C 3PO helmets: some observations

[GordonTarpley]

The back of the head and chest circle look like part of a valve plate assembly for a compressor.

There are loads of different types of these valves.
I know this isn't a match but here's an example on the right. (with the top removed obviously)

same with detail on the front of the neck.

Although I doubt this is the item, I've seen a few thermostat valves for cars that are similar in shape but are usually cheaper build quality. Pressed sheet metal as opposed to machined aluminum or steel.

The greebly on the top of the head and the ones on the hands also look like valve/nozzle parts. I'm sure finding a match will be ridiculously difficult but I'll see if I can find something similar to post as an example...

 

[Treadwell]

I think you're onto something. GREAT first post!

 

[Ghost Host]

interesting.

 

[Nairod]

Hi guys.

Here's a "new" picture found on FISD (http://forum.whitearmor.net/index.php?showtopic=17475&st=20)

This one still let me think that the K3PO was certainly a re painted ANH suit and C 3PO, a new one.

Considering that the K 3PO helmet looks more narrow than the C 3PO helmet. Plus the fact that the ILM crew made the suit more comfortable for Anthony Daniels.

 

[thegreatgalling]

Wow. You can def see the Gold showing behind the white paint in some spots.

 

[jclayman99]

this is really helpful as i am starting my threepio build now

 

[AlpineDarthMaul]

It looks as if K3PO is wearing rubber hands, not originally done in rubber but were later on, as well as the shorts/hips section.

 

[Nairod]

Hi guys!

3 years after my last post, sorry for this lack of news. But I still keep my eyes on my computer screen and many screen cap and photos of C 3PO (am I crazy??)

I made new observations (and read again what members posted here).

We know that concerning the back of the helmet, two styles exist.

Detailled part and less detailled part with a different orientation. (the red lines illustrate how this part fit on the back part of the helmet)

Anthony Daniels original helmet:

Screen used helmet (not sure if it's identified as ESB or ROTJ)

Steve Sansweet screen used helmet (ESB if I remember well)

ROTS

Now the other style (that we all know since it appears on Zorg lineage replicas and Don Post statue lineage replicas).

AOTC screen used helmet

Visual dictionnary (ANH mixed parts?)

Dented rechromed head

Disney's animatronic

Vos replica

Don Post statue copy

We can notice the exception of this ANH helmet since the part is probably the machined one (thus removable). Note the same orientation:

You will notice that I made a red line on some pictures (neck area).
It seems that some helmets are rounder than other which looks "crushed"

. I don't know if I'm really clear. But for those who hold a Zorg helmet and a Don Post cast, you probably noticed that this area isn't similar. The neck of the Don Post is rounded where the Zork helmet have the neck "crushed".

It's something that we can see on some ANH helmet (which could confirm that the Vos helmet is derived from a screen used ANH helmet...or molds, even if it was in bad condition and then reworked).
Same thing for the fact that the Don Post statue is derived from ESB.

 

[zorg]

Hi guys!

3 years after my last post, sorry for this lack of news. But I still keep my eyes on my computer screen and many screen cap and photos of C 3PO (am I crazy??)

I made new observations (and read again what members posted here).

We know that concerning the back of the helmet, two styles exist.

Detailled part and less detailled part with a different orientation. (the red lines illustrate how this part fit on the back part of the helmet)

Anthony Daniels original helmet:

http://i.imgur.com/fZdU1a2l.jpg

Screen used helmet (not sure if it's identified as ESB or ROTJ)

http://i.imgur.com/e0R81mUl.jpg

Steve Sansweet screen used helmet (ESB if I remember well)

http://i.imgur.com/UnOWX9Ql.jpg

ROTS

http://i.imgur.com/3sASAVpl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OWx9lOSl.jpg

Now the other style (that we all know since it appears on Zorg lineage replicas and Don Post statue lineage replicas).

AOTC screen used helmet

http://i.imgur.com/gX4mMpYl.jpg

Visual dictionnary (ANH mixed parts?)

http://i.imgur.com/YgDMlYdl.jpg

Dented rechromed head

http://i.imgur.com/Po629I1l.jpg

Disney's animatronic

http://i.imgur.com/xAyE4Ywl.jpg

Vos replica

http://i.imgur.com/sT4Hgbdl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jCIdfEJl.jpg

Don Post statue copy

http://i.imgur.com/egWdaWyl.jpg

We can notice the exception of this ANH helmet since the part is probably the machined one (thus removable). Note the same orientation:

http://i.imgur.com/3LDVcWol.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ARW0d9Pl.jpg

You will notice that I made a red line on some pictures (neck area).
It seems that some helmets are rounder than other which looks "crushed"

. I don't know if I'm really clear. But for those who hold a Zorg helmet and a Don Post cast, you probably noticed that this area isn't similar. The neck of the Don Post is rounded where the Zork helmet have the neck "crushed".

It's something that we can see on some ANH helmet (which could confirm that the Vos helmet is derived from a screen used ANH helmet...or molds, even if it was in bad condition and then reworked).
Same thing for the fact that the Don Post statue is derived from ESB.

The vos helmet IS the zorg helmet.

 

[Nairod]

Concerning TFA C 3PO:



New way to attach the faceplate to the back??

Left neck bolt seems to be attached to the back of the helmet.

Smooth inside...vacuum formed? 3D printed? Looks like metal but certainly due to chroming process.

 

[Spoons]

Did your findings confirm that the Zorg helmet was cast from the original ANH helmet?

 

[Nairod]

Some details missing and shape appear to be strange on some areas....but after all, ILM produced lots of helmets for the movie.

It's hard to identify on screen, the helmet which gave us the Vos/Zorg helmet. It's actually the most accurate helmet possible to find (some others casts exist, but very hard to find)

 

[Nairod]

Hi guys.

Some news. I discovered some pictures of original prop of the Denver Art Museum Exhibition(and thanks to Dan H. and Jay D. for their photos!!) that confirmed what I thought.

We know that news suits were made for ESB and then re-used for the other episodes (according to Don Bies. Informations reported by Jez of StarWarsHelmets.com).

So the ANH C 3PO is a little bit different (I only focus on the helmet).

To me, the ANH helmet is narrower (and could explain why it was umcomfortable and improved for ESB....thus wider....only speculation, I don't have official measurements).

The way the faceplate fit to the back is different. Were the ESB style have this offset to fix it (you certainly all have this on your replica)
, the ANH faceplate is totally smooth and slide inside the back. Plus the bottom of the faceplate doesn't fit well and you can see and screen grab, a space between each elements.

Finally, the ANH can be identified due to his very sharp line on the right side, from the eyes to the end of the faceplate (more limited on ESB faceplate). Plus the top is a little bit curved. And thus the back have a kind of notche on the horseshoe to allow face to slide inside

I'm really sorry about my poor explanations due my poor english (lack of vocabulary). So I made this medley pictures (and yes there is a K 3PO because I assume it's an ANH helmet repainted).

Click on the link for a full sized picture:

https://imgur.com/fB9OzAz

 

[spacebob]

This Is great info thanks Nairod,
I have a resin cast that I bought from fleabay about 8 years ago and have no idea of source.

It has the squished back so I'm hoping that this means it has lineage from star wars, and not empire or jedi which I am very happy to see.

I would be interested to know if you agree with this general observation zorg ?

 

[Nairod]

Zorg's replicas looks very close to the ESB production made helmet shown in the book "Star Wars: Les Objets du Mythes".

 

[zorg]

If you ask me. I just don't know. There are so many variations I'm not willing to say it's from one film or another. I do agree it looks very close to the French book helmet. But it has that squashed area on the back like that anh screen cap.

 

[Jay1138]

Caught the bug and want to get a good Threepio head replica into my collection. Looking at some options from starbuckcylon as a start. Any recommendations?

And while I'm not there, I chewing over which look I'd like it to have.

 

[funclips4u]

I've noticed some things different in C-3PO's face throughout the movies. All a result of me comparing some images and overlapping them to see where things don't match. These are observations, its not like I could compare the physical helmets and measure.

In the sequel trilogy the engraved lines above his mouth are different. Instead of having a long horizontal line with a short vertical line on each side, there is only the long horizontal line.


The engraved upside down "v" on his nose looks like its engraved deeper at the tip, in the sequels, but it gets very faint as it goes lower. The left side is so faint that it looks like the right side of the "v" goes lower than the left. It looks like this in all the pictures I saw, so it seems like this must really be on the helmet.

The Don Post statue (by observing 3d scans) has a deformed mouth. And the nose is way too short and the edges are very dull. It also lacks the vertical line lip engraving that the original Helmets had.
Not sure how it ended up so inaccurate though, considering they casted it from real parts apparently.

 

[Nairod]

I would tend to say that the ROTJ helmet have those lines:

Smithonian's C3PO

Auctioned helmet

The ESB helmet that you posted (on the right) is a plastic injected prototype. Rejected as a wearable helmet (due to shrinkage) but used as a prop (C 3PO disassembled scenes on Bespin). So we can suppose that those kind of helmets (some unpainted ones were auctionned some years ago) are a little bit deformed and different from worn helmets.

And concerning the HD scan on the Don Post statue, I have several doubt it could be a perfect reference (I say that but I purchased those files way before they became free, thinking it would be the best reference ^^).

First the Don Post statue came from a screen used ESB suit that has been quickly casted (thus shrinkage, I guess you know that story ;-) )

Plus the scan came from a recast of a DP statue, not the original product.... thus shrinkage again, probably some moulding defects, flaws, etc...

Finally, the pictures are the best references we can have. Except if you are enough lucky to get your hands on some old cast (some floated around years ago).

 

[funclips4u]

I would tend to say that the ROTJ helmet have those lines:

Smithonian's C3PO

View attachment 1690170

Auctioned helmet
View attachment 1690172

The ESB helmet that you posted (on the right) is a plastic injected prototype. Rejected as a wearable helmet (due to shrinkage) but used as a prop (C 3PO disassembled scenes on Bespin). So we can suppose that those kind of helmets (some unpainted ones were auctionned some years ago) are a little bit deformed and different from worn helmets.

And concerning the HD scan on the Don Post statue, I have several doubt it could be a perfect reference (I say that but I purchased those files way before they became free, thinking it would be the best reference ^^).

First the Don Post statue came from a screen used ESB suit that has been quickly casted (thus shrinkage, I guess you know that story ;-) )

Plus the scan came from a recast of a DP statue, not the original product.... thus shrinkage again, probably some moulding defects, flaws, etc...

Finally, the pictures are the best references we can have. Except if you are enough lucky to get your hands on some old cast (some floated around years ago).

Yeah, I realized the inaccuracies afterwords on that one image. I deleted the image

As for my assumption for the vertical lines not being on the ROTJ, I based it off the fact that this image doesn't show the vertical lines very noticable (almost looks like it has it on only one side, but possibly a reflection). Lines could just be extra dull though. Also this artwork from a rotj stamp doesn't show the line, although a stamp isn't really reliable. And that the don post lacks the lines. The Sequel trilogy clearly lacks the lines, which could have been because of basing it off of rotj. And I can't find good quality screenshots of the movie that has the lines noticable. I admit the Smithsonian does have the lines though, but what if that head wasn't actually in rotj? or maybe there were multiple versions used.

Or maybe rotj did have the lines, and these are just coincidences .