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Update May 2012 (below) - There's a new Stormtrooper
producer in the fan-market and its called "CfO" after "Cast From Original".
The armor is cast from a set of moulds Cameron Oakley made in the 90's (see
Oakley section here). The moulds Oakley made were cast off an original
set of RotJ armor, and the helmet has the same provenance as its cast off a
separate original RotJ helmet.So that's a pretty excellent pedigree, which
has resulted in a really fantastic looking Stormtrooper..... |
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The story goes..."In the late 1980’s an Australian Star
Wars fan was lucky enough to acquire a set of Stormtrooper Armour which was
rescued from a skip at Elstree Studios. The suit was most likely created
during the making of Empire Strikes Back and is what we refer to as the ROTJ
Background version. He had the presence of mind to create a set of moulds
from the armour.
Fast forward to 2010 and the founders of CfO were lucky enough to
acquire the original set of moulds taken from this suit. These moulds
pre-date all the other replica suits that have been offered to fans over the
years. CfO was also lucky enough to acquire an original Return of the Jedi
Stormtrooper helmet in 2009, this helmet was taken apart and moulds were
taken four plastic pieces along with casts of the original green bubble
lenses.
The helmet and suit moulds have been vacuum formed on a professional
8ft x 4ft machine to offer you the fans, one of the most accurate replicas
ever made available!".
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| Hyperbole like that is useless if the finished
piece doesn't cut it - but in this case I'm please to say that that its well
warranted if these photos are anything to go by, as it looks fantastic. |
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| This particular helmet has been made and
weathered for Jorg in Germany, with the assembly and weathering done by CfO
themselves, decals provided by TK-4510 in the US |
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| Produced in the UK, the helmets and armor are
available in a number of configurations dependant on whether you're looking
for a straight do-it-yourself kit or a fully finished ready-to-go
Endor-weathered display. Hence armor prices range from £499-£1250 with
helmets £189-£350 - again depending on assembly options. Interestingly
they're shipping the goods either from the UK, Germany or USA so import
costs and fees will be minimised. Wow I wish some of the licensed companies
would do that! Update May 2012 - The guys at CFO have just sent me the
following photos of their new production armor, they've sent me pics of
clean Death Star type armor as well as my personal favourite....
Weathered Endor-style |
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| First up we've got that weathered kicked-around
a forest kinda look! Mark has some background info on this new armor..."I
have updated the ABS I use to 2mm pinseal which is a lovely off-white creamy
colour with a nice gloss. It is very flexible and durable and just what they
used for the production run. Joe said it's identical to the ABS his original
helmet was made from. I found the 1.5mm ABS to be inconsistent in finish and
quality and less accurate! The helmet and armour are now all Oakley based
from the moulds I acquired from Cameron in 2010." |
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| Mark continues...."Some of the problems I had
to overcome when I purchased the moulds is that the originals were female
moulds used for producing fibreglass armour. Being a perfectionist I wanted
my armour to be made of ABS just like what you see on screen. This meant
casting the moulds in a resin based plaster building up the run-offs and
re-sharpening all the details lost in the previous moulding done by Cameron.
As the original moulds were taken from the outside of the armour they were
softer than what I wanted. Having worked in the film prop industry I had a
pretty good idea as to what they should have looked like as original vacuum
forming tools." Yep - that ticks all my "Awesome" boxes..... |
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"I have kept the essence of the forms and
just sharpened the edges and finer details to bring you what is considered
by my customers as the most accurate ROTJ armour available. I strive to
offer the best customer service and give my clients a pleasurable buying
experience after parting with their hard earned cash. I was initially a
collector myself and was left with a bitter taste in my mouth from vendors
taking my money and leaving me waiting for years on end getting substandard
props and sometimes not receiving anything at all.
I treat my customers how I expect to be treated myself. I like to think I
changed the way Stormtrooper vendors went about their business shrouded in
secrecy and delusions of grandeur. I have documented the entire process of
the birth of CFO on the various forums we've been completely open from the start."Well that's a
great attitude Mark/CfO - well done. One of the most important things we
look for in this hobby is great customer service - and unfortunately (as
many of us have found out in the past) we rarely find it! |
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| Good shot from the rear showing the belt and
canister. It also shows off that accurate edge trim they added for the third
movie. As you can see the weathering is not overdone
but subtle. IMO this gives it a much more accurate look - I'm loving this! |
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| The shot above reminds me of someone looking
for a missing golf ball - and yes I am armed when I play golf. |
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| Not sure where the blaster and boots are from
but they look pretty darn accurate too. |
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Clean-Cut Death Star Look |
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| Now if that newbie "My first day on the Death
Star" look is the one you're after for then look no further, as these
pics from CFO show off a more pristine looking Stormtrooper..... |
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| Sot its 100% the same armour - just clean and
shiny and completely non-weathered.... |
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| Still looks great - and absolutely accurate for
the Death Star II shots in RotJ |
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| Note that Mark's updated these helmets so the
decals feature "kiss cut wonky edges to look hand cut" with the colours
precisely matched against the on-screen originals. In addition the texture
of the decals are also matched to emulate the screen printed technique used
for the originals. |
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| Finally a final action pose featuring the clean
look..... |
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| Below - some shots from last year of
the CFO Stormtrooper Armor.... |
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| Next up a group of four shots showing the
helmet and armor from all angles. The weathering Mark's done on this set is
extremely impressive and really has the "look" of an original set of armor.
Nice work guys! |
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| Below a close up of the front detailing and you
can see that it looks really accurate and sharp. The edging (which was also
present on the original RotJ armor) also adds to the overall accuracy. |
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| Next up some close up shots of the Jorg's
helmet to really show off some of that detailing. |
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| Decals (again present on the RotJ originals)
look superb, although we expect that from TK-4510 who produces the best SW
decals out there). Don't be overly concerned over bubbles and creases in
them - in thi case they wanted to match the appearance of an original so
rough, edgy, scratched and gnarled is what we want! |
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| Bubble lenses, black trim and base trim all
look great from here. Love the paint scratching and worn off areas. |
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| Finally a close up of the vocoder area and mic
tips - The guys have cast a set of original RotJ mic-tips so again they're
really hitting the right accuracy levels there.! |
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| So this looks like a very impressive debit from
CfO who seem to have pit together a very impressive RotJ replica product at
an "affordable" £999 price tag for an off-the-shelf ready to go
set. Given a certain LFL-licensed maker was
looking to produce armor at twice this price (and most certainly a lot less
accurate) we think its a no-brainer for fans wanting their own set. We've
yet to see these "in person" and can only base our opinions on the photo's
we're sharing here. However the makers say they will be sending us a helmet
to review at some point so we'll post more pics and info then. However in
the mean time it looks far and away to be the best looking RotJ armor and
helmet we've seen. Interestingly, I had the opportunity to handle an
original set of RotJ armor earlier this week and have to say that this
replica is amazingly close to that original set. Its a shame I didn't have
this set to take with me to photograph some comparisons but unfortunately I
didn't get much notice. I hope to release some photos of that original set
as soon as I get clearance in a couple of months (hopefully) from the owner. |
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