Si-Man ANH Armour

[JoeR]

Just read this on the RPF.

 

Really really exciting, and great to hear that they are doing it from the inside.

 

What a year for troopers! Oh boy.

 

Joe

 

The first Run of helmets will be white ABS all casts so far have been taken from the inside of the helmet and suit its been a very delicate process so as not to harm the original in anyway and no arm sections or leg sections have been split to achieve this.

[Locitus[Admin]]

Sweet!

[Sonnenschein]

Maybe my english is quite limited, but where exactly does it say that the armor molds were cast of the inside?

 

IMHO, the "inside" only referes to the helmets.

 

Anyway, the statement lacks a little grammar and punctuation. It is confusing (on purpose, like "all cast from original)?

[JoeR]

"all casts so far have been taken from the inside of the helmet and suit"

 

That read to me as the inside. Have a look at the thread on the RPF.

[Sonnenschein]

"The first Run of helmets will be white ABS all casts so far have been taken from the inside of the helmet

and

suit its been a very delicate process so as not to harm the original in anyway and no arm sections or leg sections have been split to achieve this."

I read it that way, two different sentences.

Butif it's true, this would really be something like the holy grail

[firebladejedi[TK]]

But the legs and arms are from the outside - just the torso and lid from inside?

[JoeR]

Either way it is the closest any of us will get to original for a while!

[Locitus[Admin]]

I'm not experienced with casting things at all, but I imagine that if you somehow seal off the ends of the bicep or whatever, you could fill it with casting "fluid" or something, kind of like a bathtub and get castings from the inside after it has set. Could that work, on a theoretical level?

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Is there a reason it wasn't 3-D scanned? Expense?

[BlueGrot]

I think 3D scanning is a too expensive process, and there is a good amount of hours in cleanup needed only to make molds that again have to be molded.

[ctankep]

But it would be interesting to see the result of such a scanned armour

[Veedox]

I know I'm going to get blasted for this, BUT:

 

The only way to cast this suit right would be to take it from the inside, all parts. That means separating the forearms, biceps, legs, etc...

 

Which would mean to "ruin" the suit in some ways.

 

Given it's poor condition, and the windfall that an accurate ANH reproduction would bring, much more potential than the sale of the suit in its present condition, I would go ahead and ruin the suit to get an accurate cast.

 

Just my opinion.

[geordietrooper]

just as well its not mine because i wouldn't cast it at all

[SW1]

I think what i do is find out the value of the suit and helmet , i know its priceless to many of us , but get an estimated value , and then find out how many people would be really commited to owning cast armour from it , and its also got to be priced right to so everybody has a chance of owning the replica of an origanal , so if the profit out of making a cast from it well out waighs the current cost of it in its current state then its a big money winner , but me personaly if i owned it i would leave it as it is , but i dont so yes i would be on that list of owning a set .

[sskunky]

Yep, as much as we all want a set if it were mine I would leave it as is or sell it as is...... I really cannot see that making copies would net more than selling this as a unique item?

 

If I were to buy this and I cannot afford too, I wouldn't want copies everywhere. That's for sure.

 

I still want one though

Edited March 24, 2011 by sskunky

[john danter]

Its going to be cool whatever they do tbh

 

I just wish they would rip it up and do it from the inside

 

But that means wrecking a piece of movie history

 

Could be out back together again I hope but they used acetone and ABS mix to fuse the limbs together.

So we would wreck it if we did that

 

Tough one

 

Glad the lid is being done though

 

Hope it's been done right. A 30yr old paper thin shell will be quite hard to replicate 100%

[tkrestonva[TK]]

So is that how the originals were glued together - with what we now call "ABS paste"?

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

it would not be hard at all to pour silicone into a part to make a mould, there are thixotropic silicone putties that can be placed

inside somthing like a forearm or thigh to get the inside... that's not hard to do at all.

 

it looks like these people have done it the right way.

 

3d scanning is not the exact science you might think. look at all the LFL attempts at scanning. they had the money to do it the right way

 

but the process of doing 3d makes the designer want to "clean it up" and that's the reason why it does not work.

 

look at the LFL thigh power cells as an example. they ruined the scan, and the resulting injection moulded part by

 

attempting to make the thigh one piece.

 

the MRCE helmet is a great example of changing some part of a design for many reasons.

 

first of all the MRCE was mirrored, and then the undercut was enlarged to allow large heads to fit. the small padding was used for the

 

same reason, to make it fit larger heads. since these 3d scans were used to show the process of how to ruin a replica

 

I don't see any reason at all to be concerned about the SI armor in this case.

 

heck man! this armor has the potential of being our coveted ANH true derived suit!!!

Edited March 24, 2011 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[firebladejedi[TK]]

So is that how the originals were glued together - with what we now call "ABS paste"?

 

 

This is what AA uses now - but is by no means any proof of what the prop department used back in the day. More likely a white glue was used.

[Turrican]

edit.question got answered.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Turrican

[john danter]

No, they probably used something else cos they knew way back then AA was a lying scallywag

 

So they used a solvent (cos the parts are 100% fused and melted, not in contact) that wasn't an MEK based solvent mixed with acetone cos that's what AA used.

 

One that would stick ABS together, fuse it and leave a white residue, just like ABS glue does today but one that isn't ABS solvent glue?

 

The pieces look fused to me, not contact bonded.

 

Of course they used ABS glue

Edited March 25, 2011 by john danter

[john danter]

Oh I forgot to add, and a 'glue' that wouldn't take a few minutes to set like ABS but rather one that would take 24hrs+ when they had 50 to make

Something like E6000 maybe

[Rolf[501st]]

One thing is for sure, i want one

[Locitus[Admin]]

One thing is for sure, i want one

I'm not surprised, Rolf!

[Rolf[501st]]

I'm not surprised, Rolf!

 

Haha you know me, i have to check out the new stuff each time.

I can´t wait to see this one, and start work on it