Just a quick comparison between Part 6 movie mold and JDF blanks. The Part 6 mask (right) is a second generation casting of the back of a Part 6 movie mask by Fiberglassmasks.com. The JDF mask (left) is a second gen casting of a blank by the late mask maker Ken Tarallo believed to have been pulled straight from the Part 7 movie buck.
The similarities are striking, so much so that they almost appear to be from the same buck. The JDF mask measures on the back 21.2 x 24.6 cm. The Part 6 measures 21 x 24.3 cm, not really a meaningful difference considering the slight variance introduced with recasting.
The masks have all the same curves, the same unevenness in the nose and identical hole placement.
The JDF mask has a flattening on the right side compared to the six; the cheek and edges appear rounder on the six, which is also more consistent with the Part 6 movie masks. The lower left edge of the Fiberglassmasks Part 6 is also more rounded and consistent with the movie masks.
In some ways, the JDF is actually closer to the Part 6 movie masks, including the shape of the left edge near the strap hole as well as the upper ridge of the left eye socket.
Given the remarkable similarities, and the fact that the minor differences could be the result of both copies here being second gen recasts, it is tempting to conclude that the Part 6 and Part 7 masks both came off the Part 6 buck. This however seems unlikely, given that the Part 6 buck is known to have split horizontally across the mouth during production, a fact attested to in the photo below, as well as the Part 8 movie masks, themselves recast from a spare Part 6 mask.
There is no visible horizontal mark in the Part 7 masks, but there is a massive vertical split down the middle visible in the rare first-gen blanks, which was filled in before they were pulled. The greatest likelihood is that the Part 7 mask was a recast of the back of a Part 6 movie mask, rather than a pull from the same buck.
