I'll Make a ROTLA Out of You Yet HJ!

CarolinaQuirk · Post by **CarolinaQuirk** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:57 am

Hey guys, thought I would share some pictures of my HJ. I've been on a few adventures with it, and I've been satisfied with the robustness a dress hat has. Though, after much massaging and work, I've come to about the limit of what my modest hat-tuning skills cam mange in terms of making it Raiders-esque. I know there are vendors who can work wonders with a HJ these days, but until then, here is my humble submission:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1043.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1040.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1035.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1032.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1031.jpg

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:57 am

With those shots it's hard to tell. it looks like it has a lot of tapper.

CarolinaQuirk · Post by **CarolinaQuirk** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:06 am

Well, I know I'm not really an expert - perhaps these additional shots might help?

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1049.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1051.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1052.jpg

michaelb · Post by **michaelb** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:51 am

Oh my god! There is almost a 2.8% taper there!

What are you thinking?! I would toss it immediately! Not Indyesque at all!

Actually, in several Raiders scenes there is probably more taper than that if you really look, but then again, I probably don't know what I am talking about, and I am not gonna to search for screengrabs to prove it. It just never ends...

Love the HJ. Nice job.

Mike

GCR · Post by **GCR** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:00 pm

All you have to do here is take a few new pictures from further away. There may well be taper in that hat, but whatever taper there may be is grossly exaggerated by the proximity of the camera to the object being photographed. In other words, the camera is too close to the object (your hat). Just rest the hat on a counter or chair or something, and stand back about 10-12 feet and take a picture straight on. That'll give everyone a better idea of what you're dealing with here.

-GCR

ob1al · Post by **ob1al** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:12 pm

Well, I think you've done a very nice job with what you have - the HJ's are notorious for taper, I've owned 2 myself and had exactly the same thing happen.

However, as another poster points out above, the Raiders hat was not always the perfect 'boxy', straight sided lid we idealise it to be. In some scenes, there is distinctly some taper in evidence. That is the nature of these hats, they start as cones and try to work their way back to that shape despite our best efforts.

The Temple of Doom hat (which yours reminds me of) definately has that tapered look and that's a cool hat, too.

Honestly, I think we all worry about taper too much anyway. What's really important is, are YOU happy with the hat and does it bring out the spirit of adventure/Indy in you?

If so, then wear it well!!

For what it's worth, I think it really suits you.

Regards,

Al

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:53 pm

i've been down this road 4 times with 4 hj's. i could not get a raiders hat out of 3 of them so the 4th became a tod hat and i was happy.

aries cannon managed to bash his hj into a sweet raiders hat but as he mentioned, the hat cannot keep the bash for more than a day.

bottom line is, the current hj offering will not make a good raiders hat so it should be accepted for what it is............a herbert johnson poet fedora, same as in LC and some parts of TOD. if you want to force this HJ to be a raiders hat, only indy magnoli can help you with that

GCR · Post by **GCR** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:05 pm

Indiana G wrote: if you want to force this HJ to be a raiders hat, only indy magnoli can help you with that

Don't forget about Marc Kitter, the guy who got the ball rolling with the custom made SAB / HJ's to begin with.

-GCR

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:07 pm

thats the thing about the HJ, they tapper real fast.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:08 pm

Don't forget about Marc Kitter, the guy who got the ball rolling with the custom made SAB / HJ's to begin with.

-GCR

yes.....sorry....my bad marc. come to think of it, i haven't seen any developments on marc's side but have seen some magnoli hj's pop up.

any news marc? the last time i checked with you, it was still a couple of months in the making (about a couple of months ago

)......anything new to add?

CarolinaQuirk · Post by **CarolinaQuirk** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:19 pm

Thanks for the feedback! Taking GCR's advice, I took a few shots farther away to correct for proximity - see if these are any help:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1060.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1066.jpg

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233 ... G_1067.jpg