Does the ESB cape have a stripe down both sides?

[Eli Jinn]

I see everyone putting stripes on both sides of their ESB capes. Now, it would probably look best to do it this way, but in a fit of skepticism, I for some reason want to find evidence of the double sided cape stripe. Finding such evidence is extremely difficult as most photos only ever show a small corner of the cape's underside. The best I have found are some orange-ish variation in this picture.

Does anyone else have any insight on this topic or do y'all think this one impossible to solve?

 

[Ord Mantell]

Yes. I believe it was. If they put the paint on with a roller instead of an airbrush it very well would've bled through to the other side. ConvergenceProp and I have dsicussed this at length inthe past and he did an experiment with a roller and confirmed that it bleeds through on the tent material. There are other pics that support the idea, but I am short on time to post them up atm.

Good eye.

 

[Eli Jinn]

Okay, upon further inspection stirred from me finally getting around to making my cape... it turns out I'm blind.
There IS a picture where you can see the underside of the cape and the stripe too. Good news is that it proves the point Ord Mantell made.

As you can see, the stripe is visible on the underside, and as expected from being bled through from the other side, it is faded and blurry. You can compare it to the sliver of the stripe on the upper side seen just under the webley.

 

[Ord Mantell]

Good call. That picture served the basis of my speculation as well. To be fair, ConvergenceProp had been thinking about it before me, and probably others before him, but ConvergenceProp may be the only person to actually experiment with putting the stripe on with a roller. His results gave a similar result to what can be seen in that ESB production pic. Maybe he can share his results here.

If I never brought it up in my own build thread, I meant to, but additionally there are pics from the UK where the tour suit seems to have the ESB cape, or a backup (hard to tell), and in one set of photos with someone wearing the suit, the cape seems to be inside out showing the stripe as indistinct and faded just as in the ESB photo.

Here is the manny on display with the cape turned with the correct side outward. The stripe is dark and distinct.

Here again with someone wearing the suit and the stripe is not definite and even hard to make out beyond a faint orange tone. To me it looks like its simply inside out. This is the exact same suit ensemble as what's on the manny above:

I think it's a good bet the ESB stripe was put on with a roller.

 

[Eli Jinn]

Very interesting

 

[ConvergenceProp]

Good call. That picture served the basis of my speculation as well. To be fair, ConvergenceProp had been thinking about it before me, and probably others before him, but ConvergenceProp may be the only person to actually experiment with putting the stripe on with a roller. His results gave a similar result to what can be seen in that ESB production pic. Maybe he can share his results here.

If I never brought it up in my own build thread, I meant to, but additionally there are pics from the UK where the tour suit seems to have the ESB cape, or a backup (hard to tell), and in one set of photos with someone wearing the suit, the cape seems to be inside out showing the stripe as indistinct and faded just as in the ESB photo.

Here is the manny on display with the cape turned with the correct side outward. The stripe is dark and distinct.
View attachment 237307

Here again with someone wearing the suit and the stripe is not definite and even hard to make out beyond a faint orange tone. To me it looks like its simply inside out. This is the exact same suit ensemble as what's on the manny above:

View attachment 237308
View attachment 237309

I think it's a good bet the ESB stripe was put on with a roller.

Sorry that I’m only getting caught up with this just now.
Yeah I myself am firmly in camp “1 Sided Stripe put on with a Roller”, especially after experimenting with it. I’ve been a bit lazy updating my build and research threads lately, but I did both Airbrush and Roller methods in my experiments, and the Roller method gave superior, near perfect results for the bleed through effect I also believe we are seeing in photos. I applied the stripe using a 6” roller and Archive X “Rust” enamel paint, taping everything off first prior to doing the roller. It took an entire jars worth of it between the two tests even while using some thinner to help stretch it out.
(I somewhat suspect they probably didn’t tape off the edges of the real one, and probably just went ham with the roller, but I wanted to be extra careful as these 1942 tents are very very difficult to get a good khaki color of)

Here’s some photos of my applying the roller as well as the end results. The cape I use for most of my backdrops is my roller one as well.

Wet paint outside face

Wet paint Inside Face Bleed through

End Result after drying and 1 wash cycle

Hope this helps you and others

 

[viewoptic]

Is this the material the cape is made from? (old army tent) I always thought it was some type of wool...

 

[AlphaCloneFett]

Is this the material the cape is made from? (old army tent) I always thought it was some type of wool...

Correct, it's a WW2 khaki half shelter tent.
Wool material is incorrect but many use it anyway

 

[viewoptic]

Correct, it's a WW2 khaki half shelter tent.
Wool material is incorrect but many use it anyway

Thanks for info, What is the sizing specs it needs to be cut to? and width of stripe?

 

[AlphaCloneFett]

Thanks for info, What is the sizing specs it needs to be cut to? and width of stripe?

 

[ConvergenceProp]

Is this the material the cape is made from? (old army tent) I always thought it was some type of wool...

Correct, it's a WW2 khaki half shelter tent.
Wool material is incorrect but many use it anyway

Here is a closeup of the Cotton Twill material from my personal 1942 tent photographed under different kinds of lighting. You can see how the dye color likes to shift pretty dramatically depending on the light source type.

 

[NikTrooper]

Would a repro tent like this do: US WWII Khaki Shelter Half (One) | What Price Glory

So it was just cut out and then hemmed?

 

[ConvergenceProp]

Unfortunately this is where these get a bit tricky as getting both the correct fabric, in good lightly used condition, and in the correct “khaki green” hue is exceptionally difficult because not all WW2 U.S. tents exhibit it.

Ive owned 3 separate pup tent halves myself over the last couple years and they all differed from one another either in fabric weave, like in the case of my first tent, which wasn’t Cotton Twill.
Or simply just the sheer amount of use/wear, like in the case of my third tent which I purchased specifically because it was the same MFG, same year, same material as my main tent (2nd one I bought), but when it arrived it was a lot more worn and the khaki green hue had seemingly largely sun-faded out to more the OD#3 color from amount of exposure and use that one had seen, somewhat like is seen with the fading observed on the Boba Fett flightsuits where they too faded with amount of use and harsh sunlight exposure

 

[NikTrooper]

I'm hoping because this is a repro that it would be somewhat uniform in colour. I've asked them but they're never the best at replying. Then a few cycles in the wash hopefully and bash it around a bit. We'll see. Need new gloves first.

 

[NikTrooper]

I'm wondering about the length as per the measurements above. My wool cape is exactly the measurements above, 780 x 780 mm, and as you can see it's nowhere near as far down as the movie one. I'm wondering if it shouldn't be bigger? I'm the same height as Jeremy at 6 foot.

I also need some more weathering...

 

[Eli Jinn]

View attachment 237533

I'm wondering about the length as per the measurements above. My wool cape is exactly the measurements above, 780 x 780 mm, and as you can see it's nowhere near as far down as the movie one. I'm wondering if it shouldn't be bigger? I'm the same height as Jeremy at 6 foot.

I also need some more weathering...

In regards to length, I know Ord Mantell cut his cape 30.5" (775 mm) across and about 35" (889 mm) down. He said it worked for his manny, which I believe is also 6 foot. I'm 5"11, and I cut my cape 35" × 35" (889 × 889 mm). I will try to get a photo of how my cape looks like. I'd also love to see how the cape ConvergenceProp made drapes, seeing that it is so long...

 

[AlphaCloneFett]

View attachment 237533

I'm wondering about the length as per the measurements above. My wool cape is exactly the measurements above, 780 x 780 mm, and as you can see it's nowhere near as far down as the movie one. I'm wondering if it shouldn't be bigger? I'm the same height as Jeremy at 6 foot.

I also need some more weathering...

Yep, should be longer, a bit pass the knee, the movie cape was dark, not sure if naturally weathered or purpose weathering was done for the movie. For people who are six feet, I'd make the cape 32" by 37" inches or so, I think all the capes were rectangular

 

[ConvergenceProp]

Edit: see next post

 

[Eli Jinn]

Here's my 35" × 35" cape on me (5' 11")
Don't have much of a suit to have it over, but I put on one of my old knees and the cape is attached to a collar plate

Almost too long!

 

[NikTrooper]

I think that looks spot on lengthwise on you.