My Altmann\'s bucket...

[Art Andrews]

I too would like clarification that a REAL helmet was sent to Steve. I'd also love to know WHICH helmet was sent. Were any pics taken? I would think that surely if I had a real helmet in hand I would have snapped a few pics. Thanks in advance!

 

[Master Jedi Allma]

I think it goes without saying that Steve wont be able to clear up all questions and matters he's being asked here...
I would take a very long time no doubt...

so I just want to say...
"any help/answers you can give is much apprieciated and thank you for your time and effort!".

Mason...

 

[pillbury]

will answer all questions but a little history first.
1993or 94 I met Lucafilm Licencing at the agent office, from this I made star wars costumes for an asian tour , I applied for a licence ,the agent sent the wrong imformation so after about 2 years I rang LFL spoke to a lady in Licencing who said they had turned me down as they felt they had enough kiddy masks being made around the world.
So I explained exactly what it was I wanted to make, she said the desicion makers would be back in a week and if I could get an item to her she would make sure this would be on the desk of that "descision maker" the following monday, I had about 9 days to get it there, that monday afternoon I had a call from the agent, "LFL said to sign you up!how did you do that?" the rest is history. I'll answer some questions now so give me abit of time to respond

 

[E2K13]

I think Braks Buddys question was a valid one.
Did LFL ever send you one of the origional screen used helmets from the films and if so, do you have any pictures of it? And which helmet was sent to you?

 

[Art Andrews]

Thanks for that bit of history! That is VERY cool! Looking forward to hearing more from you!

 

[E2K13]

I have to agree. These helmets are all such a complete mystery as to how they come about and every once in a while we have the honor of hearing their story.

 

[pillbury]

as a licencee LFL send out a "source book" this has everything you need, pms or pantone colours, heights of characters, logos, even star patterns, if anyone has seen the carton that our helmet ship in the star pattern is specific, I had a choice of two,
colours can change with lighting, in ESB Piet and Ozzle appear to wear grey uniforms but if you look carfully they are in field green or is it the light. I had disagreements for years about vaders mask being black and silver!!the patone references that pillbury sent,posted are correct according to the sourcebook and the helmet that was sent out. which was used to take molds for the helmet,metal "ears" and colour match, I was pulling my hair out with this one as LFL was taking far to long to send out this helmet............LOLOLOL..I rang the agent to get them to chase up the BOBA FETT helmet that LFL said they would send.
the response was..........WHATS A BOBA FETT!!!!!
From the time this helmet arrived to having it approved was two weeks, thats really going at it!!!the helmet was sent back for comparison and reference, you have to send all reference material with the item you want approved, thats how they do it and photos were the last thing on my mind, evryone new it was coming and the presure to get "out there" was just unreal.. all up... from the time I sent my first fett which was my own sculpt to the second casting from the LFL supplied helmet was 9months and it was great to get it over and done with.
If I had any idea how armour would get so "huge" with the fans I would have done alot of things different but 8 years ago things were different,

 

[Art Andrews]

Can you tell us anything at all about the construction of the real helmet?

 

[Art Andrews]

Also, just to be clear, you did not actually cast the real helmet right? Just elements from it like the ears?

 

[cal196]

pillbury wrote:

If I had any idea how armour would get so "huge" with the fans I would have done alot of things different but 8 years ago things were different,

This may sound wierd but I'm kind of glad Fett is always a mystery. Did they use this or that to get it to look like this. Who knows!! Drives me crazy but I love it.

 

[pillbury]

So this FETT bucket.... all I can say is, I vac formed over the helmet sent out so ours is a tad larger,the metal parts had silicone molds taken off them ,I then made resin castings with a resin that doesnt shrink, these were taken to a foundry were metal casting molds were taken, when the metal casting cools it shrinks so our metal parts are a tad smaller, maybe 1%, the helmet was pretty rough, looked to be fibreglass..........when I first saw it I thought YUK! NO WAY!, my colours were right I was THAT sure, this has to be wrong .......man it looked that bad!! an now I look back and think "how did you make that!" I made some helmets that I "see" some have aquired of the years, this shape and colour scheme is what I sent first .. if (I could I'd take a photo of the two together to show the difference

 

[E2K13]

Wow, thats wild!
Any photos would be immensly appreciated! I am sure all of us are on the edge of our seats wanting to see some of these pictures! That is awesome

 

[Art Andrews]

Just clarifying.... You vacced over the real helmet to get your helmet replicas?

 

[pillbury]

I pulled molds off all the parts including the helmet. I used to make my earlier version,non licenced withthree parts, the licenced version is vac formed in a single pull, the eye lense and "ears" are added, we cut out the pointers and insert a strip behind them whish is an orange and black.
we used to use latex as a mask over the grey but found that dabbing the colour with a foam works well and is faster, we never intended the final item to be screen accurate but a fair representation of the character , as I said, 8 years ago attitudes were somewaht different
I dont know if this was a screen used item,a stunt helmet or a spare, I do know that lots of helmets/costumes were made so if there was a breakage film could continue, if you look in star wars chronicles you will see I think ten sets of vader armour and parts on a table with a couple of guys haming it up

 

[Master Jedi Allma]

well as im sitting next to my Altmanns Boba helmet...
and I have never thought the size and shape was a problem... it blows any donpost or rubies well out of the water...
Really...
the size and shape are great...although im no expert...

I bought the helmet because...
A: I liked it!
B: It was sooooooooo much better than my Donpost Boba
c: I had the Vader already...it makes a pair then...

I think the main problem that has been discussed on this and any other forum was about the paint job...

My thoughts were...
If it takes as long as it takes most of these TDH members to make "one"...
Then you will need to speed up the process to make 500 + helmets of several styles, Boba/Vader etc etc etc..
Accuracy was always going to be a problem on high production volumes..

Mason.

 

[Art Andrews]

So.... do you still have the original mold you took from the helmet???

 

[pillbury]

yes I vac formed over the helmet, packed the inside with clay, that was in a plastic bag so "mud" wasnt all over the place, Fett has enough to put up with,dont you think? had a "mask" that I use to protect the surface, getting the damn thing off the "mold" was a chore but figured it out so we could do a single pull to get the helmet, hardest pull we tackle is the royal guard, that a single pull,about 20 inchs or so, that also was pulled over a LFL hlemt but the worst was the scout, those helmet are made in six parts, the sides are glued together ,thats how the originals get that deepness in the side vents, the top/front plate which i call a "blinker cover" like you put on a horse, that two parts , that helmet was crap to get molds off and we met the LFL art approval guy here in OZ when he came out, Kumars Mogtardah, he actually apoligized for the helmet they had sent out for us to work with, it was that bad.......

 

[pillbury]

I still have the original molds for fett

 

[Han Hunter]

Someone Fed-Ex some fire extinguishers over to Braks' place. He's sure to have just spontaneously combusted!

This is a great thread with some really interesting historical revalations. Thanks for taking the time to chat here, Steve.

I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in your last post there! (understatement!)

Si

 

[Art Andrews]

pillbury wrote:
I still have the original molds for fett