Found a very (which I think is true!) interesting guess in the TD ANH comparison thread.
Quote:
Regarding the cast tabs: do we know of another sample of "original" cast tabs other than the ones seen on the TD and TM (and probably the 20th Century)? All the cast tabs I have seen on faceplates with a "lineage" are identical in size, position and screw position, which tells me that they originate from ONE ancestor, whether this was THE Tantive faceplate or the OTHER/SECOND hero ANH faceplate used for shooting, that I do not know.
(by vaderman)
Maybe it's a bit keen - and I do NOT want to p*** off anybody...but the same rules and restrictions made for potential buyers of castings which have a link to screenused / production made helmets prevent us from doing correct research.
Yes - they prevented folks like SPFX and JB from adding details of an authentic cast to their work. Totally understand that and the logic behind restrictions regarding close up shots.
But: A 20th century copy can be easily obtained for much less than let's say a TD or a TM. What if - when made possible! - research brings to light, that some cheaper casts (like the 20th century) have the SAME ancestor than a let's say TM, VP, TD etc. etc.???
THIS would (I think) let some fear that their rare and never offered publically vader helmet would loose it's value (not so much in money but value in respects of it's rareness)...and that as a guess: then I understand why some folks refuse to show detail shots of their helmets.
On the bottom line: it's not only a matter of being a die hard collector...it's about money. And when it comes to the money issue we all know how things work.
This NOT intended in anyone's specific direction! It's just my 2cents.
Regarding the 3m Apple tabs:
The ANH Vader was sculpted without these (it would be insane to think otherwise). Then a mold was made and this mold plain and simple didn't have these tabs resembled in it. So every mask pulled out of THE original mold comes without any of these mounting installations.
We've seen so far:
- 3M Apple tabs
- metal latch (?) System
- short tube on top (with a step in it which is the bondo fillup underneath this tube)
- large tube without a step
The metal latch system was attached with four screws. The holes of these four screws still can be seen clearly at the GS (and TM) cast.
It seems that the latch mounting system was the first try of the prop makers for attaching the dome to the facemask - which turned out as a failure. They then removed the latch system and added the 3M Apple tabs. I don't think that they then sealed the four holes from the latch system up with bondo. Why should they, it would never be seen on screen since the dome covers the whole area.
The 3M Apple tabs were then present on the screenused ANH Vader. There's a Picture of a crew member, dressing up Prowse and it's clearly visible that these 3M Apple tabs were present on THE ANH screenused mask.
If above assumptions are correct - ANY authentic cast on which rests of these four holes (latch system) can be seen IS a direct cast of THE screenused ANH Vader.
Any authentic cast which doesn't have rests of these four holes on top between the 3M Apple tabs then can't be from the ANH screenused Vader.
...it's so annoying when my lack of englisch is the reason for not expressing me the way I want
... I read through this and I feel like an idiot.