Bryan Ono of eFX had a Q&A on rebelscum this past Thursday (
Threads.Rebelscum.com: Q & A with eFX Thursday 8/11/11).
This is what he had to say about a few of the upcoming items
" 2. What are the delivery estimates on the TIE, Vader helmet, Luke Helmet, Luke Reveal?
TIE Fighter: The TIE Fighter that we just displayed at Comic Con is very different from the model that we showed at Comic Con and Celebration V last year. That model was made completely in resin. However, after attempting to produce a small quantity, we realized that it was very difficult to mold some of the more complicated pieces consistently that met our requirements. . . (like the Cool Shade on the wings) So we invested more than $85K on injection tooling to produce these components. This is the model that we showed at Comic Con a couple weeks ago. Those who saw it know how good this model looked! So, the model is now at Lucasfilm for final approval. After we get their comments and combine them with ours, we will go over it with our vendor in Asia to address any issues. We will then determine the schedule for the revisions and then we will then be ready to start production.
Luke Reveal: Unfortunately, the vendor made a mistake on the lead time to machine all of those parts, especially with the tolerance that would be required for the moving parts. (As you know, up this point, only static hilts were made) So we are hoping to start shipping the lightsabers from Asia the beginning of September.
Luke ESB X-wing Helmet: As many of you know, our vendor is having a lot of trouble with the visor. He could not vacuum form them to the quality that we require, so, we invested in an injection mold. Because he works with primarily with fiberglass and resin, he is not that familiar with the injection mold process. So, when they made the tool, they did not take into account the shrinkage of the material, so the visor came out too small. And to our surprise, this has happened 3 times! Our new tool is expected to be done this weekend. Stay tuned!"