darthchromer
Well-Known Member
Hi friends. As some of you know, I’ve been searching for an Illusive Concepts Han Solo in Carbonite 1:1 prop to strip the paint from for sometime now. Jeff “Gotmagic” on the Yahoo Han in Carbonite builder forum, took me up on my offer. He sent me his #345 Illusive Concept prop with the body and carbonite section already cut out of the box. He is going to build a more accurate cabinet and side panels. I will strip down his cast and repair the defects and remove detail added by IC to bring it back as close as possible to the screen used original.
I will be doing a paint strip down and removal of all the top and base coats IC applied, and get down to the original as cast details which were buried under all the applications of paint.
I will be examining the Illusive Concepts casting and will try to answer the questions of what was original and what, if any, modifications were made to it after it was cast by comparing it to original photos of the movie prop. I will be looking forward to getting feed back and advice from some of the very knowledgeable HIC experts out there.
A small bit of history on the IC prop.
This was a 1:1 prop produced in 1997 by Illusive Concepts at a run production of 2500 pieces, but that number was never achieved. I have heard due to the company going out of business. The body and carbonite section of the cast was taken directly from an original movie prop. The surrounding box frame and eight side panels were custom made by them. There were supposedly modifications made to the hair, face and hands possibly due to damage and/or to help with ease of molding such a large amount of units.
So, lets get started...
One thing I noticed when I first unpacked it is that these props weren't made flimsy. Jeff had cut the body out of the frame before shipping it off. We have 1/2 to 3/4" thick fiber glass here, nice and strong.
View attachment 743630
One thing that I was disappointed with was the quality of this low number cast. I knew there were problems with parts of it from the pictures Jeff initially sent me but this project is turning from just a strip down and minor repair to a full on resculpt of the face and hands...cool, I get to re-sculpt my favorite prop? That'll work too
.
I will be doing a paint strip down and removal of all the top and base coats IC applied, and get down to the original as cast details which were buried under all the applications of paint.
I will be examining the Illusive Concepts casting and will try to answer the questions of what was original and what, if any, modifications were made to it after it was cast by comparing it to original photos of the movie prop. I will be looking forward to getting feed back and advice from some of the very knowledgeable HIC experts out there.
A small bit of history on the IC prop.
This was a 1:1 prop produced in 1997 by Illusive Concepts at a run production of 2500 pieces, but that number was never achieved. I have heard due to the company going out of business. The body and carbonite section of the cast was taken directly from an original movie prop. The surrounding box frame and eight side panels were custom made by them. There were supposedly modifications made to the hair, face and hands possibly due to damage and/or to help with ease of molding such a large amount of units.
So, lets get started...
One thing I noticed when I first unpacked it is that these props weren't made flimsy. Jeff had cut the body out of the frame before shipping it off. We have 1/2 to 3/4" thick fiber glass here, nice and strong.
View attachment 743630
One thing that I was disappointed with was the quality of this low number cast. I knew there were problems with parts of it from the pictures Jeff initially sent me but this project is turning from just a strip down and minor repair to a full on resculpt of the face and hands...cool, I get to re-sculpt my favorite prop? That'll work too
.
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