I was going to post here, but then it spilled into something more.
See link:
http://thepropden.aokforums.com/viewtop ... 5997#25997

Fair enough.

If Gino's out surely someone else must know. The truth is that eventually all things are being revealed anyways. I personally think that the days of trying to pass off copies as originals are over. Largely because of all of the now public information on how the filming helmets were made.

An example of this is the Stormtrooper helmets. By now everyone has seen the inside and outside of the real TK lids in minute detail including what materials they were made from, and what brand of straps and snap buttons were used to hold them onto the actors faces. But people aren't trying to make and pass off counterfeits as a real TK helmets. People know too much about the originals to even attempt to pass off a fake. It's more about trying to make something as close as possible to the real thing. Fantasy fulfillment for want of a better term. It's something that many want, but very few will ever have. The next best thing is to strive for ultimate accuracy, and what's wrong with that?

There will always be something to foil the best efforts of a would be counterfeiter anyways. Such like the construction techniques and materials used to produce the filming helmets. Or the type of paint used; the ingredients of which are no longer possible to get due to new regulations baning a lot of toxic ingredients. Even the Shroud of Turin was proven to be a fake eventually.

Gino, I'm not criticizing you on your decision. You're entitled to feel as you do, and people haven't been kind to you on occasion. I'm personally glad to read postings from you and find them both entertaining and informative. Don't give up on the brotherhood of Vader. We can't help but get so emotional about our beloved villain.

JB

It's happening on this forum as we speak in multiple places. Not being passed off as original screen used, but original made during the time of production.



Absolutely nothing. In fact, those are my kind of people.
But that's not what I'm talking about.




Not necessarily. Not when all those finishing tells are absent like on a raw casting. It's easy to reproduce that and make it indistinguishable.



True that. And thanks.

Well, we're back to square one.

Well, that thread has nothing to do with this topic, nor do I see anything about the mounting system on that thread. So can we return to the topic and discuss the question?

How many "steps" can you make out in this photo? Two or three?

I see two.

I've just posted several photos of the helmet, but I'm running short on time so for now I'll just post the link to the photos. If people have trouble seeing them please let me know and I'll post direct links to them.

http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o2/j ... 20details/

I'll post photos of the mounting system that I devised soon.

thank you JB!! these are some great photos!!!

Nice shots thanks for posting JB!

Jeremy

Ditto

It's my pleasure. I spent as much time as I could in the Archive room looking about and basking in all of the wonderful props, but more especially gawking at all of the Vader stuff. You probably all saw me there. I was the nut with the camera snapping all the pictures.


It was my first time being able to look at SW props with my own eyes. LFL seems to be boycotting Canada from getting the MOM tour, or any other cool SW bling. Probably has to do with GL getting sued by a Canadian back in 1984. It seems that he's holding onto a grudge.

To get back OT here are two photos of the mounting rings that I fabricated out of ABS then molded.

This particular mount ring was made for the ESB-V2 helmets.





Don't know if this helps anybody or not, but perhaps until we manage to find out what the real mounting systems are it will serve as a useful solution.


JB

An interesting detail that's revealed in the photos that I posted is that you can clearly see that the faceplate didn't have any mounting hardware in place when they made the casting. In other words, the faceplate mold didn't have the step to mount the ring onto. The top of the head was bare ala ANH. The entire mounting system was added after the fact. T

This begs the question of how many different faceplate molds have been made by ILM? I've seen some castings from ILM molds that do have a step. The Jeff ROTJ faceplate (Also the GH Jeff bases offerings of several years ago.) had a full mounting system in place, and this mounting system is part of the mold.

Lastly, if I remember correctly, the faceplate casting on the fourth DVD in the DVD OT release had a mounting system cast in as well. I can't confirm this because I can't find my screen grabs at the mo. . .

I see what you mean, the bolts going through the mounting ring don't appear to make it all the way through the forehead of the mask.