EDIT:
DO NOT ORDER THIS. DINO HAS BEEN MIA/NON RESPONSIVE TO ORDERS.
Hello again everyone, I’ve got another cryocan to go over, this one made by
DinoDino AKA Tank Chain
A little bit of context first, I received this can as payment for essentially consulting on the can— I helped design it in the way that DinoDino would send me his design and I would send back modified blueprints and notes based on measurements and observations I took from screenshots and photos. We’ve been exchanging info back and forth for the past couple years in an effort to get as close as possible, and Dino’s design has certainly come a long way from when he sent me his first design.
That being said, though I did work on this, the finished cryo is the *only* thing I’m getting paid with. I do not get a cut of the profit, so I hope you can trust my critique of this is honest and true.
Moving on to the canister itself, it’s not perfect but (in my opinion, and without the Barbasol can) it is the most accurate looking prop *currently* on the market… which I guess isn’t saying much since the only other one I can think of is RB Replicas, but it’s still pretty great! It still has its problems, and I’ll get to those, but a good chunk of the issues I had with my last cryo don’t carry over to this one.
THE GOOD:
Like with the last, the concave base at the bottom emulates the actual Barbasol can base and looks great. It also has the conical portion between the top two discs only going part way up the center cylinder (which is correct). My only note on that is tiny, and nitpicky, that there looks to be a bit of a lip at the top of the conical section in the movie, or some kind of gap, but it’s still great considering most replicas pre-RB didn’t include that detail at all.
The vials slide in almost perfectly, though some of the holes are snugger than others. I believe this is because Dino makes these by hand, so there might be some variance but they all fit the exact right way. My last two cryocans had the holes a bit too big, and the vials would go all the way up to thes larger ridge bellow the cap rather than being stopped on the smaller one bellow that, like in the movie. The labels Dino got are also pretty spot on in size (and I believe font?)
Prop:
Holes too big:
Perfect:
The top of the center “CO2 cartridge” also has my favorite version of the top threading. I have not seen a single replica get close to the threading from the movie, but with the actual prop going on display in 2018 (boy I hope we get it on display again for the 30th), we now have better reference, and can see the threading is rather low and only goes about halfway up the top nozzle. I don’t think it’s 1-1 to the original prop, but it’s pretty close and maybe the closest anyone’s been— but perhaps could be a bit lower.
Also, you might notice that the trench in the center cylinder, and hole in the rotating base, is missing from this version of the prop! This was part of the mechanism that everyone used for a very long time, but looking through all the different shots of the prop in the movie, I don’t see this part of the prop anywhere. Maybe someone who has actually held the prop, or seen it in person, could tell me otherwise, but I think getting rid of this part of the mechanism makes it more accurate to the movie, though it does create a bit of an issue that I’ll address later.
Trench in question:
Prop:
Dino's
The can itself (window cleaning foam with a paper/vinyl print, I believe?) is a pretty spot on substitution for the original can (pictured is one that I got on ebay, still works!) What’s more, the old finish/printing method on the can really laid out the label thicker than modern cans, to the point where I thought the old can might have been a fake with a printed label (confirmed its real since it has real shaving cream in it, and parts of the yellow/blue printed onto the aluminum part) so the sticker is actually a pretty close look/finish to the original printing technique.
THE BAD:
I’ll start with the worst, and move on from there:
The size of the canister. This is a major flaw, as it does not fit well in the can! The base is about 2mm smaller than the inner diameter of the can, and the only thing holding it in there is the o-ring. Another sign the bottom is too small, the o-ring is sticking out too much, though that is the only thing keeping the can on. The o-ring needs to be more flush with the rest of the can, so basically Dino needs to keep whatever the diameter of the o-ring channel is while expanding the rest of the canister outwards. This was a note that I gave from the start, that the insides need to be flush with the can— and while it might be debatable if the rotating base and disks are the same size as the threaded base, I do think the “threaded” portion of the base needs to be the same size as the inside of the can.
Because it’s smaller, unless you grip the can where the o-ring is, the canister will fall out of the can. Now, I don’t think any of us are actually trying to smuggle this into another country, and most of us will probably be getting these for display only, so this won’t affect the overall look of it, but it isn’t great for size accuracy, and it’s a shame it doesn’t fit.
(Looks to be flush to the inside of the can)
Going along with that, the bottom of the canister, meant to emulate the bottom of a Barbasol can, is also the wrong size. It sort of fits the size of a modern can, but is, again, about 2mm smaller than the base of a vintage Barbasol can (I believe it’s roughly the same size as the top ring on the can) and so the bottom of the canister is actually flush with the bottom of the can, making it look like an extension of the can rather than the base of it.
This next critique is highly debatable, and I’d love everyone’s thoughts on this: You activate the spring mechanism by turning the top discs, not the rotating base. Due to the lack of a trench in the center cylinder that I mentioned earlier, you can spin the base around without it activating the spring mechanism.
Funny enough, over time, after some grinding and it gaining a bit of grit with the metal pieces rubbing together, you actually can make the mechanism work by turning the base, but when it’s new and gliding perfectly without grit, it didn’t work that way.
I was going to put this in my notes to send to Dino for the next batch, but then I noticed something… Does Dodgson or Nedry actually use the base to make the mechanism spring up? In its first scene, Dodgson has his thumb on the disks (and initially holds it back before allowing it to spring forward) and then Nedry does this weird screwing motion to make it pop up, with fingers over the top discs as well. It doesn’t seem clear.
Now, while going through this footage again and much closer than before, I see that Dodgson seems to be spinning the very bottom and the rotating base at the same time, while he holds the top disks with his thumb, to make it spring open. Is he spinning booth with his thumb, or is there something on the bottom of the canister that latches into the spinning base and causes it to spin as well? Hard to tell.
What’s more, when looking at the actual prop, you can see the holes in the base are NOT aligned with the centrifuge tubes— if the base had some sort of attachment to the central cylinder to make it pop up, wouldn’t it line up even when extended? Or maybe the mechanism extends too far when it's popped up, and that’s why it is misaligned?
While I would personally like to see the base be the thing that causes the mechanism to work, I can’t give this note in confidence when I don’t know if it’s accurate to the movie. Maybe Dino’s onto something here, but I’ll send him a not to watch the movie closely and he can decide what to do next.
Can anyone who has seen the prop in person possibly comment on this?
Some smaller nitpicky things:
The “threaded” bottom part of the can looks good proportion wise, though I do think this one ridge above the o-ring needs to be smaller than the ridge below it, and I’m thinking the ridges on the base should be a bit smaller, but seeing as that second part is debatable unless I get the prop to measure in-hand, I probably won’t give that note.
As mentioned above, either there’s a small gap above the conical center section (maybe it’s where the disks thread together?) or there should be a small lip— maybe that’s another o-ring there? It’s very hard to tell, he could probably take or leave that note for now.
The labels could stick better, but are otherwise good.
It’s hard to tell if the threaded portion of the base is slightly larger than the rest of the can in the photos of the prop— my gut tells me it’s all the same size, but judging by the photo angle of the previously posted screen used prop, it is hard to tell.
In conclusion, this is a great shelf piece in that if this and the Barbasol can are displayed next to each other, yet separate, it looks great! As soon as you put the can over the canister, the inaccuracy is more noticeable.
A great replica, but a few details stop it from being a perfect one.
If you want more video of it, I did make a TikTok going over it in short (try not to roll your eyes haha, TikTok is good for short form content)
