Ewoks Bondo Unproduced Figure Hard Copy (unassembled): Maybe some terminology would help here. A hard copy is a figure made directly from the original silicone molds cast from the original wax sculpting of the figure. They're called hard copies because they are cast in a heavy polyurethane that is hard and weighs quite a bit more than the normal plastic used on production versions. All hard copies are hand cast, hand painted, and hand assembled by the artists. The limbs and head are all held on with metal pins and can be taken apart as you can see here. Hard copies do not have holes in the feet or copyright markings on the legs. They are used as approval samples and, more importantly, as tooling aids for creating the production molds. These tooling aids are not painted. Painted hard copies generally serve as paint masters so the production folks will know what gets painted a certain color, or what plastic base color to use. Because there is no shrinkage involved in casting a hard copy it is dimensionally identical to the original wax sculpting. Vendors use a stylus, coupled to a cutter, to trace the hard copy and produce the steel molds. Each part of the figure requires a two-part steel mold to be made so it can be injection-molded. Many molds can be made in order to increase production yields.

Description: Chris Georgoulias
Photo: Chris Georgoulias and Gus Lopez
From the collection of Gus Lopez