ANH/ESB Stormtrooper - Discussion Thread

Not yet, surely he hasn't had access to the originals this weekend, I hope to get some news from him between today and tomorrow.
 
troll.jpg
 
so is humbrol 84 the closest match to the dark shade of green? or the light shade?

using that as a "chipped replica" via masking fluid.

would that be a good way for reproducing a chipped style replica?
 
bondservnt said:
would that be a good way for reproducing a chipped style replica?
Click to expand...

1. Paint the entire helmet with the khaki color...
2. Using a brush on paint masking, apply the mask anywhere you want a revealed chip...
3. Gob on the white paint, over the entire helmet the mask will prevent it from covering the chip areas...
5. Let it all dry...
5. Clean helmet and remove paint masking to reveal chips complete with depth...

The paint masked can be as ghetto as household mustard (seriously apply and let dry it's been used by many in this community), or a commercially available paint mask that you find in a hobby or art store...

Play around and test how they work and perform, they are not all created equal and some might lift with certain paints or work better, so test and practice on scrap first with the paints you will be using... Maybe try a few different mask and see what works best for you...

I personally like using this stuff as I already have it on hand anyway, it's made for PC boards but it works well as a generic paint mask as well...

MG Chemicals - 862-150ML - Chemicals - Chemicals & Adhesives - Allied Electronics
 
Just precisely what was Andrew Ainsworth's claimed role in producing the stormtroopers? The reason I suspect it probably wasn't very big is because Kenneth Clarke a) Has never heard of him and b) It was Kenneth who supervised the fabrication of the stormtrooper armour and helmets as this was something that was discussed in detail last week during a meeting with him. Was AA only on ANH?
 
LeAngeSolitaire said:
Just precisely what was Andrew Ainsworth's claimed role in producing the stormtroopers?
Click to expand...

His 'claimed' role? The whole enchilada from concept to finished piece, a real one man army kinda guy, not only to the trooper but to I believe 200 characters in the film, he basically 'claims' to be the sole creator and fabricator of the entire Star Wars universe, just asked him...

His likely 'true' role, the guy running the vacuum form machine and possibly some preliminary trimming and raw assembly of the formed pieces...
 
Lets leave AA out of this thread , (there are plenty of other threads with his history and roll in the making of trooper helmets,)
And lets stick to the discusion of replicating the materials used in the originals,

Found a few good paints over here (Aus) that I think are a good match
 
Humbrol #226 looks like a good match to me. The helmet is kind of green, not brown.

I have not seen one HDPE replica that looks like an original helmet. First there was TE, then Gino, both look bloated and don't hold their shape. If the original plastic was HDPE then they would like the same, but they don't. I think it's safe to say they were made from PP.
 
xenomorph said:
Humbrol #226 looks like a good match to me. The helmet is kind of green, not brown.

I have not seen one HDPE replica that looks like an original helmet. First there was TE, then Gino, both look bloated and don't hold their shape. If the original plastic was HDPE then they would like the same, but they don't. I think it's safe to say they were made from PP.
Click to expand...


It would be so easy for Siman to do a test to see if it is HDPE and or determine what its made from , cut a small slither from the face piece edge and heat it till it melts have a high temp thermmometer , mesuring the temp and record what heat it turns to liquid , as plastics melt at different temps
 
I think we are all forgetting that we are trying to match this colour solely on pics we have been shown. This really is not a good way to find out a true colour and anything we come up with will more than likely be wrong anyway due to hue, White balance, exposure, vibrancy and saturation etc, etc.

I have a piece of the supposed plastic that AA used. Now I'm not saying that it is definitely the plastic he used but that's what he told me and it looks much lighter in person and of course this is only one piece from one batch and we all know that a lot of the helmets were made from different tones which is all down to the manufacturing process. It depends on how fast the plastic was extruded/calendared through the rollers and what chemical mix etc was used on what batch. Nearly every batch of ABS, HDPE, PP, PPE etc. can look completely different depending on batch. I have found this out many times forming our own suits and helmets.

Everytime I photograph it, it changes colour depending on what light it is in and all the things I pointed out earlier in my post.

PP is horrible to form as it doesn't shrink back when it's heated and just carries on sagging and very hard to form with even with blow back.
 
SiMan has formed with HDPE and PP. His black HDPE helmet that was shown recently just looked like all the other replica HDPE helmets and not like the original helmet it was cast from. Niether the TE or Gino HDPE helmets look the same as the original Brian R it was cast from either. So what does that tell us?

I have to agree with sskunky too. Colour matching on a computer screen is a waste of time. Even if you think you have a match, the colour on the cap of the paint doesn't always match the actual paint inside the can. The only way to get the colour right would be to ask SiMan to do a colour test and see which is the closest.
 
When forming HDPE OR PP. There is a huge trade off with having a vactool hot enough so that the plastic forms correctly and being able to cool it quick enough sufficiently so that it doesn't expand off the mould. When forming HDPE or PP it tends to blow off the mould as it cools giving you the fat weird look that we see all to often on replicas made.

As much as we all slag off AA for what he's claimed there is no disputing the guy can form plastic. I was with him one evening having a go on his former and we formed HDPE and PP and he got some amazing results. I have since tried it and ended up with ****e.

I couldn't tell you what the original plastic was as the two are pretty similar. All I can and have said is that is horrible to use.
 
xenomorph said:
I have to agree with sskunky too. Colour matching on a computer screen is a waste of time. Even if you think you have a match, the colour on the cap of the paint doesn't always match the actual paint inside the can. The only way to get the colour right would be to ask SiMan to do a colour test and see which is the closest.
Click to expand...

If SiMan is willing to do a colour test we still need a starting point of a few suggested paints to try, unless he has colour and hue charts he can photograph the helmet against.
 
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