Determining scale measurements

Has anyone done exact measurements of the gauntlets? What I mean is width, hieght, elevation hieghts of the different components. Ive seen on different threads that the exact demensions of the dental expander is known and someone who is better with computers than I could use this as the key (like a map) on varied pictures to get the exact demensions. Simple algebra/geometry I think would do it. I beleive enough of the components on the gauntlets are known that this might be pulled off quit easily. If this has already been done, please refer me to it, and ignore my simple ramblings.

I use ratios to determine the sizes of parts. You could find out the size of the gauntlets if you have a good ruler/caliper and know the size of the dental expander...

Say, if the bottom of the expander measures 15mm in real life, and 10mm in a picture, and the part you want to know the size of in the same picture measures 25mm, it would be "15 is to 10 as "X" is to 25". Cross multiply and divide to find the answer: 15 X 25 / 10 = 37.5mm

The only peoblem is, the picture would not necessarily be "flat", and some error will be introduced as the screen and picture may curve a bit. It should still get you close.

Exactly, simple algebra. You could also use the, for example side shot of the dentle expnander, as Ive seen a link to the patent pictures some where on this site to get the hypotenuse. And the rest would be simple Geometry. It might be a few mm or 1/16th off but it could be reasonably ploted out and the near exact demensions of the gauntlets could be determined for all lengths by taking averages. I know the calc pad is known. Which means the exact size is available. The hose connectors, switches and other peripheral items are also known hence other points of reference. I dont think you could get more exact than that. I agree that the majority of the shots are at angles but there are a few direct shots. It would be interesting to see what comes out on the next cd if there are more pictures than what has been collected. Any way, just a thought I had.

Great...Now Im wishing I actually stayed awake in math.

I'd like to ask if anyone here has ever actually compared calculations from the on-screen costume to there own reproductions? Also, has anyone ever taken measurements off the Lucasfilm Fett mannequin? Is that cast from real film molds and such? or is it all resculpts? A friend and I were having a discussion about stormtrooper armor this weekend and basically it boiled down to a comment he made about sawing apart a ST mannequin for the armor. I explained that since the whole thing is cast in sections, it would be **** near impossible to get a set of armor that way (it was all hypothetical). Id reason the same would be true for a Boba Fett, since Lucasfilm doesn't want anyone removing the suit and trying to put it on. In fact I think I remember someone saying that the jumpsuit on the mannequin is actually several pieces of fabric and is epoxied down at the seams. Pretty intense. But has anyone ever gotten gauntlet measurements off of it?

I would not recommed using the DP Fett statue for all of your scale reference. It is full of inaccuracies, especially the chest armor. I've been told that there are some parts that are pretty close to the real ones, but since I don't own one of these statues, I won't speculate which ones. I'll let someone who actually owns one comment on that.

Scaling might seem easy, but it's very deceiving ... What? I did an experiment once. I took some of the Webely pics I have with a steel rule in the shot and I kept on printing them up until the ruler in the picture matched the original ruler. After I had it "scaled" I took the original webley piece and laid it on the page to see how well it lined up .... they didn't! I was suprised. I took the pics at a distance to try to eliminate lens flare and such, but what I realized is that trying to scale off a pic with a known item in the photo will yeild some "good" and "close" results, but I wouldn't say that you could get something as close as 1/8", also, the smaller the original Known piece, the more room for error you have to try to use it to scale larger pieces. The calc pad would help scale the gauntlet, but the best that can be done is guesstimation .. at least that's been my experience