Midnight Trooper

Calm down people. Dave and Gino were in the deal together. So to have you picking over that everytime it comes up and say "YOU DIDNT BUY THE MOULDS GINO" is getting old. Dave actually paid for the moulds, Gino being the man with mad skills to make use of those moulds. So they are one in the same as far as where the moulds ended up. The original moulds went to Dave and Gino as I have heard it. Money WAS paid. Matt has stated that and given a *,*** figure that Dave (Gino's partner) paid to Matt's partner Mike. And then in the same sentence says that those moulds were stolen from him. It seems to me if Mike (Matt's partner) sold those moulds to Dave (Gino's partner) As has been said by Matt, than a completely legitimate deal went down. So no more of this "stole the moulds" crap.

Got it pretty much done! Now for some armor....

Getting the tubestripes done. I need to reattach the ears and maybe add some TK stripes.

Dude! 7 suits! Thats awesome. Did you try any of them on and run around with glee? Cause, that's what I'd do. (Hurry up please!)

Getting there...

Umm, well I'm going to break the rules on purpose to ask where the **** my post went? I don't know what happened to this thread after I posted my question. But it was a valid question and I resent the fact that I don't know what response if any it recieved. It was not an attack on either Matt or Gino, it was not offensive. Why is it gone? Respectfully; it is not the job of the mods to delete posts because they think it doesnt fit in somehow etc. If this thread was supposed to be sort of a prize fight between Matt and Gino "for all to watch" then I think that sort a thread is exactly the sort of stuff you Mods would like to keep off the forum, not make its own thread. So if my question was discussed, commented on or sworn at, I have the right to hear those. Modify the post, delete the swears whatever. But I dont appreciate having my posts go missing with no explaination. It is not acceptable to have a thread between just two people. That is called a PM.

My TE is going along slowly but surely. I've had many paint problems and the outside is not done. I like the way the inside is going though. Its going to be ANH style btw.

Anybody have pictures and/or a source for the cloth gloves? I want to sew on my handplates opposed to strapping them on. Are they sewn on with elastic thread? Is it like a U up through the plastic with knots on it? Any further discussion on this would help me because I know very little about ESB specific parts.

Looks like some kind of synthetic padding material to me, like a tumbling mat sort of idea.

Yah, it was a black belt which went around the waist. The thighs had loops which attached to their inside and went on the belt. Then in the later films they discovered it made more sense to connet them to the ab plate.

I don't see any fights being picked. There may be some tension, but I think both Jez, Gino and Matt have all been very polite to each other so far considering their past disagreements. That said... Gino if you are the only one who knows, well bully for you. The rest of us can't have a discussion regarding this because while I know what Jez' "opinion" is, like he said, you have not offered any indication of what yours is. You said, "I can tell you definitively that the reason that there is texture/bumps on the cap/back has nothing to do with either the heating/cooling of the plastic, or with imperfecions, contaminants, or mold breakdown." The only possiblity left after this is that the bumps were put there intentionallly, sculpted into the mould by someone... So thats about it. I'm not picking a fight, just illustrating that this topic will go nowhere unless you give something to work with.

WOW! Almost enough to bring tears to the eyes. I look forward to more developments!

Very nice! So was the Davin Felth not made in the HDPE? I would love to hear the story behind this helmet soon.

I think Matt that I may be able to either condense or host them somehow on Photobucket.

Yes Jez got it. Fitting really as the only reason I know the answer is because of his site! Commander Dargas you were close, but didn't answer the question I meant to ask. So its your turn to come up with a question Jez if you'd care to.

Nah, drop it. Move along. move along. New question; How many stormtrooper helmets were made for ANH including heros?

Sooo, do either of you feel like sharing? Or is this to be just another frustrating unanswered question. Matt I for one am intrested. It is problably just a stupid little thing that doesn't matter but I have always kinda wondered why the crappy bumps. I have an armor triva question to get us back in gear but I dont want to ask it until this question has been answered.

He has a right to lord over this information a bit because, as he says, no one else knows. But we would like to know eventually Gino... So here's another guess. Is it possible that the actual sculpt of the cap/back was smooth and the material SDS used already had that texture? A test helmet was pulled in that material and all subsequent helmets descended from that? So the Stunt helmets; intended as background helmets were pulled in the flexible HDPE and when the hero helmets came around and they went back to the real moulds, the ABS smooth cap/back wouldn't have this texture because the original mould didn't? Anything close to that? Am I even in the ballpark?

How about a hint; Are the marks there by an accident or are they intended to be there for some reason?

Well, the texture looks like the result of someone sculpting in clay by hand. The bumps; could they be sand grains or other such material which stuck in the clay before the mold was made? No one is ambitious enough to think that a few grains of sand will matter and go ahead to vacuforming? Is it anything like that Gino?