I've always seen the rocketeer gear there since I was little. Can anyone confirm wether those are plain replicas or have some lineage to the originals?
There were actually a LOT of screen-used pieces sent to Disney in Orlando around the time the film came out. They had a huge display of props from the movie - stuff that would blow your mind if you're a Rocketeer fan. I've seen home video footage from the display and can vouch for the fact they had a TON of screen-used stuff - not replicas. Full hero costumes, props, full size plane mockups - everything. I suspect most of it stayed in Orlando too at least until the Disney ebay Rocketeer auctions about ten years ago.
The full size black and white Gee Bee 5 mockup and the Howard Hughes autogiro mockup from the film sat on the backlot tour until they wasted away to virtually nothing. They had the large-scale blimp model from the movie as well as full-size cockpit mockup from the damaged yellow and black Gee Bee 4.
I believe they had both of the original two prototype rocketpacks plus several other rocketpacks ranging from stunt pack to hero packs and at least 5 different helmets plus a bunch of stunt helmets, a couple of which you can see in Matt's photos in various states of disrepair.
I'd guess most of it is from the production of the movie judging by what I've seen but I couldn't rule out that some of the rocketpacks could be Disney promotional copies.
Stunt helmets are unique and were only made for the production. The promotional helmets made by Disney weren't made quite the same way as production made hero helmets.
I have it straight from the propmasters' mouth (I met him in person) that Disney took the helmet and rocketpack moulds from Design Setters and made copies for their own uses. Those were not used in the production - just for promotions or whatever. It's my belief that many of those promotion helmets are where quite a few "cast from an original" helmets descend from. I can't prove it but it explains why there's a helmet for auction every other week claiming to be "cast from an original" or an "unused production copy" most of which are just straight up false.
The full scale Lucky Lindy is the one seen in the film as far as I'm aware. I doubt anybody made a replica of it and, besides I know they had the original there when the film came out. Those Disney folks aren't known for giving a flip about the Rocketeer so I can't imagine them going to the expense of replicating it.
Hope that helps!
