Help Identifying Carpenter's "The Thing" Dynamite brand.

[Dan Efran]

I dug up a few "pictures" of other Hercules sticks - not the same style but still helpful. Note the angled wrap line.



Also, I took the crate image from post #7 above, and removed most of the perspective distortion on the logo, so that it basically matches the proportions of the low resolution logo from post #5:

Not perfect, but probably good enough.

Next I'll clean that up and start mocking up a wrapper. Maybe tomorrow.

Does anyone have more screencaps? I don't own the movie. A clip from the blood test scene, on YouTube, reveals that there's quite a bit of blank space on the labels, but I wonder if we can get a better look at the text below and beyond the "UN". If not, I'll guess it's similar to the vintage ones.

 

[Dan Efran]

Internet consensus suggests these sticks are usually about 8" by 1-1/8" or 1-1/4". Size may vary by strength, though - bigger stick, bigger boom?

Of course the props were props, so might have been non-standard sizes anyway. I haven't tried to scale the ones in the movie from other props/scenery. It might be worth attempting.

Instead, I decided to spend some time today cleaning up my workshop. Wouldn't you know it, one of the first out-of-place items I had to put away was...



A cardboard tube, just about 1-1/8" diameter. Well okay then! I sawed off 8", as shown. Ready for label tests.

I'm not sure where I even got that tube. Probably gift wrap, my favorite source for narrow cardboard tubes.

 

[Dan Efran]

Dug a bit more and found this screencap.

Notice how you can't see any printing on those sticks at all. So the entire back half is blank and these are all facing away - I guess.

Note the diagonal wrap line.

 

[Dan Efran]

Partly cleaned-up logo. Not perfect, but quite possibly good enough at the size we need.

 

[funboy1013xx]

so your gonna have to adjust the "mock up" and print this out at an angle to get the "spiral" wrap of the paper? right?

 

[Dan Efran]

so your gonna have to adjust the "mock up" and print this out at an angle to get the "spiral" wrap of the paper? right?

Yeah, I was just coming to that conclusion. It'll have to be printed diagonally.

 

[Dan Efran]

Also worth noting, a YourProps page shows what looks to me like a totally different version:

https://www.yourprops.com/kurt-russel-dynamite-original-movie-prop-The-Thing-1982-YP51872.html

 

[GrenadeKing]

I'm skeptical of that one. It looks nothing like the ones in the film. Wrong wrap, too glossy, and too narrow. Only one picture as well. Seems off.

 

[TazVader]

Some other interesting images;

 

[Dan Efran]

I'm skeptical of that one. It looks nothing like the ones in the film. Wrong wrap, too glossy, and too narrow. Only one picture as well. Seems off.

I agree. At best, not the same prop we're doing. Maybe they had more than one style on set. I just read that they actually had the actors throwing real dynamite sticks. That's pretty weird.

Some other interesting images;

View attachment 768166View attachment 768169

Very cool finds!

Stay tuned for a rough draft.

 

[TazVader]

Awesome. It does look like the Hercules inc logo in the previous post is spot on apart from the "industries" etc bit. I bet they cobbled together some images lol

Regards
T
A
Z


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[Dan Efran]

Here's my first draft:

I think the wrap angle is pretty good. The text is purely speculative - I still can't see anything beyond "UN" for sure. But if you squint I think this looks pretty close.
It shouldn't be hard to fine-tune it from here.

 

[Dan Efran]

Here's a direct comparison of my first draft to the original:

Not exact, but getting close.

 

[Apollo]

Ahh Location shooting in the early 80's.

Where they were they got away with a LOT of things! :lol

I just read that they actually had the actors throwing real dynamite sticks. That's pretty weird..

 

[TazVader]

I looks to me like UNIGEL is written twice with text in the middle. Probably the high explosives text.

I like what you done so far mate.
Least it won't be hard to find black waxed cord for the fuse and electrical tape lol
Regards
T
A
Z


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[dropshipbob]

What about actual fuse for the fuse? I have a spool of the stuff at home.

 

[TazVader]

Re: Help Identifying Carpenter's "The Thing" Dynamite brand.

Lol real fuse? For your cannon? Lol well it looks like the fuse in the film is black to me. Sounds like a great offer. I think I'll settle for black waxed cord or something to be on the safe side lol

Regards
T
A
Z



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[dropshipbob]

I'm not sure why I bought it, I suppose you could use it on a cannon. I've had the stuff for over twenty years now.

 

[Dan Efran]

Okay, I think I'm done:



I could tweak it a bit more if necessary, but I'm about out of time to work on this and I'm satisfied with this version.
I think it looks pretty close. Without better reference from the film, there's really not much more I can do.

Here's the printable wrap; note that it's exactly 11x8.5 inches , so be sure your printer doesn't try to scale it down to fit a smaller printable area. Keep it at 100% scale:



Enjoy!

 

[nick daring]

This is soooo great. Wonderfully obscure.