DarkLyte, I went with the metal grill off of a Fram engine filter for the mouth & chin vent. I spray painted it after cutting to size to prevent any rust from sweating like a pig in it since I wear the helmet
View attachment 851905
Darn it, I used to have dozens of those things!DarkLyte, I went with the metal grill off of a Fram engine filter for the mouth & chin vent. I spray painted it after cutting to size to prevent any rust from sweating like a pig in it since I wear the helmet
View attachment 851905
Just finished fixing the nose. Airbrushed with Tamiya flat aluminum.
Before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181027/f6c6d0a43de0453d58dddd34d03e1aa6.jpg
After:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181027/7f77ac161bd223118eb55c645f779d0d.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181027/e55cac6c73230f11d5201b78e570a59b.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A Rogue One Reveal!:cool
@DarkLyte (and every1 else, sup every1), I added the filter mesh to the mouth and chin, but didn't add extra behind it on the mouth since I was going to be wearing it and it gets crazy hot (so much so that condensation sometimes poured out the mouth like old man Vader was drooling *ewww), but if I was going to set it up for a display, I'd def put a 2nd layer of mesh behind it. I would probably go with some denser black screen mesh from a house window's window screen or screened-in-porch screen or speaker grill screen if I could find the right weave-pattern of it out there somewhere, that'd look good behind the metal filter mesh for sure, brother.
1st arrow: On the chin, I put the metal filter grill inside the chin hole from the inside, then on top of that I simply replaced the speaker junk (along with it's molded grill garbage) back behind it b/c I didn't want to scrap that bada$$ opening/closing/breathing sound efx. The extra thickness of the filter grill being added to the chin didn't hurt being able to close the whole neck piece back together either.
2nd arrow: Although no one would ever see this, I went ahead and painted the underside of the neck where it should have been painted silver like the inside neck area, since it meets up with it and is part of the same Vadery wiring-component thingy.
View attachment 852310
Great work so far DarkLyte. I thought about reducing the size of the lower grill myself but decided to just add some stainless steel mesh and metal tusks instead. I have extended my neck though by about 3/4" but didn't bother with any flare. The longer neck has made a huge difference to the overall look I think - it looks much more balanced now. I will have to repaint the lower section though - I used a diffrerent filler to my usual blend in the neck extension and, in the intervening weeks, it seems to have shrunk back a touch which has left a tiny line where the joint is. It only really shows when the light catches it but it's annoying me royally so I'll have to do something about it. I used a graphite colour for the two-tone. It looks a touch darker in real life than in these photos, but is just enough to remove the general 'blackness' that was the problem when filming ANH and which led to the gunmetal being applied in the first place.
My next job is to get some putty in the 'nose' to give it the proper concave curved shape, rather than the square-cornered recess that Hasbro gave it, before getting some silver paint on it.
I'd very much like to redden the eyes too and am experimenting with things at the moment as I'd like to retain the clarity. One method that looks promising on some test perspex is airbrushed Tamiya Red Clear followed by a few coats of Klear (Future) floor polish to restore the clarity.
I'm following your progress with great interest!
View attachment 905630 View attachment 905631 View attachment 905632
Your earlier photos of your next extension are what motivated me to do it on mine. It's crazy how much it adds to the balance of the helmet as you said. Yours looks fantastic! The paint job on yours looks great as well.
Did you use the Fram air filter mesh on yours as well? Where did you get the smaller mesh for the mouth?
Sorry to hear of your lens problem DarkLyte. I know nothing at all about this supplier but there are replacement lenses available here too it seems - OPLE Props : OPLE Props Linse für Hasbro Black Series Helm Darth Vader Tauschlinsen Linsen Helm Helm
Not a big deal, we all know what it's like to mess up when building props. That's how we learn! I saw the ones from OPLE Props however I'm not a huge fan of the bubble shape of the lenses since the bubble doesn't go edge to edge in the eye hole. In the event that the ones from Vaderpainter Studios don't work out, I'll probably have to fall back on the OPLE option or try and find another helmet on clearance and get the lenses from it.