Hey everyone, I did some research and reached out to Max Cervantes after finding his name in the Bonzai 1986 helmet thread. Below is the information regarding the helmets he owns from 1981 or 1982 when he cast his first 2 helmets. Max provided me several photos that he took when we were messaging. The rest come from
Art Andrews that he was sent some time ago from Max. Two of Max's 3 helmets are shown here.
Please review the helmets and info and let me know what you think!
Max DP Helmets (Recasts from 1981/82)
Helmet Names:
Max DP1 Helmet (2nd Gen Casting)
Max DP2 Helmet (2nd Gen Casting)
Max DP3 Helmet (3rd Gen Casting)
Helmet Source:
Max says that his helmets are casts of an ESB helmet that was screen used. The live action filming had already finished at that point in time his first two helmets were cast, but the movie was not yet released.
Helmet History:
Max says that a screen used helmet from Empire was loaned to Don Post Studios for them to examine to see if they wanted to add it to their Star Wars helmet line.
At the time, Don Post Studios decided to pass and not do it because Boba Fett had such little screen time. This all happened BEFORE the film was finished or released to the public. At that point in time, Don Post Studios had already made a mold of the helmet that they had been sent.
Max was in college at the time, studying industrial plastics. His teacher knew people at Don Post Studios because he had gone to school in Long Beach with a lot of the guys who were hired to work on building models for Star Wars.
Max’s teacher at Cerritos College had seen the mold at Don Post Studios and asked about it. Don Post Studios said that he could take it because they weren’t going to need it – so he did.
When Max saw it, he asked if he could have a casting from it. Max was a favorite student of his and he knew that Max was a big Star Wars fan. The teacher let Max cast from it.
On the Max DP1, the original helmet that he has, the ears were noted to have been cast separately.
The rangefinder on the Max DP1 helmet isn’t terribly accurate. Max didn’t get the rangefinder from the Don Post mold. The one that’s on his first helmet is one that a friend made for him out of aluminum and steel.
Max said that the helmet mold from Don Post Studios didn’t include the side detail (not sure what that means – possible he meant the ears?).
Max said that he chose to remake the borden because the mold he used from Don Post for that part was poor. He said that the mold from Don Post Studios had a borden, but that he didn’t want to just re-mold it and use it as was.
He says that no damage has occurred to the helmet over the years.
Helmet Castings:
Max initially made 2 castings for himself from the original mold that his teacher had obtained from Don Post Studios of the helmet that had been sent to Don Post Studios around 1981.
Max DP2 (2nd Generation)
The second helmet Max made is still in a primary state and is unpainted.
Max said that he took photos of his second, unpainted casting before he remolded it and sent the photos to Art Andrews years ago.
He says that his second, unused helmet is sitting in storage and is just primered gray.
Max later made a new mold from the second helmet (Max DP2) that he had cast from his teacher’s acquired mold that had been made at Don Post Studios. He says that he made a couple copies a long time ago and gave no further details about them.
Max DP3 (3rd Generation)
Max has a third helmet, which was cast from the Max DP2 mold and is the one he currently uses if he dons his armor.
The rangefinder on his 3rd helmet was from a casting off of an original that he got from an old friend who worked at ILM.
Additional:
Many years later after Empire Strikes Back, Don Post finally decided to make a Boba Fett helmet. He said that he didn’t know where they got their helmet for casting from. He said that Don Post Studios came to him for parts of the helmet and that he gave them castings off of an original rangefinder and side pieces (ears?) that he had eventually got from friends that worked up at ILM.