Rocketeer props from 1991 MGM studios

As for Peevy's Lemonade stand, I don't think it exists anymore. If you can post a pic of it I might be able to recognize it, but I've never seen that before.

The last picture is most recent I believe because the buckle is no longer there..edit the guys face out since I dont know who he is

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Weird, it looks familiar but it dosnt at the same time. I can't tell you if its there or not anymore. Then again, do you guys have a hollywood studios/MGM park over in cali?
 
:angry NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have old disneyland that needs an upgrade and california adventure...and that is about it. You would think since hollywood is so close by and all those props can be easily be taken to disneyland to have a small museum or some type of prop display case. Also, california adventure has soo much potential to have a rocketeer theme where the aviator theme section is located, but nope nada

I think the Peevy's Lemonade stand is still there. The last picture I posted supposedly was taken of june of this year.
 
lol well that sucks man. Next time I can go, I'll definatly get pics and check out everything, but it won't be until probably around summer time, which will be the next SWW's
 
I assume the main reason there is so much Rocketeer stuff at Disneyworld is it was initially moved there for the display and is still floating around after all these years.

Here's another pic I had from the backlot tour in 1995. Kind of a strange pose - probably a department store mannequin.

 
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lol well that sucks man. Next time I can go, I'll definatly get pics and check out everything, but it won't be until probably around summer time, which will be the next SWW's

Awesome..Thanks! There are other props at the peevy lemondade stand as well. There is Peevy's rocketpack sketch and a Bigelow's air circus flag

I assume the main reason there is so much Rocketeer stuff at Disneyworld is it was initially moved there for the display and is still floating around after all these years.

Here's another pic I had from the backlot tour in 1995. Kind of a strange pose - probably a department store mannequin.

Thanks for posting that picture. I never seen it before. I figure with Disneyland in Anaheim being so close to the filming locations and since Dave stevens lived near orange county or in orange county during that time. It would make more sense to have it at Disneyland...
 
Awesome..Thanks! There are other props at the peevy lemondade stand as well. There is Peevy's rocketpack sketch and a Bigelow's air circus flag

Are they reproductions or screen used? It'd be ashame if they are screen used, since the florida weather is not forgiving, especially on props. I can tell you in less than a few months time, my snowtrooper developed real rust on the chest piece!


Also, can you post some backround info on the Acme helmet? About to get it :angel
 
Are they reproductions or screen used? It'd be ashame if they are screen used, since the florida weather is not forgiving, especially on props. I can tell you in less than a few months time, my snowtrooper developed real rust on the chest piece!


Also, can you post some backround info on the Acme helmet? About to get it :angel

I think the flag is screen-used and the sketch maybe a production copy. I think one of the screen-used copies is in the disney archives.

ACME helmet is a tricky one. There are several stories of the origins. The first story is it a copy of a stunt helmet used on film. The owner of the stunt helmet was the stage manager of the howard hughes scenes etc etc. Well, some how the acme helmet was cast from this helmet.

Other story which is more plausible is it a coughrecastcough of a copy of the stunt helmet. I think a person made a mold off of the stunt helmet and made copies. Well, the copy landed in a certain persons hands that recast the copy which later became the acme helmet. Same thing happen to the Icons helmets. They were NOT directly cast from the stunt helmet, but a copy of the stunt helmet which means the icons is a recast as well.

The ACME is the most accurate helmet available as of right now. There are several inaccuracies to it, but with the right tools and craftsman the helmet can be get close to screen-accurate. It wont be 100% accurate but it will be pretty darn close. Maybe in the 80%-90% range

Also, I dont know if it is just me, but the ACME helmet seems a tad smaller than the production and hero helmets.

You can see pictures of it in this thread:
http://www.therpf.com/f9/rocketeer-were-gonna-need-helmet-77607/
 
I think the flag is screen-used and the sketch maybe a production copy. I think one of the screen-used copies is in the disney archives.

ACME helmet is a tricky one. There are several stories of the origins. The first story is it a copy of a stunt helmet used on film. The owner of the stunt helmet was the stage manager of the howard hughes scenes etc etc. Well, some how the acme helmet was cast from this helmet.

Other story which is more plausible is it a coughrecastcough of a copy of the stunt helmet. I think a person made a mold off of the stunt helmet and made copies. Well, the copy landed in a certain persons hands that recast the copy which later became the acme helmet. Same thing happen to the Icons helmets. They were NOT directly cast from the stunt helmet, but a copy of the stunt helmet which means the icons is a recast as well.


The ACME is the most accurate helmet available as of right now. There are several inaccuracies to it, but with the right tools and craftsman the helmet can be get close to screen-accurate. It wont be 100% accurate but it will be pretty darn close. Maybe in the 80%-90% range

Also, I dont know if it is just me, but the ACME helmet seems a tad smallthan the production and hero helmet


You can see pictures of it in this thread:
http://www.therpf.com/f9/rocketeer-were-gonna-need-helmet- 77607/



Yea i've been looking at that thread for a bit, but after comparing both the stunt helmets and the acme, I feel it's significantly smaller than a stunt. The stunt appears to have different eyes and appear further apart than the acme. I can be wrong, but after comparing the pics, I don't see any physical relation to the stunt
 
there were several diff stunt helmets used for the film

Would you say that some stunts resemble the hero more than others? The ones posted here for example at MGM appear to be from the same mold. Idk, dosnt bother me too much cause that thread shows how beautiful the acme helmet can look
 
(Trying to paste in some of the previous pics for visual examples)

The most common stunt helmets are the kind you see at the Lemonade stand.

Those were made specifically for the parachute stunts. They made vacuum-formed plastic shells in usually about 3 or 4 pieces and then assembled them around an actual sky-diving helmet. They were intended to be "break-away" so that the stunt guy could grab the vacuum-formed shell and literally just break it off of the real helmet if or when he needed to. They THOUGHT they were going to go through a ton of them so they made quite a few of these. They are easy to spot because they are always splitting along the side seams like the one at the Lemonade stand.

You can also recognize the parachute helmets at a distance because the eye lens area has been cut much larger.

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The stunt in the picture I posted below is unique as far as I know in that it wasn't a "break-away" helmet (it's the middle top). The helmet on the right is a screen-used hero currently residing in it's new owner's private collection and of course the one on the left is the original prototype. I can't give out details of this stunt due to it currently residing in another private collection but I did get the okay to post this particular pic which includes it.

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There has been tons of speculation as to other so-called "stunt" or "production" helmets but very, very little of it is confirmed. According to the propmaster that worked on the movie, ALL of the helmets were identical but that's not entirely true. All of the HERO helmets were identical in most details. There clearly were the vac-formed parachute helmets and the stunt in the picture I posted which are all confirmed as "original" but beyond that, I view any talk of resin "stunt" helmets very skeptically without serious evidence they were even production made.

Part of the problem is this... The original hero helmets were made for the movie production by one prop shop (after it was sculpted by Kent Melton of course who was unaffiliated with them). I'm not even 100% sure if that same prop shop had a hand in the making of the parachute helmets at all or any other "stunt" type helmet. Those guys also made extra castings for themselves and for trade fodder or whatever. (I'd have done the same thing I imagine - that was before most people had even heard of collecting "props".) But then Disney came and took all of the molds and made more helmets for a whole variety of uses... park characters, publicity, marketing, ad nauseam. They primarily made helmets of fiberglass - not resin - and they weren't finished with the detail and care that the original prop shop took for the movie helmets.

So, between non-production copies made by Disney and non-production copies made by the original prop shop, some finished, some raw, getting out into the world of collectors, untold numbers of them have been passed off as "original production" copies and "stunt" copies which make figuring out what was a truly legitimate stunt or production copy nearly impossible.

There are a few exceptions like if you got a copy directly from a guy that worked at the prop shop like ER did. Those instances are very rare.

The Acme helmet is theoretically a casting of an "original" but in all likelihood it's at least 2 generations removed from a screen-used original casting but more likely 3 or possibly even more. I do have pics of the hero next to an Acme casting that I'll see if I can dig up for comparison. It's quite accurate despite any generational issues with the notable exceptions of what I pointed out in that other thread showing the Acme helmet I finished.

This is also what happens when a prop gets into the wild and starts breeding unchecked. You can't rely on anybody's word 100% because even the guys that worked on the movie sometimes remember things from only a certain perspective and forget some other detail. That's also why I put so much weight in corroborating information.

Out of my decade plus of completely obsessing over Rocketeer helmets, nine times out of ten, if somebody says they have an "original," "stunt," or "production" casting of a Rocketeer helmet they either don't know what they're talking about or are lying about it. Usually it's innocent ignorance but ignorance none-the-less.

I learned the hard way that in screen-used/original/production collecting, authentication and provenance are king.

(NOTE: I'm adding some further info to this post so you might see the edited time change.)
 
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Production Helmets
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Compliments of Dualedge..I hope you dont mind posting this..He posted this in another thread that I find to be very useful
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Hi Dualdge, It seems like you know a lot about the helmets. However, some information you disclosed is correct and some are incorrect. I cannot disclose some information due to several reasons. Heavy repercussions may take place due to the discloser of certain details. I worked on the film and dealt a lot with several props and crew. I have gotten to know various groups of people throughout the production. I made a lot of friends. Brad Einhorn is a nice gentleman. The Hero helmets were almost identical in detail. The Hero helmets contained certain details that I cannot disclose due to the nature of the item. These details are often the only way to tell if the item is legitimate or not. The Hero Helmets and certain stunt helmets came from the same mold. The ripaway or breakaway helmet was made by a different group than the Hero Helmets and they are an entirely different stunt helmet. The definition of a stunt and hero helmet may play an important part since the helmet and variations are complex. In certain scenes a stunt helmet was used instead of a Hero Helmet to keep the Heros from getting damage or cracking. For example, a stunt helmet may have been used in the Griffith Observatory scene where the Billy Campbell flies off the grass with a nazi on his back. The helmet being tossed on the ground was a stunt helmet. Several stunt helmets were almost identical to the Heros. James Latta has one of these helmets. Non production copies were made. I am certain there were no finished non production copies especially with the same materials as the Heros. One person painted all of the Hero Helmets. He was the only person that could have properly finished a helmet.
Hi Evilrcoketeer, You are a very lucky gent. Those are legitamate production helmets. I believe your helmet was the only finished production helmet that came from the shop that was finished with the same materials as the Hero. Your helmet is very unique. It must of been a possible stunt or Hero but opted by the crew member to be a personal item. We still have to meet up again. My sincerest apologies. I do not normally go on particular sites such as this. I guess only when I am at school with free time.
 
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Hi Dualdge, It seems like you know a lot about the helmets. However, some information you disclosed is correct and some are incorrect. I cannot disclose some information due to several reasons. Heavy repercussions may take place due to the discloser of certain details. I worked on the film and dealt a lot with several props and crew. I have gotten to know various groups of people throughout the production. I made a lot of friends. Brad Einhorn is a nice gentleman. The Hero helmets were almost identical in detail. The Hero helmets contained certain details that I cannot disclose due to the nature of the item. These details are often the only way to tell if the item is legitimate or not. The Hero Helmets and certain stunt helmets came from the same mold. The ripaway or breakaway helmet was made by a different group than the Hero Helmets and they are an entirely different stunt helmet. The definition of a stunt and hero helmet may play an important part since the helmet and variations are complex. In certain scenes a stunt helmet was used instead of a Hero Helmet to keep the Heros from getting damage or cracking. For example, a stunt helmet may have been used in the Griffith Observatory scene where the Billy Campbell flies off the grass with a nazi on his back. The helmet being tossed on the ground was a stunt helmet. Several stunt helmets were almost identical to the Heros. James Latta has one of these helmets. Non production copies were made. I am certain there were no finished non production copies especially with the same materials as the Heros. One person painted all of the Hero Helmets. He was the only person that could have properly finished a helmet.

Thanks for the info! I always try to be clear when there's something I don't know for certain and what you said does corroborate what I've been told by other first person sources. I'm not sure what I got wrong but I'd love to chat via email or whatever you might have a little time for if you're willing.

Actually, Brad Einhorn authenticated the hero helmet I used to own. I flew with the helmet out to L.A. to meet him (and have photographic proof ;) ) so I've discussed it with him in quite a bit of detail. He explained most of the internal details to me and I don't share those due to issues of protecting screen-used originals. It was the helmet used in the duck-pond sequence and it was also on the cover of Cinefex.

I love discussing the helmets but you might notice I don't go into any details about many less obvious details of the hero helmet... As you said, those details are about the only way to spot an original sometimes. Heck, it's how I got the hero helmet to begin with much thanks to a quote from Bill Campbell!

I'm honestly not even sure I could recognize one of the stunt helmets you refer to because I've never seen a completely authenticated stunt such as that. My experience has been that most guys that claim they have a so-called "stunt" helmet (and there are SO many of them) usually just have another replica or something clearly not original. There have been a few helmets I've seen that left me scratching my head so it's possible any one of them might have been what you're referring to.

But much of the information I have regarding the hero helmets came personally from Brad and a guy that worked at the prop shop. I believe Brad was only familiar with the stunt helmets that you described and perhaps that would explain why he didn't seem to know anything about the vac-formed helmets.

The guy I talked to at the prop shop didn't go into much detail about the non-production copies but what you said about them not being finished completely agrees with what I've heard previously. I'll refrain from going into detail though...

I would actually like to ask you a few questions about the prototype if you have any time to chat via PM, email or whatever. I'd promise not to be a nag and I can tell you who it was I talked to at the shop if you like. You must know the guy... well, assuming you're not him I suppose...

Rob
 
Thanks for everyones contributions and willingnes to share your knowledge with those of us who will never touch a real helmet (unless we go to Florida and reach over the lemonade stand). It does make you wonder just how many helemts are out there...
 
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Thanks for everyones contributions and willingnes to share your knowledge with those of us who will never touch a real helmet (unless we go to Florida and reach over the lemonade stand). It does make you wonder just how many helemts are out there...

Yea, be careful with that..I almost knocked over a C3P0 screen used stand in while attempting some *cough*Shinanigans*cough* at downtown disney..but that's a different story :lol
 
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