Back to the Future II: Marty's Jacket (the holy grail of BTTF props)

[Edward H]

So not to hijack Frosty's thread but him and i have been pm-ing back and forth and he asked me to post here instead of starting a new thread... So, I have been working on this project for about 4 years now and am in the process of assembling the very first screen accurate jacket... I hadnt been on the RPF for a long time until a friend forwarded me this link today... Im excited that there is still so much interest in this jacket... I hate to ruin a suprise but it seemed appropriate to let you guys in on what i have been working on... This jacket was sort of unofficially going to unveiled in a few promo videos to help my buddy Ken promote his BTTF event in November, but here is a sneak peek... Over the past year i have had the chance to spend several hours with one of the screen used jackets and talk to the creator of the jacket for BTTF2... He confirmed the methods i used to create this jacket and was completely flattered that people are even interested... What i can tell you is the screen used jacket was entirely crafted by hand... And you guys are right... The material was made using a flourescent light cover. Here is a quick picture before i run out the door... I threw together some left over remnants of some jacket material and sleeve material... forgive the lighting, i had to take this with my video camera...

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

Thank you for taking the time to post that photo - very impressive looking work.
To say I have a few questions is an understatement.
-What kind of rubber is used for the gray part,
-Was the 'bumpy' material molded in red, painted black, then the black rubbed off the raised areas? How did you achieve the dark recessed areas?
-Were the cuffs/waistband ribbing fabricated from a 'found' item, or scratch built?
If you could answer these questions - which have been knawing at me like an animal, it would relieve a huge stress from me.
I will be sending you a PM....
Thanks again for sharing! I believe I speak for all who are interested in this jacket when I express a very sincere THANK YOU!

 

[lostboy]

Hi

New to this forum and new to prop building in general.

Although not a prop i am interested in producing myself anything BTTF does.

Just my thoughts but does this material not remind any one else of Grip Mat you know the stuff you put on you dash board to stop your sunglasses phone etc. sliding around. For example Imageshack - 1434383yk9.jpg - Uploaded by rutmark this does come in red aswell.

Just my thoughts any way good luck with your project.

 

[odoc]

I have seen Ed's progress on this jacket last time I was out in California and it was truly impressive!

can't wait to get the finished product on my back!

ef the whe! (inside joke)

David, I met you last year at the Fan Expo and we talked briefly about this before I started drooling over your Batman motorcycle outfit ... i was the Marty McFly that lost all composure and started getting pics of me in the Batman jacket! LOVE IT! wish you were making more, as i finally convinced wifey to thinking this was a good idea, and your orders closed up :cry

GeneralFrosty, are you working with David to try to make these commercially available?

 

[booshman]

Wow DocBrown88, that material looks fantastic! I'm very jealous you got to see the original and quiz the creator.

The original prop looks a bit rough around the edges in close-up to me (the moulded waistband in particular). Is this due to deteriation over time, or just how it was produced?

I only mention this since the blu rays are due in October, 1080P may show up these defects, if they were there from the beginning.

 

[Edward H]

Thank you for taking the time to post that photo - very impressive looking work.
To say I have a few questions is an understatement.
-What kind of rubber is used for the gray part,
-Was the 'bumpy' material molded in red, painted black, then the black rubbed off the raised areas? How did you achieve the dark recessed areas?
-Were the cuffs/waistband ribbing fabricated from a 'found' item, or scratch built?
If you could answer these questions - which have been knawing at me like an animal, it would relieve a huge stress from me.
I will be sending you a PM....
Thanks again for sharing! I believe I speak for all who are interested in this jacket when I express a very sincere THANK YOU!

Thanks for the compliments... And yeah, DavidYr1's description is pretty close to how i created mine... Execpt for the dark green rubber... Black is what they used but its hard to get a true black using Latex so i see where he was going with it.

Wow DocBrown88, that material looks fantastic! I'm very jealous you got to see the original and quiz the creator.

The original prop looks a bit rough around the edges in close-up to me (the moulded waistband in particular). Is this due to deteriation over time, or just how it was produced?

I only mention this since the blu rays are due in October, 1080P may show up these defects, if they were there from the beginning.

Yeah, the whole jacket was fabricated by hand so its not perfect in person. Some parts are also starting to fall apart as you would expect. There are alot more seems and things that you can see in person that are not visible on film... There are alot of areas where glue looks like it was smeared on accident... As uniform as the red material looks on film there are alot of areas where its not uniform and close to the seems i saw some areas where there was hardly any red rubber at all... I keep wondering if this will show in the blue ray as well...

 

[booshman]

The blu rays are said to look incredible with the restoration thats been done. I also hear that some segments of the Eric Stotz footage will be on the special features, which I've long hoped to see.

There should be a lot of good reference of the jacket in it's original state to go with the more recent images you have.

 

[CTF]

After five years, we have, like, progress?

AWESOME!

 

[GuntahKela]

I will be watching this thread with great interest.

 

[Risu]

I'm very interested, but also understand that this will not be a cheap jacket. Do you have even an incredibly rough estimate of cost if a run were to be done so that I know if it's even a possibility for me? Either way, I'll be following this thread.

 

[CTF]

Please, just have it done before November!

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

The special design of this jacket is the main reason why it's been so hard to replicat over the years.
Think about it, in ALL the years since the movie came out, no one - to this point - has even come close to replicating an authentic looking copy of the jacket.
If the movie jacket were made of a 'found' fabric, it would have been done already time and again.
Once you realize the special nature of this thing you really start to appreciate the labor of love that Docbrown88 (Ed) put into this. It's not something you can just bang out easily.

 

[Darius Alucard]

:eekWow...just wow!


I don't own a single BTTF prop (and that will change in time), but I've always loved the films and especially Marty's BTTF 2 costume!

I CAN'T wait to see this finished!

 

[Gary Weaver II]

I just gotta say, this is one bad ass picture. Look great Ed. You all have knocked that one out of the park.

-Gary

So not to hijack Frosty's thread but him and i have been pm-ing back and forth and he asked me to post here instead of starting a new thread... So, I have been working on this project for about 4 years now and am in the process of assembling the very first screen accurate jacket... I hadnt been on the RPF for a long time until a friend forwarded me this link today... Im excited that there is still so much interest in this jacket... I hate to ruin a suprise but it seemed appropriate to let you guys in on what i have been working on... This jacket was sort of unofficially going to unveiled in a few promo videos to help my buddy Ken promote his BTTF event in November, but here is a sneak peek... Over the past year i have had the chance to spend several hours with one of the screen used jackets and talk to the creator of the jacket for BTTF2... He confirmed the methods i used to create this jacket and was completely flattered that people are even interested... What i can tell you is the screen used jacket was entirely crafted by hand... And you guys are right... The material was made using a flourescent light cover. Here is a quick picture before i run out the door... I threw together some left over remnants of some jacket material and sleeve material... forgive the lighting, i had to take this with my video camera...

 

[Jedifyfe]

I just gotta say, this is one bad ass picture. Look great Ed. You all have knocked that one out of the park.

-Gary

I whole heartedly agree. Truly amazing work!

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

I can't seem to get enough tissue to wipe up all this drool....:eek

 

[Edward H]

Thanks for all the nice words... Ill be sure to post some more updates as the jacket is completed...

 

[professor]

My only question is, is Silicone the best material for this as far as durability and sewing through it. I've never worked with the stuff. Is there a release you need to spray into the light fixture first, or does it just pull out easily?

 

[OldKen]

I just gotta say, this is one bad ass picture. Look great Ed. You all have knocked that one out of the park.

-Gary

I think you knocked it out of the park, over the lake and into another stadium! :love

WOW!

I think all the old timers posting in the OT thread by PHArchivist about getting bored with the prop section... will be changing their minds! This thing has been a long time commin!

I can't wait to see it finished!!!

 

[TD443]

Awesome!