MR rocketeer helmet

[EvilRocketeer]

i check underneath the padding around the inside of the helmet but dont see any marks on it that could suggest there was a bar there. dunno, could be he sanded it down pretty well but hard to tell. the helmet is nice to wear, that i can testify to. it fits snug and not loose and bulky like the MR. Im really happy with this one.

that is great information to know because some of us werent sure if the helmet was able to be modified. Some thought the bar was some sort of support system to keep the helmet from collapsing.

what I heard was that medicom had an license agreement to make a non wearable rocketeer helmet...My guess at the time was MR had the license to make a wearable version..

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

Last time I spoke with Clint at Acme he was willing to do a payment plan for the Rocketpack kit.
When you invest that kind of money into a kit item, you would want to make sure the work you do to it is as good as you can get it - no rushing or using cheap paint.
From what I'm told, Alclad products are the way to go. Unless I can get it Nickel plated for a reasonable price, I would likely go the Alclad route for the pack.
Here are pics of my Rocketeer helmet that I painted myself.
Not entirely sure of the lineage but from what I've been able to find, it is one of the promo helmets Disney had made from the movie molds.
Whatever its origin is, I love it and is one of my favorate pieces in my collection - a childhood dream come true!

 

[MrBusiness]

Hi GENERALFROSTY, how did you obtain this helmet? It is clearly not a promo helmet. It is clearly not a marketing helmet because it is missing several important details. I suggest contacting Robert Liedenmeyer. He has a marketing helmet. Throughout the years. I seen a lot of helmets being mislabeled. Sellers will claim they are production or marketing helmets but they are just cheap knockoffs. They con innocent people out of money. People are ******** these days. Most are not even decent recasts. Sorry to be blunt. I am glad to see you are happy with it. The rocketeer helmet is a wonderful item. The hero helmets were wonderfully crafted. Design Setters did a wonderful job fabricating Meltons work. I had the honor to hold one in person. The Master Replica helmet is a cheap knockoff. It was poorly crafted in a third world country.

Last time I spoke with Clint at Acme he was willing to do a payment plan for the Rocketpack kit.
When you invest that kind of money into a kit item, you would want to make sure the work you do to it is as good as you can get it - no rushing or using cheap paint.
From what I'm told, Alclad products are the way to go. Unless I can get it Nickel plated for a reasonable price, I would likely go the Alclad route for the pack.
Here are pics of my Rocketeer helmet that I painted myself.
Not entirely sure of the lineage but from what I've been able to find, it is one of the promo helmets Disney had made from the movie molds.
Whatever its origin is, I love it and is one of my favorate pieces in my collection - a childhood dream come true!

 

[confusion]

Last time I spoke with Clint at Acme he was willing to do a payment plan for the Rocketpack kit.
When you invest that kind of money into a kit item, you would want to make sure the work you do to it is as good as you can get it - no rushing or using cheap paint.
From what I'm told, Alclad products are the way to go. Unless I can get it Nickel plated for a reasonable price, I would likely go the Alclad route for the pack.
Here are pics of my Rocketeer helmet that I painted myself.
Not entirely sure of the lineage but from what I've been able to find, it is one of the promo helmets Disney had made from the movie molds.
Whatever its origin is, I love it and is one of my favorate pieces in my collection - a childhood dream come true!

I think I posted a LONG time ago about a helmet like this. I believe it's a heavily modified Medicom helmet. The big tell is the back, where the fin is supposed to converge with the welded lines that are under the air intakes.

It appears the bulky Medicom fin was removed, which left that rectangular space where the newly added fin stops short.

Regardless, it's a cool looking helmet.

 

[Utinni]

If it is a Medicom helmet, does it still show where the inner bar used to be? Surely there would still be signs of the mounts. And from the pix it looks too squashed, like the MR, but we've seen how different picture angles can change it.

* unless it was a Medicom helmet dunked into RTV...

-Jeff

 

[Jason_E]

From what I have been told by platers, unless the plastic is ABS (which the current packs being sold are not) you can not nickel plate it.

Hopefully someone has info stating otherwise...but that seems to be the grim facts in the plating dept.

If you have deep pockets Alsa paint is another option for you.

Take care

Last time I spoke with Clint at Acme he was willing to do a payment plan for the Rocketpack kit.
When you invest that kind of money into a kit item, you would want to make sure the work you do to it is as good as you can get it - no rushing or using cheap paint.
From what I'm told, Alclad products are the way to go. Unless I can get it Nickel plated for a reasonable price, I would likely go the Alclad route for the pack.
Here are pics of my Rocketeer helmet that I painted myself.
Not entirely sure of the lineage but from what I've been able to find, it is one of the promo helmets Disney had made from the movie molds.
Whatever its origin is, I love it and is one of my favorate pieces in my collection - a childhood dream come true!

 

[dualedge]

If it is a Medicom helmet, does it still show where the inner bar used to be? Surely there would still be signs of the mounts. And from the pix it looks too squashed, like the MR, but we've seen how different picture angles can change it.

* unless it was a Medicom helmet dunked into RTV...

-Jeff

There likely would be some evidence of where the bar would have been unless they really put a LOT of work into hiding it and that seems kind of unlikely to me. Most folks don't put much work into the inside of the helmets.

The "squished" effect in the photo is likely from taking digital pics too close to the helmet and not necessarily from the casting.

I've photographed a ton of Rocketeer helmets (original hero, stunt, protoype and scores of replicas) and have gone into more depth about taking snapshots of them than what most people probably would care to discuss so I'll keep it short this time... Rocketeer helmets for some reason - probably all the subtle curves - tend to really show the effects of lens distortion from digital cameras. If you really want to get an idea of the shape, you've GOT to step back away from the helmet and take photos using the zoom feature on the camera. It's best to use a tripod. Get back a minimum of six feet...

And of course, all of that is not to say that "squished" helmets isn't a problem. The Acme is the closest to accurate but compared to the hero I used to have, it was still a tad squished... possibly from just being another generation down.

The MR helmet was such a disaster not entirely because of where it was produced but more HOW it was produced. Since MR insisted on going the "metal" route (which as a hardcore obsessive about the helmet offends my accuracy sensibilities since the originals were NOT metal) the place they got the helmets made didn't use any kind of casting techniques. They EYEBALLED it. That's why ALL of the details on the helmet are wrong in subtle ways. It's no different than the typical fan sculpt... However, the liner in the MR is the most accurate to hero style liners. It's not 100% accurate but it's pretty good.

So, ultimately the MR helmet is kind of inaccurate on every level... it's essentially a fan sculpt made in a material the original hero helmets weren't made in. Despite that, it's okay for many casual fans that like the fact it's made in metal.

The original helmets weren't plated either though so for anybody that's interested in accuracy, a resin helmet painted to simulate the look in the movie is the best way to go.

 

[themanwoaname]

ive never heard of a medicom rocketeer helmet! when did they come out? how could i successfully find one, like what is it properly called on the box "medicom disney the rocketeer helmet"? all im getting are the 12 doll results.

ugh, the helmets alone are giving me a headache.

 

[agliarept]

wow, im always really surprised by how true die hard finheads can really see the differences in all of the helmets produced. I need to be honest here and say that not being a true die hard, i was happy with my MR helmet until I got my Medicom one. Now im thinking of even getting of my MR just due to the fact that its more a "statue" piece then something truly wearable in prop terms.

honestly, had it not been for you fine folks, i'd be ignorantly content with just a crappy replica. its so amazing how the angles of the fin and what not can make or break it. really cool!!

 

[dualedge]

ive never heard of a medicom rocketeer helmet! when did they come out? how could i successfully find one, like what is it properly called on the box "medicom disney the rocketeer helmet"? all im getting are the 12 doll results.

ugh, the helmets alone are giving me a headache.

They aren't super-plentiful... ebay is pretty much your only bet at finding one (unless you find somebody here that has one to sell) but you'll have to wait for it. They pop up every once in a while but obviously there's no set schedule.

I don't know what year it was first released but they've been out for quite a few years now... But as we've said, they never really caught on with replica prop collector's for a couple of reasons. One is that the Rocketeer still doesn't have a huge fan base like other franchises, another is that it had that bar inside it making it unwearable and also, of course, it's an import from Japan and so there's not an easy, cheap source to get them except for ebay.

I don't know what the "proper" name of it is on the box though... I'm sure I have pics I've saved off of ebay at home that might have it on there but somebody else might have the info at hand.

It's got some inaccuracies as well of course... The eye lenses are bubbled outward making it have a bug-eyed look (and the material around the eyes is too thick), the fin isn't beveled and it has no weathering. And if memory serves, I think it's got green eye lenses which isn't accurate for the movie either... We used to debate the eye lense color years ago... ah, the good ol' days.

 

[Sidewinder]

Does anyone sell lenses that would fit an MR?

SAS

 

[dualedge]

wow, im always really surprised by how true die hard finheads can really see the differences in all of the helmets produced. I need to be honest here and say that not being a true die hard, i was happy with my MR helmet until I got my Medicom one. Now im thinking of even getting of my MR just due to the fact that its more a "statue" piece then something truly wearable in prop terms.

honestly, had it not been for you fine folks, i'd be ignorantly content with just a crappy replica. its so amazing how the angles of the fin and what not can make or break it. really cool!!

It's just like anything... some guys obsess over Vader helmets or Blade Runner PKDs. I've been obsessing over Rocketeer helmets for the past 10 years and had the honor of owning an original screen-used helmet for a few years but family finances wouldn't let me keep it in good conscience even though it was and still is my "holy grail" of movie props.

I was able to find the original helmet because I obsessed over the details so much that I recognized it as legit when it came up for auction. And after staring at anything for years on end... you start to notice all the really subtle details. Now, I haven't figured out if that's a GOOD thing to brag about or not but I do wind up posting long messages in any thread discussing the helmet. :$

 

[dualedge]

Does anyone sell lenses that would fit an MR?

SAS

Not exactly... the lenses that come with the Acme kits are actually just flat smoked acrylic. You heat them up and mash them into place. With a little practice it works pretty well.

So, in that sense, nobody "makes" lenses for the MR but if you needed lenses, you could probably make flat smoked acrylic work in the same way it does for the Acme kits.

All you need is a heat gun, a pair of needle-nose pliers to hold the acrylic with while you're heating it up, a smallish-chunk of furniture foam you can mash the lense into shape with, some glue and maybe a dremel.

It should work if you need lenses though.

 

[EvilRocketeer]

Since Dualedge already pointed out all the inaccuries without waiting to let me join in (way to take all the fun rob!). I guess I will just sit here and add a photo of the box hahaha :lol

there is a seller on ebay that has a ton of medicom helmets. I dont know how many he has left, but he sold more than 12...He would sell them one after another. He would stop after awhile, but then he would start up again...

 

[agliarept]

i remember that box when the seller sold mine, said he no longer had it to ship! I remember that drawing!! lolo awesome, i wonder why they decided to have the bar installed tho??? It reminds me of that new Batman Cowls being produced that are non wearable. where's the fun in that????

 

[dualedge]

Mike, I'm sure you'll beat me to the next one

Aglia, I'd guess the bar was probably a licensing thing. MR may have already had the license for a wearable helmet by that point and so Medicom maybe got the license to reproduce the helmet as only a non-wearable collectible or something like that. Prop related licenses often fall into categories like that. One company will get the license to make a costume and another company will get the license to make non-wearable collectibles or the like.

Or I suppose it could have been a legal thing too... maybe Medicom wanted to make sure nobody tried to use it as a motorcycle or safety helmet.

 

[Utinni]

The MR may not be accurate in almost every way... but you have to agree that it being metal IS cool! That is the wow factor, specially for the non hardcore costumers. I have both ACME and the MR and wear the MR at Cons because people will tap on the helmet and I've had the fin yanked several times. I don't want to put my ACME through that! Also I've learned for pictures to always look to the side or at an angle to minimize squished head look. It may not be accurate, but I still give love to the MR!

- Jeff

 

[nickytea]

The MR may not be accurate in almost every way... but you have to agree that it being metal IS cool!

Not just cool ... freeking super-cool.

I mean, I understand the desire to have the most accurate replica out there, but rather than thinking of it as "Oh, the originals were not metal and this one is metal and therefore not accurate", I see it as "Woah, a metal Rocketeer helmet, they weren't even able to do that for the originals!"

Obviously, they may have been ABLE to make metal originals, but the point is that the MR helmet is like a "what if it actually existed as it appeared to exist" option. Pretty darn cool.

 

[EvilRocketeer]

It is a cool helmet to be made out of metal, but if they took the time to actually produce it in the right way instead of eyeballing it. it would have been an amazing helmet rather than just a cool helmet.

Plus using a different helmet to market their helmet was a big NO NO!!!!!!!! They used a fiberglass helmet that was cast from a original helmet..It was accurate...What they sold was far from accurate

bait and switch

 

[SD Studios]

The MR helmet SUCKS!

Whoever worked on that was a frickin' idio...

Oh, wait. Nevermind.

FYI: We received a casting off the original helmet from Disney. We all thought it would be cooler in metal (right?) so we asked (company name deleted to protect their awfulness) if they could EXACTLY replicate the fiberglass copy in metal.

They said: "ABSOLUTELY!".

We went baaaaack and foooorth for many months. Every sample that they sent was completely wrong. The "welds" looked like giant, decorative steel bars. We yelled at them and said get it right or forget it. Several months passed...So they finally sent a sample that looked really good. We picked out a couple of things that we didn't like and they said that they would be fixed in production.

Ok. Go for it. Approved by MR. We then gave it to Disney...approved with the noted changes.

Cool.

Then the production helmets came in and they had all of the same problems as three rounds of revisions prior.

WUK?

We never worked with that company again. Everything they made for us was just "so-so". But there was nothing we could do about it at that point. Rejecting the shipment in-transit, is NOT an easy thing to do logistically. (or legally).

They had their own QC system and we weren't allowed into the factory. Nor did any of us really want to go to deep-India.

THAT is why the MR helmets are "off". Everyone in the MR Disney department did everything they could do to get it right. A crappy subcontractor just kept check-mating us on every move. And frankly...lied to us many times.

There ya go.