lethyry
Active Member
yes i do remember seeing it updated over on the den, i didnt have the new one downloaded so that was the best I had on hand lol,
EFX DARTH VADER LEGEND VS LIMITED EDITION DETAILS?
- Thread starter jhfagan
- Start date
Looking at this new chart, way over to the Rubies line, if correct, looks like they pulled their master cast to make moulds for their Fiberglass Deluxe from the UK mold as well, and is it also correct, that the mould that produced the Rubies Supreme ABS that was available at Target, was made from a cast off their actual Fiberglass helmet, or was it also made from the UK mold as well?
Not exactly. There is a step in-between the Rubies and the UK Mold of the "Tall Mount Tour" helmet. The Tall Mount Tour helmet, which itself is a step or two away from the actual "UK Mold", is the source of the Rubies helmet.
My personal opinion is that the Rubies Deluxe fiberglass helmet (which was sold through Sharper Image) was a knock-off of the Don Post Deluxe. Rubies may have inherited Don Post's molds when they lost the license or they simply made a copy of a Don Post helmet under license I don't know, and I have no first hand knowledge to support this observation, but the Rubies Deluxe certainly exhibited the worst qualities of the DP Deluxe. I have some other thoughts on the DPD vs the RD but that's an entirely different rabbit hole, lol.
The Rubies Supreme helmet claims its "screen used" lineage because it does have a tenuous link through the Rubies Deluxe -- X number of times removed and from a very dodgy copy. My question is what process did they use to create the metal tooling for the supreme -- because there are numerous alterations going from the Deluxe to the Supreme, to the point that (again, in my opinion) they really aren't even the same helmet by the time you get to the Supreme. The "Cast from original movie molds" copy that the Supreme originally boasted on its packaging is, at best, stretching the truth so thin they are splitting molecules but really is an outright lie.
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Were the two different "mounts", individually casted, or one casted off the other?
I was wondering that myself about Rubies and what their lineage to the DPDLX actually was.
There are some alterations that I saw on them, that almost looked to be on purpose.
Like, they WANTED to make it way different than the real thing, and wanted to make production harder on themselves for some self abusive reason.
The restoration I did last year on a Rubies Supreme was almost too hard work to make it worth completing...lol
The two "mount helmets" are entirely different helmets but each sourced from the UK mold.
I did some tweaks on a Supreme helmet that a friend bought and what a nightmare, lol.
I did mine as a gift for a family member.
Pics here.
Rubies Supreme Darth Vader - ESB screen accurate complete repaint and restoration.(no longer own).
8 new items added to shared album
photos.app.goo.gl
I was burned out after having to do all I did with the face alone...lol
lethyry
Active Member
I agree the rubies deluxe was more than likely just made off of a late don post deluxe as it has those rough features to it; cheeks,mouth,neck,dome, the rubies supreme was more than likely taken off of a rubies deluxe and reworked to be suitable for the injection molding process so they could churn them out of a factory quickly. I do wish they used the rubies statue helmet for their deluxe line but I could see why that wouldnt happen.
Oh, undoubtedly, my curiosity is more about their process. How many iterations of the helmet came between the Deluxe casting they started with and whatever ended up being the master used for creating the tooling, that sort of thing etc. Whatever the details are the end result is quite separated from whatever they started with and, frankly, because it's the Rubies this is about the most interest I've had in it since it was released, lol.
lethyry
Active Member
Trust me the rubies fibreglass is not worth the money people want for them, if you can find one for about 140 bucks that would be a pretty good deal, (last 2 I’ve found people wanted 1400 and 500 for them). similar to the Don post deluxe, people are asking some crazy prices for them when they’re worth about 3-500 in my opinion maybe a little more for mint low numbered one. I’ve been on the lookout for one, preferably damaged.for a reasonable price have had no luck.
Sold my low number DP Deluxe Fett a couple of years ago. I had the DP Classic Action Vader, but never the Deluxe / fiberglass Vader. Good luck with the ICONS X-Wing... they are notorious for wind "droopage" over the years!
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IIRC, The early number DP Deluxe fiberglass Vader helmets looked good (other than the intentionally reversed gunmetal paint scheme on the face), but got worse as time went on/ the higher the number. As if the master mold they were using was wearing down/ wearing out? I believe that Rubies inherited the DP molds, but that Rubies Deluxe fiberglass Vader looked so soft and janky to me that I think it may have not come directly from the original DP mold (or if so, the DP Vader mold was seriously degraded).
Does anyone know the actual mould taking and casting processes they used for the UK and/or the Rick Baker moulds?
I remember back in school, using a sand packing process to pour metal into to make metal masters, but those moulds wouldn't be used again after the first run through.
Would silicone stand up to molten metal?
I remember back in school, using a sand packing process to pour metal into to make metal masters, but those moulds wouldn't be used again after the first run through.
Would silicone stand up to molten metal?
We did the sandpacking Mold and casting process too! My parents still have the book end that I made for them, lol.
There are certain types of silicone that will stand up to low temperature melt metals. Stuff like pot metal and even brass.
As I recall EFX published a photo of the Rick Baker mold in their publicity materials. It was a silicone mold with a jacket made out of plaster and fabric. (edited to add photo)
There are certain types of silicone that will stand up to low temperature melt metals. Stuff like pot metal and even brass.
As I recall EFX published a photo of the Rick Baker mold in their publicity materials. It was a silicone mold with a jacket made out of plaster and fabric. (edited to add photo)
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The optical illusion in that photo is interesting. The bit you have circled almost makes it look like the 3M tabs were molded in place. It's a combination of the paint gunk that surrounded the tabs along with bits of clay Mr Baker used to fill in the screw holes where the tabs were attached as well as two sets of "residual" holes where the first attempt at the mounting system was done before they switched to using three tabs.
I just realized that when I went back to look at my black envelope that came in the box with my Limited Ed I just got! lol
