sskunky

OK so I think we have established that what AA says and has said is not what it's all cracked up to be. Maybe we will never know the exact history to all this as it has been lost over time and I should take what he says with a pinch of salt. That said he did still form the originals and he should at least get some credit for being a part of what is so close to all our hearts. We all enjoy building, wearing and looking at what is a fantastic bit of cinema history and design . Whoever created the Armor or molds etc is not really that important, what is important is that we enjoy doing what we do. I believe that is escaping the real world and immersing ourselves in something that had a huge impact on us all as children and that has stuck with us. I know there are alot of people that get very protective about the Stormtrooper subject but it is a hobby and they are still only characters from a film. It's not real, It's not real, It's not real............ Sorry I have to remind myself sometimes. It is an addictive thing this prop building lark, I have made Lightsabers, blasters, armor and buckets and I think I get a little obsessive about it too. Or at least my wife thinks so anyway! Luckily my daughter is still a bit young ( 13 Months ) to get embarrassed by her fathers Star Wars Obsession I am a still a boy with more (a little more) money and a few more wrinkles! Mark. I will take on board what has been said and I have become a little wiser thanks to all you knowledgeable people. This is why I love this place.

Calm down guys, I was only trying to help those interested in the bumps . As Andrew Vac Formed the helmets and and painted them I thought he might be able to shed a little light in this mystery. I thought I would share this info wether it is correct or not with anyone that might be interested. He doesn't know I am a member of this forum. I just slipped the subject into a conversation and that is what I was told. I am sorry there are a lot of bad feelings towards this man but my intention was just to share some new info I was given. I will indeed read all of the court decision and maybe learn a bit more about this. Cheers, Mark

Thanks for your input. I still don't understand why no-one believes what Andrew says? Do any of the people who say don't believe Andrew actually know him? Or spoken to him? I'm not protecting him in anyway but I still am at a loss to why he gets slagged off so much? Yes he was taken to court by GL and won to a certain extent which would suggest to me that there must be some truth to his claims. He has said that he sculpted all the original molds and that there is a guy called Matt something or other that put a great deal of malicious rumors out there about him that a lot of people seem to have taken for gospel. This guy has been dropped from a certain number of forums for just this reason. He also wanted to go into business with AA at one point but was dropped from that too which would also suggest to me that there is some bad history between the two. hence the rumors! I don't pretend to know a huge amount about this subject but it seems strange to me that the one person who made all of the original Stormtroopers for the films gets so much bad press? Remember you are all wearing a copy of something that Andrew originally made. I don't want this to get all nasty and argumentative again as so many of these posts seem too. All I wanted to do was shed a little light on a subject that seems shrouded in mystery and maybe help give a little info to those who are interested. Too many of you seem so quick to jump on the "lets slag off AA given any opportunity" I didn't want this to happen again as it has to so many of my posts. He really is a very likable guy and hugely helpful to me anyway with any questions or problems I have had with the Stormtrooper subject. If any one has something constructive to add please feel free but not if it is just to say don't believe anything I hear. Thanks guys, Mark..

Worth every penny to keep this going. You have my support. PP sent. Mark.

Hi Troopers, I have been reading/wading! my way through a lot of threads and posts on this fantastic forum and there seems to be a lot of theorizing on the mystery surrounding the Famous Bumpy Cap 'n' Back of the TE/TE2 buckets. I think I may be able to clear this up for anyone that is interested. Many people think it is shot in the molds , degrading molds etc etc. bad pulls , the list goes on. I have spoken to Andrew Ainsworth about this and many of the Helmets used in the film were repainted many times for each shoot. Some of them had up to 30 layers of paint on them by the end of the film! They had huge problems getting the paint to stick to the original green/khaki HDPE that was used at the beginning of the first run of helmets. I kid you not , I quote "but after a while we didn't seem to care what the paint job looked like as long as it stayed on the bloody things!!!" We even painted them with a 6" paint brush at one stage! which is where the bumps came from. So you see there was no shot in the molds or bad molds it was just layers of really badly applied paint and lots of layers, hence the bumps. It was particularly noticeable on the helmets that went to Tunisia as they had to touch them up alot whilst on set. I hope this clears up the mystery of the bumps? Please let me know your thoughts on this. If anyone has any other mysteries about the armor or helmets please ask away and I will do my best to find out for you. Bye for now. Mark.

Hi guys, Yeah, I think you're right I should leave it unpimped. It is unique. I have cut the teeth out since those pics where taken. thanks for all your input chaps, Mark.

I realize the concept had been around for many years but this was the first and only shadow produced by AA SDS and before GL licensed them to MR etc. Mark.

Hi Nathan, Thanks for your thoughts. Let me know if you get any mirrors done mate. Mark.

Hi Nathan, Thanks for your thoughts. Let me know if you get any mirrors done mate. Mark.

Hey guys, I am thinking of pimping my AA Shadow lid and thought I would ask what you guys think. I got this lid from AA about 4 years ago well before the shadows had seen the light of day from GL. AA pulled one in a matt black ABS just to see what it looked like as a negative and he very kindly sold it to me and signed it 1/1. I am in a dialema, do I pimp it up and paint it Gloss with hand painted details and replace the blue tube stripes with silver or leave it as it is? Add mirrored lenses if anyone can supply them? You can find some pictures of the Shadow at------------- Any of your valued and expert input would be great. Thanks in advance for anyone who can help me make my mind up. Mark.

Sorry folks , I didn't mean to offend anyone.

LOL , here we go again, So aparently Cap is ok then as he has had positive comments on his recasts? One rule for one another rule for some one else. So if I recast a set of armor and rework the molds so all the pieces fit together with minimal effort that would be ok? That is what seems to be the case here. People here seem hell bent on critisizing recasters unless it suits there own criteria/ needs. I'm not going to get into a arguement about this but it seems to me that there are some very biased opinions about this whole subject.

I still don't understand what makes it right to copy an original and not do a copy of that? If someone recasts an original then they are still ripping off the original modelmakers work. They haven't actually created the original molds therefore it's still a copy. AA made the original lids and still does but he is slated. GL took him to court and in effect lost as AA can still produce the armor etc due to industrial design licenses being redundant now. I still don't know why all these other guys are held in higher regard than AA when all they have done is recast his original work. I can see this topic getting far too argumentative and everyone has their own view on who is wrong and who is right. I may be a little biased as I know AA and he is a genuinely upfront kind of guy trying to make a buck like everyone else from something he actually made in the first place. I know there are gripes about where AA cast his suit from but everyone forgets that he made the armor that others are casting from anyway.

That said TE, AP , TE2, VT and AA etc, are all technically re-casters like it or not. How far can you take re-casting? re-cast , re-cast of original, remodeling of an original mold? I suppose it is all down to personal taste, and how you look at art, which this is. We all strive to impress others and gain personal satisfaction for what we do. That's human nature. I agree I said I don't want to support re-casters but I haven't really thought about it before. By modifying our Armor, Blasters and any other part of our costumes we are altering the original designs which is what we all do to most casts we purchase. Someone that recasts an original suit is still recasting and technically replicating someone else' work and making money off the back of that. A $200.00 sheet of abs sold for $1000!!!! Heating plastic and pulling it over a mold using a vacuum table isn't that hard I have done it myself. I think if it's your money and you like what you are buying then that should be good enough. Just because alot of people seem to think it is wrong doesn't make it so. There are a great deal of talented model makers that produce some great work even if the basis of the item was cast from someone else' recast of an original. If I do 3D scan of a bucket and get a CNC Machine to make a mold and I then pull a sheet of abs over that and make my own lid I haven't actually recast anything but it will look the same and have all the characteristics of the original which is incidentally a recast of an original anyway . Confused ? You only have to see how many people wear FX for instance which doesn't even derive from any screen accurate roots yet that seems to be acceptable? If it is screen accurate then it has at some time or another been recast or closely copied from such. I'm not saying that all the pre mentioned guys are not right or wrong at what they do and they are all/most regarded as the best source of armor etc that there are, but anyone else that produces a great looking piece of kit shouldn't be classed as wrong too. We never seem to have this view about any other part of the armor/costume. eg. Blasters, backpacks,belts and pouches etc, we all seem to re cast, remold , copy those but that's OK is it? All this said I do or will very shortly have an AP set and am looking forward to it too but I do have other very accurate stuff made by other people and it is all in my opinion great stuff regardless to where it originally came from. Sometimes we can all get a little obsessive about this. Nobody's wrong if you like it buy it. I'm not looking for an argument or slagging anyone off, just my tuppence worth. Mark.

I have managed to get some measurements Cylinders: Total length: 58mm Tube length: 48mm Tube width: 10.5mm Front cap thickness: 3.5mm Back cap thickness: 5mm whereas 1mm of it is in a curve Width of both caps: 11.5mm Thickness of nut: 1.5mm Width of nut: 4mm Length of pins: 18mm Width of pins: 2.5mm Length of holder minus height: 32mm Width of holder: 36mm heigth of holder: 16mm Tube braces: 15mm where there is a bend at each 5mm on the sides Center of tube hole to other center of tube hole: 22mm Center of pin hole to other center of pin hole: 5mm The tubes & holder measurements make sense when you look at the photos. I got the photos from the darksidesithlord.com ( I hope he doesn't mind, it's for a good cause!! ) and he sent me the measurements. Check out his blaster build it's something else!!!!! Truly spectacular from start to finish. I used some 10.5mm brass tubing for the tubes and a bit of 2.5mm brass rod for the pins , I then bought some screw cover caps from Wickes £1.09 and some epoxy putty metal repair £3.99 and just used the clear inner caps and filled them with the putty and sanded them all down to look right. to make the holding plate I bought some 0.6mm sheet steel from B & Q and cut it out with some tin snips and filed it smooth , then bent it in a vice and drilled the relevant holes. Most of this can be seen on darksidesithlord's great tutorial. anyway I hope this helps anyone trying to build these cylinders. Keep building those blasters guys. Mark.

Hi everyone, I am trying to build my own power cylinders for E11 project. I have managed to get most of the other bits and pieces but I am having major problems trying to make the plate/holder/rack or whatever it's called that holds the cylinders and pins. There used to be a template on the BBC Blaster builders club but they seemed to have disappeared? Can anyone please help? your hopefully, Mark.

Hi Kenny, You can get velcro and webbing at John Lewis in the haberdashery dept E6000 at this link ----- £4.99 Canvas straps, use Woolworths cheap brand luggage straps 99p Helmet armor padding, I use high impact foam knee pads available from Ebay from £1.99 or a work clothing store etc. Mark.

I know, I know just use 3 instaed of 4

How silly do I feel I didn't even think of that! I just had four batteries and assumed I was using all of them! Thanks for that. Lateral thinking thats what I like to see. Thats why I joined this forum for bright sparks like you. Mark

Hi everyone, Can anyone help me? I am trying to power my ROM F/X with a set of powerful Lithium batteries for volume and long running times. the only problem is that I have 14.8 volts from the batteries and the F/X runs at a maximum of 12v. So I think I need a voltage regulator. Not being a whiz at electronics I'm a bit stuck. I believe I need to know what Current or amps the board runs at. Does anyone know this or maybe someone has an alternative idea. I know it can be run on 8xAA's but I have the lithium's already and thought it might be a good idea. Shoot me down if this is a bad idea. mellow.gif HELP!!!! unsure.gif Mark.

Hi everyone, Can anyone help me? I am trying to power my ROM F/X with a set of powerful Lithium batteries for volume and long running times. the only problem is that I have 14.8 volts from the batteries and the F/X runs at a maximum of 12v. So I think I need a voltage regulator. Not being a whiz at electronics I'm a bit stuck. I believe I need to know what Current or amps the board runs at. Does anyone know this or maybe someone has an alternative idea. I know it can be run on 8xAA's but I have the lithium's already and thought it might be a good idea. Shoot me down if this is a bad idea. HELP!!!! Mark.

Sorry I just saw almost everything!!!!!! Mark.

That said TE, AP , TE2, VT etc, are all technically re-casters like it or not. How far can you take re-casting? re-cast , re-cast of original, remodeling of an original mold? I suppose it is all down to personal taste, and how you look at art which this is. We all strive to impress others and gain personal satisfaction for what we do. That's human nature. I agree I said I don't want to support re-casters but I haven't really thought about it before. As for everything on ebay is a re-cast, AP sells on ebay so is his a re-cast? By modifying our Armor, Blasters and any other part of our costumes we are altering the original designs which is what we all do to any cast of our purchases. I think sometimes we can all get a little obsessive about this and if the artist of this replica Screen used helmet is outstanding in his ability then that should be enough.(which I think he is). After all this discussion I may just have answered my own question!!!!!! Its very good and that's all that matters. Mark...

You bet I'll be careful !! looks nasty. I've just read Stutkatroopers AP Build and it looks like Ive got my work cut out!! It looks as if I am going to have to work the shape of every piece? I did build an FX a few years ago but that was pretty easy in comparison. Can't wait.....

Worth getting?