EDIT - ICONS Tie Production Castings.....

[jawsmodels]

Ok looking for some clarification on this. I 'nievely' bought these from the infamaous Mike Taite before I knew who & what he was. They were listed as "ICONS Production Masters". The first pictures with the yellow/orange parts look like they are actual ICONS parts though not as I would figure 'Production Masters'. The wing I thought was primed or base coated but Ive scratched away at it & seems to made of very strong grey resin. It has an indentaion of 'TM & C. 1997 LUCASFILMS LTD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED'. I have studied pictures of studio models & the parts seem to match perfectly. Thought it was time to ask the experts now Im past my embarrassment phase..... Also bought were these Tie Interceptor Wing Masters. Can't remeber who he said Mastered them but adamantly said they were not Niesen's. I paid or lost depending what i actually got, about $2500:sick

 

[propsculptor]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

I was working there when these were being made and these look like the real deal...the Grey Resin you were talking about is actually 1630 Epoxy Resin which was used because the material had very little shrinkage when you cast it up.

Icons never created Tie Interceptors so I couldn't tell you anything about those but the rest of the Tie Fighter Parts you have look like parts right off the shelves from Stock at the time the shop what up and running.

From what I've heard about Mike Tait he's not trustworthy, so I'm curious how he was able to get his hands on original Masters like these...

There are some other Ex Icon Employees who are RPF members who may chime in and give their 2 cents, but from looking at the Photos after all the years that have passed since then, they look the same to me!

 

[Nwerke]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Wow man. Maybe you actually got lucky here!

 

[jawsmodels]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Wow is the word. Thanks very much Propsculptor. Will be interesting to see what else pops up on these. I found the name of who Mastered the Tie Intercepror wings I wrote down. They were said to be made by Chris kelley?

 

[jedimaster]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Send a casting over to Perth and I'll study it for you.

 

[jawsmodels]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

You didn't waste any time. I want to know where I stand 'recasting' this/these? What is its history? I believe the ICONS Tie fighters were cast of 'Pyro's'? The details on the wings, body etc match all the Tie's Ive been looking at reference of so is there 'Pyro' vs 'Hero' & what are the differences? This has turned out to be very interesting :confused

 

[swpropmaker]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

If i know one thing it's TIE fighters...

Sorry guys... not the icons master patterns. Yet again Taits recasting skill at work. The cut up hull is the production one he bought on ebay and the grey one is the copy made from it... I know where the masters patterns are and they are not with Tait. Sorry Jase.

As far as Chris Kelly.. had nothing to do with Icons... his interceptor wings are 100% fanmade... no accurate kit parts.

Steve


looking at the grey hull... not 1630 needs to be much darker... you can actually see where he filled in "MAX" on the casting. (tell located on the inside of the front cockpit. Tait is such a turd!

Parts are absolutley not mine. Some of the parts (painted) are parts from a retail version. The castings are recasts made from the TIE he bought on ebay. Im sure there is a thread on here about his recasting of the Icons TIE... might have been starship modeler..

$2800.... I just got sick to my stomach! Id get my money back if you can! I can provide you proof of the location of the master patterns..... and absolute proof of the recasts he sold you.

 

[Shadowknight]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Damn. I wonder just what legal avenues can be taken here. I would contact an attorney if I were you.

 

[jawsmodels]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Well maybe I could but Im really over it & was a hard introduction to studio modeling. Unfortunately I fell straight into the web from day one but know Im one of many.
I'll wear it as a lurning experience.

I thought I might have got lucky as I had Alfred Wong contact me after castings for his Tie build.

Steve, thanks.
I think.
So the wing at the least is not possibley?
Anyway this is why I just put them away.
Almost thought I got lucky. Am greatful for your knowlege Steve.
The Interceptor wings weren't supposed to be ICONS so already knew that.
A shame thyre not even accurate.
Might have made myself one from them.

 

[jedimaster]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Ouch!!!!

 

[swpropmaker]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Nope not even the wing... unless you put the clay (light colored material) in the copyright letters on the wing... it's Tait's attempt to conceal the trademarkin his molding of the piece... a recast at that. Looks like He actually molded a recast wing. The trademark is on every production TIE fighter Icons did.

Im sorry to be the bearer of bad news bro.. Tait is known to be a liar and cheat. It has been noted on every major board I know of.... when he did the TIE when he was known as Jawa Fooker.... or something like that.

If you want i can have a lawyer friend of mine take the pictures you have and if you had proof of his claim of the parts you bought i can see if he would draft a legal letter to him and request your money back or face civil court. I would provide the current location of the molding patterns (only one set) and prove he sold you recasts of the icons pieces.

As far as the Interceptor stuff. Chris does great work but did not want to use correct kit parts.... thats what takes so much darn time and $$. To add insult to injury the interceptor parts you have are not master patterns but castings of the patterns done in regular resin. Tait may have used castings as patterns to mold... Id get ahold of Chris Kelly and see if he sold Tait his patterns. Most master patterns include individual parts.. the scratch build of the subject... it is the ORIGINAL piece... the pictures are of casting of the part. This is interesting.... come to think about it its the same color Chris did his kits in.. I'll bet they are straight from one of Chris's kits.

However the TIE wings are accurate a bit small because of all the recasting but accurate. If cleaned up and a lil help it could make a nice TIE replica. Shoot me a email... sneisen@bresnan.net

Sorry man....

Steve

 

[Nwerke]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Well, it would be a shock for Tait to sell something legit I guess.

So sorry you got so badly burned. I watched you as you fell into that web, you were so enthusiastic! I didn't know enough myself to say anything at the time; wish I had.

If the castings are good enough to build from, I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you did so...

 

[jawsmodels]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Thanks. Im not the only one & you'd be surprised at who & how many people this guy has stung. Im a straight up person that doesn't want to do the wrong thing so I ask questions now I know what the rules are. The thing was I was new & just signed up to the wrong site first up cause I was new to forums. It won't happen again.

email sent Steve.

 

[propsculptor]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Wow! Sorry to hear Mr. Tait burned yet another collector:angry

As far as the ICONS Tie fighters being cast off 'Pyro's' Tie Fighters, Nope! Not at all.
The Icons Tie Fighter parts were all Scratchbuilt by Max C., Scott B. and a few others in the Fabrication and Design Group of Icons Company, I know because I was there watching them build it up from scratch parts and from reference Photos that were taken at Lucasfilm by our Supervisor Mike M.

I'm a but surprised by something though with all the people that Mike Tait has Burned, I thought he was Banned or his accounts were deleted from Ebay??

 

[Shadowknight]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

I hope that you can legally get this guy. Heck, I would donate to a legal fund to get this guy.

 

[-... . .- --..]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

As far as the ICONS Tie fighters being cast off 'Pyro's' Tie Fighters, Nope! Not at all.
The Icons Tie Fighter parts were all Scratchbuilt by Max C., Scott B. and a few others in the Fabrication and Design Group of Icons Company, I know because I was there watching them build it up from scratch parts and from reference Photos that were taken at Lucasfilm by our Supervisor Mike M.

Well, I think this is partially true. You can tell which parts of the ICONS TIE were scratch-built by the ICONS crew because they totally improvised when it came to building patterns for several subassemblies. The interior of the TIE is a perfect example, because if you look at it, there doesn't appear to be a single kit part that matches the original models. Same with the hatches, canopy and wing attachment point covers.

Having said that, the cockpit ball, arms and wingstars, if not the entire wings themselves, are most certainly castings off of original production material, most likely from leftover pyro parts. The detail on those subassemblies is not only considerably softer than if they'd been scratch-built by ICONS, but more importantly the kit parts and placement match the originals exactly. Way too exactly to be ICONS reproductions.

If you look at what they patterned themselves for both the X-Wing and TIE-Fighter projects, it's obvious the ICONS guys actually had very little information on the original kit parts used for these models, and so they hunted around in whatever model kits they had sitting around for greeblies that were "close enough".

 

[propologist]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

The bubble she is a busted...Like a prop " Antique Roadshow"..." maam , this lamp is not Tiffany or worth 50K, it was bought at Wal-mart for 19.99 "

 

[swpropmaker]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

Absolutley correct.

"Having said that, the cockpit ball, arms and wingstars, if not the entire wings themselves, are most certainly castings off of original production material, most likely from leftover pyro parts. The detail on those subassemblies is not only considerably softer than if they'd been scratch-built by ICONS, but more importantly the kit parts and placement match the originals exactly. Way too exactly to be ICONS reproductions."

The icons scratched parts are terrible as far as accuracy and detail goes.....

steve

 

[ictvuser]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

I had always assumed that ICONS scratched the entire TIE. It is nice to learn that some of the parts may have been casted off original pieces.

Absolutley correct.

"Having said that, the cockpit ball, arms and wingstars, if not the entire wings themselves, are most certainly castings off of original production material, most likely from leftover pyro parts. The detail on those subassemblies is not only considerably softer than if they'd been scratch-built by ICONS, but more importantly the kit parts and placement match the originals exactly. Way too exactly to be ICONS reproductions."

The icons scratched parts are terrible as far as accuracy and detail goes.....

steve

 

[jawsmodels]

Re: ICONS Tie Masters.....

"I had always assumed that ICONS scratched the entire TIE. It is nice to learn that some of the parts may have been casted off original pieces"

I thought that ICONS replicas were all cast from some sort of actual studio model/mould so that fact in itself was disturbing... It was the only reason I picked these up. So at least the wing might be a recast of a recast of a recast...

Has someone got some measurements for the wings so I can check the shrinkage on this thing?