3D model and build of McQuarrie Vader helmet.

[Kiwimaddog]

So, Of course I'm aware that this has been done to death but yet, I want my own and since I did the McQ Snowtrooper Commander a couple of years ago I kind of wanted this one as well on the wall beneath it.
There are of course so many versions of the different helmet concepts to choose from, I decided to go for the one on the front of the McQ chronicles front cover, I really like it's clean and sleek design.

I've started modelling the helmet, as always I use Catia V5 (and Zbrush) since since those are the ones I can handle. There's also a profile picture of this variant and of course being drawings they don't really make sense together when trying to find the correct curves and such so I had to find the golden middleground where it more looks the part than actually is 100% true to the reference material.
That said, I'll start with showing the current progress as it stands right now, I've redone the helmet dome 3 times from scratch so far and the facemask at least 2 and I'm not quite there yet but I'm homing in on the likeness at least.

(the perspective in the ISO-drawing kind of doesn't make sense unless I blow out the lenses quite a lot and almost go fisheye lens which feels weird and does not correspond to the profile view so my main focus has been to use references from the profile view mainly. Also the nose ridge seems to dip a lot more than the profile pic does)

That's it for starters, more will come later.

 

[JPH]

So, Of course I'm aware that this has been done to death but yet, I want my own and since I did the McQ Snowtrooper Commander a couple of years ago I kind of wanted this one as well on the wall beneath it.
There are of course so many versions of the different helmet concepts to choose from, I decided to go for the one on the front of the McQ chronicles front cover, I really like it's clean and sleek design.
View attachment 1882667

I've started modelling the helmet, as always I use Catia V5 (and Zbrush) since since those are the ones I can handle. There's also a profile picture of this variant and of course being drawings they don't really make sense together when trying to find the correct curves and such so I had to find the golden middleground where it more looks the part than actually is 100% true to the reference material.
That said, I'll start with showing the current progress as it stands right now, I've redone the helmet dome 3 times from scratch so far and the facemask at least 2 and I'm not quite there yet but I'm homing in on the likeness at least.
View attachment 1882668
(the perspective in the ISO-drawing kind of doesn't make sense unless I blow out the lenses quite a lot and almost go fisheye lens which feels weird and does not correspond to the profile view so my main focus has been to use references from the profile view mainly. Also the nose ridge seems to dip a lot more than the profile pic does)
View attachment 1882669

That's it for starters, more will come later.

What you have done is great!

If you are open to sorta nit-picky responses, I have some, but you have done such a good job, I don't want to turn you off from this project.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

What you have done is great!

If you are open to sorta nit-picky responses, I have some, but you have done such a good job, I don't want to turn you off from this project.

I don't mind remarks, I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to catch the deisgn so nothing is too late to fix currently

 

[JPH]

I don't mind remarks, I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to catch the deisgn so nothing is too late to fix currently

This is just my 2 cents. Please take or leave at your discretion.

Because, what you have already looks really great

1) outward curve on helmet rim above eye, I think it is to give him the look of angry eyebrows all the time. Resting Meaney Face. Someone has already pee'd in his Wheateys.

The lateral curve would have to be horizontal to look flat drom the side.

2) the ports in the zygoma, under the eye. Yours is a bit further back and I think it actually has a hole in the front. So, it looks like a hole drilled into the cheek, at an angle.

3 and 4) nose is rounder, plumper, just slightly so. It gently blends into the definite lines on the cheekbones. Not a W C Field's nose! Just a small, round bump of a shnoz

5) I think the grill is a little more horizontal which leads to, "where does it end," issues. But I think the angle of the grill is less than what you have.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

This is just my 2 cents. Please take or leave at your discretion.

Because, what you have already looks really great

1) outward curve on helmet rim above eye, I think it is to give him the look of angry eyebrows all the time. Resting Meaney Face. Someone has already pee'd in his Wheateys.

The lateral curve would have to be horizontal to look flat drom the side.

2) the ports in the zygoma, under the eye. Yours is a bit further back and I think it actually has a hole in the front. So, it looks like a hole drilled into the cheek, at an angle.

3 and 4) nose is rounder, plumper, just slightly so. It gently blends into the definite lines on the cheekbones. Not a W C Field's nose! Just a small, round bump of a shnoz

5) I think the grill is a little more horizontal which leads to, "where does it end," issues. But I think the angle of the grill is less than what you have.

Awesome, Thank you, I really appreciate these notes!
I'll see if I can mend some of these issues.

In order then;

1,
You're saying it needs to go a bit more like this ?:

2,
Currently it actually is a hole drilled at an angle but I'm not decided what these ports actually are supposed to be, I can probably make them a bit less flat in the bottom to make that easier to read.

,

3,4,
This is one I've been debating with myself and it's of course visible that I've gone for crisp lines on the cheekbones currently. But I think you're correct, I'll see if I can smooth out the lines and get a bit of radii added in the nose area

5,
You are correct, I should tilt the grill a bit I think. I did not want the openings to be too short and since it needs to travel straight up at the nose area I opted for this setup of the grill. But I'll adjust it a bit, it makes more sense now that you've pointed it out.

Thank you again, It's great to get input like this. I tend to get a bit blind to some details when working alone at a project like this.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

Regarding issue No 1, I had a second think and I believe I get what you mean now,
Its this right?

This is a tricky one and I've not decided on where to go here just yet.
As it's looks now is a result from the curves shown in the Profile view, and I have done experiments with having this curve look more like the ISO-pic. That meant really deviating from said profile pic though so it's kind of a choice of leaning towards the profile or ISO and which is most honest to the final result. I'm kind of on the fence here...

 

[simiouno]

I like the mcQ stuff better than the movie !

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Very cool beginning. I've seen several attempt this helmet, but they never really capture the downward droopy look to the front. A suggestion regarding the mouth opening. Yours seems a little wide at the bottom, and it seems you have angled the front edges inward a bit in towards the mouth opening. In the three quarter picture it actually looks like that the front mouth wall angles out, so it's a little further forward in at the opening and further back out towards the rest of the mouth.

It also seems there should be an angle change between the nose and the mouth walls as seen in the side view. It's not going straight down from top to bottom. And the further protruding tusk tubes and curving slightly downwards and not straight out in the reference also makes it look a bit meaner.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

Very cool beginning. I've seen several attempt this helmet, but they never really capture the downward droopy look to the front. A suggestion regarding the mouth opening. Yours seems a little wide at the bottom, and it seems you have angled the front edges inward a bit in towards the mouth opening. In the three quarter picture it actually looks like that the front mouth wall angles out, so it's a little further forward in at the opening and further back out towards the rest of the mouth.

It also seems there should be an angle change between the nose and the mouth walls as seen in the side view. It's not going straight down from top to bottom. And the further protruding tusk tubes and curving slightly downwards and not straight out in the reference also makes it look a bit meaner.

Thanks for the remarks,
Well, That 'droopyness' is not easy to capture. I belive you're correct though, it's a tad bit wide between the tusks so I'll squeeze that a bit.
Here are a couple of wip's to show where I'm at.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

Update,
I've mostly looked at the Side and ISO-views when designing so I've kind of neglected the front view. So when I saw the posted image above here I realized that the dome is too tapered from the front view. Therefore I squared it up a bit, Do you agree that this is the correct route you talented people of the RPF??

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I think you can actually use the movie version of the top dome shape part to create this in the front view to make it look more organic to the concept shapes, which are more rounded and curved.

And from the top view you could make it more egg shaped like a head from the top, instead of oval. It's also how the movie version did it.

I think you could also lower the angle change, at the sides, of the top part of the dome to the skirt, so the top becomes fuller. Hope that makes sense.

 

[laellee]

Update,
I've mostly looked at the Side and ISO-views when designing so I've kind of neglected the front view. So when I saw the posted image above here I realized that the dome is too tapered from the front view. Therefore I squared it up a bit, Do you agree that this is the correct route you talented people of the RPF??
View attachment 1882955

Absolutely. It also might not hurt to bring in a bust/head to see how fitment looks with a skull in there. Mcquarrie has always given me less problems in terms of a concept's continuity to what works in the real world, but there can of course still be discrepancies between sketches. I think if you widen the dome a bit, it will also force that 'eyebrow ridge' contour to better follow the source material. Either way it is looking great!

 

[JPH]

Regarding issue No 1, I had a second think and I believe I get what you mean now,
Its this right?
View attachment 1882850
This is a tricky one and I've not decided on where to go here just yet.
As it's looks now is a result from the curves shown in the Profile view, and I have done experiments with having this curve look more like the ISO-pic. That meant really deviating from said profile pic though so it's kind of a choice of leaning towards the profile or ISO and which is most honest to the final result. I'm kind of on the fence here...
View attachment 1882852

They eyebrow ridge has two posibilities.

One, it is a drawing, so there will be some variance.

Two, the second shot is perpendicular to the 2d curve, so you can't see it on that view. Like loiking at a curvey noodle on a flat surface: from a directly horizontal perspective, it looks flat. Rise above the table and you see the curves. Now you understand String Theory and the show, 3 Body Problem.

I did a terible, quick sculpt to try to convey the idea.
From the side, you wont see the wrap around curve, but from another view, like 3/4 and slightly above, it comes out.

 

[laellee]

Spread and sink the cap. It works itself out.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

I think if you widen the dome a bit, it will also force that 'eyebrow ridge' contour to better follow the source material. Either way it is looking great!

Spread and sink the cap. It works itself out.

Ok, Kinda like this?

 

[Kiwimaddog]

They eyebrow ridge has two posibilities.

One, it is a drawing, so there will be some variance.

Two, the second shot is perpendicular to the 2d curve, so you can't see it on that view. Like loiking at a curvey noodle on a flat surface: from a directly horizontal perspective, it looks flat. Rise above the table and you see the curves. Now you understand String Theory and the show, 3 Body Problem.

I did a terible, quick sculpt to try to convey the idea.
From the side, you wont see the wrap around curve, but from another view, like 3/4 and slightly above, it comes out.

Oh, I like the energy, It's very much appreciated!
Of course you're correct, Quantum physics and all, that a curved curve can look straight from an angle. Right now I'm leaning towards Laellee's proposal and this is why(Que messy explanation):
So, I've primarily used the profile pic as reference which meant that I transferred the geometry from it directly

This means that I get a extruded surface to work on which kind of forces the line a bit to the result I currently have.

UNLESS I widen the complete dome and push the intersection between top dome part and the angled flange part out a bit which would hopefully lead to a result more like that in the isometric view. I think. and hope.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

Update:
I've been working a bit on removing all straight lines and convert them into curves instead. Primarily I've worked on the grill area of the facemask.

Profile view showing the shorter nose and slight curvature added.

Further more I've engaged in the upper of the side tubes, that one was previously straight over the angled side of the grill intake but now instead has a slight bend as it travels. i still need to work a bit more with how it joins the lower tube though.

And lastly, The dome is now a bit blown out.

 

[JPH]

Update:
I've been working a bit on removing all straight lines and convert them into curves instead. Primarily I've worked on the grill area of the facemask.
View attachment 1883868
Profile view showing the shorter nose and slight curvature added.
View attachment 1883872
Further more I've engaged in the upper of the side tubes, that one was previously straight over the angled side of the grill intake but now instead has a slight bend as it travels. i still need to work a bit more with how it joins the lower tube though.

And lastly, The dome is now a bit blown out.
View attachment 1883873
View attachment 1883874

So, is this bad boy a done deal or are you just going to revisit?

Will you be selling the file or this just for you? I'd like to print a copy, but YOU did all the work and just politely fielded out criticisms.

 

[Kiwimaddog]

So, is this bad boy a done deal or are you just going to revisit?

Will you be selling the file or this just for you? I'd like to print a copy, but YOU did all the work and just politely fielded out criticisms.

I'm stil working on it, primarily on the dome to get the lines a bit more on point. After that I'll split it up in a good way to be able to print it to check the quality of the build and printability of the parts and such. Also to asses all the concepts I've chosen for the assembly of the parts.
And I need to size it correctly so I need to get my 3D-scanner and scan my head to get a feeling about how much I need to upscale it.

When that's done i usually implement some adjustments and reprint and complete a build of the helmet, write the manual, take photos and put the files on my Etsy. It's a slow moving process but I'm not really in any hurry

Here the current status, I'm feeling pretty ok with it as it stands right now.

This is the concept for fixing the neck piece with the face piece, Neodym magnets D8 x 6mm that attaches to D8 x 8mm and a stabilizing thinner magnet that attaches to a washer underneath.

The grill piece interfaces in the front area and the mesh is printed flat and glued in place.

I also need the design the vacuum form buck for the lenses and a interface for attaching them. So quite a lot more to do

 

[JPH]

I'm stil working on it, primarily on the dome to get the lines a bit more on point. After that I'll split it up in a good way to be able to print it to check the quality of the build and printability of the parts and such. Also to asses all the concepts I've chosen for the assembly of the parts.
And I need to size it correctly so I need to get my 3D-scanner and scan my head to get a feeling about how much I need to upscale it.

When that's done i usually implement some adjustments and reprint and complete a build of the helmet, write the manual, take photos and put the files on my Etsy. It's a slow moving process but I'm not really in any hurry

Here the current status, I'm feeling pretty ok with it as it stands right now.
View attachment 1886206

View attachment 1886207
This is the concept for fixing the neck piece with the face piece, Neodym magnets D8 x 6mm that attaches to D8 x 8mm and a stabilizing thinner magnet that attaches to a washer underneath.
View attachment 1886208
The grill piece interfaces in the front area and the mesh is printed flat and glued in place.
View attachment 1886211
I also need the design the vacuum form buck for the lenses and a interface for attaching them. So quite a lot more to do

So you would 3d print every helmet? I am in the middle of a 6 day print, and even on high resolution, its gonna need clean up.

I would consider slush casting a mold made from a near-perfect creation.

Also, lenses out of Epoxacast 690 vs vacuforming. .

If a lens is thin, 1/8 to 3/16 thick, just degas the resin and you can pour it and let it set over night. Have a soft mold with a harder outer mold that assures the lenses come out thin.

I like resin lenses because I can also add a touch of glow-in-the-dark powder to each pour and people freak out when the lights go out and your eyes glow.

I don't sell stuff, but I make batches of things for friends during holidays. If you make a light/thin slush cast, you can always strengthen it with freeform air.

If you have been doing it that way for a while and happy with your own process, I am just offering a suggestion.
I hate heating PetG and vacuforming THEN having to dye it in boiling water. Much easier to just weigh some resin, add a few drops of pigment, degas, pour and done by tomorrow.
If done simultaneously, it isnt a time crunch.