The MDF hasn't really been superceded as far as PP2 helmet lineage, though, has it? Well, I suppose the MF (MaloneFett).
There are the CT casts, which have to be directly altered to make them workable. To be clear, that is a lot of work.
There are also the grey KT casts with the additional dome distortion. The available material points to these being from a very old mould form the original Malone Fett process. It's possible the additional dome distortion is due to the age of a dying mould. Either way, the CT casts would be the preferred base for a PP2 helmet, unless you could get a new mould made of the thing.
If the current WF/MF helmets were considered G4/G5 would that mean this helmet is from a RS or MCR if it's in the scope of a G3 in terms of measurements?
That's possible although I don't see any material to support that beyond those being the G2 casts that are widely known to be out there. These ESB casts have been floating around for years now, and long before Luis first started offering them and everybody else decided to follow suit. Frankly, the issue of these ESB casts is such a mess that trying to work out what came from where is going to be extremely difficult. I am at the point where I would rather know the qualities of what is being offered rather than who is recasting whom.
I was looking at pictures of the new Bobamaker helmets, which appear significantly different to his previous offerings, and have more than a whiff of ESB about them; where did those come from?
not necessarily. I have a Minutefett raw from last year I received prior to the MCR/RS releases and it also measures 9 3/4" along the same dimension.
I've only seen one Minute ESB helmet, which was the first one sent to John at Elstree. It was not good. It was either far lower than G3, or his casting ability was poor. It had issues with size and distortion, which is why another was later sent.
I asked MinuteFett directly about what he used for the base and he wouldn't tell me. I don't quite see why you wouldn't want to brag about it being a Gen 3, but if this is measuring as such, what else could it come from? Maybe he's just apprehensive to talk about sources because of the past controversy?
It's funny, it was not always like this. While some aspects were not fully disclosed, Fett people used to be far more open about what they were doing; they used to actually show their working! While there was a slow creep toward secrecy, what really tipped the scale was the FPH2 and the lack of disclosure over that. At that point, we moved from non disclosure being frowned on to it being accepted.