SethB6025

Very nice find Paul! Trolling for impossible to find items like these is a real blast, and don't let the indignant sods get you down.

I'll be in for ANH & ESB by the end of 08.

I'd say so. The hero face seemed a bit wider, but that isn't anything that some careful heat couldn't fix. Aside from filling in the teeth and smoothing over the cap/back a little more you wouldn't have a whole lot to do.

After taking the time to look at the photos I was figuring as much. The side shot confirms it. Nice work so far. I wasn't trying to dog your build, just wanted to be clear on lineage.

They've been showing it missing the Earth since they've been tracking it. The chances were far less than 50/50, something like 1 in several thousand, even in the last few weeks. 300,000 miles is close, but the moon is an average of 238,855 miles away to put that into perspective. "Close to satellites" News is best gotten from multiple sources.

You call them two different names, why? I had understood "vacuum this" to simply be a reseller of the 3rd gen bucket. They are both TE recasts, just wondering in what fashion they differed?

They sealed the seam at the ears. They ROTJ ones were glued on, just not quite like that. I'd take an educated stab at who is responsible for it but theres no point. Like Mike said, there are tells of an amateur vac-former.

Left to right, AP, TE, TM. Between AP/TM I'd go TM without a second thought. The re-used parts (both arms identical) and the leg issues would be enough to turn me off of AP. Also, AP is all using .080 (thickness prior to forming) TM uses a few gauges for different parts, yielding a greater formed thickness on larger parts like the chest. I have a few TM parts on my suit, and I've found them to be both substantial and detailed.

#3 here too, works great.

The little thingy at the bottom of the "strip" that runs down the shoulder bell.

I switched to rubber gloves a while ago and won't ever go back to anything else. Your hands will sweat a little, but the dexterity you have is great & they look perfect.

I use the same military pads. Properly positioned they are the most comfortable and secure method I have ever tried. Hands down better than a hard hat liner or insulation foam.

That seems to have been intentional, judging from that photo. The lens material used for that helmet would have had to have been much taller than the more familiar eye-height strip, and not the result of slipping acetate. Nice catch Matt.

Thank you! That looks even better than the standee!

Wow, thanks for sharing!

PPOIDH I've seen a couple caps where the green film covers a couple of the vent holes but it seemed errant, a result of the lens material slipping down. More of the visible screen reference would indicate the mouth holes were just holes with nothing behind.

I've noticed the dome to be inconsistent from TE to AP, but the AP face is quite similar to TE. I'd have to agree with Matt on the reason for that. Its possible the GF cap/back was re-used by AP and partially re-sculpted, or that he also cast a TE and fiddled with it to reduce the similarity. I understood the official story to be that the AP was from an unmodified mold that GF had but that doesn't jive with GF's statements in the past about having only one mold.

They did, but they are blowing out a few more things before they are officially done. On the topic of the MR lid, I am underwhelmed. It has been done better, and if you can deal with a kit or having someone finish it I'd sooner get a TE/TE2 or TM.

Man, that is beautiful! I can't wait to get my ESB started.

That is a very thorough build-up. Great work on finishing it out too!

Happy Thanksgiving you shiny buggers!

Make sure you look at a battlespec vs. the regular production helmets, they are pretty different. The squished tubes are the most telling.

Just a round tube with clips is screen accurate. The common FX version is way off.

*Yawn* Unless you are a terrible klutz or don't store your helmet properly the amount of stress your bucket takes should be somewhere around zero. It just sits on your head! ABS is fine, but usually too thick to be detailed. HIPS pulls better detail even when its thicker. Whatever you prefer, but either one will suit you for trooping. Any yellowing issues are moot, as you'll be painting HIPS. ABS can yellow too, but if that happens you can always paint it. Anyhow TE only made a few ABS kits, so if you want one of his its going to be HIPS unless you can come across one of the <10 that weren't.

If you ignore the pre-marked holes and size it yourself you'll be happier with the position. The gap you've got isn't bad.