Black series XWing Pilot helmet up for pre-order on Amazon

Any advice on how to tackle the black pin striping on Wedge’s helmet? I’ve been running through options, but haven’t settled on anything yet. Did you do yours freehand?

In a sense, yes - I did freehand the pin striping on Wedge's helmet (as well as Red Leader and Blue Leader). The large black stripes I masked off with blue painter's mask, which made it rather easy to fill in with black paint - I used Tamiya Flat Black there - but for the smaller stripes I used a black paint pen. The Molotow 4mm paint pen works brilliantly for that, as it's a consistent line and you can follow the contours of the helmet pretty easily with it.
 
In a sense, yes - I did freehand the pin striping on Wedge's helmet (as well as Red Leader and Blue Leader). The large black stripes I masked off with blue painter's mask, which made it rather easy to fill in with black paint - I used Tamiya Flat Black there - but for the smaller stripes I used a black paint pen. The Molotow 4mm paint pen works brilliantly for that, as it's a consistent line and you can follow the contours of the helmet pretty easily with it.

Excellent! I just ordered the pen, so hopefully i’ll have a steady hand. The images/video’s you shared have been incredibly helpful. Especially with the tear down process.

I’m sure I’ll have more questions in the coming days, so thanks again for all of your help!
 
You guys are killing me! Between this thread and the Hasbro Boba Fett thread.. man, I just want to buy all the Black Series lids and customize like crazy! We are in a very fortunate time.. I remember the Mass produced products you used to be able to get at costume stores and they don’t hold a candle to this stuff.
I know, right? I'm currently at three HBS Stormtroopers (two of them Shadow Troopers), with another Shadow Trooper on pre-order through GameStop; one Poe being accurized and customized for a friend; one Boba, needing a second, and with the white Prototype Boba pre-ordered through GameStop; I need four of these; and even though I'm not doing anything Kylo-related, I've heard such good things about the HBS helmet that I want one just to fiddle with it. Maybe turn it into the kintsugi version from TROS... A friend is going to get the Mandalorian helmet as soon as that's verified and up for pre-order, and I may get one or two, too. Can't wait to see what's next after that. Not everything is exact, but Hasbro has been getting way more hits than misses with this line.
 
Excellent! I just ordered the pen, so hopefully i’ll have a steady hand. The images/video’s you shared have been incredibly helpful. Especially with the tear down process.

I’m sure I’ll have more questions in the coming days, so thanks again for all of your help!

Feel free to hit me up anytime you have a question or need help! :D
 
I know, right? I'm currently at three HBS Stormtroopers (two of them Shadow Troopers), with another Shadow Trooper on pre-order through GameStop; one Poe being accurized and customized for a friend; one Boba, needing a second, and with the white Prototype Boba pre-ordered through GameStop; I need four of these; and even though I'm not doing anything Kylo-related, I've heard such good things about the HBS helmet that I want one just to fiddle with it. Maybe turn it into the kintsugi version from TROS... A friend is going to get the Mandalorian helmet as soon as that's verified and up for pre-order, and I may get one or two, too. Can't wait to see what's next after that. Not everything is exact, but Hasbro has been getting way more hits than misses with this line.

Totally agree - and I'm really tempted to pick up the HBS Proto-Boba (I love those pre-production ESB bits) too! As far as the HBS line is concerned, yeah - they've really crushed it with this line!
 
Also - as a sort of "N.B." to the thread - I drew-out accurate APH-6B/C earcup pads that a buddy of mine is laser cutting for me, the dimensions (outer length, width, and height of the earcup pads) were pulled from Macorrie's APH he converted into Wedge's helmet. I'm wrapping them in pleather that's as close in color to the original pads as I can find, and fitting them into my helmets. I'll post pictures when I have everything together and fitted into one of the HBS X-Wing helmets later this week.
 
Also - as a sort of "N.B." to the thread - I drew-out accurate APH-6B/C earcup pads that a buddy of mine is laser cutting for me, the dimensions (outer length, width, and height of the earcup pads) were pulled from Macorrie's APH he converted into Wedge's helmet. I'm wrapping them in pleather that's as close in color to the original pads as I can find, and fitting them into my helmets. I'll post pictures when I have everything together and fitted into one of the HBS X-Wing helmets later this week.
Might this be a thing you'd consider doing, say, more than one of...?
 
So I ordered a set of decals from a popular Etsy seller for my Black Series Wedge repaint. They looked good on the sheet when I received them, and went to apply them to my helmet. That’s when I realized there were two issues with them.

First, the “V” decals are all unevenly cut. The left side on all of them look like the example below.
EFF864FA-288C-4740-9C76-0316F6893708.jpeg


That was after I had placed the “sliced onion” cheek decal, and noticed it was way too small. From everything I’ve seen, this decal nearly touches the top, and bottom of that area on the screen used helmets.

7B387EF6-7B7B-437B-A620-78309232CB8D.jpeg


Screen used helmet below:
3407D4F0-DD59-4100-922B-70A71B2F4714.jpeg


The reason I’m posting about this, is that I was concerned with Etsy seller’s response to my email pointing these issues out. According to him, the “V” decals are like that on screen used helmets, so it’s apparently accurate.

He also claims that the Black Series Helmet is “comically oversized” which is why the decals seem small. As far as I know, the black series helmets are actually on the smaller end. I was initially concerned the decals would be too big when I ordered them.

Can anyone here provide insight? Am I crazy to think these decals are both cut wrong, and too small? I don’t want to sling mud at the seller, but these issues seem like ones that should be addressed. I was told that I could buy another sheet if I wanted them replaced, which is not something I feel I should have to do.
 
IMO, in the screen shot you posted the "sliced onion" circle is larger than the square oxygen mask connector on the front edge of the helmet. The decal you received the circle is smaller than that same mask connector square. So this would lead me to believe your helmet is indeed larger.

Also, it looks like the decal on the screen used helmet sits a little lower down closer to the black stripe. Getting good screen grabs online is a tad difficult.

wedge.png
 
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So I ordered a set of decals from a popular Etsy seller for my Black Series Wedge repaint. They looked good on the sheet when I received them, and went to apply them to my helmet. That’s when I realized there were two issues with them.

First, the “V” decals are all unevenly cut. The left side on all of them look like the example below.
View attachment 1307213

That was after I had placed the “sliced onion” cheek decal, and noticed it was way too small. From everything I’ve seen, this decal nearly touches the top, and bottom of that area on the screen used helmets.

View attachment 1307216

Screen used helmet below:
View attachment 1307217

The reason I’m posting about this, is that I was concerned with Etsy seller’s response to my email pointing these issues out. According to him, the “V” decals are like that on screen used helmets, so it’s apparently accurate.

He also claims that the Black Series Helmet is “comically oversized” which is why the decals seem small. As far as I know, the black series helmets are actually on the smaller end. I was initially concerned the decals would be too big when I ordered them.

Can anyone here provide insight? Am I crazy to think these decals are both cut wrong, and too small? I don’t want to sling mud at the seller, but these issues seem like ones that should be addressed. I was told that I could buy another sheet if I wanted them replaced, which is not something I feel I should have to do.

From what I can tell, the HBS helmets aren't that much smaller compared to the original APH helmets... The onion slices had to be scaled down a tiny bit (like 10% smaller - tops) for Gold Leader and Red 4 to fit on the mohawk strip, as the strip piece on the HBS helmets is not a flat piece of plastic glued to the top of the mohawk. Beyond that, the size of the onion slices you've got are quite small (drop me a PM, I have a pair of extra ones from my Gold Leader build that were from before the "re-scaling" I can send to you); and sometimes the "V's" aren't cut perfectly from the sheet - I assume those are vinyl - so you may have to touch them up with some paint or a fine-point paint pen.

A little extra work, but it's not terrible.

And, you're not crazy on the scaling thing.
 
IMO, in the screen shot you posted the "sliced onion" circle is larger than the square oxygen mask connector on the front edge of the helmet. The decal you received the circle is smaller than that same mask connector square. So this would lead me to believe your helmet is indeed larger.

Also, it looks like the decal on the screen used helmet sits a little lower down closer to the black stripe. Getting good screen grabs online is a tad difficult.

View attachment 1307234

I agree that it’s hard to get a good screenshot that shows a lot of detail. Also, you’re right that the sliced onion decal is lower on the screen used prop. I placed it just to liiustrate how small the decal is. Even a little higher up from the black line, it still comes nowhere near the curved portion at the top.

DJb1138 is sending me some decals, so I should be able to make a direct comparison soon.
 
So I ordered a set of decals from a popular Etsy seller for my Black Series Wedge repaint. They looked good on the sheet when I received them, and went to apply them to my helmet. That’s when I realized there were two issues with them.

First, the “V” decals are all unevenly cut. The left side on all of them look like the example below.
View attachment 1307213

That was after I had placed the “sliced onion” cheek decal, and noticed it was way too small. From everything I’ve seen, this decal nearly touches the top, and bottom of that area on the screen used helmets.

View attachment 1307216

Screen used helmet below:
View attachment 1307217

The reason I’m posting about this, is that I was concerned with Etsy seller’s response to my email pointing these issues out. According to him, the “V” decals are like that on screen used helmets, so it’s apparently accurate.

He also claims that the Black Series Helmet is “comically oversized” which is why the decals seem small. As far as I know, the black series helmets are actually on the smaller end. I was initially concerned the decals would be too big when I ordered them.

Can anyone here provide insight? Am I crazy to think these decals are both cut wrong, and too small? I don’t want to sling mud at the seller, but these issues seem like ones that should be addressed. I was told that I could buy another sheet if I wanted them replaced, which is not something I feel I should have to do.

That onion slice decal is to small. Its the decal and not the helmet thats the issue. The seller has no idea what he is talking about if he believes the BS is comically large. Its pretty much 1:1 scale out side of the mohawk. If I remember correctly its like under an inch narrower. The screen used looked wide on the actors so I think that was a conscience decision on Hasbro's part.
 
That onion slice decal is to small. Its the decal and not the helmet thats the issue. The seller has no idea what he is talking about if he believes the BS is comically large. Its pretty much 1:1 scale out side of the mohawk. If I remember correctly its like under an inch narrower. The screen used looked wide on the actors so I think that was a conscience decision on Hasbro's part.

That’s exactly what I heard too. The Mohawk is the only part that is noticeably small. I’m still working it out with the Etsy seller, so hopefully I can help him make some adjustments.
 
I still believe the mohawk is small because they used Rogue One helmets as the base for the Black Series helmet. They appears to be smaller when compared to the original trilogy counterpart.
 
He also claims that the Black Series Helmet is “comically oversized” which is why the decals seem small. As far as I know, the black series helmets are actually on the smaller end. I was initially concerned the decals would be too big when I ordered them.

It's DEFINITELY not oversized and certainly not comically so.
 

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