Hausi Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Hi guys, after seeing Rolf´s amazing Replica Build, I have decided to go a step further too. I have always loved my very first Sandtrooper helmet that I have used to achieve PO and it somehow still is my favourite helmet. You can see that helmet on the left: I have since build my Dockingbay 94 Tuck´n Roll Helmet (based on a DA HDPE helmet) and have achieved SWAT with it. WIth my very first helmet I have tried to emulate the infamous Move Along helmet but it´s more or less a pretty free interpretation of that helmet and I knew that I could do better, so I have ordered my first RS helmet kit when RS had its "May the 4th" sale and now I have started to build that helmet using starwarshelmets.com and Rolf´s gallery thread as my references ...and my bible. I know that the eyes should probably be cut out a little more, but hey, for me the Move Along helmet is somehow like a unicorn and larger than life so I thought why not exaggerate certain areas and one of them that I find remarkable and most noticeable is the sleepy look of this helmet. I can still sand it down some more, should I decide to keep it completely original. So here you can see what my new bucket looks like so far: Here are some comparison pictures: If I got my calculations right the brow should move up slightly further as soon as I attach the ears I am working on at the moment. WIth the teeth on the other hand I wanted to stick as much to the original as possible: Cheers mates! p.s. the RS bucket is awesome with all its little imperfections. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoCKo Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Off to a good start, I’ll watch with interest, keep us posted, bro! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Dirty Trooper Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Awesome… gonna follow this one..instead of a screw are you gonna use a pop rivet ? ( ears ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 Thank you I'll stick with the screws as it is quite difficult to get everything aligned like the original screen-used helmet. The RS bucket is so wonderfully wonky that the parts will probably move when I attach the ears. I want to be able to disassemble the helmet easily and adjust stuff if necessary, furthermore I will have to disassemble it again for painting as I plan to paint it in the original HDPE colour first before painting it white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Dirty Trooper Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 9 hours ago, Hausi said: Thank you I'll stick with the screws as it is quite difficult to get everything aligned like the original screen-used helmet. The RS bucket is so wonderfully wonky that the parts will probably move when I attach the ears. I want to be able to disassemble the helmet easily and adjust stuff if necessary, furthermore I will have to disassemble it again for painting as I plan to paint it in the original HDPE colour first before painting it white. Thanks for the reply and info...sounds all clear to me . Very cool project...i am sure it will turn out great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Thanks buddy. Looking good so far. Keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 So it´s almost done, I was just too lazy to post every little bit of progress. I wasn´t quite happy with the alignment so I changed a few things (very glad I had used screws instead of rivets ), and I can tell you, this was a nerve-racking process: the first problem is that the helmet looks very different from various angles, everybody know the high dome that is like the number one characteristic of this helmet but I have no idea how the prop guys on set assembling the helmets have achieved this effect... I tried different routes, a high forehead on the faceplate, screwing the ears in in a certain way... I have to admit, I cheated in the end... So first a few pics of the original helmet: high dome: from a different perspective suddenly not such a high dome: So I couldn´t just leave all material on the front of the cap´n back without trimming, here´s what I did: a simple screw... and it works well As you can see, I spraypainted the helmet in the typical HDPE "finshpond" colour. I used some fine grit sandpaper to roughen up the surface and also cleaned it with plastic cleaner, gave it a coat of plastic primer and then about 2-3 coats of Ral 7034 (HDPE olive, the colour of the original ANH Sandtrooperlids) and finally spraypainted the helmet white using Ral 9016, masking of the paint chips prior to painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 Before spraypainting it white again, I assembled it, especially the ears are important to get the right look. After cleaning up some small mistakes on the tubestripes I went completely crazy with the white and tried to emulate the paint overspray on the areas where the ears preserved most of the HDPE colour: Also tried to stick as close as possible to the original paintscheme with all its characteristic flaws. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 And finally I attached the ears, mictips and the s-trim again and tried to get all the details right again And here is the (still very clean) almost final product And a few comparison pics And until the helmet is dirty: "Move along" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CableGuy Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Wow! Very impressive!! Great detailing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wook1138 Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Your paint detailing is spot on. Impressive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duden15 Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Looks really good, time to get it dirty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Trooper Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 WOW! That came out amazing. Can’t wait to see it after weathering. You Germans are definitely leading the way in accuracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hausi Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 The helmet is finally done and I´m happy with it. Okay, so far the padding is still missing, not a big fan of the foam flower, so I will have to come up with something else. As far as the weathering is concerned, I have used some fine grit sandpaper in some areas especially on the face and the edges of the ears and then used a black and white newspaper to rub it over those parts, after that I gave it a wash with some watered down black acrylic paint, highlighting the some of the characteristic spots of the original, eg. above the eyes, above the brow around the mic tips... and dabbed it off with some paper towel. Then came another wash with vallejo model color earth and again dabbing most of it off again and repeating that process until I liked the look of it. As you will see in the following pics, the weathering looks very different depending on the lighting (some pics were taken outside, some inside). Getting the angle right is also quite difficult but however, here´s the finished product always followed by some screencaps for comparison. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wook1138 Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Wow. Just... wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwede Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Is it the same helmet or what?! Awesome job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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