Borden Connector Found Part Orientation

[Fettastic]

Hey Team,
I just want to do a quick post to maybe help out those looking to use a real borden connector for their kit. I've seen a few bordens done the wrong way so I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Real Borden with three port holes. One large port, one small port directly beneath the large port, and one even smaller port to the right.

In order to get the correct orientation with the smaller hole on the left, the borden must be cut...

And then flipped so that the smallest hole is on the left underneath the large hole. The edges have also been beveled to match reference photo's.

Reference Photo's are available in the Archives under Celebration IV by Art Andrews.

 

[MTDavis]

Killer, thanks. So is the Borden supposed to be this gold/brassy color, or silver? The ESB CRL reference photo appears silver...

 

[Gino]

I can help with this. I believe that a Borden was the inspiration for the cheek greebly, but ultimately all the production helmets 100% used scratch machined aluminum pieces.
They are aluminum, not brass. On the ESB hero it looks kind of like brass but it's actually paint remnants giving off an optical illusion.

 

[PaulH]

Very useful, thanks for sharing.

 

[Fettastic]

I can help with this. I believe that a Borden was the inspiration for the cheek greebly, but ultimately all the production helmets 100% used scratch machined aluminum pieces.
They are aluminum, not brass. On the ESB hero it looks kind of like brass but it's actually paint remnants giving off an optical illusion.

I agree 100% that the brass coloration comes from the grimy weathering paint on top of the borden, or "borden inspired" aluminum piece. As for them 100% using scratch machined aluminum pieces for all production helmets seems unlikely to me but would be complete conjecture on my part without insider information. Take for instance the small dental files on the back of the ROTJ helmet. Scratch machining those tiny aluminum dental files when they were readily available and used on multiple props just doesn't compute in my brain. But then again, this is Star Wars, and a lot of things they did on their props doesn't make sense, and that's probably why we love it so much

 

[BudaFett]

That's another interesting fact I've learned from Gino!

 

[hvacdon]

Thanks for the info !!

 

[WhiteShadow]

Don't forget about the dental expanders that they used for a ton of props. I think it's way more likely that they stumbled upon some dental equipment that was being liquidated and made thorough use of most of it.

 

[Jayvee]

I took it that Gino was just referring to the Borden. You could theorise that the dental files and dental expander were real used parts, but perhaps they only had one Borden, thought it suited, so scratch built those based on the original for all the helmets. Always fun to discuss regardless, and great work on the thread Fettastic