Midnight Trooper

We stuck some straws up his nose but they came out. After that, if any got under his nose, he'd just have to breath out and the ajinate will give way.

I've also found that a good color for that aged, off-white look is Dupli-color Arctic White. It's more glossy I think and since it's car paint, it might be more durable.

Yeah, I just went digging around and found a link to it. I thought it was really cool to see what this gun really does without resin pieces and backwards scopes.

My TD is Dover White. Also I just thought this was a neat picture so if anyone wondered what lifecasting looks like, here's what it looks like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUQQ1nZ36RU Heres a neat video which gives you an idea of what a real Sterling does. It also has some good detail shots.

So does anyone have any decent pictures of real stormtrooper boots? Does anyone have any in their collection?

Can anyone get ahold of TV shows like The Tonight Show by any chance. Will Ferrell was on this past Thursday and it looks like he might have been wearing stormtooper boots. I cant remember that well but in my mind they were brown stormtrooper boots. Anyone have any idea?

Yes thats correct. Jez, do you have that drawing anywhere?

I want proof, not leads!

There are several other never before seen stormtrooper armor pictures in this book. Sign me up!

(Groan) http://www.jedidefender.com/gallery/ima ... img=16&tt= Welcome to ****.

Oh god. That would be just hilarious! They would have more "bad quality control" reviews. My thought it that they may do an SDS and tell people they kept everything original and wonky; only clean it up a whole bunch so it wont look shity to someone who doesnt know what they're doing. I dont know much about the heroes but I think the components look passable. Except they have assembled them a bit off. The ears do look pretty bad. And the dome looks too high. I would like to hear Gino's opinion as he has made the absolute best hero helmet to date.

Here are two pictures of an almost completed helmet from the British Toy Fair http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?imag ... play12.jpg http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?imag ... play11.jpg I'd say it looks decent. The paint job is incomplete and likely not final and you'll notice there are flat lenses instead of bubbles, but lets talk about the shape overall. Lets here what the experts have to say..

Er... I'm just a guy in college. I have some art talent, but I could be more skilled Sometimes I wonder what Im doing here in school. I like to have a cold shower every morning just before I go mad. And then I go mad one, mad two, made three....

Nice.

Matt, everyone knows you do know quite alot but I think everyone agrees this whole war has got to stop someday. While you may have the experiance of digging around through the archives and taking things apart, you should at least recognize that some of the other makers have produced parts that are at least on par with the ones from your moulds and even, in some cases, better. Whether they "stole" the moulds or not doesnt matter to me or anyone else but you and they. Its the product I care about. If I were to take my TE2 helmet apart, make moulds, and sharpen the details, repair the damage, and add more undercut; I could come out and yell real loud that my helmet is the best on the market. Or I could get Ginos (if I could) and have a bit sharper details and correct undercut, detailing ect to begin with. But they supposedly came from the same source. All you people who spend so much time studing the real helmets surley understand that all the stunt helmets were pieces of **** and there were often very large variations in assembly, paint, pull sharpness, and cut. So what makes my TE2 so different from what was on screen? Wasnt there at least one helmet in the movie close to the "slightly soft" detailing mine has. You know it to be true. Lets not have such a "holier than thou" attitude all the time fellas. Why would I sharpen the details if I had the choice? Because the inside of the helmet gino, TE, who gives a **** , casted may have been a helmet with softer details. Its all second generation if from anything but the original mould. Ultimatly Matt, Gino offers the most accurate helmet apart from a real one. Could I get very similar results from your (now TE2) moulds if I did some accuracy work? Yes. Until I see a really sharp, HDPE, stunt helmet become available, TE, Gino, and some other makers from recasts of those same, have just about the same thing. If TE2 (love you man) were to put his moulds under a professional vac machine and Gino made his helmets on a crappy garage table, wouldn't you have TE producing better results than Gino? Some are sharper pulls, some are softer. All your moulds were supposedly made equal. And on the ealier mention of price; Gino, the market is set high and your helmet deserves to cost more than the rest. But close to a grand? Its only a hunk of cheapo brittle plastic at the end of the day. Keep it real. The only thing that would change my mind on this never ending debate on who has the more accurate piece of cheapo brittle plastic, is if Gino (or Matt) produces evidence that the other in fact created his respective moulds from the inside of a pull made from the original's moulds. That would make one inferior to the other; but not by much. See how confusing all this is. We need a chart. Gino, do it up. Come clean OMM. We are not so thick as to be fooled by your "I know everything that ever happened to Matt but I'm not him" routine. Have a nice day everyone (No offense to Gino, and especially TE2 because he's the man.) EDIT: Last name removed.- Mike1536 EDIT: changed name to Mr.X - RoCKo

Hey Keith,the left rear trap looks like it has damage on the top of my TE2 helmet?Do you know if that's mold damage?I never seen it on early TE helmet pictures I have seen. Yeah I was also wondering about that. Thanks for the paint advice Paul!

Well, I'm back to school now and finally able to post some progress pictures. I'd say its a major upgrade over my old helmet from many years ago! I handpainted all the detailing using Jez' site extensively. I used a 0 size brush. I used Krylon Fusion Dover white and Testors 1138 for the grey. I have yet to get the midnight blue. Can anyone direct me to where I can get Humbrol paints in the US? The last thing I need to do paint-wise is the blue stripes. I need to handpaint them. Does anyone have a pattern? I seem to remember Brak's Buddy had made one but I cant find it..

Thanks. Ideally I would lower the dome a hair for my tastes but I dont want to drill more holes.. I have finished the bondo and will try to paint it tomorrow sometime. Maybe after I see Eragon.

OK. Camera's working again. I finished all trimming with the model knife and I only cut myself twice. Once with the utility knife, and once on the styrene if you'd belive it! I trimmed out the eyes with a medium amount of "flashing". I could always cut more away. I used many pictures from starwarshelmets (Thanks Jez!) and the Gentle Giant mini bust to position the dome correctly. I drilled all the holes for the rivets using a dremel tool with a drill bit. I only had to drill 3 holes in one side and 2 in the other to get it right... The ears were a super pain to trim. I still used the knives and I made sure to leave a bit of extra plastic so I could trim them down as needed later. I've heard too many stories about people with big spaces around the ears. The poop colored paint around the bottom was my atempt as reproducing the HDPE but I gave up on the layered technique for now. Tonight I am Bondoing in the big chips in the front which are not present onscreen and I will begin painting tomorrow. I am having a bit of a time with the Krylon doing a slight orange peel effect at the moment on my test piece. Tony was nice enough to give me the "failed pull" faceplate and at my request he made a better one which I am using for my helmet. This one has no 4th tooth on one side and is much softer. I may finish it Hero style later and mount it or something.. Opinions? My first helmet so take it easy on me...

Thanks Mike. I was cosidering doing that. The TE helmet I have is thin in some places but durable nonetheless. The plastic gets thinner the more it is pulled down over the vacuform mould; so places like the dome edge under the brow and under the chin are pretty thin. Ok, here's my own theory on the bumps. These bumps are on the original helmets and can be seen like star constellations on some screen caps. Now some really arent obvious and after all, the TKs are soo shiny and nice. (minus the paint chips) We know the painters were not over careful, there are paint runs and drips everywhere. Some bumps were hidden by the heavy paint jobs and maybe the painters slathered on more paint on the really bad spots on purpose to try to hide them. Another thought is the posibilty of the inside of TE's original helmet flaking is some spots. I dont know if HDPE even does that.. Someone go out and step on their fishpond. Bottom line. There may be some bumps that werent there on all original helmets. And there is always the tightness of the induvidual pulls to consider. I love my TE! I have put the halfs together and will post pictures up tomorrow sometime.

Here is some trimming done. I trimmed it all with a utility knife and modeling knife. I am going true to the ANH slob stlye and not being over careful. I took more out of the eyes then people usually do. But its still accurate. I based alot of the eye and "tooth" trimming on that helmet over at themppc.com but also made it unique. I still need help on a few things and quickly. How much of the cap do I take off. I left alot of extra because I am still unsure of how it will look when together with the face. I dont want a super high brow. And I really need help trying to find out where those rivets should go. I know I'm gonna have to redo the rivets at least once otherwise.. Here's for your critique;

Ok, pics and an update coming soon. I've got the parts all trimmed out and all. Now the thing I am having trouble with is trying to find the proper position for the faceplate. I can see the remains of rivet holes on the back piece, but there are no corresponding ones on the the face piece. I wonder if anyone can give me tips on where the holes should be so I dont end up with a Jay Leno trooper or one that I cant fit my head into.

Well no actually the only thing in the picture that is mine is the unassembled helmet. Tony took this in his workshop and my camera is down for awhile so I cant post my own for a bit. I just wanted something to show.

Happy Birthday to me! Yes today is my birthday and I thought now I would share one of the things that has made the start of my 20th year memorable. I am now the greatly excited owner of TE2 helmet #14! I will try to keep this updated for the benefit of newbies like me who are trying to assemble their first trooper helmet. But dont worry guys, "Guns" made sure I was capable before he let me have one so there is a fighting chance I wont completely butcher it. Tony I love ya, you're a great guy to deal with. (Loved the Macadamias, send me a whole bunch for Christmas)