clancampbell
Sr Member
Face transplant???? FACE TRANSPLANT?????? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN????
Wait......maybe an ESB/ROTJ variant?.......
Rich
New Vader ANH helmet
- Thread starter bookface
- Start date
Face transplant???? FACE TRANSPLANT?????? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN????
Wait......maybe an ESB/ROTJ variant?.......
Rich
No matter where it's from it captures the ANH essence perfectly. And while I'm more a fan of unaltered cast iron lineage I can't help but really love this helmet. You can see the effort to capture the ANH spirit right off the bat. Your effort is very commendable.Definetly soften the Y crease though,but you already know that. Lol
Ben
Ben
CSMacLaren
Sr Member
Those were actually search terms that you could plug into RPF's search engine. As you will find, the faceplate is an ANH which had lost a lot of features due to over-sanding, And the entire structure had to be rebuilt. So I initially felt a discussion of lineage would not be of much value, since there are not enough inherited traits that are accurate to the original, nor do I wish to do the prop lineage equivalent of "name dropping" to imply value simply because of some place on the lineage tree.
The inspiration of the total rework is like a forensic artist adding clay to a skull to re-create what the original person may have looked like.
I'm on the road right now, but I will explain more very soon. I love Tapatalk!
CSMacLaren
Sr Member
Okay, I'm back. Found a cafe and pulled out a laptop, so I can address the topic a bit more.
The origins of the helmet are among various threads here on RPF but moreso on The Prop Den. I developed more than one dome and mask in parallel and there was various back-and-forth test scenarios across more than one thread to see which dome optimally fit which mask, so keeping track might be difficult. Thus here is a consolidated but shortened synopsis.
A friend acquired a flawed GH ANH casting, and Ghost Host provided a face transplant piece. He lacked the bandwidth to affect a restoration, but the project was too interesting for me to ignore, so I acquired it.
I removed the warped area and fit the face transplant donor piece:
The result of the restoration:
Making this shape-accurate would be a challenge. The rear was pulled out, creating a very large look in relation to the face which has already lost signifant material for whatever reason back in its theorized original days at Don Post Studios.
Ghost Host uses a very high quality fiberglass that is remarkably heat-resistant and difficult to cut into. For me to rearchitect the head, I had to cut this into pieces - neck, side of head, etc. and to rejoin them in order to reestablish and recontour surfaces to the right shape. I consider this move a "nightmare scenario" because there is no easy way of doing this. In certain cases, the original pieces only serve as armature for the new material (white), otherwise the surfaces would not be continuous.
What made this fun for me was being able to theorize what was sanded by Don Post Studios before the casting entered the fandom. Years back, RKW documented 8 features that cause the GH/Fiberdyne lineage masks: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/csmaclaren/Vader/GhostHost/GHErrorsbyRKW-1.jpg
My "Dr. Jones" exercise then was to study what I had and extrapolate what was lost, similar to how a forensic artist would apply clay to a skull to rebuild muscle, tissue and skin to create a theoretical look of what the original owner might have looked like when alive. Can I do that with this - and yet sculpt in some US mold traits? (More on this later).
My faceplate reconstruction work included resculpting 17 features of the face. In addition, the tubes are brand new, and the sides and back of head were significantly rebuilt.
I'm pleased that the final result is night and day. I had also studied subtleties of masks from the US mold vs UK mold and had identified some character traits among helmets such as the MP and DJ (that came from the US mold) that I could identify even in the ESB Promo Poster Vader (which is an ANH configuration) and so I began to factor some of these traits in, as opposed to UK castings such as the TM, VP, TD and 20th Century. Thus I wanted to have some fun going the US mold direction. All this work preceded the eFX ANH and before I even knew who Rick Baker was.
The face, as you can see, is a lot fuller, and by comparison moreso than a 20th Century or Don Post Deluxe. That, in conjunction with bookface's paintwork, gives that "movie look" I've craved when I started in this hobby 2005-2006 (losing track now) but never truly understood how to recreate working with vendor kits.
So that's the mask, in a nutshell. The dome is a remastered Don Post Classic Action, but a highly flawed cast gone wrong, and it looked like straw, so I called that the "straw hat". Both WIP threads of mask and dome are fully documented here on RPF and perhaps moreso on The Prop Den.
So yes, I present to you the resurrected Quasimodo project from a while back! Originally I had this shipped to a friend who was going to mold and cast this, but he got buried with his job so it sat in his garage for the last few years gathering dust.
I'm so glad you guys enjoy it, and thank you so much for the kind words and support! Bookface will have new photos in 2-3 days.
The origins of the helmet are among various threads here on RPF but moreso on The Prop Den. I developed more than one dome and mask in parallel and there was various back-and-forth test scenarios across more than one thread to see which dome optimally fit which mask, so keeping track might be difficult. Thus here is a consolidated but shortened synopsis.
A friend acquired a flawed GH ANH casting, and Ghost Host provided a face transplant piece. He lacked the bandwidth to affect a restoration, but the project was too interesting for me to ignore, so I acquired it.
I removed the warped area and fit the face transplant donor piece:
The result of the restoration:
Making this shape-accurate would be a challenge. The rear was pulled out, creating a very large look in relation to the face which has already lost signifant material for whatever reason back in its theorized original days at Don Post Studios.
Ghost Host uses a very high quality fiberglass that is remarkably heat-resistant and difficult to cut into. For me to rearchitect the head, I had to cut this into pieces - neck, side of head, etc. and to rejoin them in order to reestablish and recontour surfaces to the right shape. I consider this move a "nightmare scenario" because there is no easy way of doing this. In certain cases, the original pieces only serve as armature for the new material (white), otherwise the surfaces would not be continuous.
What made this fun for me was being able to theorize what was sanded by Don Post Studios before the casting entered the fandom. Years back, RKW documented 8 features that cause the GH/Fiberdyne lineage masks: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/csmaclaren/Vader/GhostHost/GHErrorsbyRKW-1.jpg
My "Dr. Jones" exercise then was to study what I had and extrapolate what was lost, similar to how a forensic artist would apply clay to a skull to rebuild muscle, tissue and skin to create a theoretical look of what the original owner might have looked like when alive. Can I do that with this - and yet sculpt in some US mold traits? (More on this later).
My faceplate reconstruction work included resculpting 17 features of the face. In addition, the tubes are brand new, and the sides and back of head were significantly rebuilt.
I'm pleased that the final result is night and day. I had also studied subtleties of masks from the US mold vs UK mold and had identified some character traits among helmets such as the MP and DJ (that came from the US mold) that I could identify even in the ESB Promo Poster Vader (which is an ANH configuration) and so I began to factor some of these traits in, as opposed to UK castings such as the TM, VP, TD and 20th Century. Thus I wanted to have some fun going the US mold direction. All this work preceded the eFX ANH and before I even knew who Rick Baker was.
The face, as you can see, is a lot fuller, and by comparison moreso than a 20th Century or Don Post Deluxe. That, in conjunction with bookface's paintwork, gives that "movie look" I've craved when I started in this hobby 2005-2006 (losing track now) but never truly understood how to recreate working with vendor kits.
So that's the mask, in a nutshell. The dome is a remastered Don Post Classic Action, but a highly flawed cast gone wrong, and it looked like straw, so I called that the "straw hat". Both WIP threads of mask and dome are fully documented here on RPF and perhaps moreso on The Prop Den.
So yes, I present to you the resurrected Quasimodo project from a while back! Originally I had this shipped to a friend who was going to mold and cast this, but he got buried with his job so it sat in his garage for the last few years gathering dust.
I'm so glad you guys enjoy it, and thank you so much for the kind words and support! Bookface will have new photos in 2-3 days.
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Darth Niob
Sr Member
Again, great job on that helmet Mac 
clancampbell
Sr Member
Simply astonishing work!
Rich
Rich
ataru72ita
Sr Member
What a nice job!! Abilities are stellar my friend!!
Regards,
Alberto
Regards,
Alberto
Pegboard
New Member
That's incredible seeing the process. I think your paint job is stellar and captures a lot of the nostalgia of the ANH helmet, but what I really appreciate is the paint job in combination with the lens color, it's just so spot on.
Spectacular! I could have sworn it was the original.
Spectacular! I could have sworn it was the original.
Pegboard
New Member
Brent M
Sr Member
Wow, this helmet looks fantastic. I can't wait to see more pics of the finished product and will seriously consider buying one when they become available. :thumbsup
By the way, for all the Vader experts out there: how does this stack up to the eFx Limited/Legend helmets in terms of accuracy? Not trying to start a war here, just asking for honest opinions.
By the way, for all the Vader experts out there: how does this stack up to the eFx Limited/Legend helmets in terms of accuracy? Not trying to start a war here, just asking for honest opinions.
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Bobachris12
New Member
Impressive!
clancampbell
Sr Member
I've just gone back to look at the close up pics again,
It still wows me, it just looks so Vadery!
Will you be replicating the dings and dents too?
Rich
It still wows me, it just looks so Vadery!
Will you be replicating the dings and dents too?
Rich
Thanks Rich! I'm not planning on putting all the dings and dents on this helmet, no.
clancampbell
Sr Member
Good idea, less room for controversy and arguments!
Can't believe i went back to look at the pics AGAIN!!!!
Rich
Can't believe i went back to look at the pics AGAIN!!!!
Rich
Rich, maybe you'd best just buy one then?
I'll be making final revisions tomorrow, then taking some pics. The only problem is at the minute I have enough orders that I would not feel comfortable taking on more, so these may be a week or so before being offered for sale.
I'll be making final revisions tomorrow, then taking some pics. The only problem is at the minute I have enough orders that I would not feel comfortable taking on more, so these may be a week or so before being offered for sale.
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