Palitoy Death Star Canopy

[Palifan]

Today felt like a good day to take a closer look at a couple of DS canopy's I've had for years now.

The more yellowed one is from a DS play set that I have complete and came with everything else in the box, where as the clearer one was, I think, bought on here years ago (I'll have to see if I still have a record of it somewhere). As pretty much all of these canopy's I've seen are now yellowed I've often wondered if the clearer one is in fact a repro one.

On close inspection these 2 canopy feel the same and are the same weight (6 oz), but my scales aren't fine enough to give me a more accurate reading. Saying that though the plastic is the same thickness and the markings seem to match up well. The one thing that is slightly off is the shape of the trim around the canopy which holds it in place in the gunners turret. As you can see it differers in places but this could just be how these things are trimmed in the factory or maybe not?

When placing the clearer one into the gunners turret it is a slightly tighter fit but does go in so I'm wondering if these things should match up perfectly with how they were made in the factory.

The other thing I noticed is the look of the plastic is slightly different from the inside when you hold it up into the light. Both of them feel as smooth as each other but you can see that there's more of a texture to the yellowed one. This is most apparent on the flat front of the canopy although looking at the sides of both canopy's they do look to be similar if not the same.

It would be interesting to hear any thoughts on this and anyone who does own this canopy it would be good to know if yours looks any different to my yellowed one (as I know this one is 100% legit).

Ian

 

[Palifan]

Here's the inside of both canopy's.

 

[Michael Sith]

Pm sent bud

 

[SublevelStudios]

I've always thought any clear ones must be repro but I was told not so long ago that one of those sealed examples that turned up at Vectis (Frank Beech auction I think) was opened and it had a clear canopy inside.

That said, I think I'd only ever feel 100% about a yellowed one.

 

[Cazza]

If that's a repro, it's a very good one. The only repro ones I've seen have been a little rough around the edges and obviously repro.

 

[Snaketibe]

Hi Ian,

Apologies for the forthcoming essay! :lol:

Obviously I cannot know whether your clear one is real or not (although perhaps it's just the photos, but it almost looks like it has a slight yellowish tint to it, and if so, that makes it much more likely to be legit, I would have thought), however what I can do is provide photos of 3 real ones and a known repro. All of these photos were taken a while ago, and I only took top quality ones of my main collection Death Star, but hopefully the other photos are still good enough to be of some use to you? I should also say that I no longer own one of these sets, and hence cannot take additional photos of it.

All of that said, there are some observations I would like to make which I hope may be helpful. Firstly, whilst most Palitoy Death Star canopies have yellowed to a greater or lesser extent over time, there is still variation to be found in the degree of yellowing, and hence it is also perfectly conceivable that some may have escaped with no yellowing at all, just like whilst most POTF bubbles have yellowed horribly over time, you do still find the odd gem with a perfectly clear bubble which has not suffered any discoloration.

Secondly, the cut or shape of the trim around the canopy is highly variable and not at all consistent, and should not therefore be used as a guide as to a canopy's authenticity, IMHO. Looking at the cut of my main collection one (Canopy A below), you can see just how wildly unevenly it has been cut, and has certainly not been done symmetrically. Therefore, the fact that your two are not identically trimmed / cut is not in itself evidence that your clear one is a repro (although neither is it proof that it isn't! ).

Thirdly, to the best of my knowledge the canopies would have been made by vacuum forming rather than injection moulding, so in other words the plastic is sucked down over the metal mould to form the shape, in much the same way that the bubbles on the cards were. As such that, along with the multiple production runs we know these toys enjoyed, would inevitably have lead to some variance in the finished canopies produced. Some would be fractionally thicker or thinner than others, and there would certainly also be variance in the finish, probably within batches, but certainly across multiple ones, and hence this could explain the different textures you see on yours.

Anyway, here the photos. Apologies for there being so many of them, but I am not sure how many pics this thread will generate (a lot, I hope, but I fear perhaps not all that many), and therefore I figure that the more you have to compare to yours, the better! Lastly (and fairly obviously ), the crystal clear one shown below is the repro. The others are all genuine.

I hope that helps!

Jeremy

 

[Snaketibe]

 

[Palifan]

Hi Ian,

Apologies for the forthcoming essay! :lol:

Obviously I cannot know whether your clear one is real or not (although perhaps it's just the photos, but it almost looks like it has a slight yellowish tint to it, and if so, that makes it much more likely to be legit, I would have thought), however what I can do is provide photos of 3 real ones and a known repro. All of these photos were taken a while ago, and I only took top quality ones of my main collection Death Star, but hopefully the other photos are still good enough to be of some use to you? I should also say that I no longer own one of these sets, and hence cannot take additional photos of it.

All of that said, there are some observations I would like to make which I hope may be helpful. Firstly, whilst most Palitoy Death Star canopies have yellowed to a greater or lesser extent over time, there is still variation to be found in the degree of yellowing, and hence it is also perfectly conceivable that some may have escaped with no yellowing at all, just like whilst most POTF bubbles have yellowed horribly over time, you do still find the odd gem with a perfectly clear bubble which has not suffered any discoloration.

Secondly, the cut or shape of the trim around the canopy is highly variable and not at all consistent, and should not therefore be used as a guide as to a canopy's authenticity, IMHO. Looking at the cut of my main collection one (Canopy A below), you can see just how wildly unevenly it has been cut, and has certainly not been done symmetrically. Therefore, the fact that your two are not identically trimmed / cut is not in itself evidence that your clear one is a repro (although neither is it proof that it isn't! ).

Thirdly, to the best of my knowledge the canopies would have been made by vacuum forming rather than injection moulding, so in other words the plastic is sucked down over the metal mould to form the shape, in much the same way that the bubbles on the cards were. As such that, along with the multiple production runs we know these toys enjoyed, would inevitably have lead to some variance in the finished canopies produced. Some would be fractionally thicker or thinner than others, and there would certainly also be variance in the finish, probably within batches, but certainly across multiple ones, and hence this could explain the different textures you see on yours.

Anyway, here the photos. Apologies for there being so many of them, but I am not sure how many pics this thread will generate (a lot, I hope, but I fear perhaps not all that many), and therefore I figure that the more you have to compare to yours, the better! Lastly (and fairly obviously ), the crystal clear one shown below is the repro. The others are all genuine.

I hope that helps!

Jeremy

Hey Jeremy,

Thank you for adding to this thread and from what you've posted it does look more like my clearer canopy might be legit. Seeing that the trim does differ so much between examples does give me encouragement as well as the other things you've mentioned.

Looking between the two I have the markings are so similar in placement and clarity that I'm sure there would be more differences if one was made from the other (although possibly not?). Also they really do feel identical and are pretty much the same thickness ect, which is another difference I would expect to see from a reproduction. You are also right that my clearer one has yellowed slightly but reading up on the repro ones they did mention a clear and a slightly smokey grey looking one which made me wonder if that was the colour of mine.

I did sell a DS last year that had yellowed canopy so I wished I would have compared that one to these but I'll see if I still have the pictures somewhere which might help in some way.

Any other findings would be much appreciated from anyone and thanks again Jeremy for digging your pictures out, most helpful

Ian