| Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot Unpainted Hardcopy Right Arm | |
| Pre-ROTJ hardcopies and hardcopy parts
surface less frequently than their Return of the Jedi era counterparts. The green colored Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot hardcopy right arm seen here
is cast in dynacast, a urethane commonly found among Kenner hardcopies from the late Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi eras.
The usage of dynacast, a green colored urethane,
became much more prevalent during the ROTJ era, however dynacast was used for some ESB hardcopies.
A production quality TIE Fighter Pilot action figure is shown with the hardcopy arm in order to illustrate the size difference between the production figure and hardcopy arm. The hardcopy arm is slightly larger than that of the production figure. This size difference holds true for the other figure parts, which are sadly absent.
The final two images show both sides of the arm. The detail on this piece, and all hardcopy parts for that matter, is much crisper. Fine detail is often subdued or lost throughout the later portions of the production process. Hardcopies cast from wax sculptings typically exhibit holes in the extremities to allow attachment to the torso via small metal dowels. This hardcopy arm features a stem and disc attachment portion, which is actually a part of the arm itself. This characteristic indicates the arm was cast from an original sculpting made of acetate. Viewing an acetate sculpting, like the General Madine seen here, will help illustrate this point. Complete examples of the TIE Fighter Pilot hardcopy do exist, both in unpainted and painted form. Hopefully as time goes on I'll be able to track down additional unpainted hardcopy parts to match the arm. If anyone can be of assitance, please drop me an email at michaelmensinger@aol.com. |
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| Description by: | 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 / Action Figure Related |
