ROTS Vader Mask Interior

[R2B9]

It's an older one, but I couldn't nail down where it was pulled from... might've been out of a "box of used pinball machine parts" (Back to the Future ref there) I bet, if you have a long time electronics supply shop nearby, if they see the part they can tell you if they have any idea of its origin. However, from the oxidation on that, and the large, standard screws, it's at least 1980s vintage. Probably older.

Originally posted by Darthmagpie@Feb 13 2006, 06:09 PM
I will put it up.  Using this can we connect it to another component and possibly find the thing it came out of?

[snapback]1183335[/snapback]​

 

[dalum]

Originally posted by R2B9@Feb 13 2006, 01:14 PM
I don't know if this has been identified, but it is a leaf switch out of an older electronic device.

I used to have a *ball* cleaning these things when I worked in a video arcade.  They inhabited the backside of all your console buttons like FIRE, also the flipper buttons for many pinball games...that sort of thing.  The more a player would pound on the button, the more they'd oxidize and get "sticky".  Games like Asteroids and Defender for example...  oh, the memories.

[snapback]1183279[/snapback]​

Those style switches are also used in the hook switch on desktop "old style" telephones. I doubt they used 1 piece from one item so maybe a closer look around will pop up something else tying it to one device.

 

[Darthmagpie]

Exactly what I was saying Dalum. Can you post a pic of the style phone you are talking about? Old Style is dependant upon your age. lol Busting open a phone makes sense to me I am just surprized we dont see the mic in the mouth area....or do we? DUM DUM DUUUUM.

 

[fettpride]

In this pic, the ridged tube underneath everything appears to me to be 3/8 or 1/2 inch "Black Split Wire Loom" that you can get at any auto parts store. The split is probably in the back .. and they painted it silver.

The large greeblies on each side of the upper portion of the bridge of the nose's HD Reader Arm are VERY familiar to me, yet I just can't pin it. It's bugging me ...

Almost like they're crossed between an old style burgler alarm "Window/Glass Breakage Sensor", and an "EKG" contact that they put on your chest in the emergency room :lol But it lso looks like it could be some sort of connecter in the internal workings of a newer car door motorized window assembly. Specifically, I think I remember something like this in my '03 Dodge Dakota when I had the door panels off running some wire. Hmmm .... yeah, I highly doubt it too :lol

*EDIT*


The ridged/threaded looking wires/tubes in this pic (everywhere in the mask) appear to be the same type of motor drive wire (obviously a different thickness) as you find in your "Dremel"
extension attachment .. if you've ever had your drive wire "Slip Out" you'll know what I mean :lol

FP

 

[fettpride]

Ok ...

Here we go, found item ...

First, the small talk. I'm a computer/network "Tech" by trade/profession. So over the years I've
accumulated a "TON" of old hard drives. Why I've kept them all these years? Beyond me. BUT, I've got about 600 of them. Yes, approx. 600 :lol After seeing this thread, I decided "What the hell"?

Went and got a couple of U-Haul boxes of my old drives to dig in and see what I could find.
After about the first 25 or so, I started getting a little discouraged. I have everything you can think of. Ever drive manufacturer, practically every model of each respectively. Including 'Generics" that NO ONE" has ever heard of :lol

Then, I stumbled on it .. the "Bridge of the Nose". Yep .... 'WITHOUT A DOUBT"

I hope everyone interested in this "ROTS Reveal" will find this info useful. Just remember you heard it here first :lol

On to the pics/proof ...

Fun and games ...

Now just a teaser of "The tip of the iceberg" of what I still have to go
through :lol

And just so you know ... YES this is as "Narrowed Down" as "I Believe" it's going to get ... allow me to explain ...

Each manufacturer uses a "Proprietary Part" .. and this piece "IS" without a doubt "Western Digital ONLY". This will be confirmed without a shadow of a doubt as I spend the next two weeks parting out 600 hard drives, but thus far, "Western Digital" is the key. There is also another 'Western Digital" arm that is 99.9 % accurate. It looks identical to the one posted, with the exception of the angled slash in the machining in the front middle. The 99.9% accurate part has the same angle slash, with a "Jag" so to speak :lol I'll post comparison shots later.

As of right now, what you need to look for in a hard drive if you don't want to wait for me to recover these parts, is a "Western Digital Caviar" circa 1997-1999, 8 GB-13 GB. It MUST be a "Caviar" Not a "Protégé". It must use small Alpha/Numerical model designation as seen in the picture above. But as of this time, the 100% accurate part is from the "EXACT" model of hard drive shown ...

Again, this is "THE ONE". I'm about 99 % sure. If someone proves that wrong, so be it, it wouldn't be the first time. But why bother, we got this one ... as you can see in the next pic, the sea of these ugly little buggers is going to be 'Quite" large.

HAPPY HUNTING ... I'm off to find the other pieces now :lol



FP

 

[jme3]

Great work.

Where were you all those years ago when the "other" reveal project was up and running...?

 

[Darthmagpie]

WAY TO GO FETTPRIDE...... That is what I am talking about... I will do the maintenence on this thread this weekend. Lets keep it up....

 

[Nataku]

It may be it but there are a few differences. The wire the runs along the side is a different color, the bumps on the "arm", that's on the right side, are different shape and the last hole towards the tip is also a different shape.
There were a couple others but they might be due to different angles.

 

[fettpride]

:lol

Yes, there does appear to be some "Microscopic" differences doesn't there? But are they actually there?

The red circles shown in the pic below show the shape of the cutout, and I'm assuming this is one of the items you mentioned. I think you are absolutely correct that in this case, angle is everything. My photo was taken "dead on" looking down at it. The reference pic is at just such an angle that it changes the appearance of the shape of the cutout. This is pretty obvious by seeing the 2 other arm layers right below the top layer just inside the cutout, whereas you cannot even tell there are two other layers underneath my part.

The red arrows denote some pretty obvious differences that have a very reasonable explanation. The LFL part has been "stripped" of some of the "retainers" that are built into the arm. I can easily remove the two little plastic clips of my part, and it looks identical. I have not removed the pieces on the part I took pic of simply because I wanted to keep it "Cherry" until I was ready to use it :lol

The green arrows show the "microscopic" hole in the very bottom that you referred to. The hole on the LFL part is actual the same shape as the part I provided shots of. You just have to look at the ref pic VERY closely to see the shadow of the outline of the hole. I colored it to show approximately where the hole is as I can see on my own monitor ... it almost appears that whomever put this piece together might have got a little "filler" or "glue" in the hole, distorting the actual size/shape of it. This is my take anyway, as I said .. from how I see it on my monitor. A closer pic of this "microscopic" hole would be more useful I suppose. Nice try though ... I also suppose that having one in hand would help a great deal in seeing what I'm talking about. :lol

The red wire running down the side that you referred to is actually more "Red" on my part than it appears in the picture. Lighting, afternoon light coming in the window so I didn't have to "flash" it up, ect. But you can't tell me that it is inconceivable that during the manufacturing process, the color of "wire" may or may not vary from month to month, year to year?

And the "Bumps" on the side of the arm that you referred to, are no different. Not sure what your seeing there?

Again, angles, lighting ... have to be taken into coonsideration here. I would still bet the farm on this part. I know that debate is what the RPF is all about, but when something is this "Cut and Dry", take it for what it is :lol


FP

 

[stormtrooperguy]

looks like one of these is up on ebay right now. search for western digital 102ba and it will come up. i was tempted, but the last thing i need is for a $1 hard drive to become a $5000 vader display

 

[Darthmagpie]

I am glad to see the interest in this pick up. I know i need to add info to the first post. Anyway, i was readina thread that mentioned that Don Bies Worked on this. I know people are in contact with him....is it too forward to email him the fist post and maybe he can fill in a few items?

 

[Darthmagpie]

Hello all,
I have updated the list in the first post. The "not confirmed" pieces still need picture references for confirmation. Things are going well but I think we can finish off this list if we come together.

This piece is featured in this mask 6 times and I believe is a key component and may lead to more finds. It is labeled #11 in the first post. In the fore head of the mask it is painted the same color copper as the other copper pieces kind of backing up the theroy that the copper pieces are all painted. It could definetally be part of a model or be some type of lever from a cd player, VCR, ect.

Lets get this one.

Thanks Wackychimp.

 

[Darthmagpie]

Hello all,
R2b9 gave us the info that #21 are leaf switches. I found this pic when searching for..yup you gessed it Leaf switches. Good enough to call it confirmed? These are from pinball games as suggested, the one with a lot is the score board. Where can you get these?

Thanks Wackychimp

 

[fettpride]

Darthmagpie - bout time you updated my friend

Looks like confirmation enough for me. But damn, not sure where we
could find old cheap pin ball machines to rip these out of :lol
Unless there is a place that still has some stock of these little buggers
in their back room, I'm clueless.

Google, here I come .


FP

 

[fettpride]

Well, it might not be as hard as I thought. They're in everything. Just need to find
the right look. Hopefully not too vintage :lol

On a side note, I'm pretty sure that the 6 arm hard drive readers are an IBM 9 GB SCSI
hard drive. Got a lead on this from the Reveal Board. Waiting for one in the mail to confirm.


FP

 

[Darthmagpie]

The reveal board?.?.?.?.?.?.? Is there any info there that would apply to this? Can I get a link?

It is sad but there is little to update...can't seem to get the identification interest that that got us the obi saber/han flash hider. HOW DO I RALLY THE TROOPS? I really think if somone could show the first post to Don B. he could get us some major info.

 

[jme3]

Originally posted by Darthmagpie@Apr 3 2006, 06:15 PM
I really think if somone could show the first post to Don B. he could  get us some major info.

[snapback]1219284[/snapback]​

Hopefully your luck with him would be better than mine. I contacted him regarding his recollections of the ROTJ reveal; he was accomodating enough as far as that goes but he disclaimed having any type of knowledge that would be beneficial, though he said I was free to forward him photos with questions. I did but haven't heard back from him since.

Maybe his memory of the ROTS is a bit fresher and I'd be interested to know more about this one as well...

 

[Darthmagpie]

I would be happy to do it....Can I have his contact information?

 

[fettpride]

Originally posted by Darthmagpie@Apr 3 2006, 04:15 PM
The reveal board?.?.?.?.?.?.?  Is there any info there that would apply to this?  Can I get a link?

It is sad but there is little to update...can't seem to get the identification interest that that got us the obi saber/han flash hider.  HOW DO I RALLY THE TROOPS?  I really think if somone could show the first post to Don B. he could   get us some major info.

[snapback]1219284[/snapback]​

No Prob. A member here runs it. But it's a VERY slow moving board. No info on the ROTS to speak of. It's focus was the OT Reveal.

Vader Reveal Board


As far as the Don B. thing, LET'S HIT THIS ... He made the ROTS within the last 2 yrs, I'm sure he could remember something ... as long as he would be able to share it. Just show him the progress we've made so far.

As a matter of fact, he and I hit it off really well at C3. He likes me. But I couldn't bring myself to hit him up for personal info, didn't want to fizzle any confidence he had in me at the time :lol If someone wants to share his contact info with me, I'd be happy to contact him for the team (I'll even send him a pic of him and I together to refresh his memory :lol ) It might work .... and being that I just made the first ROTS Reveal Mask, and discovered one of the parts, the homage to him might impress him a little? Am I a candidate ..... c'mon, pick me, pick me . :lol

FP

 

[stormtrooperguy]

Originally posted by Darthmagpie@Mar 28 2006, 11:54 PM
I am glad to see the interest in this pick up.  I know i need to add info to the first post.  Anyway, i was readina thread that mentioned that Don Bies  Worked on this.  I know people are in contact with him....is it too forward to email him the fist post and maybe he can fill in a few items?

[snapback]1215310[/snapback]​

i actually had dinner with him on friday night

he doesn't remember much in the way of details on it. he did mention opening a hard drive with a piece of heavy construction equipment, and not having access to the rotj one to use as reference.

i mentioned this thread to him, and he was amazed that y'all are on it. i don't think he'd be offended at all if people wanted to ask him about it, but i don't know how much help he'll be.

he has his email address up on his web site... donbies.com.