My Range Finder Theory/Thought

[Slave1Pirate117]

Hey everyone. I am working on my ROTJ Hero build out of aluminum here. During my drawings and file conversions and dimensioning of the right side of the helmet, I saw the same thing I always see about it that bothered me forever. The range finder rotation point. So i just plunged into hundreds of pictures and got lost in the whole thing (per the norm). So I wanted to point it out and talk about it. If this has been discussed before we an just delete the thread. I also want to put my theory into practice on one of my helmets even though it isn't screen accurate. So here goes.

I borrowed the photos from the 501st Boba ROTJ HERO reference sheet and modified them to show my theory. Pardon my terrible Photoshop abilities and the kill markers being on the wrong side.

I believe that the designers of the suit had originally planned or thought to emulate the range finder "ear" to go up and down with the rotation forward and back up. It just looks too perfect. Here is the range finder in stored position. We all see the shape of the 2 parts of the right ear and the angles between the 2 match.

The top part of the ear is shaped to slide into the lower part of the ear. The 3 holes look to be electrical/signal connection points that connect the top and bottom halves of the right ear.

So as the upper portion of the right ear slides down, the range finder rotates down and is in the usable position like the pic below making connection to the rest of the helmets electronics to deliver range information.

Notice the left ear is clearly level with the top red rim. It begs to back up the operational theory. Ok that's it! Let me know what you guys think. I am definitely going to build a helmet like this.

 

[RafalFett]

Not a bad theory at all! While we don't have evidence of a moving ear (none of the concept drawings show this), it might have been a possibility at one point. Norman Reynolds' drawing clearly shows a static ear setup:

On the Jango Fett helmet the upper and lower ears are overlapping, but still not movable:

 

[Wolfsburg]

I’m glad you posted this because I too had always thought it looked like there was meant to be some articulation with the ear for the reasons you stated. Maybe they changed their minds or felt it was too much trouble to do? Who knows...

EDIT: Actually, looking closer at the above Reynold's drawing of the ear, it does seem to show three "contact" posts where the three holes currently are. Maybe they were gonna be a separate component to be installed in the ear early on but were never made/installed.

 

[Funkyred]

It would make sense of the fact the ears were precision made from metal tbh

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

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Not a bad theory at all! While we don't have evidence of a moving ear (none of the concept drawings show this), it might have been a possibility at one point. Norman Reynolds' drawing clearly shows a static ear setup:
View attachment 205484

On the Jango Fett helmet the upper and lower ears are overlapping, but still not movable:
Awesome drawing there. You're right about that. It doesn't show the the ear moving at all but the 3 dots are actually cylinders protruding to almost seem like they are contact points. Also the cross section of the ear shows the same angles. Beautiful. I also never knew that Jango helmet was like that.....odd.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Not a bad theory at all! While we don't have evidence of a moving ear (none of the concept drawings show this), it might have been a possibility at one point. Norman Reynolds' drawing clearly shows a static ear setup:
View attachment 205484

On the Jango Fett helmet the upper and lower ears are overlapping, but still not movable:
View attachment 205496

Awesome drawing there. You're right about that. It doesn't show the the ear moving at all but the 3 dots are actually cylinders protruding to almost seem like they are contact points. Also the cross section of the ear shows the same angles. Beautiful. I also never knew that Jango helmet was like that.....odd.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

I am glad some of you agree. I was afraid I might get blasted haha.

 

[TheBobaFett]

Don't worry, you're still more useful to us alive...

 

[spicy fett]

I never understood why Jangos ears were so different than bobas in the way that jangos is pushed down to me it just looks awkward but what do I know lol