Juan's Darth Vader helmet collection

We can see, you have money!

This is the greatest Vader collection ever to date period. You may not be the guy with the world record of most Vader items but your collection is far superior. Lineage helmets will always best toys and memorabilia.

And my 3 helmet collection is looking pathetic by comparison, only if authentic Vader casts were not so expensive. Although im greatful for the 2 I have obtained.

And that Baker cast looks stunning..will the JCF ever come available?
 
We can see, you have money!

This is the greatest Vader collection ever to date period. You may not be the guy with the world record of most Vader items but your collection is far superior. Lineage helmets will always best toys and memorabilia.

And my 3 helmet collection is looking pathetic by comparison, only if authentic Vader casts were not so expensive. Although im greatful for the 2 I have obtained.

And that Baker cast looks stunning..will the JCF ever come available?


I am humbled. Thank you for your kind and generous words.

The reality is its not so much about money. Some guys like to invest in their car ( or cars), some buy vintage toys, whatever is a passion to them . I have been very fortunate, yes, but Vader has just been my absolute focus for as long as I can remember.

You may only have 3 helmets but 2 of them are among the greats. And your ROTJ display, to me is the best ROTJ out there hands down. You should be incredibly proud of it.

The Baker cast, I'm sure we will get to discuss openly some day.
 
I am humbled. Thank you for your kind and generous words.

The reality is its not so much about money. Some guys like to invest in their car ( or cars), some buy vintage toys, whatever is a passion to them . I have been very fortunate, yes, but Vader has just been my absolute focus for as long as I can remember.

You may only have 3 helmets but 2 of them are among the greats. And your ROTJ display, to me is the best ROTJ out there hands down. You should be incredibly proud of it.

The Baker cast, I'm sure we will get to discuss openly some day.

Thank you for the kind words on my collection.

But this thread is for your amazing Vader collection. ;)
 
Very impressive collection.

For those of us that do not have the connections to acquire lineage helmets, what do you recommend?


The market is limited as far as available helmets.

There is:

BookFace who offers the Darth Ugly and Quasimodo

RS Prop Masters offers their copy of a 20th C

Mark at CFO offers the only publicly available authentic ROTJ cast. But it's pricier.

Shenphog here offers the Ghost Host ANH and ROTJ casts.

There are others who are not as well known and the helmets are not as accurate.
 
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Very impressive collection.

For those of us that do not have the connections to acquire lineage helmets, what do you recommend?

Thank you ggriffaw !!

The most important thing is to do the research. There are some good threads here at the RPF and an a section entirely dedicated to authentic castings over at the Prop Den. Its a bit hard right now with a lot of the images missing do to the image hosting site changes, but at least the information is there and with a few google searches you can find a few decent images. Either way, do the research and study the castings, because some times these castings show up randomly. This last week a TM sold on ebay and not too long ago a few cool pieces were sold over at the Den. So even without connections there are random chances to get one of these, but you need to act fast and have a bit of money in hand to land the piece. I say study the castings because there are recasts in circulation, and the more you know what to look for, the less chances of you spending a good chunk of cash on a recast. However you can also ask for help identifying a piece by contacting others who already own pieces like this via private message.

As far as connections, its just a matter of networking. Talk to other Vader owners, feel free to ask questions and you would be surprised how open and willing to help we can be.
 
I guess you would be the one to ask when it comes to comparing side by side helmets.

Wow. That is one heck of a collection.

I have only 1 rubies helmet I am modifying.

Thanks Kevin!

It has been very interesting to be able to compare them all against each other. They all share certain details and yet they all have things that make them stand out from one another. Measuring all of them has also been very revealing, and contrary to what some may say, size does matter and tells alot about the history of a casting. You just need to know what to measure and how it pertains to the lineage and generation of the casting. I'm not sure that I will ever be able to publicly post all the findings and comparisons, but I'll try to do it to the best of my abilities without breaking any agreements.
 
Superb collection! Thanks for sharing that amazing photo. So, for ANH Vader - which one would you say completely captures the perfect ANH look as it appeared on screen?
 
Superb collection! Thanks for sharing that amazing photo. So, for ANH Vader - which one would you say completely captures the perfect ANH look as it appeared on screen?


This is a tricky one to answer. In a way they all have "The Look". Some have required adjustments where obviously needed. Like the TM ANH, which is notorious for having a wide dome, required heat mods and shape adjustments to make the dome accurate. The EFX needed a better, more accurate paint job. Stuff like that. However the one ANH helmet in this collection that I feel honestly captures the look of the on screen ANH Vader, is obviously the direct pull from the ILM (US) mold.

Like I said though you can go through all of them and their lineage really gives every one of them the look. For ESB its tie between the TD and the TM. Both make phenomenal ESB helmets. And for ROTJ, hands down the GS from CFO it the king.

I would love to know, in general, which mask and which dome are the largest versions!

As far as measurements go, I have measured most of the collection with calipers ( except for the DJ and the 20thC). I was also able to cross-examine with other owners samples, to make sure the measurements were consistent. The largest one is the ILM direct pull followed ( very closely) by the GS.
 
This is a tricky one to answer. In a way they all have "The Look". Some have required adjustments where obviously needed. Like the TM ANH, which is notorious for having a wide dome, required heat mods and shape adjustments to make the dome accurate. The EFX needed a better, more accurate paint job. Stuff like that. However the one ANH helmet in this collection that I feel honestly captures the look of the on screen ANH Vader, is obviously the direct pull from the ILM (US) mold.

Like I said though you can go through all of them and their lineage really gives every one of them the look. For ESB its tie between the TD and the TM. Both make phenomenal ESB helmets. And for ROTJ, hands down the GS from CFO it the king.



As far as measurements go, I have measured most of the collection with calipers ( except for the DJ and the 20thC). I was also able to cross-examine with other owners samples, to make sure the measurements were consistent. The largest one is the ILM direct pull followed ( very closely) by the GS.

Is this measuring with both the Dome and mask? My SL mask is noticeably larger then the CFO mask.
 
Is this measuring with both the Dome and mask? My SL mask is noticeably larger then the CFO mask.


I'm measuring the GS, not the COF ROTJ. This is where generations come in to play. Keep in mind that the CFO ROTJ went through an additional cycle of casting to make the modifications necessary to get a finished ROTJ helmet, not to mention there had t be a little bit of clean up and sanding to get the polished surface for a finished helmet. With this in mind the GS is one generation closer to the actual mold and has not been cleaned up. The differences from one casting to the other are of 1/16th sometimes 1/32nd. They dont sound like much but they are the tell of whats been done to a casting and how many generations down the line it is.
 
I know I'm late to the party in this thread but I see you have an " EFX ROTJ Mod" did you mod that yourself? have been curious on what would be needed to be done to change an efx from ANH to the other 2 versions, if you have any pics of it (if your allowed to share) i'd love to see em.
 

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