Don Post Bucket (Late 70's?)
- Thread starter SpeedRacerx
- Start date
-
- Tags
- star wars storm trooper
bwize
Sr Member
WOW! what a find. I don't really know the history of this mold, how accurate is it??? That's a tough one as not only restoring it, even partially, leaves some inaccurate details. I say at least restore it back to it's original glory then consider taking it a bit further and maybe replace the hovi mic tips and perhaps the eyes lenses. Just my 2 cents.
OK, some info...
1) The original Don Post Stormtrooper bucket from the late 70s (mold was re-used throughout the 1980s and even early 1990s, I believe) appears to be a custom sculpt. It's a little long in the face, and small. I believe that the rectangular holes in the ear caps were intentionally there to allow kids to hear through the helmet. The ear caps were later covered with round, gray foam pads on the outside of the helmet.
2) The helmet sculpt was decent for its time, but not screen accurate. It was eventually replaced by the Classic Action vinyl Stormtrooper and Don Post Deluxe fiberglass Stormtrooper helmets (both of which used the same, left/right half mirrored ROTJ mold as a base). The same classic action mold was used for the static Don Post Stormtrooper statue, but without real "lenses," the statue eyes were solid and painted black. )
3) The original 1970s Don Post helmet appears "squished" front-to-back (when viewed from the side), and reminds me a lot of a smaller version of Altmann's Australian licensed Stormtrooper helmet below:
4) TheRPF member FalconV8 recently did a NICE conversion of the DP bucket. Click the link below for pics!
1977 Stormtrooper Helmet Don Post 20th Century Fox can actually look kinda good..!!??
5) The original bucket from the late 1970s had lenses... later versions in the 1990s had solid eyes with multiple holes drilled through them for vision (probably for cost savings)
6) Jez's excellent StarWarsHelmets.com site has some nice pics and info. The Don Post Classic Action (based on a mirrored left half/right half ROTJ bucket) in on the left; the huge Gerardo Fallano/Galaxy Trading/White Sunblock bucket is in the middle. and the original 1970s Don Post mold ins on the far right.
Head over to his site for more info and pics.
www.starwarshelmets.com
And as for my 2 cents? I say restore your helmet as much as possible to it's original 1978 form!
1) The original Don Post Stormtrooper bucket from the late 70s (mold was re-used throughout the 1980s and even early 1990s, I believe) appears to be a custom sculpt. It's a little long in the face, and small. I believe that the rectangular holes in the ear caps were intentionally there to allow kids to hear through the helmet. The ear caps were later covered with round, gray foam pads on the outside of the helmet.
2) The helmet sculpt was decent for its time, but not screen accurate. It was eventually replaced by the Classic Action vinyl Stormtrooper and Don Post Deluxe fiberglass Stormtrooper helmets (both of which used the same, left/right half mirrored ROTJ mold as a base). The same classic action mold was used for the static Don Post Stormtrooper statue, but without real "lenses," the statue eyes were solid and painted black. )
3) The original 1970s Don Post helmet appears "squished" front-to-back (when viewed from the side), and reminds me a lot of a smaller version of Altmann's Australian licensed Stormtrooper helmet below:
4) TheRPF member FalconV8 recently did a NICE conversion of the DP bucket. Click the link below for pics!
1977 Stormtrooper Helmet Don Post 20th Century Fox can actually look kinda good..!!??
5) The original bucket from the late 1970s had lenses... later versions in the 1990s had solid eyes with multiple holes drilled through them for vision (probably for cost savings)
6) Jez's excellent StarWarsHelmets.com site has some nice pics and info. The Don Post Classic Action (based on a mirrored left half/right half ROTJ bucket) in on the left; the huge Gerardo Fallano/Galaxy Trading/White Sunblock bucket is in the middle. and the original 1970s Don Post mold ins on the far right.
Head over to his site for more info and pics.
www.starwarshelmets.com
And as for my 2 cents? I say restore your helmet as much as possible to it's original 1978 form!
Last edited:
To add to what the others have said I have a nostalgic spot for the early Don Post helmets and I've made something of a study of them. Based on the color of the stickers and the cut-outs in the "ears" this one is from one of the earlier runs of 1978-"ish". This helmet originally had a black foam brow made from weather stripping as well as separate lenses (obviously) -- usually made from green plastic though I have also seen them is smoke gray. This exact style continued into 1979 the only change being that they started using gray stickers that were more accurate to the film helmets rather than the more blue hued stickers on this helmet.
The molds were updated and changed several times over the following decades but it remained fundamentally the same sculpt and all of the helmets were rotocast.
Fun helmet!
Cheers,
Dave
The molds were updated and changed several times over the following decades but it remained fundamentally the same sculpt and all of the helmets were rotocast.
Fun helmet!
Cheers,
Dave
Great history!
WOW!!! Thank you guys so much! I appreciate all of the info and the history. An extra thanks to blewis17 for all of that great information!
To clarify- I have an Anovos TK kit that I am still completing for costume/display. I picked this Don Post up for the historical/display aspect.
You all made some great points as to whether restore or not. I am still undecided! For now, I think I will keep as-is.
To clarify- I have an Anovos TK kit that I am still completing for costume/display. I picked this Don Post up for the historical/display aspect.
You all made some great points as to whether restore or not. I am still undecided! For now, I think I will keep as-is.
Similar threads
