EFX DARTH VADER ANH PCR HELMETS (SPECIAL and STANDARD EDITIONS)

I want to keep the existing tusks on (for now), but I have the opposite problem. The rivets on mine weren't installed tight enough. The mask creaks and flexes at the back more than most, and I can see the tusk separating slightly from the mask as it flexes.

The tusks provide some structural integrity when installed correctly, which for these rivets means pushed in so tight that the round part curves in at the center. Mine are flat and not tight enough.

I know this because I bought a second one last week from baitme.com, but I'm sending it back because it's got lots of scratches and scuffs.

The tightness of the rivets actually changes the shape of the mask slightly but noticeably. The width between the outside bottom edges at the back is 19.1 centimeters on mine but with tightly installed tusks, it's 19.5 centimeters.

Instead of rivets there's something called "a screw" that could have been used instead that would have been simpler.

banthapoodoo said:

Instead of rivets there's something called "a screw" that could have been used instead that would have been simpler.

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BP....what is this strange device with which you speak of?.....You mock what you don't understand...

Can anyone tell me how much shipping is for eFX with in the US and to Canada? I have a buddy that's contemplating picking one of these up and is debating whether to have it shipped directly to him in Canada (Vancouver), or to a parcel receiving service he has across the border.

gizmo said:

This helmet has to be the best "bang for you buck" prop ever.


Ben

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Depends what you're looking for. Based on what I spent for my two Vader buckets, and what my two Vader buckets actually are, compared to the asking prices of the EFX Legend on Ebay, I'd say I got a steal.

Here it is with a bit more work



It seems like the whole thing was painted gunmetal and then the black is overlaid

Thats good to know, so ideally if you wanted to add more scratches to one, it would be gunmetal underneath.

spacebob said:

Here it is with a bit more work

https://s19.postimg.org/s4lo855tv/webdarth0183.jpg

It seems like the whole thing was painted gunmetal and then the black is overlaid

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That looks very good so far!:thumbsup

But how did you removed the tusks and the mesh behind the mouth?Mine are hard like a rock in there!And the tusks are too weak metal to use a gripper.

Wow, that looks great. Doesn't look plastic.

Kroenen77 he tusk pulled out easily on one side and the other I used a vice with a thick piece of leather as protection to get it started and then prised with a flat screwdriver. The mesh surrounds come of easily with a prise from a flat screwdriver too, watch out the mesh is soft aluminium

Thanks I will do that also.

spacebob said:

Here it is with a bit more work

https://s19.postimg.org/s4lo855tv/webdarth0183.jpg

It seems like the whole thing was painted gunmetal and then the black is overlaid

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Nice work spacebob. I think you're on the way to making a Special Deluxe Supreme Edition of this helmet.

The shape of the helmet is pretty close to screen accurate. This movie screenshot is hard to match with some helmets. Remove the dome ring, add some padding behind the widow's peak, and reposition the dome to match it. To give it the really screen accurate look, you do have to rough it up the right way in the right places. The right pic is an image processed blend of the left two.

Great comparison banthapoodoo!:thumbsup

Do you also have this in a higher resolution?

Thanks! I replaced the pic above with a higher resolution version.

Shouldn't use a screenshot to base your measurements on because it has been stretched and the helmet appears wider than it actually is.

One would hope that's what the EFX Legend would look like, Banthapoodoo.

Clutch said:

Shouldn't use a screenshot to base your measurements on because it has been stretched and the helmet appears wider than it actually is.

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These images haven't been stretched, not intentionally at least. I think that's the way they would look from that particular angle and distance. In terms of absolute size I can't say that they match, but in the relative proportion they appear to, from this angle at least.

It's true you shouldn't draw conclusions about dimensional equivalence based on a single pair of 2D images. No single 2D image will convey all dimensional information needed to know the dimensions of a 3D object. This is true even in the absence of any lens distortion. It's just a 2D planar projection of a 3D object, so a lot of information is lost.

Nor from one 2D image will it be clear what are the actual surface details and which are reflections. This can result in apparent surface texture and color differences at the same location on the helmet in different images. Instead of the color of the helmet you might be seeing the color of the reflected light.

So it's best to look at lots of images before making conclusions about what changes you might want to make to the helmet.

Photogrammy tools automate this if you have the object in front of you to compile 3D model information from a large set of 2D images. And even with just 2 images from two viewpoints corresponding to how your left and right eye would see them, you can view a 3D image and let your brain sort it all out, such as in this pair:

banthapoodoo said:

To accurately reproduce the C-Scar, you'd need to punch or melt a dent in the mask at that spot to create the sharp shape contour transition along the outline of the C-Scar.

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GINO said:

This is not true.

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Well I will agree to disagree. To me it seems to be correlated with the existence of depression in the helmet near it as shown in the above photos. Exactly what it is nobody really knows. It could be a scratch. It could be an elevated region where the paint settled. It could be due to a dent. Or as craigjohn said, a combination.

Bought mine not long after I discovered they existed. I figured $300 for an honest-to-goodness ANH Vader helmet was a fair price, especially considering the alternative would be far more expensive (though understandably higher quality) resin/fiberglass replicas by fans, or EFX's previous limited edition and Legend edition offerings.


Here's my two cents... I've got strange mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's the most accurate licensed Vader helmet available as of right now, let alone one that's more or less faithful to the original hand-sculpted asymmetrical helmet from A New Hope, let alone with some lineage to the original prop, albeit heavily cleaned up and idealized, and given the medium used in the production of these, these compromises are perfectly understandable. On the other hand... man does it feel cheap! Hits me in the gut every time I pick it up! But then again, their older fiberglass helmet was around $800. So considering, on the surface, they are almost indistinguishable, yet it's $300, they knocked it out of the park. So hats off to EFX for making this happen. The fit and finish is pretty flawless. But there's no escaping the negative stigma and cheap connotation that the feel of injection-molded plastic gives. Once I pick it up it hits me immediately. It's totally psychological.


Visually, I love it. My one and only complaint about this helmet (and I'm shocked no one else pointed this out yet) is the deformed right arch near the widow's peak. (see pics below)



Once you see it, you can't easily un-see it. If this is an idealized, and cleaned up sharp-as-a-tack helmet, this area shouldn't look like that. Especially since this is not how the original screen used helmet looked, nor is it a flaw present in the Legend and LE versions, where the arch corners are sharply defined and clean. I've yet to see any picture of a Vader PCR helmet that doesn't have this flaw to some degree, making me believe it's a production-wide flaw inherent in the actual injection molds. In fact, even EFX's own product images have this flaw visible (see above pic). However, the early production prototypes displayed in past conventions, while flawed in other respects, at least the arches looked cleaner. It's kind of puzzling. I hope somewhere down the line they'd offer replacement domes. I'd gladly pay for shipping for a nice clean dome. Maybe Gino can shed some light on this?


That said... looks friggin' awesome! I also took it upon myself to polish mine a little (not too much) with Mother's brand car wax. I think it looks gorgeous now and way less like it was made of plastic. Yes, I know, the ANH helmet isn't supposed to be shiny, but as it's an idealized helmet anyway, so I figured why not. I'm more interested in it as a display piece than replicating the on-screen used look. I see it as what Vader's helmet might have looked like a few years before ANH, when it was still shiny and didn't get all scuffed up.

And you're correct...can't unsee that distorted spot now.