The Down Under Helmet.[/u] My visit & inspection on Jan 17, thanks to the owners who let me look touch hold & measure. Thanks to Tom Mulack for his expert review & consideration
Current Documents providing provenance • Letter from Alan Crowler to its current owner, stating that the mask was made by him at the time of pre-production & was sent to Australia as a present to Alan’s cousin’s son. (attached) Alan acknowledges that the helmet has passed to the current owner. {The wording in the letter that describes “A New Hope” & making 6 helmets from a clay mould leads to conjecture, as the helmets are definitely ESB or ROTJ , but an rationale view is given in the conclusion section below that can give context to this.} • A letter from the boys mother, stating the helmet was sent to them in Australia together with a gun & armour (from the Flash Gordon movie). It was sent by Alan after they had visited him in the UK. It arrived in a quantas delivery in Jan 1978 (Dennis to provide but ive seen it) • 2 photos of the boy wearing the mask at his 9th birthday. The size of the boy appears & fashion of others in the photos go to support that it was late 70s or at best early 80’s. The size of the boy appears to be 8 or 9. His year of birth plus 9 years will further cement the year of the photos. (Dennis to provide but ive seen them)
General Appearance • Looks, feels, smells 40 years old! • Worn, scratched, cracked as if it’s been in many backyard starwars play adventures • Padding is deteriorated, hair fibres are engrained in the padding • Aged, cracked & worn. • The padding in the dome is such that it pads all sides of a head, & would make it good for wearing as a costume hat • Facemask edges & top has been cut back including the area where the 3M casting tabs might have existed. Assume this was done to allow the facemask to better fit the boys head. • Small holes drilled in the eyes. This would allow the boy to see thru (somewhat)
Material & construction. • Very thin fibreglass. • While fibreglass underneath, with a black gel coat over the top. This is evident in the 2 spots of damage. One in the dome, the other in the broken tusk • painted black over gel coat?
Markings & features of mask In a side by side comparison to my TM casting (An authentic casting from the UK mould) & comparison against the photos of the original mask from the GIROD/GRUNBERG books. Mask was measured with digital callipers Shape & form of the mask aligned perfectly, with exception that Right hand side edge didn’t flair our as much towards the back of the mask. Exact correlation on general shape & measurements of the : • Nose bridge • Triangle Grill. Width & height • Nose • Forehead • Width between eyes Some shrinkage or slight warping on the RHS check in combination with the RHS tusks being pushed in at the back. Only identified when measuring it & comparing it to the TM Markings engrained in the casting aligned perfectly with those in the TM casting & seen in the photos of the original mask, although were less pronounced with the paint hiding some of the texture Specific markings include: • Neck extensions on Vader’s left & right. • Filled chin vent. Slight indents & shape in the putty • Paint drip on the side of the right eyebrow • Marks around the bottom of the neck • “warts” under the left tusk tube • Notch out of the RHS of the nose bridge • “Worm” in the RHS check fold • Slight undercut in bottom RHS eyelid Features not seen before in the UK castings that exist to date: • The eyes are pronounced, with what appears to be a recess at the edge. Almost as if they have been cut lenses added on the front with plasticine around the edges? • There is filler residue in the grills on both corners.
Markings & Features of the Dome. ESB or ROTJ? • Perfect visual correlation to Dome shape of ESB, ROTJ. (no measurements taken) except the btm lip or edge of the dome is not thick like the Screen used or TM, GS casting instead its thin • Centre strip perfect visual appearance • Shape & slight asymmetry at front of the mask matches screen masks & TM dome shape perfectly • Vaders Left side flares out more than the right, matching screen used helmet appearance • Slight depression to the left side on the centre strip on the domes forehead matches the TM & photos of screen used helmet. • Centrestrip widows peak matches ROTJ shape. Is pronounced & does not match ESBs thumbprint. • Appearance of scrape marks of putty application where ESBs widows peak would have filled up. • Wafer thin in this area. The inside profile follows the outside profile such that it could not have been cast, then the widows peak filled up. Shape must have been in the mould
Assumptions & possible theories [u]What seems certain: • I's an authentic cast made by the Elstree Studio production team. Alan Croucher is not one of the known plasters, but links exist showing his association • It Arrived in Australia in Jan 1978, so would have been made before or just before that. • Derived from the UK mould or more than likely a cast pulled from the UK mould has been altered & eyes have been added. Details are there but have lost their sharpness. • Has been cut back and fashioned into a kids dress up. Padding added to allow the dome to sit on the kids head • Helmet is ROTJ but so thin it must have come from a specific mould rather than an ESB with the widows peak filled with putty. Hence this must have existed during ESB pre-production • Its very thin so could not have been one of the production casts
A likely theory developed from the expert view of Tom Mulack It’s a “memento” casting pulled from the line of UK moulds. Made specific for kids Cos-play. In support of this is: • Top of the mask is trimmed back so it could fit better inside the dome & not clash with the foam padding in the top • Made deliberately thin so its light for a kid playing dress-up • Vaders right side was pushed in, causing the warp in the right cheek, better for a kids small head • Eyes added forward would have allowed the mask to sit better on a kids head instead of having the cheeks sit so far forward. (its my theory only, developed after Toms input and considering all of the above– but the mould had this alteration, perhaps it’s a mould made specifically for this purpose?)
With respect to Alan Crouchers COA. There is definitely a few facts incorrectly stated, but I personally expect its either memory lost over 40 years or a few facts merged without knowing??
now for the photos...
Last edited by Anonymous on Sun Jan 22, 2017 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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