EFX DARTH VADER ANH PCR HELMETS (SPECIAL and STANDARD EDITIONS)

Made a stand for this (and my other helmets) using a $9 clear acrylic paper towel holder from Target and materials in my garage:

Vader Stand.jpg
 
Just a quick question for everyone, I had been following this thread loosely but couldn't find anything being mentioned:

is there any known issues with these helmets?

some guy local to my area is selling his, so I figure I could save on shipping, but I am just a little suss that he is selling the helmet so soon after it has been released, judging from the comments so far, everyone seems to be happy with theirs.

the photos he has posted seems okay, but he did managed to tear the box when he opened it.

any suggestions/comments are much appreciated :)
 
Just a quick question for everyone, I had been following this thread loosely but couldn't find anything being mentioned:

is there any known issues with these helmets?

some guy local to my area is selling his, so I figure I could save on shipping, but I am just a little suss that he is selling the helmet so soon after it has been released, judging from the comments so far, everyone seems to be happy with theirs.

the photos he has posted seems okay, but he did managed to tear the box when he opened it.

any suggestions/comments are much appreciated :)
Some don't like the plastic or the more clean look compared to the weathered original.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk
 
If you can see one in person before buying, great! I love mine but maybe see if there are any cracks, inside and out. They do seem a little fragile so the only concern would be if the one he's selling has some damage.

Mine has the ideal paint job and it is 100% clean -- no slop whatsoever. That's the only other thing I'd look out for... but again, nobody seems to have an issue with the paint (except for that C-scar).
 
Plastic on my dome seems a little wobbly, see the dimple in the surface here, highlighted on its rim by reflected light. Is this present on y'all's?
 

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just a quick update

stopped by to check out the helmet, all looked good so I took it, also brought an EVO3 Tie Fighter helmet off him as well :)

turns out he is also a RPF member!

I am at work now, will post so pics later

thx again everyone
 
Plastic on my dome seems a little wobbly, see the dimple in the surface here, highlighted on its rim by reflected light. Is this present on y'all's?

That dimple is in every single one I've seen (difficult to see in some angles and lighting... but it's always there) as I've pointed out in an earlier post in this thread. Even the example pics on EFX's website have this same exact flaw.

efxvaderwarp02_zpscamste8f.jpg
efxvaderwarp01_zpsano9evja.jpg


This is probably the only big issue I have with this helmet mostly because it's a production flaw that simply shouldn't be there. The early prototypes didn't have this. The rest of the helmet is sharp as a tack so why does this conspicuous area look like this? The reshaped tusk tubes I'm perfectly fine with as this was necessary for the manufacturing process. I also don't mind in the least that the master pattern's surface texture was heavily cleaned up, sharpened and idealized, while thankfully retaining much of its screen-accurate geometry and proportions. This only makes the Legend and LE fiberglass/resin release all the more special and desirable. But that dimple has no reason for being there and I'm surprised only two or three people I've read online seem to notice it. It seems to correspond to the area where one of the latches inside the dome connect with each half. Overall, it's a really nice piece. But personally that dimple just drives me nuts every time I look at it. It's wishful thinking, but hopefully EFX will address this issue and maybe offer replacement domes.
 
I just received my EFX Vader Special Edition and I'm happy to report that the second batch has a much thinner C scar over what I saw in pictures from the first batch. I'm happy with that.

I did have a question though. I'm not a Vader helmet expert so I'm not sure about this:

On my helmet, the area on the front of the helmet where the C scar is has a much different finish that on the other side. I'm not sure what the part of the helmet is called. I'm just going to call them front check left and front check with C scar (right)

The check on the left has the brushed metal look and is consistent with much of the rest of face plate. But the check with the C scar has almost no brushed metal to it. I was going to take a photo but noticed this photo already posted shows what I'm talking about. In the photo it look simply like the left check is reflecting more light than the right check with the C scar. But on my helmet it simply just looks that different no matter how the light hits it.

In short: The left check has a brushed metal finish, and the right check with the C scar is just black.

Is that intentional? And a reflection of how it was on the original helmet? Or is it possible it was done to make the C scar stand out more? Or maybe mine is just not painted well?

Thanks

 
On my helmet, the area on the front of the helmet where the C scar is has a much different finish that on the other side. I'm not sure what the part of the helmet is called. I'm just going to call them front check left and front check with C scar (right)

The check on the left has the brushed metal look and is consistent with much of the rest of face plate. But the check with the C scar has almost no brushed metal to it. I was going to take a photo but noticed this photo already posted shows what I'm talking about. In the photo it look simply like the left check is reflecting more light than the right check with the C scar. But on my helmet it simply just looks that different no matter how the light hits it.

In short: The left check has a brushed metal finish, and the right check with the C scar is just black.

Is that intentional? And a reflection of how it was on the original helmet? Or is it possible it was done to make the C scar stand out more? Or maybe mine is just not painted well?

Thanks

Paint scheme is correct on your helmet.
 
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If nothing else, this'll make it easy to spot recasts :p

That dimple is in every single one I've seen (difficult to see in some angles and lighting... but it's always there) as I've pointed out in an earlier post in this thread. Even the example pics on EFX's website have this same exact flaw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/alandron/efxvaderwarp02_zpscamste8f.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/alandron/efxvaderwarp01_zpsano9evja.jpg

This is probably the only big issue I have with this helmet mostly because it's a production flaw that simply shouldn't be there. The early prototypes didn't have this. The rest of the helmet is sharp as a tack so why does this conspicuous area look like this? The reshaped tusk tubes I'm perfectly fine with as this was necessary for the manufacturing process. I also don't mind in the least that the master pattern's surface texture was heavily cleaned up, sharpened and idealized, while thankfully retaining much of its screen-accurate geometry and proportions. This only makes the Legend and LE fiberglass/resin release all the more special and desirable. But that dimple has no reason for being there and I'm surprised only two or three people I've read online seem to notice it. It seems to correspond to the area where one of the latches inside the dome connect with each half. Overall, it's a really nice piece. But personally that dimple just drives me nuts every time I look at it. It's wishful thinking, but hopefully EFX will address this issue and maybe offer replacement domes.
 
It seems to correspond to the area where one of the latches inside the dome connect with each half.
Good call, that's exactly what must have caused it. It's what happens in injection-molding when there's a big piece---it shrinks as it cools, resulting in a "sink" in the thickest part. Model kit builders have to deal with it often.

I'd be more upset if this were originally designed as an injection-molded piece, as there are steps they could have taken in manufacture to prevent it (like make that inside piece a separate part added later). But since it was originally fiberglass, there was no need to make such an accommodation in the mold. So I get it, the reason we got this version at all (and at a good price) is because the molds for the fiberglass version already existed.

So I can live with this one artifact of that product production history. (Not that I wouldn't welcome a replacement if that happened. ;) )
 
That dimple is in every single one I've seen (difficult to see in some angles and lighting... but it's always there) as I've pointed out in an earlier post in this thread. Even the example pics on EFX's website have this same exact flaw.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/alandron/efxvaderwarp02_zpscamste8f.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/alandron/efxvaderwarp01_zpsano9evja.jpg

This is probably the only big issue I have with this helmet mostly because it's a production flaw that simply shouldn't be there. The early prototypes didn't have this. The rest of the helmet is sharp as a tack so why does this conspicuous area look like this? The reshaped tusk tubes I'm perfectly fine with as this was necessary for the manufacturing process. I also don't mind in the least that the master pattern's surface texture was heavily cleaned up, sharpened and idealized, while thankfully retaining much of its screen-accurate geometry and proportions. This only makes the Legend and LE fiberglass/resin release all the more special and desirable. But that dimple has no reason for being there and I'm surprised only two or three people I've read online seem to notice it. It seems to correspond to the area where one of the latches inside the dome connect with each half. Overall, it's a really nice piece. But personally that dimple just drives me nuts every time I look at it. It's wishful thinking, but hopefully EFX will address this issue and maybe offer replacement domes.

This looks in person only a little softer area on my helmet.Not really a big thing.Same with the "Y" on the middle stripe.Here is a pic from a member here that has both helmets in his collection...you can see that the areas over the eyes are sharper on the Legend:

27549058lj.jpg


But the plastic helmetdome has also lots of dents and flaws from the Originalhelmetscan.
 
for those who are in Australia, Zing (subsidiary of EB Games) is having a 20% off sale on Monday, and I have seen the Vader PCR helmet in one of their stores just a few weeks back

the email I got said it is online only, however, this helmet does not seem to show up on their website, so you might want to try your luck in store.

Price: it was listed as $599 in store, if you can get it for $480, it would be cheaper then the cheapest one on ebay (that I could find anyway)

otherwise, Zing's website does have the stormtrooper/Kylo Ren black series helmet ($128) and EFX PCR/CE ($298)
 
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