Shadow
03-04-2010, 11:55 PM
Hello all, sorry it took me so long to get to writing this review but here it is for you. Like I said in the other thread located here: http://www.rangerboard.com/showthread.php?t=134117 (http://www.rangerboard.com/showthread.php?t=134117) , I will provide full disclosure on everything I found right and wrong about the suit.
First off, when I received the suit, I noticed it was comparably lighter than the original stunt show suit that I had in my possession. This first signaled to me that it was definitely made of a thinner material, but I'll get to that later.
Upon first glance, you notice that something about the suit just looks right. What looks right is the pattern. 007halu's pattern for the suit is very good, in my honest opinion. Because of the source material for his suit, an original live stunt show Tyrannoranger suit, the pattern is really good. Not only good but also that this pattern can lay the foundation for every base suit that he produces. The diamonds aren't too big or too small and there relation to the side half diamonds and the back half diamonds were well proportioned. If there was any reason I needed to get one of his suits, it really would be for the pattern.
Now I started to look closer at the suit in terms of construction and materials used, like the hardware, i.e. zippers and such. This is a place where the suit also excelled. The construction was very professional. By this I mean it had strong stitching, tight seams, proper locations for different construction elements such as darts (the little places there the fabric is pinched and stitched to tighten and shape an area like around the waist), wide stirrups, straight lines, and serged edges (this is a special stitch along the edge of a fabric to keep it from unraveling, check the clothes you are wearing right now to see what I mean. My only issue as far as similarity were the zippers but I had various ideas about why one might go with the zippers that were chosen like the availability, the fact they were the only colored zippers available, maybe because they were more invisible, etc. Regardless, the zippers used on the suit are smaller and seem less rugges than the original zippers. On the screen used suits they had nice big colored zippers and on the live show suits they were similar zipper but not colored. 007halu's zippers are the invisible style zipper that are seen on a lot of women's clothing. Not a bad choice but I would have liked something more sturdy. Maybe he's open to switching for custom suits.
The final thing I looked at was fabric. This area has always been very difficult for every suit maker. The issue is that Toei has their fabric specially made for them and since the public market has no need for sure a thick and heavy spandex, one has not been made publicly available. With that in mind, I compared 007halu's fabric to the original fabric, Kranger's, Aniki's and some fabrics I have found on my own and this was the result. 007halu's fabric thickness ranked 2nd in terms of closeness to the original. This makes it the third thickest fabric. If I had to write a little chart of the comparison, it would look like this:
Original fabric - Thickest - 1st place
Kranger's fabric - about 1/2 of the thickness of the original - 2nd place
007halu's fabric - about 1/3 of the thickness of the original - 3rd place
Aniki's fabric - about 1/4 of the thickness of the original - 4th place
Next, I looked at were the colors. As expected it's not an exact match to the sheen of the original suit but it's at least pretty close. As far as actual color, red and black definitely seemed the closest. White was passable, but needed a bit more of a blueish silver just barely added to it. His blue is slightly too dark. His green had a hint of yellow in it. His pink and yellow were both not bold enough for a good yellow or pink ranger suit. I spoke to 007halu before posting the thread because I wanted to both inform him of my thoughts on the fabrics and also o discuss some options on getting something a little more color correct. In that conversation, he revealed to me that he had found newer fabric that he believes is closer to the original and much better in terms of color. Of course I asked for some samples so that I could compared them again to the original live stunt show suit. He had sent me a photo of the new fabrics in natural light and what I can say is that the green looks MUCH better than what I was originally sent. It's slightly darker, has a bit more of a bluish but not TOO noticable tint to it. The new white had just the hue and sheen to it that I was hoping for so I'm really looking forward to seeing his suit completed in both these fabrics. He let me know that he has one suit being made in the new fabric and has started construction on it. Can't wait.
Here are some photos for you:
#1: Original stunt suit vs 007halu's replica, front shots. Notice the similarities in the pattern. Well done.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/fronts.jpg
#2: Original stunt suit vs 007halu's replica, back shots. Again, see the pattern.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/backs.jpg
#3: Shot of the blue swatch I received against the blue of original. You can see the difference.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues3.jpg
#4: Another shot of the blue.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues1.jpg
#5: Yet another shot of the blue.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues2.jpg
#6: Photo of his green against a green that I had found. You can see the slight hint of yellow in it when it's on top of a much bolder green.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/greens3.jpg
#7: Another shot of the greens in different lighting.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/greens1.jpg
So that's it. Overall, it's a very nice suit. Definitely one of the best, in terms of accurate pattern and solid construction, yet trailing slightly behind on the accuracy of the fabrics though he is making every effort to get closer to the original and move himself closer to the head of the line.
If you have doubts about buying one, don't. From what he said to me he has already started construction of the suits with this newer, supposedly thicker fabric. I look forward to more samples.
His Profile Here: http://www.rangerprops.com/member.php?u=321
First off, when I received the suit, I noticed it was comparably lighter than the original stunt show suit that I had in my possession. This first signaled to me that it was definitely made of a thinner material, but I'll get to that later.
Upon first glance, you notice that something about the suit just looks right. What looks right is the pattern. 007halu's pattern for the suit is very good, in my honest opinion. Because of the source material for his suit, an original live stunt show Tyrannoranger suit, the pattern is really good. Not only good but also that this pattern can lay the foundation for every base suit that he produces. The diamonds aren't too big or too small and there relation to the side half diamonds and the back half diamonds were well proportioned. If there was any reason I needed to get one of his suits, it really would be for the pattern.
Now I started to look closer at the suit in terms of construction and materials used, like the hardware, i.e. zippers and such. This is a place where the suit also excelled. The construction was very professional. By this I mean it had strong stitching, tight seams, proper locations for different construction elements such as darts (the little places there the fabric is pinched and stitched to tighten and shape an area like around the waist), wide stirrups, straight lines, and serged edges (this is a special stitch along the edge of a fabric to keep it from unraveling, check the clothes you are wearing right now to see what I mean. My only issue as far as similarity were the zippers but I had various ideas about why one might go with the zippers that were chosen like the availability, the fact they were the only colored zippers available, maybe because they were more invisible, etc. Regardless, the zippers used on the suit are smaller and seem less rugges than the original zippers. On the screen used suits they had nice big colored zippers and on the live show suits they were similar zipper but not colored. 007halu's zippers are the invisible style zipper that are seen on a lot of women's clothing. Not a bad choice but I would have liked something more sturdy. Maybe he's open to switching for custom suits.
The final thing I looked at was fabric. This area has always been very difficult for every suit maker. The issue is that Toei has their fabric specially made for them and since the public market has no need for sure a thick and heavy spandex, one has not been made publicly available. With that in mind, I compared 007halu's fabric to the original fabric, Kranger's, Aniki's and some fabrics I have found on my own and this was the result. 007halu's fabric thickness ranked 2nd in terms of closeness to the original. This makes it the third thickest fabric. If I had to write a little chart of the comparison, it would look like this:
Original fabric - Thickest - 1st place
Kranger's fabric - about 1/2 of the thickness of the original - 2nd place
007halu's fabric - about 1/3 of the thickness of the original - 3rd place
Aniki's fabric - about 1/4 of the thickness of the original - 4th place
Next, I looked at were the colors. As expected it's not an exact match to the sheen of the original suit but it's at least pretty close. As far as actual color, red and black definitely seemed the closest. White was passable, but needed a bit more of a blueish silver just barely added to it. His blue is slightly too dark. His green had a hint of yellow in it. His pink and yellow were both not bold enough for a good yellow or pink ranger suit. I spoke to 007halu before posting the thread because I wanted to both inform him of my thoughts on the fabrics and also o discuss some options on getting something a little more color correct. In that conversation, he revealed to me that he had found newer fabric that he believes is closer to the original and much better in terms of color. Of course I asked for some samples so that I could compared them again to the original live stunt show suit. He had sent me a photo of the new fabrics in natural light and what I can say is that the green looks MUCH better than what I was originally sent. It's slightly darker, has a bit more of a bluish but not TOO noticable tint to it. The new white had just the hue and sheen to it that I was hoping for so I'm really looking forward to seeing his suit completed in both these fabrics. He let me know that he has one suit being made in the new fabric and has started construction on it. Can't wait.
Here are some photos for you:
#1: Original stunt suit vs 007halu's replica, front shots. Notice the similarities in the pattern. Well done.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/fronts.jpg
#2: Original stunt suit vs 007halu's replica, back shots. Again, see the pattern.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/backs.jpg
#3: Shot of the blue swatch I received against the blue of original. You can see the difference.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues3.jpg
#4: Another shot of the blue.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues1.jpg
#5: Yet another shot of the blue.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/blues2.jpg
#6: Photo of his green against a green that I had found. You can see the slight hint of yellow in it when it's on top of a much bolder green.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/greens3.jpg
#7: Another shot of the greens in different lighting.
http://www.rangerprops.com/images/reviews/007 suits/greens1.jpg
So that's it. Overall, it's a very nice suit. Definitely one of the best, in terms of accurate pattern and solid construction, yet trailing slightly behind on the accuracy of the fabrics though he is making every effort to get closer to the original and move himself closer to the head of the line.
If you have doubts about buying one, don't. From what he said to me he has already started construction of the suits with this newer, supposedly thicker fabric. I look forward to more samples.
His Profile Here: http://www.rangerprops.com/member.php?u=321