Imperial Headsets?

Treganna

Treganna

New Member
Hi guys.I'm wanting to make/purchase a communications headset for my ANH Imperial Crewman costume. I've already seen set of instructions on how to make one out of plastic caps and brass rod, but I'd prefer to make one as accurately as possible. The scratchbuilding guide mentions that the headsets were made out of 'turntable knobs'- does anyone know what sort or make? And has anyone made kits or replicas already?Thank you.
 
Treganna said:
The ones worn by Imperial Bridge crew and scanning crew. NOT the Racal Minilites.
Click to expand...

Hi T,

I don't know if this helps, but if we're both talking/thinking the same, the originals were "Prinzsound" headphones. Tough to find but they do exist. :)
 
Prinzsound? Really? I don't think Prinzsound made anything like this:

post-8212-0-68130800-1443401998.jpg

To me, they look like radio/record deck knobs of a sort, and the mic tip is metal, possibly a pen component.
 
I think the headsets were seen only in ESB. The 501st legion's CRL says "ANH and ROTJ bridge crew shall not wear headsets." but that is for Level 2 approval.

I would definitely go for radio deck knobs if you could find them.
I made my ear pieces from 1" aluminium pipe, and right after that I found a knob that matched perfectly to what I had spent time building... but only one unfortunately.
I made the band over the head from cheap '80s headphones. Then there is a rectangle of black leather on top, folded over and glued with fabric glue or rubber cement.

Because there aren't any good pictures of the headset, there has been some discussion over what the mic tip really is.
There are good closeups of Veers, however, and some believe that Veers' headset was of the same type only with all silver parts painted black.
Veers' headset's mic tip is conical, not a cylinder.
 
Thanks, guys.

I've found some good hi-res shots of Veers, and you can see the brushed aluminium earpieces glinting in the shadows of his helmet. The headband on all of the references I can find is certainly ovoid in section, and looks just like a standard thin sprung metal hairband, as worn by dancers. I think a metal tapered ferrule from a pen would make the mic tip, and on Veers, it looks like something has been added to the end to make a 'mic screen'.

I'll get hold of some brushed knobs, and get building!
 
Just search for 'Veers' on Google images. There are quite a few high-quality medium close-ups of Julian Glover, and the mic tip is plainly seen.
 
The turntable parts aren't knobs they're part of the tone arm of a Michell Hydraulic Reference turntable. The mic tip looks like part of the sweep arm from the same model.
Michell Engineering was near the studio and did a lot of machining for various props. Leftover turntable parts from their stock were used as greeblies all over the classic trilogy. Most round silver greeblies seen on props and sets are turntable parts.
Very expensive and rare now.
 
Ye deities. Thanks Chris! this what t'internet is all about- tapping knowledge and finding out stuff. I have already located a Sweep Arm on Ebay.
 
I think the mic tip is the small cone at the top of the stalk that the arm is resting on. Some later (incorrect?) models have knurls on the cone or not a cone at all.
The tone arms I've seen sold on eBay have gone for around £100 GBP.
 
Great stuff. I'm going for the 'shiny' look, myself. Already in touch with Michell, trying to identify parts. Turns out the 'imperial code disk' is a pulley for the Michell Reference Turntable!
 
(Sorry, don't log on here very often!)

The search for bits is ongoing. I'm having trouble finding metal headbands that are long enough to do the job over an Imperial hat. Although I have now concluded that the 'mic' component is the 'push rod' piece from the Veron TomTit engine part set, same as used on Merr-son Power 5 builds. It's exactly the right size and shape, and could be pushed into a piec of heavy gauge wire to make the mic arm.

I'm also looking closely at the First Order headsets as well, to see what they have been made out of.
 

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