| Hoth Stormtrooper 4-up Hardcopy Paint Master (668-002) | |
| Of the 5 or so fully-assembled hardcopies made for each action figure or Micro Collection piece, around two of these would be fully painted. The purpose of these pieces, which are commonly referred to as "paint masters," was to demonstrate the final color scheme that the figures would bear once in production. Such fully painted hardcopies might also be used for marketing purposes, in promotional/packaging photography, or at Toy Fair; but they are uniformly rare and, being beautiful, handmade examples of pre-mass production prototypes, are highly valued by collectors.
The 4-up Micro Collection Hoth Stormtrooper paint master you see here came from an incredible find of hardcopy material, which, quite amazingly, included a paint master example of nearly every Micro Collection figure made (over 80 individual pieces). This particular Hoth Stormtrooper pose is found in the Hoth Generator Attack playset. The 4-up is fully painted (spray-painted, probably, with some areas painted by hand), in the same colors used on the small production figure, and the large size really makes it impressive to look at. Its pictured beside a gold 1:1 version of its production-scale counterpart, which is made from metal.
The 4-up paintmaster is part of an impressive pre-production series shown above, which includes: silicone mold, unpainted hardcopy, and a series of 1:1 prototypes (not shown). |
 | |
| Description by: | Ron Salvatore, Michael G. Mensinger |
| Photo: | Michael G. Mensinger |
| From the collection of: | Michael G. Mensinger |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Micro Collection |
