Thanks Jay. Yes, I should have been much clearer in my statement! I was generalizing with regards to the two main types of staff and separating them along COO lines, but yes, you are of course absolutely correct that the Taiwan staff does itself have variants. I simply meant, does the one listed on TIG as V2 only come with Hong Kong COO Ackbars, and does the other type (whether fat or thin) come only with Taiwan Ackbars? I believe I am right, but am happy to be corrected if not!TheJabbaWookie said:Jeremy, I believe that you are partially correct. The thinner staff without epm listed on TIG as v2 is indeed the HK Ackbar. From research to the best of my knowledge there are no variations in this Staff.Snaketibe said:To the very best of my knowledge, the two main types of Ackbar staff are unique to each COO, with the fatter, smaller rings version coming with the Taiwan variants, and the thinner, larger rings version coming with the Hong Kong variants.
If the above is either not true, or not always true, please feel free to correct me, as I would genuinely like to know if I am right
As for the Taiwan Ackbar there are at least 2 variations of the staff, a fat and a thin version, both with 3 epms (I believe all epm variants are from Taiwan Ackbar). Depending on what level of detail you delve into examining the staffs you will also find differences in the size of the epms and also the shape of the cross section of the staffs from circular to oval.
As you have 14 variants of the Taiwan Ackbar I imagine you will be better placed to notice these differences than me, though I think I remember you saying your eyesight wasn't what it used to be :lol:
And as for my very sloppy generalization regarding the Taiwan staffs and lumping them all together, my apologies. I am of course well aware of the sub-variants, having 14 of the things!
At any rate, I agree that there are both thicker and thinner variants on the 'Taiwan' staff, even if TIG only shows one of them (the V1), although the difference can be subtle. However, yes, there are definitely thin ones which are distinctly oval in cross-section and that difference can't fail to be spotted (even with glasses ;-), although I'm not quite blind yet! :lol:. If I did criticize my own sight, perhaps I should clarify that I am very slightly shortsighted and have worn glasses for years, but think I'm finally heading towards reading glasses too as I creak through the back-end of my forties! :-().
Anyway, here are some pics I've just taken. First up the 'Hong Kong' or V2 (also the variant most often copied for repro rubbish):
And here is a thick, round cross-section 'Taiwan':
And here is a thin, oval cross-section 'Taiwan'. I have photographed it from different sides to hopefully show its oval nature:
