Okay, okay. ToD hat pics as promised.
First off, I should mention that this hat was one of the LAST Fed IIIs sold this year (March) and that, although nine months old, has ONLY been worn for costume purposes and has never weathered ANY sort of elements, be it rain, hail or extreme heat, and was bashed straight out of the box.
Basically, I never wear this hat.
In retrospect I suppose that the two photos (above) are where the similarities end to the suspension bridge hat unfortunately. As you all well know, the fedora continuity for Temple of Doom was ABSOLUTELY woeful - especially in the whole final bridge/cliff act.
Having said that, I created a kind of 'Temple-Best-Of' hat and took some of the characteristics of other hats from other scenes through the film that I liked, for example:
I always liked how the center dent channeled off to the left slightly, as per these comparison shots. (My hat's obviously on the left)
Also, particularly in the Mayapore scenes and when Indy approaches Pankot, I always liked how tall and straight-sided the crown was when viewed in profile:
Another view.
But getting back to the bridge hat I KNOW you're all talking about, with its huge frisbee brim and very shallow pinces, I give you the front view by comparison:
At this stage I should point out that I pretty much HATE the hat I have just shown you all. (Those of you who DO fancy it, keep your eyes peeled at the Cairo Bazzar.)
The appeal of the Fed III for the rope bridge hat is that the brim was WIDER than with the current Fed IV and the crowns (I believe) were proportionately taller. Having said that, I ORIGINALLY bashed this hat (straight out of the box, mind you) to resemble this pic:
And yet the crown still appears tapered, as per the first two photos I posted. I have since tweaked the hat every possible way to get it just right but to no personal satisfactory avail.
I then attempted the same thing later with a Fed IV with PERFECT results.
Now, my point is this: I strongly believe that at least MOST of the ToD hats were built on a Raiders block (or very similar), and that the only reason it appears tapered AT ALL in the film is due to the VERY deep centre dent fashioned into its design. A pristine Fed III out of the box has the required brim dimensions and crown height to hold a ToD bash but the block itself just wasn't right.
The Fed IV block IS. The only thing letting it down is that the new Feds have proportionately narrower brims and slightly shorter crowns, based on my observations of having owned a few of each make.
Hope all this helps. ;-)
It's good when people can disagree amicably.
......just kidding......happy holidays my friend!