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Altmann's Licensed Helmets |
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Altmann's helmets varied hugely in quality. On one extreme
they produced some really excellent replicas with the Biker Scout,
Imperial Guard and Boussh helmets. However their Stormtrooper and Darth
Vader were really quite disappointing. Seems odd that their most important
helmets (from a sales perspective) were the ones that they had most
problems with. |
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| The Imperial Guard looks
rather nice, and is one of Altmann's better helmets and certainly
better than the unmodified Don Post. The image to the left is from
their official catalogue and the one on the right is from BothanSpy's
personal collection. |
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| Above and below some new photos from
Chris Palladino of his Altmann's Boba Fett helmet which show it off to be a
fairly decent replica. |
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| We don know whether the weathering
on these helmets was reproduced individually by hand or on a more
production-like basis. Probably the former as the detailing seems to vary
significantly from helmet to helmet. |
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| However when you consider just how
poor many of the Altmann's helmet were, its surprising to see some of their
helmets like this, the Biker Scout and the Boussh being in a completely
different league. |
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| Now below some older shots where the
Boba Colour Scheme looks completely different. |
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| Above and below-left show Altmann's
rather nice Imperial Fleet trooper, photo's by Neil TK-067 from the UKG. As can be seen from these images it looks like a good 'un from
down-under. Very good overall likeness although clearly undersize. |
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Above, BothanSpy's Death Star Gunner, and
below the same helmet from the collection of Bill McC. Bill
tells me that the overall build quality is very good, although it's VERY
small. |
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Above, Helmet looks excellent its just a shame its not
1:1 |
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The Rebel Trooper Helmet (e.g. crew of the
Tantive
IV) looks good on the site, but Blufive tells me it's seriously
undersize!. |
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| Here's a couple of good pics (above
and below) sent to me by The Colonel, showing Altmann's very nice looking
X-Wing helmet (left), and how it compares with the Don Post version. Apart
from the obvious build quality of the Altmann's, its also quite a lot
bigger than the DP who in most cases tended to build to suit a kids head! |
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| Above and below some new shots of
the Altman's X-Wing helmet. Like the Scout Trooper this is a nice helmet
not least because the painting and weathering is extremely good for a
mass-produced item. |
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Below, their TIE which like the Stormtrooer is not so
accurate (and rather small) |
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| ...and below a shot from the rear
of the TIE and also on the right as we segue to the Rebel Fleet Helmet -
as seen on the Tantive IV. |
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| This looks to be quite an accurate
looking helmet although as with a number of Altmann's helmets is very much
undersized. Shame really as it does look nice. |
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Altmann's Boussh Helmet
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| Well lets start this section off
with a cracker - Below is Michelle Yarwood's (BH8500) complete Boussh Costume which
we can honestly say is amazing. Clearly a lot of work went into this with
the Altmann's Hemet a great starting point. |
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| Not sure of the history of this
helmet but a presuming that Steve Altmann based his helmet on the original
production drawings in order to get such a close match. Whatever Altmann's
did - it was a fine job. |
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| Above and below a couple more
excellent shots of the Altmann's Boussh taken by Michelle's boyfriend Simon |
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| The helmet has been revised
slightly, specifically around the upper visor section where the leather cowl
around the rear and the snout came in very rusty orange colour. Simon
decided to repaint those parts in order to match the accuracy of the
on-screen helmet. |
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Below, some more shots of the rare Altmann's Boussh helmet,
this time from Jason/SkyGunBros |
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IMO this is quite impressive and is a close likeness to
the Leia-worn RotJ Helmet |
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| As with many of the Altmann's
helmet it may be undersize - its difficult to tell from these pics but it
is a very close likeness for a licensed collectable. |
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| Below some shots of Altmann's
replica AT-AT helmet, to date the only licensed AT-AT helmet ever produced. |
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| However when you try to compare
this with the original helmets it really does come across as an extremely
inaccurate helmet. Based on the same v1 sculpt used for the Altmann's TIE
helmet, its at best a "representation" of the AT-AT rather than any kind of
true replica |
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| Below a side view, which again
better illustrates its limitations. Shame really as Altmann's is the only
licensed company to have attempted this helmet - leaving the fan-made
producers a clear run at it. |
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2005 Altmann's TIE Helmet |
| This is the NEW TIE helmet from Steve Altmann,
which is
a major improvement on the old design and along with the armour looks really
great (pic thanks
to Niko). Its based on a Cameron Oakley Stormtrooper faceplate along with a
CO set of hemispheres used for his X-Wing fighter. Its now a much improved
piece based on existing, real helmet sources rather than a bespoke sculpt - well done! |
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Altmann's R2-D2
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| Not sure if it was an officially
licensed product or not but Steve Altmann also made a really nice looking
R2! Thanks to Marty in Canada for these Photos. |
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