the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Mexico...A manual created by me accompanied each set (One Vader and Two troopers), explaining sizes of actors, how to dress, and how to act. Unlike the popular myth, the suits were not made for the Special Editions, although many of the stormtoopers were used in some of the scenes for extra filming, as the many original suits were in bad shape.

The ILM model shop, under the guidance of Charlie Bailey, made the stormtroopers, and I believe they were created using styrene. The molds were fabricated by pouring plaster into existing parts (ESB or ROJ era suits), and cleaned up here and there--though many parts are not as sharp as their originals. Additionally, some smaller patterns were created new, such as belt and knee details. They also molded prop guns to go with the characters out of urethane.

The Vaders were created by my wife and I under our company banner (at the time) of DNA Productions. The mask was cast in fiberglass, and the helmets and chest control boxes were vacuum-formed black styrene. Urethane details were cast to dress the control box, and stock electrical project boxes were used for the belt details. Grant Imahara of Mythbusters fame provided a digital "breathing" soundbox, as well as blinking electronics. The suits were made of fake leather (pleather?),as the budget would not allow anything higher quality.

To the best of our knowledge, the costumes all made their way back to the archives and are occasionally still used, though many fan-built suits today are better, in my opinion. Some details and accessories of the costumes were lost (or stolen), but I think everything was accounted for at one time or another. One Vader and two troopers were destroyed in a car accident in Mexico--nobody was wearing them, as they were in a van in their crates when the vehicle rolled over. That suit was returned to the ranch for inspection and replacement, though it was never recreated.

Hope that answers your questions,

--Don Bies