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Davin Helmet 1 - Long-time project


RoCKo
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It has been years ago since I posted a build thread here or any other forum, now I feel it’s time again...

The ones that know me for longer know that i’m not a trooping member but mostly a Star Wars collector.

Normally I have more than one project going on and most are long-time projects as i’m always trying to be as accurate as possible and I won’t show pictures until I’m happy with the result.

After a long absence from prop building it looks like i’m Back in business and started working on TD stuff again...

There will be a backpack build thread sooner or later but I decided to start with my Davin Helmet #1.

Davin Helmet #1 because this might be the first of at least 3-4 Davin helmet builds. In the last past years I packed various helmets into storage while I took a break from prop building.

In storage right now: Gino V2, Gino HDPE, RS Propmasters First run and a RS Propmasters HDPE helmet...     :peace:

I highly prefer Davin’s Helmet to all other TD helmets, mostly because of its more bright look, please let me know the correct english word for it! You know:

CAEC4_ED8-8_A4_A-45_ED-_AEA1-74_F8_A8_CC

 

And I have to admit that I fell in love on first sight when I found Art Andrews breathtaking Davin Felth replica over a decade ago.

Heads up, Art! I’m still in love when I look at his old pictures and I really hope he will build a even better TD somewhen as he has sold this beauty years ago... For those who haven’t seen (where have you been?) here’s the https://tk386.com/backpacks/

I know we have new specs after all that was found in the last years but hey, it’s a Beauty nonetheless, right?

 

Sooooo, I decided to start with the Gino V2 helmet, RS First run will be next.... ( and before you ask, I actually flipped a coin for this decision....  HDPE’s will be coming later...)

Not too many pictures, but just a few sneak preview shots...

 

67615565-_B3_DC-420_E-9_C46-_DFE18_B909_

 

Assembly was a real pain in the afterpart...  don’t know if it was me or the cap and face were cut a little to tiny but it took me hours to get a look I can live with. Like I said I can be very anal about small details that matter to me, which might be completely irrelevant to others...  MONK!

I then started working on the eyes which are very specific on the Davin helmet....

3_C4_AE4_D9-6_CA5-46_F0-_B0_FD-46_E58_A3

 

Not completely finished yet but I think it’s a good start... what do you think?    :popcorn:

Frown cutting will be next before painting! I’m going for HDPE base color followed by red primer and finally paint chipped white...

Keeping it as accurate as possible for now.

(It hurts a little bit to even think of painting Gino’s helmets, they are just too gorgeous even without accurate paint! I have always been a fanboy for Gino’s helmets and armor...     :wub: )

I hope to get back soon with updates....

 

(meanwhile keep an eye open for my upcoming backpack parts research or maybe backpack build thread - of course long-time project)

:engel:

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If there's anyone that can do this it's definitely you Rocko!  Yeah I remember Art / BraksBuddy his work. I even still have his reference CD. 

I'm excited to see what you will make of all the various makes.

Good luck my man! :duim:

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Thanks bro, I’ll try my very best!

Unfortunately i’m always lacking the time to finish a project in reasonable time...

I should read less in forums and spend more time building, huh?   Nah....!    :whistling:

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Davin is my favorite as well, Roger. My 1 year old son is even named Davin! For a character that only graced the screen for a whole 5 seconds or less lol, I just love his armor and overall look the best. Hopefully I can get my kit even close to the level of detail Felix and yourself have done. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry Jason, I completely missed your post, thanks I’ll try my best to achieve the best possible result.

 

I thought about naming my son Davin for a while but my wife didn‘t like the name that much.

That‘s not because she didn’t like the name because of it‘s sound or such but mostly because it’s more or less uncommon in Germany and he would have had to explain his whole life....   ...Yeah, my father is a Star Wars geek...     :whistling:

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  • 1 year later...

Ok, like I said this is a longtime project but I managed to spend some hours working on it.

Since my first post I slightly sanded the helmet, spray painted it first with a HDPE/PP coloured paint as base color.

09023-E54-A14-C-44-BB-BF8-A-9696-C912-C8

Since the original helmets were primed with a red primer before white paint I at least gave it a few strokes with a red primer at places it can be seen later on like the inside of the helmet...

D2-DDF061-57-E3-4046-BF65-F555-DB58-BF14

After covering some more exposed places (where I assume paint chips would have been likely) with liquid latex i then spray painted the full helmet with white paint. I did it quite rough on purpose to provoke some minor paint drips.

 

This time i want the helmet to look like the original helmet, but unlike most of my other replicas, I didn’t want it to look like original helmets nowadays but with just some minor paint chips and yellowing like I assume this helmet might have looked while filming.

A4-F46-A08-B999-4-E18-AC67-128-C42-C02-B

 

I really like how the liquid latex covered places turned out, it looks very close to what we see on the remaining original helmets imho......

BUT

unfortunatly the white spray paint somehow reacted with the HDPE/PP coloured paint.

This turned out to make the paint look like crinkled with very small cracks which first made me crazy but I might keep it that way since it is going to be weathered TD helmet anyway...

67-D6-BF14-DF84-4-AEA-A113-61-B083294-F5

8-A7-D9-DF3-6-D77-44-A7-9953-92-EFCE6275

C1-AB40-D1-07-FD-4-F6-C-8011-6-A0-A806-F

4867-DC6-E-621-E-4235-90-ED-AF237-DE23-C

 

That’s it for now but what do you think? Keep it with these crinkled spots or redo the painting and hope for better results? Let me know!

 

 

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For the HDPE/PP base coat I used Rust-oleum Painters Touch Fossil.

For the white top coat I used Dupli Color Aerosol Art 9010.

 

As far as i could find out both are acrylic spray paints, so I have no idea what actually happened.

I did a few strokes before this final coat and it already had these results, so I sanded these areas down and gave it another try with the results

Weather was good, around 25‘ C, humidity ok...

I’m kinda lost here...???     :confused:

Like I wrote I really like how the rest turned out, it just those frakking crinkles...

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Maybe the paint was old? It also looks to be a rather matt finish, was that on purpose or did it just turn out that way? 

Hope this all turns out well and you can achieve a satisfying result in the end. 

One other thing though... should you consider selling the RS HDPE lid which might just be collecting dust in your basement, let me know. ;)

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Yeah, it might have been the paint itself but I bought it only a few days ago through amazon.

 

Nice try on the RS helmet but I hope to gain expertise out of this build to finish the RS perfectly one fine day...  :thumbsup:

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That’s what I thought too for a while but have sanded most areas since...

The crinkles are still visible at some minor areas but imho it was too much to keep it, even for a Sandtrooper helmet which will be weathered anyway!

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58 minutes ago, RoCKo said:

That’s what I thought too for a while but have sanded most areas since...

The crinkles are still visible at some minor areas but imho it was too much to keep it, even for a Sandtrooper helmet which will be weathered anyway!

"you must do what you feel is right of course" lol

I am sure it will look great when its finished! :)

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After I gave it a little sanding, carefully to not take away too much of the dimples and warts...brings tears to my eyes!

:(

 

991-C5630-F70-F-4507-8-FBA-5-CBCD61-D341

A517-FFD9-77-F0-426-D-B4-E9-32-D75-F8261

 

For now I’m going to give it another try when the weather is ok again, I’d rather stay with a few wrinkles than loosing too much of the warts and dimples...

 

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Btw.

I did a little research on those wrinkles. 

Beside weather being a problem, too hot/cold and moisture, residue like wax can cause such problems.

In my case I assume I was the problem...

I tried to simulate the thick paint job with some minor drips and might have done it too fast.

 

I found a how-to site saying;

The most common – is applying the paint too thickly – which makes the surface of the paint dry too fast and not the underside.   When you re-coat the solvents in the paint shrink and this causes the wrinkling.

 

CLICK FOR FULL “HOW-TO-SPRAYPAINT FAQ’S”

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok, here we go again...

I gave it another try spray painting with a various thin coats of white.

After each coat I waited for 5-10 minutes to give the paint some time to degass before applying the next coat.

And guess what, it worked all good this time...    :duim:

 

Here are some pics showing the final sloppy but wrinkle free painted helmet.

I might cover some scratches at a later time, I think I overdid the weathering imho! 

 

6837-BC06-070-D-44-C4-8-A9-B-0534782-BDD

2-C5317-A6-1-AF4-483-A-B6-D0-562-A12-C0-

3-BF67692-EA18-4-BA4-9274-B627-F4-A083-C

 

 

 

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I try to simulate the original detail paintings also as close to the original Davin helmet as possible...

D1-AAD132-AF36-40-ED-A91-F-40-A2886103-D

 

I really do hope this will work out to spend so much time on these smaller details!

Can’t wait to handpaint the tube stripes...I’m really excited but not the good way...they scare me to death! I did it a couple of times before...

freehand, with template, with outlines masked... nothing really convinced me yet!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just some minor steps but getting closer...

I gave it a light coat of clear gloss today after I covered all scratches with liquid latex again.

(Note to myself: Don’t rub off the liquid latex too early! )

 

I think I call it done for now...off to the hand painting details...    :(

 

3-E24-A8-D8-8-DFF-43-D0-B6-C7-45-AF4-DEE

 

8323-A0-E0-FC5-D-421-F-8-C6-A-688-B02092

3-F2-EC974-5-BD3-44-B9-94-DE-44309-FB6-A

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Btw. for those thinking what the **** takes him so long?.?.?

Yeah, I’m looking for accuracy but that’s not sooo time consuming. Like always I’m too sidetracked with other simultaneous projects. I was never good at focusing on just one...

Here are just a few of my other almost finished projects...

7-BBF001-D-77-ED-4-C1-B-9-FDE-31-ABD5-A78-B107-AC5-D272-4-BA3-A133-1-D41-CD1-BAE
 

And just because a TD helmet isn’t enough to be build, I started a complete armor about two weeks ago...

:pint1:

 

08-FDA7-E8-7546-476-A-8-B0-E-46-FA09-F5-

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Thanks guys, much appreciated!

I really love working on it even when it takes forever...   :confused:

 

Right now I’m hunting down the correct split rivets and single caped rivets for the armor, I really hate this metric differences, not easy to get them in the right dimensions.... accuracy nut!  :6:

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