Buyer Beware Replica Rocketeer Helmet

EvilRocketeer

EvilRocketeer

Master Member
I got a few emails the past couple of months on another board regarding an ebay auction on a Rocketeer Helmet.....

The seller states it is an extra prop from the movie...however, it is clearly not a production made helmet or had anything to do with the movie...it is a fan made replica...I emailed the seller during the auction...and she clearly didnt know what she was talking about....

It doesnt come close to a production helmet...and basically misleading info.....imho, the buyer over paid for it..would have been cheaper to go the acme route

personal info is blurred...

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Yeah, what is so hard about the fin? Does it change from helmet to helmet (in the movie, I mean)? People must not be working from very good reference material, or from memory or something. :lol
 
Definatly fan made but what's up with the grey stuff in the bottom of the inside looks like a grease paint of some kind and bondo around the eyes, really?
 
it's Cletus Secord......Cliff Secord's long distant cousin from the south....see what happens with inbreeding....it causes deformities haha
 
How are those fins incorrect? The only reason I ask, is because I have no idea what they are "supposed" to look like.
 
They're both just grossly misshapen. The first one has the fin bulging out on the front (and not by a little bit) and the second is thicker than a boat rudder.

I don't have quick access to better pics for reference at the moment but you can see the acme helmet kit I finished here... it's relatively close to accurate, or at least as close as most folks will get short of owning an original. http://www.therpf.com/f9/rocketeer-were-gonna-need-helmet-77607/
 
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Compared to the pics of the Acme unfinished kit in your other thread, it looks somewhat similar in that it is too thick around the eyes.

I'm thinking it could have been a kit, but the fin broke and someone tried to make their own, which would explain the mismatched color on the interior top of the helmet trying to cover the replace/repair job to the fin. The cracked or scratched left eye lense also adds to the assumption that the helmet was treated roughly and damaged.

Also, could it be a recast that someone did, but they removed the fin to make it easier to cast, then sold it without the fin? Whatever the case, that fin doesn't seem to match the rest of the construction; it looks thinner and flatter than the contoured one in the Acme kit, almost like it's cut from sheet metal.
 
Bloop said:
Compared to the pics of the Acme unfinished kit in your other thread, it looks somewhat similar in that it is too thick around the eyes.

I'm thinking it could have been a kit, but the fin broke and someone tried to make their own, which would explain the mismatched color on the interior top of the helmet trying to cover the replace/repair job to the fin. The cracked or scratched left eye lense also adds to the assumption that the helmet was treated roughly and damaged.

Also, could it be a recast that someone did, but they removed the fin to make it easier to cast, then sold it without the fin? Whatever the case, that fin doesn't seem to match the rest of the construction; it looks thinner and flatter than the contoured one in the Acme kit, almost like it's cut from sheet metal.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, Acme is the only place that has ever made a kit as one piece (body and fin cast as a single combined resin shape.) All of the other fan made versions and even the original helmets all had separate fins that were attached. But the way it seems to have evolved over the years is that many of the fan kits have semi-accurate helmet bodies because they have some lineage either from original castings or from the molds as turned over to Disney. But the fins are never remotely accurate to the "hero" helmet style. Sometimes they are just a flat sheet of plastic, sometimes they're big thick sculpted things that are equally wrong. So, to answer your question, yeah, the fin is definitely a separate piece there. As far as I know, every fan kit except for the Acme helmets have separate fins.

Even the Acme kit has the mostly flat-fin style. I just fixed it on the helmet I finished so it was more like the "hero" helmet I used to own. (I also thinned out the eyes and mouth too of course which I haven't yet seen anybody else obsess over like I usually do...)
 
Bloop said:
Compared to the pics of the Acme unfinished kit in your other thread, it looks somewhat similar in that it is too thick around the eyes.

I'm thinking it could have been a kit, but the fin broke and someone tried to make their own, which would explain the mismatched color on the interior top of the helmet trying to cover the replace/repair job to the fin. The cracked or scratched left eye lense also adds to the assumption that the helmet was treated roughly and damaged.

Also, could it be a recast that someone did, but they removed the fin to make it easier to cast, then sold it without the fin? Whatever the case, that fin doesn't seem to match the rest of the construction; it looks thinner and flatter than the contoured one in the Acme kit, almost like it's cut from sheet metal.
Click to expand...

It is definitely not an acme kit and more likely a recast from another helmet...i doubt the helmet pictured was cast from the acme because the body is lagging and the fin is way off....even if they damaged the fin, there would have been a way to fix it or found a way to cast it...excess resin around the eyes and mouth can come from any recast

Recasts recasts recast.....basically that is the majority of rocketeer helmets...i believe the semi accurate bodies of the recasts originated from the Icon rocketeer helmets ...which explains why the fins were never correctly replicated. The icon helmets were missing fins..Only one of them was fully completed by icons which resides in a private collection...Another icon helmet was finished by another person that had a custom fin attach to it. i cant go into detail, but lets just say some of those icon helmets were once owned by a recaster here in california....also, the lineage of the icon helmet is questionable but cant go into detail....

Also, there has been kits besides the acme helmet that have the fin already attach...one resin piece....however, they are most likely recasts from the medicom and the horrible MR helmet....

also, with sooo many recasts out there...some detail has disappeared by the many generations of recasting...


the best helmet out there is the acme helmet...it would be a waste to purchase any other helmet....i compared it to my production helmets and it comes pretty darn close...just some differences here and there...

a pic of the many helmets out there that i own.......i found out really interesting info about the helmet on the far right end....but ill go into detail another time
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dualedge said:
They're both just grossly misshapen. The first one has the fin bulging out on the front (and not by a little bit) and the second is thicker than a boat rudder.

I don't have quick access to better pics for reference at the moment but you can see the acme helmet kit I finished here... it's relatively close to accurate, or at least as close as most folks will get short of owning an original. http://www.therpf.com/f9/rocketeer-were-gonna-need-helmet-77607/
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. Thank you for the information. Your fin does look more refined than that ebay version.
 
here are a few more goodies of sellers claiming they are production helmets or somewhat misleading, but CLEARLY not.....

Unfortunately, some silly person bought them.......hopefully, none of them are rpf members.....

description:

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pictures:
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description:
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pictures:

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duct tape any1?
 
:lol:lol:lol Jeez, some of these are hideous! How could anyone possibly believe they're production made? Hope springs eternal, I guess...
 
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