AFA U Grading Report by Shawn Kemple - A must Read!
My good friend Shawn Kemple has recently produced and indepth report on AFA's destructive U Grade phenomenon that has swept the vintage star wars hobby over the last couple of years.
For anybody who loves Vintage Star Wars then the following article is a must read! Just Click the the image below.
4th July 2010 Major Update!
As you may see the TIG Reference site is undergoing a major facelift!
We ask that everyone is patient over the next couple of weeks until it’s all completed.
The reasons behind the facelift are as followed - we wanted to make the site easier to navigate, have a sleeker design and also increase the size of the images on display.
We hope you will be please with the results!
At the same time we will be adding hundreds of new images including original variants and unfortunately the new wave of REPRO's that has hit the market.
If you want to help with the research then go to the www.imperialgunneryforum.com and catch us in the threads discussing the New REPRO's.
The below picture is of 7 of the New Wave REPRO's that has hit the market its worth noting at this stage that these REPRO's are incredibly close to the Originals.
Keep checking in here as we will be adding all the info to this site on how to avoid them!
The TIG Forum for Vintage Star Wars Collectors!
Click the below link or Banner to access the TIG Forum!
http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com
It only takes 2 minutes to register then you will receive an activation link via your email once you have opened it then you are good to go. (Note current TIG members will need to register there username on the new Forum)
The TIG Forum is an International Forum that focuses solely on Vintage Starwars i.e anything from the 1978 - 1989 era.
Please remember that this website is under constant development as the size of the task we are trying to achieve is immense!
Our aim is to catalog all the vintage Star Wars original weapon and accessory variants as well as tracking and documenting all the known REPROs on the market.
If you are a vintage collector and feel that you can contribute and become a part of The Imperial Gunnery then please contact us at -
admin@imperialgunneryforum.com
moderators@imperialgunneryforum.com
Welcome to The Imperial Gunnery
Why has the website come about?
The vintage Star Wars action figure line ran for a total of 8 years and really was a worldwide phenomenon. Throughout production many different companies across the globe were contracted to produce the figures and accessories for Kenner in the USA. Lily Ledy in Mexico, Glasslite in Brazil through to Palitoy in the UK to name a few. This meant that the amount of figure variations produced was incredible and likewise the figure’s weapons and accessories saw huge variations as well. In today's collecting market many of the harder to find figure variations, such as Glasslite and Lily Ledy, tend to be more highly sought after in comparison to their standard Kenner counterparts.
As the collector market started to expand in the 1990s a new problem entered the hobby - REPROs (Reproduction / Fake Weapons). Many of these reproductions were mass produced in Asia, and with the advent of eBay the circulation of them took off.
Aside from the mass produced REPROs there have been many other REPROs to hit the market; from home made casts to smaller operations churning them out, and this has certainly accelerated over the last couple of years. These days you can even buy a REPRO Ugnaught cape in either Purple or Blue, maybe the producer of these failed to realise that the original purple smock is simply fading / material degredation?
All these factors have created a minefield for new collectors who are taking their fledgling steps into the hobby!
In the below picture there are 6 Imperial Blasters. Can you work out which ones are REPRO and which ones are Original?
(To find out click the link for the Imperial Blasters page on the top left of the screen) 
The Imperial Gunnery is a Vintage Star Wars Weapon and Accessory Resource created by collectors for collectors! We hope you find the resources here useful.
This site will continue to monitor the REPRO market cataloguing any new fakes that surface.
Please feel free to join as a member and if you do have any questions or have / know of potential REPROs or original weapon / accessory variants that are not currently indexed on the site, then please use either the Your Submissions! Page or contact us directly at
admin@imperialgunneryforum.com
What purpose will this site serve?
The Imperial Gunnery serves 2 main purposes!
The first is to help Vintage Star Wars collectors identify and recognise REPRO (reproduction) weapons and accessories.
The second purpose of The Imperial Gunnery is to act as a reference guide to all licensed vintage Starwars weapons and accessories that were produced.
We cover the standard Kenner issues right through to the foreign variants such as Lily Ledy, Glasslite, Top Toys, PBP, Palitoy and many more!
How do i navigate the site to find the weapon i am looking for?
All of the vintage weapons are cataloged and described on this site, the menu on the left splits the weapons into categories for easy navigation, see the example below.
Once you have found the section you are looking for simply scroll down the page to view the weapons.
Repro weapons are located underneath the confirmed originals, each will have a description, some background info and perhaps some detailed points in the diagram to help you identify the real ones from the fake ones!
All original weapons are prefixed by a title in green font. REPRO weapons are prefixed by a title in a red font.
