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Rocketeer back up helmet used as a motorcycle helmet? WTH?

Case and point, meet Jim R., a Hollywood cinematographer who I spotted from at least 1/4 of a mile away arriving to SSC on his sport bike (Yamaha R1 I think, but they all look the damn same these days). His helmet is one of two original helmets made for the 1991 film The Rocketeer. In the film, Cliff Seacourt, a stunt pilot during World War II, finds a Nazi jetpack in a hangar. His mechanic/best friend Peevy, played by Alan Arkin, builds the helmet for Cliff with an integrated rudder, which helps Cliff steer while flying around the Los Angeles area using the jetpack. This particular helmet was the backup in case the primary was damaged during filming, and Jim scored this amazing souvenir after the movie wrapped.

The helmet itself is made of brass, and it’s surprisingly comfortable. I tried it on, and could see very clearly out of it, as well as breathe easily. The top 3/4 air vents are functional, and keep the scalp cool while riding/flying. The inner padding is lacking by 2010 standards (it was a WWII movie, after all), and it takes a brave man to actually wear this thing while riding a motorcycle.
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Oh boy... :rolleyes

This guy is full of crap. The production made helmets were *not* made out of brass - they were fiberglass. And I'm pretty sure that there were more than 2 of them.

It's gotta be an MR helmet.

Plus, "Cliff Seacourt," a Nazi pack, and during WW II?! :confused Yikes! This guy didn't get anything right.
 
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I'd say he's a niave attention hog for doing both: riding in an 'extremely rare' prop that's not meant for protection, and that he's wearing a House M.D. jacket with proper patches that have nothing to to do with the Rocketeer. Poor form indeed, sir.

Oh, if he was real House fan, he'd own a Repsol. :rolleyes
 
what threw me off is the coloring on the fin, it's really similar to the MR paint job on mine. Ive thought about wearing mine on my bike but while it's parked obviously. if that thing was a real movie prop i would have to find this guy and give him a serious talking to.
 
agliarept said:
bike wearing a production made rocketeer helmet as his head protection. Please tell me that's a master Replicas helmet???
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Eh, i see this all the time.....people claiming they own or selling production made rocketeer helmets or own a helmet that came from the original molds or a cast from an original helmet .................such a joke......

if i had a dime every time i heard that, i would be a millionaire......

maybe the person is oblivious to what they own or maybe they were duped by misleading information.....i just never know...

There was this one guy that contacted me over a year or so ago asked me to verify if his helmet was an actual production helmet.......

unfortunately, it wasnt and he spent about 5,000 grand on it.....I felt bad telling him it wasnt real.....I even verified it with 2 other people (one who owned an actual hero helmet and another who worked on the film) before i told the guy the bad news
 
EvilRocketeer said:
Eh, i see this all the time.....people claiming they own or selling production made rocketeer helmets or own a helmet that came from the original molds or a cast from an original helmet .................such a joke......

if i had a dime every time i heard that, i would be a millionaire......

maybe the person is oblivious to what they own or maybe they were duped by misleading information.....i just never know...

There was this one guy that contacted me over a year or so ago asked me to verify if his helmet was an actual production helmet.......

unfortunately, it wasnt and he spent about 5,000 grand on it.....I felt bad telling him it wasnt real.....I even verified it with 2 other people (one who owned an actual hero helmet and another who worked on the film) before i told the guy the bad news
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You ain't kidding... in my 11 or so years of really obsessing over Rocketeer helmets, I could NOT count the number of times I've seen the phrase "made for the film but not screen-used."

When I first really started getting the collecting bug for the Rocketeer, I nearly got burned on a fake "original" helmet on ebay. Luckily a guy that's a member here warned me off of it before I completed the transaction... Saved me quite a chunk of money and also really kicked off my quest to figure out what an original helmet was supposed to look like.

Hey, Tim, hope you're doing well! I've been refinishing one of your old kits... one of the first kits I ever finished as a matter of fact. Hope to have pics of it to share in the next week or two.
 
that is tragic. Something similar happened to me a few years ago. thankfully it was that crazy amount of money. but buying something with hopes of getting a piece of magic and turning out to be a dud is a bummer..

but it is two fold, shame on me and others for nothing doing enough homework before dropping the $.
 
dualedge said:
Hey, Tim, hope you're doing well! I've been refinishing one of your old kits... one of the first kits I ever finished as a matter of fact. Hope to have pics of it to share in the next week or two.
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Hey Rob! Doing quite well, thanks. Ya know, I'm bummed that I never did have you do a helmet for me - your paint jobs always were top-notch.

EvilRocketeer said:
The Hero Helmets and production helmets created by Design Setters were slush cast resin not fiberglass

just fyi

kinda a pet peeve of mine....dont want misinformation to continue
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Right you are - guess I've just seen too many friends' personal helmets from the Design Setters molds that they did in fiberglass.

Ya know, a friend (and current co-worker) worked on The Rocketeer at Design Setters, and worked on the helmet. Know how he did the weld lines? Bondo in a syringe - kinda' like a cake decorating squeeze bag. Genius!
 
Tim, I miss seeing you around but I know you're busy with jobs. If it makes you feel any better, I still haven't finished a helmet for myself yet. I usually get asked to do one for somebody else before I have a chance to start one for myself. I consider it practice for when I finally do get one done for me so I can have the "perfect" replica. Relatively speaking at least.

I'm supposed to start another one for a guy here on the forum and maybe after that if you really want to punish yourself by putting up with how long I take I'd be willing to do one for you if you wanted. Heck, maybe by then, I'll have figured out the technique to painting it the right way instead of faking it. :p Either that or we'll both be dead from old age and it won't matter anymore.

I'm hoping to post pics of this re-finished helmet by Monday or so. Gotta get the lenses glued in over the next couple of nights and hopefully take some nice pics this weekend. I'm curious to see if you'd recognize it as one of yours.

On the issue of the welds, when my "ex" hero helmet was on display at SDCC a few years ago at Profiles in History (dunno if you know that I had to part with it to help the family finances - that was a hard sacrifice for me as you can imagine), a guy (who was apparently a professional welder) just admiring it asked one of the Profiles guys how the welds were made on it. He thought it was really welded metal.

I gotta say, the welds on the originals were a small detail that was really, really well done. On the replicas like the MR or on some casts I've seen where the weld lines were re-sculpted for whatever reason, it makes a big difference in the look of the helmet (well, at least to me and Michael (EvilRocketeer) it does) so if you get the chance, tell the guy that did them that a couple of obsessive Rocketeer fans and some nameless welder all appreciate his genius. ;)

D48thRonin said:
Hey Rob! Doing quite well, thanks. Ya know, I'm bummed that I never did have you do a helmet for me - your paint jobs always were top-notch.

Right you are - guess I've just seen too many friends' personal helmets from the Design Setters molds that they did in fiberglass.

Ya know, a friend (and current co-worker) worked on The Rocketeer at Design Setters, and worked on the helmet. Know how he did the weld lines? Bondo in a syringe - kinda' like a cake decorating squeeze bag. Genius!
Click to expand...
 
dualedge said:
I'm hoping to post pics of this re-finished helmet by Monday or so. Gotta get the lenses glued in over the next couple of nights and hopefully take some nice pics this weekend. I'm curious to see if you'd recognize it as one of yours
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That would be mine! I love my Tim Arp helmet!:love. Good to see you on the boards again, Tim.

Lonnie
 
What a waste of a helmet, even if it is a MR, when the guy crashes and they have to hose his head out of the thing.
 
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