AOTC Plumed Senate Guard Helmet

[Centurion]

My first post on these forums for absolutely ages!

Here we go for the plumed version of the Senate Guard helmet seen at the end of 'The Phantom Menace'.
Not much of a movie in my mind (load of crap really) but it did produce one of the most striking looking helmets from any of the six films.

I took delivery of Amy Berry's mk.II Senate Guard helmet.
Could not be happier with it and I am looking forward to getting to work on it in the near future. The mk.II is even sharper in detail than my original one and a bit lighter, but the weight has never bothered me TBH as it is spread across my shoulders. Another bonus is of course I do not have to worry about visors fogging or it getting too hot on the inside. Going to be my first 'open' face costume which will be weird but once I have my Brad Pitt lookalike surgery I reckon I'll be fine.
Got a bit of work to do before the helmet will be worn in public for the first time but I would love to have it ready to go for one of next years Memorabilia shows or Glasgow's Collectormania.
This is what was waiting for me when I eventually got home after a long day at work awhile back!

Now I have the helmet in my hands I can get down to some serious head scratching with regards to how the hell am I actually going to do the double plumes.
I do have a picture in my head as to how it will all go together but got some other 'life' stuff to get sorted out before I can devote some serious time to the work needed.
Going to have to suss out the angles of the plumes as accurately as I can. I have seen angles of 45 degrees quoted but that looks too sharp an angle for me but I will figure it out at some point. Will need to get a protractor from some where to help with that.
Some have advised/suggested that I use Polypropylene or broom bristles for the plumes and I have seriously considered both but to get the look I am after it has to be real horse hair or I won't bother doing the helmet.Going to be a bit pricey at the end of the day for the horse hair but it is 'the' only way to go.
So!After a long wait the 'The Phantom Menace' Senate Guard is that one step closer to becoming a reality.Got a long way to go yet but I will keep this WIP thread updated as often as possible.
If anyone has an inkling, suggestion, mad scientist thinking or a eureka type moment with regards to double plumes and the making of, fire them my way please.
My grateful thanks must go to Amy Berry for once again making me one of the most unique Star Wars helmets there has ever been seen up on the screen. Just hope I can do her work the justice it deserves.

 

[Centurion]

Re: AOTC PLumed Sente Guard Helmet

Cannot believe that I have never posted up on the RPF before as for any costuming problems these forums have got to be 'the' only place to go so apologies if this WIP thread gets a bit disjointed.

I have also taken delivery of a load of horse hair from the States which will be used the make the plumes.
Hopefully not too many wee horses are running about totally bald and freezing their wee bits off! :deadhorse:

There's 5lbs + of the stuff so I reckon I have got enough to do the double plumes now once I actually suss out exactly what it is I'm supposed to be doing.
The hair is about 14inches long which does make it rather floppy but the maximum length it will be for my lid is 6inches so after a bit of jiggery-pokery I reckon the hairs own mass/bulk will allow it to support its own weight and so not go all floppy when in the lid.
Have barely started on the helmet so there's a long way to go with plenty of head scratching to be done along the way! :wall:

 

[Centurion]

Took delivery of some nice stiff A3 card to make the templates for the double plumes just to make sure I had got the shape and the angle right for both of them.
The angle is a little off as seen in the third pic but not by much (just needs another 10 degrees or so and that's that) but that will be sorted once I get the plumes themselves done.

Like I said this was just to get an idea of the actual size and proportions of the two crests and after much fiddly work with a pencil (******!trying to get the shape of the helmet crest onto the paper was a sod but evolution only decided to give us mortals two arms!).I think I got it just about right but just got a wee bit to take off about a third of the way along methinks right as looking at pictures of the screen used lid the hair starts at 6" at the front and stays this length 'til its about that third of the way along it and then it starts to sharply follow the shape of the helmet crest itself until it gets to the bottom..

I did start the templates at 6" and it looked way too big once on the helmet but after a wee bit of head scratching and going 'bugger' I then took into account the amount of hair that will be inside the helmet crest itself and after a few wee adjustments I reckon I got it looking right.
Still got a bit of sanding and smoothing to do as I want to get the helmet itself ready for paint as doing the crests first would make the sanding too awkward once the crest has been cut away.
So!Next step will be to cut into the crest once I have the helmet as smooth as the proverbial. Not long 'til I have a go at making a trial crest so that should be good for a heart stopping moment or two.[/quote]

Again apologies for the disjointed nature of this WIP post.

 

[Centurion]

Now!There is about two months between the last post and this one after all the life, the universe and everything type stuff that seems to pop up when it is about as welcome as a bad rash in a place you would'nt want any kind of rash!:confused

Got a week off work after taking some A/L so no excuse as to not doing anything.
Not much of an update TBH but just plugging away at it when I get the time. I have to admit I have been driven mental with the prep work as every time I think I have it spot on and smooth I look at it more closely and little pin holes appear or an area that I have missed needs a bit of work to get it smooth. More of an annoyance than anything else but I knew this was going to be a long winded project where I could take my time.
Some pics of where I am at now with the major prep work on the helmet surface. Just about finished so I am happy to leave it as it is at the mo and get on with cutting the crest and working on the plumes:-

I have decided to 'fill in' the crest of the helmet so I will have a base to work on when I start the plume channels. Still not 100% sure as to how I'm going to do that but I have a picture in my head as to how it will all look so if it does'nt work I can always come up with something else I suppose. Trouble is that once I cut the crest away that's that so little to no room for error once that's done.
So!Started to fill the crest in from the inside with some 2mm black ABS and fiberglass which as I said when finished will form the base of the crests:-

I think I will need to build up that 'base' from the inside a little bit (more so to the front of the crest) to give the plumes a bit more height but I will wait and see how this next step goes.

 

[gman1]

can't wait to see finished product.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Re: AOTC PLumed Sente Guard Helmet

Hopefully not too many wee horses are running about totally bald and freezing their wee bits off! :deadhorse:

:lol

Looks good so far! I don't think I've ever seen someone do this costume.

 

[t1made]

Me neither. Looks like a good start.

 

[Centurion]

Well!The dreaded day dawned at last.
Finally got around to cutting the crest away today so that I can then make a start on the channels where the two plumes will eventually sit.
What a pain in the a**e that was trying to get both sides of the notch at the front the same but after an hour with a pencil, ruler, protractor and the remains of an eraser I got there in the end. Thought that would be the most important bit as the angle of the two sides had to match up and look correct.

I did have a grandeous plan where the two channels would be cut but the crest on this lid is hollow ao I just decided to cut it all away and I'll start to build up the interior of the crest next week.
Thank god I remembered to but safety goggles as there where wee bits of fiberglass flyng everywhere but I do wish I bought a couple of dust masks (ended up pulling my t-shirt up over my mouth and nose in the end).

I have got plenty 1mm and 2mm black plasticard to use to build up the crest interior and then it will be time to start on the two crests at last and use up all that horse hair that I have had lying around for ages.
Thanks for following this thread folks.

 

[Centurion]

Slowly but surely getting there.
Have now got the two channels where the double plumes will sit now in place :-

After a bit of "very careful" jiggery-pokery with the 'ol heat gun the sides of the two channels are now straight and level (took ages to get sorted and by the time I had it done I could'nt be a***ed taking any more pics TBH and I had also knocked the lower edge of the lid with the gun and took a wee chunk out of it so that had to be sorted as well!). But!I can safely assure all that the sides are nice and straight and essentially finished.
Next item on the agenda will be to fill in the gap between them which I have thought about a lot and seriously considered just leaving it as it is (but after a bit of tidying up of course) as there are no pics of what this particular helmet looks like from the back and I have certainly tried for ages to find any at all. That little fact does leave me with a bit of artistic license as to the final finishing but suffice to say I will finish it off so it is level with the crest of the helmet.
Problematic bit will be that damn "V" shape at the front as that has caused no end of hassle as it is not perfectly symetrical (more so on the inside where both sides combine three seperate angles and are slightly different in internal shaping). But I will figure something out in the end, and if anyone reading this has any ideas please pass them on as I am always open to suggestions and new ideas.
I have got (what I hope is enough) plasticard to finish the gap off but have toyed with filling it with foam, fiberglass, modelling clay, etc,etc,etc but I think I will just go with the plasticard as I can easily get more if required and it's pretty easy to work with once you get the hang of it and take your time!.
So!There we have it for now - not too long to go now and once the gap between the two channels is filled it will be time to start on the plumes themselves and then the lid will get some final prep work before our man Jason Kerr gets it for painting.
Still have'nt got even a rough date for completion yet but should'nt be too long now.
Thanks to all for following this WIP.

 

[Centurion]

"Getting There"​

Got the two channels for the double plumes finished today (at long last as my bank balance was taking a hammering with all the Plasticard I was buying!).
Anyhoo! on to a couple if pics I took this morning after leaving the whole thing to dry and cure overnight:-

As there are no pictures of the back of this helmet I did have a couple of options as to how to proceed with this part of the project but I decided to go for what I think was the easiest (I'm a lazy chicken!)option and just extended the "V" shape along the length of the crest from front to back and I think it turned out alright in the end.
For filler and despite what I have said in previous posts I went for the plasticard bits in a bottle of plastiweld and it turned out great both as a filler and as a means to bond two surfaces together finally. By that I mean the bottom of the right hand channel refused to stay joined despite literally drowning it in plastiweld and super glue but in the end it was defeated by a Superglue "Plastic Fusion" (held together whilst I watched "The Valley of Gwangi") and then some of that "filler" used liberally.
I don't know if this "Superglue Plastic Fusion" has ever been mentioned on these forums but it's damn strong stuff and it's on the right in the following pic:-

This stuff takes 10mins to set and after fully curing for 24hrs it can take a pull of over 400lbs so once your plastic is joined it is "not" coming apart. Stinks to high heaven though and it welds the two surfaces together permanently. I don't see it being of much use in the actual construcion of TK or Clone armour as one slip or 'blob' where it's not supposed to go and that's that gubbed so extreme care has to be exercised but I'll certainly be hanging on to it as it'll be ideal for 'repairs' at a troop if anything falls off my armour.
The helmet as you see it is essentially finished with only the final tidying up and a little bit of sanding and prep work to do before it goes for painting. Here it is after the crest channels were sanded down to the level of the helmet crest sides:-

Going to start on the double plumes sometime next week methinks as I am anxious to get this finished and cleared so I can finally get to wear it at a troop. Hopefully it will actually be recognised as a helmet from "The Phantom Menace" as my current visored version (as much as I love it) has screen time of "S**t!I blinked and missed it", and usually gets labelled as a Senate Commando or a Blue Guard Guy!.
Once again thanks for following this WIP thread and for the comments passed. ​

 

[Centurion]

After a lengthy lay off (I hate having knackered knees - all you want to do is sit and do diddly squat! ) I'm back with a short wee update.
Anyhoo!After life, the universe and everything else getting in the way of things I finally got around to making a proper start on the plumes for this helmet.
This is only a trial run to see how things are actually going to go together and where any tweaks or major changes will need to be made. I have a large 'lump' of horsehair which will be used to prototype a lot of what will go into the making of the plumes before I commit and make them as they will be for trooping purposes. I reckon around 1/3 of this hair I have set aside for this purpose will be wasted as I adjust and make the required changes but I will still have more than enough for the two plumes (and a helluva lot leftover)
So!Here's what I have got so far (not a lot really but it's a start). Each of the tufts in the accompanying pictues is a shade under 8 inches long which is actually slightly too long for my purposes (after much debate and scratching off chins over on Forcepike and the Rebel Legion we all decided on the longest length of the plumes to be 6 inches, slowly curving down to 3 inches at the back - or as near as damnit!), so I will need to do a wee bit of trimming once all is finally done but I knew that was going to be required so not really a problem.

Quite simple to just fold a bunch of the hair over in half (decided the tuft to be the thickness of a pencil so they would all be roughly the same diameter) and tied around the bottom with the thread used for fishing fly tying to hold it all together. That was a bit fiddly as the hair is black as is the thread and it was a sod to find the end of the thread to tie it off at times. :ung:
That process gave me a nice bundle of hair to work with as I reckoned a little more would make the tuft too thick and it would be too thin if I went the opposite way (thank god for a HB pencil).
It's not abundently clear in the pics (damn black on black again) but the tuft is finished off with some plastic heat shrink which seals it all in for a full inch from the end and stops it all coming apart. That heat shrink will also be used to 'implant' the tufts into the plastic strips that will go into the grooves on the helmet and Volia'. Or that is what I hope according to my master plan!

The last two pics are just of the three tufts I have made already (mind that these are the trial/prototype one) bluetacked into the grooves to give a general idea as to how they will look.

Will obviously look better with more hair in the grooves but like I said this was just to give an overall impression as to how it will eventually look.

Thanks for following this WIP and any comments/ideas, etc,etc will be welcome.
Still got a long way to go but slowly and surely getting there. Really glad I went with the real hair option even though it has presented it's own set of challenges.

 

[Centurion]

Sort of back to square one with this after the last attempt at making the plumes!

Anyhoo!On with the update.

Although the first attempt at making a plume mk.1 failed it was a valuable learning experience and the final versions are about to roll off the production line. Thankfully the hair used in the first attempt will not be going to waste and will be getting re-used to fill in the gaps in the final version of the two plumes (besides it cost too much to throw away and the vast bulk of whatever I have left has already been claimed by various parties and I'll keep some for any repairs that may be needed in the future).

First item on the agenda was to make the two bases/runners which all the tufts of hair will be placed to form the two plumes and after an hour with the trusty Dremel and various types of bits I ended up with two strips of black ABS with 33 holes in each and a lot of black plastic bits all over the place. With the additional tufts added to fill in the gaps and add some strength each plume will now have 67 individual tufts of hair. The two plumes when finished will weigh the better part of 2lbs so this is going to be a bit of a 'heavy' helmet at the end of the day. But! the way Amy Berry made the lid all of the weight will be spread across my shoulders so that should be ok!.

Next item on the agenda was to start off with a fresh batch of hair which presented its own problems as lots of individual strands wanted to play silly buggers and refused to line up alongside the rest of them which really started to get annoying very quickly until I exacted my revenge with a pair of scissors.

Once I got the tufts looking right it was just a simple case of folding/looping the tuft around and tying off the looped end with some black thread used for tying fishing flies! After that eached looped end was capped off with some black heatshrink which helped seal off the end and stop the thread coming loose. This sealed off end would then be placed in one of the holes in the ABS runners. After the last plume attempt I went out and got some top superglue instead of the crappy stuff I had gotten from the local pound shop a while ago and I certainly noticed the difference.

The leading edge tufts where angled to follow the contour of the helmet crest. The front tuft will also have a piece of ABS glued/plasti-welded to it which will allow it to grip the velcro I will install (hooked stuff inside the grooves and velvet stuff on the plumes). I had a quick go at this earlier on and it worked a treat and a damn sight better than those rare earth magnets I wanted to use originally (thanks to my neighbour Glen for the loan of the velcro).
As I went along the angle of the tufts where straightened but not so much as to help hold their shape each plume will have a slight 'upwards' angle (I noticed this in the helmets used in the films after much use of the pause button and pouring over all the reference pictures I have).

The last pic gives an idea as to how it will all look once I eventually get both plumes done. Still got a lot to do and both plumes will need to finally trimmed and shaped but I reckon it will be worth it in the end.

Thanks for looking and following this WIP thread..

 

[sjorsjo91]

I watched TPM yesterday and was wondering if someone would tackle this helmet. Looking forward to see more.
It looks good so far.

 

[Centurion]

Getting there slowly but surely.

The main work on the two plumes has been completed (these damn plumes have taken nearly as long as a Death Star build !) and with the filling in of the gaps that appear when the plumes are mounted on the helmet I am just about done!

Worked out that there was about 20 hours of at times 'very tedious and mind numbing' work that went into the two plumes so far and they are still not finished yet. At this rate the grand unveiling will take place at next years Memorabilia in November .

Anyhoo!The sacrifice of god knows how many poor wee horses in America will be remembered when this lid is finally worn at a troop (really wish I went for the broom bristles at times TBH!).

Still got a wee bit of work to do with them apart from the gap filling as the plumes still need to be stiffened and be trimmed to their final shape. No matter how much hair will end being trimmed this is going to be a heavy helmet.

The next bunch of pics are just to show what the two plumes look like when put in the two grooves that run along the length of the helmet crest just to give an idea of what the whole thing looks will eventually look like (By The Power of Blue Tack!) but mind that they are just in the grooves temporarily.

Definately going to go with the velcro option to 'lock' the two plumes into place as it will be so easy just to put the plumes into place and get them out again for storage and transport.

With the plumes on the final straight before completion that really just leaves the helmet to be painted but unfortunately that won't happen 'til at least next April as I have a holiday to save up for and some other things need to be attended to first but like I said earlier I'm nearly there with this one (at long last!).

Just need to give the lid a final going over to get rid of any wee imperfections that may still be hiding somewhere but that won't take too long.

 

[SirNedKingsly]

That looks amazing! I was wondering how this was all going to work out after seeing the first pictures.

You brought this home nicely!

 

[Centurion]

That looks amazing! I was wondering how this was all going to work out after seeing the first pictures.You brought this home nicely!

Thanks for the comment.

There is still a lot of weight in the plumes so that's why they are 'sagging' towards the back of the helmet but this wee problem will gon once they have been fully trimmed, shaped and stiffened!

 

[BenKenobi]

Woow, that looks fantastic!

 

[pedro1971]

Wow that is looking sensational!

 

[madwelshman]

Come on Iain, pull your finger out for Essen!

 

[Centurion]

Eureka!
That's such a lovely word at times and rather appropriate in the saga that has been the plumed Senate Guard helmet.
I have hunted high and low and tried just about everything (apart from the Cameron Diaz method :lol) to stiffen the horse hair used in the two plumes.
At last I came across the following fabric stiffener and tried it for the first time when I got in from work.

It has the consistency of watery porridge but brushes on very easily and gets into the fibers of all the hair and does'nt just "stick" the surface hair together. Once it was brushed on I just used a common hair comb to spread it more evenly through the crest and I cannot be happier with the result.
Here we are before applying the stiffener.

And a couple of shots of what the 'crest' looks like after being stiffened.

This stuff does'nt leave the hair looking as if a mad hairdresser went over the top with the 'ol hairspray and it leaves the hair looking very natural and glossy. It certainly does not leave the hair clumpy or sticky and still allows the hair to be easily trimmed with scissors.
The old sections of broken plume I have been using to experiment on have come in extremely handy and I am glad I did'nt bin them.
So!Not much of an update for this time but just thought you guys would like to see how things are going.
Got some "life" type stuff to get sorted out and a bit more work on the actual helmet to do yet but I am well chuffed at finding a product that is better than ideal for getting the two plumes stiffened up.
Hopefully not too long to go now!