Apart from some minor flaws I think it looks great! The only thing that puzzles me is that third (grey) hose. I know it's part of the original design, but is there some evidence of it being used in ANH / RotJ?

I haven't seen it before. Where is it supposedly attached to?

Cool looking piece, btw!

Well, it's original as can been seen in the pic above.

The replica has a hole in the back armor (so it seems) where the hose can be connected.



But I'm pretty sure that's not how it was done in ANH / RotJ

Just one question why has he used a TK backplate every other set of TIE armour available has a plain square hump on the back so has everyone else been getting it wrong all these years or has AA made a real goof ?

AA made a goof. Apparently someone from the RPF contacted him and he realised. The ones shipped out have a flat back, but also some slightly odd looking bolt convers on the shoulder connectors

Nice package though

Cheers

Jez

Hi Jez you get around on as many forums as me mate
Heres some pics of the final product guys i agree the nuts on the shoulder bridge tiles do look a little large

Nice pics!

It appears as if the hose is connected to the manequin's back.

Yeah the latest concensous is the third hose was connected to the flightsuit rather than the back plate which was previously thought and is shown in the first set AA did above
notice there is no connector though like in the original pic with the stack of helmets

That looks quite nice. Wish I could afford one.

right on Defstar!

Regarding the TIE chestbox - AA told me 2-3 years ago that he had the moulds to the box. SO when I finally saw the new chestbox a few months back I was pleasently surprised when I noticed some things on it that I'd never seen on a replica before (like the cup holders on the top surface).

The armour is not from the original moulds, but I think the chestbox is (as isthe helmet)

Cheers

Jez

I'm no expert on tie helmets but what a great display piece.

Yeah i think due to the lack of the chestbox being seen on screen ( limited to one brief moment in ROTJ) all the fan stuff got modelled on the visual dictionary and tour chestbox which is different,aswell as the cup holders on the top there was no third hose and different switches

I'd love a set of this just can't afford it i think the armour and chestbox while more expensive than fan made stuff isn't outragiously priced but the helmet puts the whole thing out of my range

Well guys take a look by yourself. This is footage from ANH used on ROTJ
The third hose is right there.

Yep thats the only shot in all the movies where the chestbox is seen AA's looks spot on to me except for the three white bits on the top of the angled section on top of the box you cant see those in the movie
But that doesn't mean they werent on the originals just not on that particular box there were other costumes with incorrect or missing parts like the trooper with no tube stripes

You can see those little white strips on the top of Luke's X-Wing chestbox in a ANH when he's climbing into his X-wing at the end of the film (a high angle shot). I also think a lot of the pieces used on the Tie Pilot Chest Box were also used on the X-wing chestbox (the buttons, little white rectangles/strips, machined metal parts, etc.). This would tie into AA's philosophy of using the same parts for different props (i.e. the APh helmest for the X-WIng PIlot Helmets and as a part of the Tie Pilot Helmet)>