KOOLSHADE info or TIE Fighter Wing material

Boba Flint

Boba Flint

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
MODS,
Before merging this with the TIE thread I ask the Mods to stick this for a while. You have no idea how many emails and PMs I have received about this stuff. I would like this to serve as an announcement for a while.


R.D. Sunshine is still around and making plenty of Koolshade. I went up there yesterday and took one of Steve's wings with me. The man in charge is Mark we came to the conclusion that to have enough material to make "hero wings" for a SS TIE we will need a 4'x6' piece of Koolshade. The price for just the Koolshade will be $216.

Mark's contact info is:

voice mail: 817-461-1144
FAX: 817-459-3008
email: solrman@earthlink.net

The 800 phone numbers no longer work. Emailing or Faxing Mark will be the best way to get ahold of him.

Mark also wants pictures of any completed TIEs that show the Koolshade material being used to put on Koolshade's website.
Also if anyone is interested in making a TIE fighter for Mark please contact him. he REALY wants one. I had to turn him down because I could not gaurantee when I could even beging to work on one.


Now stop pestering me and buy the Koolshade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
icon_wink.gif
 
Thanks, Boba Flint -- and for the record, I didn't ever pester you, although I certainly did threaten to.

While you were talking to the guy, did you happen to ask about a bulk discount? I'm thinking if we got 10-20 orders of the stuff that we could get the price even lower.

-Raj
 
All,

Gonna chime in with my few cents worth. Ive constructed one HERO Tie and 4' x 6' is almost enough to do two complete TIES! As a minimum bare any mistakes in cutting you can make ONE HERO TIE FIGHTER using 1.8' x 4.6' of KoolShade Material see pics (the screen is smaller than the size given). I have the patterns for the hero wings. Remember to add 1/8" to 1/4" to the pattern as it is hidden by the wing struts and Plastruct H beam.

You will need 8 of the top piece and 16 of the other. 2'x 6' is a safe if you make alot of mistakes but if you want the amount with no left over 1.8' x 4.6' is enough. It easily cuts with scissors so as long as you make the pattern and work one piece at a time you'll be fine. Get with Mark to see what that size would cost. May safe $30 to $50 bones.Thats enough to buy a much needed parts kit or take your lady out to dinner for putting up with this maddness!


25060672.jpg

25060667.jpg

25060658.jpg
 
Hey thanks for the photos, but some of your patterns look "wavey". Is there a reason for this or are they just not laying flat in the pictures?

Also, was the same material used on Vader's ship or was it something else?

Jim
 
Hey,

Yeah I quickly cut those out just to show that they would all fit on the Koolshade sheet size I indicated. The master screen patterns I use can be photo copied to make the desired number.

Sorry for the confusion.

Also on the Darth TIE Im sure noones has the material used for this sucker! It took me 3 years to figure out whats was used. Several of the Light diffuser are close but nothing that matches directly.

Heres the deal Those light defussers are heated and pressed to make the final product.

ILM might have used the Metal "masters" that make up the mold for a particular light diffuser See Pic below. I revearsed
the process and made a negative from the proper Light Material then made a master from the mold. Walla.. Darth Vader screen materal! Yes it is different from all other Tie Fighters.

25114576.jpg


25114580.jpg


Steve
 
Is there any chance of getting a sample piece?Say...12"X12"?Even a scrap piece would be good enough for me....maybe roughly 6"X8"?Is there anone out there who has some scrap of the cool shade material?Please pm me if there anone who daoes,and let me know what you would want for the scrap.Thanks-John
 
Steve, with you saying that Darth Vader's TIE wings were different from any others, does that mean that the intercepters were using something else as well?

Jeeeze!!! Every model different wings. It's almost as if they knew folks would try to figure this out one day.
 
After comparing the two over and over and buying my share of Light Diffuser I will tell you they are not the same. If you look at vaders TIE there are many distinct thin Horizontal lines patterns. (caused by the INDENTED diamond pattern) The light is reflecting off of these causing the line effect.

25490860.jpg

In the above pic you can clearly see this. All the little square/diamond details on the panels are indented inward. Only on the upper damaged screen are they protruding. My guess would be easier to damage the plastic light diffuser rather than the metal master plates.


On the Interceptor they seem to be scattered because the light is reflecting off of the protruding diamond shapes.
25490857.jpg

The picture clearly shows the diamonds are protruding and NOT indented into the wing. Look at all of the TIE ADVANCED photos you can see the almost solid lines. You cannot create this effect with the TIE INTERCEPTOR screen.

I may be wrong but dont think so.
 
Just looks like they changed the angle in which they laid the screen in to me. They are still "squares". Accept on the interceptor the pattern runs diagonally. Seems like they may have reversed the screen also.
 
Squares yes.. one protruding above the surface (Interceptor)and I agree they did change the angle

the other going the opposite direction squares going inward. (Vader TIE)

Caution!! If you stare at this screen stuff to long you may see things.... strange things...

This is what I got for the Vader TIE Screen
25491466.jpg

it has the same line characteristics and the squares are indented.
 
I've just now read the info on the KOOLSHADE and I've been wondering for years what that stuff actually was.

I know about a year or so ago that someone asked a couple of the guys from ILM what the material for the TIE wings was, and they didn't have a clue and said that if anyone found out, that they'd love to know. This was on the R2 board, so I figure anyone who frequents that board knows who I am talking about. Hopefully they get the info if they don't already have it.
 
Awesome info.

I'm not sure if this will work for a model I'm making at the moment, but does anyone have a picture of a section of kool-shade with ruler in it for scale. I could figure it out rel fast if I had a 1:1 scale drawing or picture...

-Gary
 
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