| Darth Vader Unpainted 4-up Hardcopy (258-004) | |
| Showcased here is an unpainted Darth Vader 4-up.
This striking pose is designated by the number 258-004. The first three digits represent the
Bespin Gantry playset,
while the last three indicate the particular character/pose. A 1:1 unpainted micro was included in the above pictures
to give a sense of the immense size of the 4-up.
Above we see a rear view of the 4-up. As you may have noticed from the first picture, Vader's dueling arm appears rather flat on the underside. An air pocket likely formed inside the silicone mold during the 4-ups creation resulting in void of material in that area of the mold. Regardless, this 4-up is still very impressive and highly coveted.
The final shot illustrates the bottom of the base. As you may notice, a protrusion of dynacast exists. This pour stem results from the presence of an opening in the silicone mold, called a "gate", where the casting material is poured into the mold. Typically a pour stem of this nature would be sanded down to make the 4-up base smooth and flat. Since the air pocket resulted in such a large casting flaw on the arm, this 4-up could not serve its purpose and was likely deemed unusable, especially as tooling master. As such, sanding of the pour stem was not a worthwhile endeavor. Smaller casting flaws, like the one seen on the base's front rim may be filled in with an epoxy-like substance, however that would not be possible in the case of the 4-up's arm as too much detail was lost. Regardless, the dueling pose is argueably one of the most dynamic of any Vader pose sculpted for the Micro Collection. |
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| Description by: | Michael G. Mensinger |
| Photo: | Thomas Garvey |
| From the collection of: | Thomas Garvey |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Micro Collection |
