unique DARTH VADER helmet (WIP/scratchbuilt/pic heavy)

Just a FYI .. I've always used ONYX for smaller and bigger props (HIC volvo panels or my latest GOTG Gravity Mine). Lately, I've been using the smooth cast 310 though, since it's running much much more liquid then ONYX so it flows better in some molds where I need the low viscosity.

In your case, using ONYX fast should be the way to go if you're slush casting .. but it gets hard really really fast and you'll need to do smaller batches to help pot life! Some of the great seller here back their ONYX with ceramic to make the cast stronger .. it's super light but from experience, I still find it quite fragile (dropped a piece and it broke in 2!
 
Just a FYI .. I've always used ONYX for smaller and bigger props (HIC volvo panels or my latest GOTG Gravity Mine). Lately, I've been using the smooth cast 310 though, since it's running much much more liquid then ONYX so it flows better in some molds where I need the low viscosity.

In your case, using ONYX fast should be the way to go if you're slush casting .. but it gets hard really really fast and you'll need to do smaller batches to help pot life! Some of the great seller here back their ONYX with ceramic to make the cast stronger .. it's super light but from experience, I still find it quite fragile (dropped a piece and it broke in 2!

ah! i see. smooth cast 310: noted!
since now ive been slush casting with smooth cast 65D so im a bit used to a short pot life of 2,5 minutes :)
and the use of ceramic for more strength sounds like a very professional way to handle it:p ill try to find some videos of that. that made me very curious

well i guess my helmets wont be ok to be dropped either :D damn..that smooth cast 65D is somewhat flexible and even casted with that i wouldnt try to drop the DOME . i bet it would break as well. but would someone want to drop a vader dome and chip the poaint! with chipped paint the dome is a goner too ;D just joking
many thanks for the insights and info! highly appreciated



and here is some progress
so i casted the dome with my chaulk silicone mold sitting in that ****ty blob mothermold thingy which didnt work out . much bad luck involed . many things learned.
but i gotta move on. i covered the "skirt" of the dome with 0,5mm plastic sheet. this way i might save 48 hours of sanding and filling, sanding ,fillling, dying

the top of the dome is dented in heavily too. but i plan to cast the very top piece again and just slip it on top like a cap. this will also make it a tad bigger overall :)

sooooo! not much interesting magical stuff to see at this point ^^





i keep putting it on every now and then :D cant wait


cheers!
Adam
 
I can't wait to see this finished. Gonna make a whole getup for it or just the helmet?
:) thanks for the interest mate!

for now i will only finish the vader mask and dome. i thought about the chestplate and shoulder pads too but that maybe too much to handle . truly ...having a whole designed costumed would be awesome but for now im just happy enough to get these done :D


and here is some major update. ive been really pushing to make progress ( i stopped going out even :p . so im totally loosing touch friend wise, but as long as i got you guys the world is alright, right?! ;D )

pics! i reworked the whole top of the dome. making it bigger and rounder just like suggested



























i imagined the detail to look techy and be made of metal just like the tusks. these are random copper pieces with bearings in the middle :)






on the opposite side the techy detail part differs to have some asymmetry too






the ridges i plan to blend into the dome in an angle and sand them down a bit.

i found a site who sells bearings only. well i kinda ordered a couple of different bearings without having a true representitive image of em... just the dimensions :D so lets see about that. maybe some will look even more cool than the ones i found in my greeble stash :)


Ps: i worked with expoy glue for the first time. i dont know if they are all the same....but my brand smelled like 10 bambi carcasses rising from the bottom of a hazardous chemicals barrel

Cheers
Adam :)
 
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This thing is so rediculously cool that I can't even put into words how much I love it. You are making great design decisions with the dome and super cool assymetric details. Love love love it. Great job man !
 
Dont know how this is the first time Ive seen this, but this is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Would reeeeeally love a kit of this!
 
As a big fan of Vader, and a huge fan of McQuarrie, and an even bigger fan of creativity, this thing just really tickled my fancy. Simply gorgeous build, I hope there is even a minor update to this.
 
This build is incredible. It's like a mix of Vader and Shredder. SW and TMNT nostalgia overload. Seriously can't wait to see this finished!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wow guys... im speechless....

Thanks for your awesome comments
I really mean it.

The reason i stopped updating is my slow progress on the helmet.

If you guys dont mind I can post every little progress I got. Letting people down with my slow pace is my biggest fear :/

Here is a little something I built. Can you guess what it is? :)

IMG_20170110_054158.jpg
 
Wow guys... im speechless....

Thanks for your awesome comments
I really mean it.

The reason i stopped updating is my slow progress on the helmet.

If you guys dont mind I can post every little progress I got. Letting people down with my slow pace is my biggest fear :/

Here is a little something I built. Can you guess what it is? :)

View attachment 697104

It's that thing from that movie........ ;)
I don't mind just getting small updates :)
 
I don't mind getting small updates either. Custom build threads are always my favorite to see among the endless Graflex and Solo blaster threads, (I like those too though, don't shoot first!).
I was always checking up on this build.
 
@dasAdam did you ever finish this mask? Looks amazing.
hi Contec. no i havent..... i really struggle with it as i dont know how to tackle the connection of the dome and the mask and also if this will become a one-off only
but at this point in time i should just get it done first and then make further decisions i guess. many thanks for your comment mate. it shall push me to make more progress :)

Dont know how this is the first time Ive seen this, but this is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. Would reeeeeally love a kit of this!
Thanks for the visit and the comment :) highly appreciated. to tell you the truth... i would love to offer you a kit of this vader , but i actually dont know if i got the experience to pull it off. heaving the possibility to make it a kit is the reason i didnt make so much progress on this projection. every time i wanna add some details i get stuck with a waterfall of thoughts how to tackle it the most efficient way: do it seperate as a little part to mold it?! make it a metall part?! how to mount it later on?! how would the strap for the head be fixed?! do i need to learn how to fiberglas it in order to offer a quality product that wont fall apart?! ...oh gosh. it seems to be a vicious circle .. and i kinda feel trapped

nontheless i shall pick it up again and just see what i will end up with i guess.

As a big fan of Vader, and a huge fan of McQuarrie, and an even bigger fan of creativity, this thing just really tickled my fancy. Simply gorgeous build, I hope there is even a minor update to this.
Hi Lisa! there is a minor update! sadly not a big one ...i did a couple of shots to show today :) maaany thanks for your comment! very motivating. i love the simplistic shapes McQuarrie used to design the characters. They seem to be a bit more timeless (designwise) than the screen props in my humble honest opinion. i hope you like the lil update

This build is incredible. It's like a mix of Vader and Shredder. SW and TMNT nostalgia overload. Seriously can't wait to see this finished!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Many thanks Mikey! :) ah shredder! i know what u mean. for me it reminds me of the mortal kombat masks as well as this vader mask sits very tight and is not as huge as the original vader helmet. thank you for commenting. it made my day :)


here are a couple shots of my redesign of the copper dynodes .not sure how many i want to put on the mask yet, but they will certainly sit in little pockets and not just attached onto the surface. they were attached like that for a test fitting only :)

w1_zpszudeljsb.jpg

w2_zpsq8l3imrt.jpg

w3_zpscu9hmibj.jpg

w4_zpsuue8vshu.jpg

w5_zpslfmy1t0a.jpg

w6_zpsyufmqrud.jpg

HDMI male connector
copper rod
2x micro usb female connectors :)
and a metal mesh on top , filled with black acrylic paint
w7_zpsspyyrp8d.jpg


please enjoy :)
Cheers
Adam
 
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dasAdam;Mounting really is one of the hardest things for most people. Many have come before and tried and figured out a way. I would do some research into the normal vader mounting methods, the ring and cup method really seems to be a great way to do this. You just have to play with the positioning once you have the dome done to get it just right.

I've got molding experience and am here in Germany we could work something out if you wanted to offer castings of the work at your finishing point. My suggestion would be that your add-on parts are always added later, even if it's more work. You're likely not looking to make large runs of this, probably just a small run of 5 or 10 castings to help recover funds and spread it around some.

I say add the parts later on because it will always look better if they are real parts. The dinodes would a be a pain to paint if they were cast in the helmet. There is a potential to cast them in resin as their own parts, and the same can go for the tubes, but real parts will always look better. Especially in a limited custom item such as this. It gives it much more value emotionally for buyers/backers..
 
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Man, your vader design is absolutely awesome! The lines and swept back motion look so freakin amazing. The attention to detail is so great and I can't wait to see this painted and cosplayed,
 
@dasAdam;Mounting really is one of the hardest things for most people. Many have come before and tried and figured out a way. I would do some research into the normal vader mounting methods, the ring and cup method really seems to be a great way to do this. You just have to play with the positioning once you have the dome done to get it just right.

I've got molding experience and am here in Germany we could work something out if you wanted to offer castings of the work at your finishing point. My suggestion would be that your add-on parts are always added later, even if it's more work. You're likely not looking to make large runs of this, probably just a small run of 5 or 10 castings to help recover funds and spread it around some.

I say add the parts later on because it will always look better if they are real parts. The dinodes would a be a pain to paint if they were cast in the helmet. There is a potential to cast them in resin as their own parts, and the same can go for the tubes, but real parts will always look better. Especially in a limited custom item such as this. It gives it much more value emotionally for buyers/backers..

Hi dday :)
thanks for the great input!
the ring and cup method will surely be the way to go. the space in between my dome and mask is very narrow tho. maybe magnets would be a great help to keep things attached :) they might even add some techy detail too. i bought some cube and circle magnets to test it already.
many thanks to you mate for offering your help. a limited run would be such an awesome goal for myself. i wouldnt mind building the detail tech parts instead of casting em. its as they say, right? : "if you want it to look like metal, use metal" :D
i pumped so much time and money into this project already that i lost count to be honest... :p at this point id just be thrilled to finish it up and offer it as a kit
...but i decided to first see if i can get it done and make all parts fit and function. only after that i can think of offering it to others :) if the day comes im happy to chat and except your help wisdom :) you dont happen to live in the stuttgart area accidently? :D

cheers mate
Man, your vader design is absolutely awesome! The lines and swept back motion look so freakin amazing. The attention to detail is so great and I can't wait to see this painted and cosplayed,

..man that would be a blast! ..sadly reality showed me that this will take a while :p many thanks bwize

Given how amazing this is, I'm sure you could easily find a member to help you get it molded.
yay such flattery :D many thanks man
dday already offered his help, which is amazing so say the least.


PROGRESS!
the tusks are finished!

here you can see the journey. many images, many angles
i tried to incorporate a ballpoint pen tip but wasnt very convinced it would be the right style /look

tusksZ_0_0000_IMG_20170116_031159.jpg_zpstvgveebk.jpg


it looks cool! but the spike was a tad too slim and didnt strike me as that star wars-ish by the end of the day

tusksZ_0_0001_IMG_20170116_041419.jpg_zpsyjtexutr.jpg

but it encouraged me to try out many other parts

tusksZ_0_0002_IMG_20170116_041427.jpg_zps9bez26oi.jpg


i really liked the additional metal pieces reaching out instead of the cables leading out directly.
i filed the nut of the "threaded water outlet water nipple"
it revealed a nice desaturated copper tone which i really liked :) i also quickly added some TAMIYA GUN METAL

here is the result
tusksZ_0_0003_IMG_20170119_134114.jpg_zps77modzwz.jpg

tusksZ_0_0004_IMG_20170119_134124.jpg_zps9oz1jxdz.jpg


basically its built out of these parts here
tusksZ_0_0005_IMG_20170119_134244.jpg_zpsyxxb8fwe.jpg


and here a couple of different shots :)
tusksZ_0_0006_IMG_20170119_134932.jpg_zpsbg6tlucy.jpg


tusksZ_0_0009_IMG_20170119_141022.jpg_zpsm0sjnxkd.jpg


tusksZ_0_0007_IMG_20170119_140857.jpg_zps0sob4iwe.jpg


tusksZ_0_0010_IMG_20170119_141143.jpg_zpsp4fdrsbw.jpg


tusksZ_0_0011_IMG_20170119_141048.jpg_zpst2bya4uf.jpg


tusksZ_0_0008_IMG_20170119_140910.jpg_zpstwz3i1px.jpg


tusksZ_0_0001_IMG_20170119_141506.jpg_zpsu6uhi3zs.jpg


tusksZ_0_0002_IMG_20170119_141513.jpg_zpskv6lvfrr.jpg


tusksZ_0_0000_IMG_20170119_141500.jpg_zpsehtinvml.jpg


i hope you enjoy and i wish you guys a productive upcoming weekend :)
 
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Hi dday :)
thanks for the great input!
the ring and cup method will surely be the way to go. the space in between my dome and mask is very narrow tho. maybe magnets would be a great help to keep things attached :) they might even add some techy detail too. i bought some cube and circle magnets to test it already.
many thanks to you mate for offering your help. a limited run would be such an awesome goal for myself. i wouldnt mind building the detail tech parts instead of casting em. its as they say, right? : "if you want it to look like metal, use metal" :D
i pumped so much time and money into this project already that i lost count to be honest... :p at this point id just be thrilled to finish it up and offer it as a kit
...but i decided to first see if i can get it done and make all parts fit and function. only after that i can think of offering it to others :) if the day comes im happy to chat and except your help wisdom :) you dont happen to live in the stuttgart area accidently? :D

cheers mate

Magnets with a cup for sure would be good. I'd think 3 recessed into the helmet should do it, in a triangle shape to make sure you get the right location each time. Or maybe a X shape that the top and bottom will interlock for position and very strong magnets to hold them together.

I'm absolutely positive you'll get it judging by the progress you've made so far and the innovation shown.

Integrating it into the mechanical look would absolutely be in line and very cool for this, even if it's not visible.

I don't live in the stuttgart area all the time, but during the week I'm in the St Leon Rot area, 69231. So pretty close.
 
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