Blast Shield X-Wing Helmet (EFX conversion)

[gabe3666]

So I was rearranging my helmet display when I accidentally dropped my EFX Wedge Helmet and cracked it in several spots. I was going to just let it be and keep it on display since you can only see the cracks up close. Then a few weeks ago I came across a collector that was selling the EFX wedges helmet at an amazing price and couldn’t pass it up! (no box, COA, or plaque)

So I decided to convert the broken EFX helmet into the Blast Shield Helmet from ANH. This is my journey.

 

[gabe3666]

First I removed the lenses. They were just glued to a small block. The lining was glued to them as well so I had to be careful. I also started playing with sandpaper grit to see if I could keep as much of the base white.
My plan is to color match the white and weathering rather than starting from scratch. 220 seemed to work the best for the black details.

 

[gabe3666]

I started sanding and luckily EFX doesn’t apply a heavy clear coat so the top layers were really easy to remove. I had to go a bit coarser for the green (160). So far so good.

 

[russellsch]

Holy cow, that must've been one hell of a drop! Sucks that it broke easily.
Buuuuut, way to turn a travesty into a win!
Can't wait to see the final outcome.

 

[gabe3666]

Holy cow, that must've been one hell of a drop! Sucks that it broke easily.
Buuuuut, way to turn a travesty into a win!
Can't wait to see the final outcome.

Unfortunately it was just the way it landed. It landed face down on the hardwood floor. It broke the front cap and cracked the sides since it’s all fiberglass.

 

[gabe3666]

Here is the helmet sanded down. Anyone know the color they used to paint x-wing helmets? You think it’s reefer white?

 

[nailuj]

I am liking this a lot !
Its a real shame about you dropping the wedge but 'your loss will me our gain' I think.
The blast shield helmet is probably one of my favorites.

 

[Halliwax]

A lot of work, it will pay off in the end!

 

[gabe3666]

Ok so today I tested a few paints but decided that the basic Rustoleum Flat White was the closest. Although the base white on the original helmet had a bit of a bluish tint to it, after the weathering it won’t be noticeable

I then taped off as much of the white and weathering as I could and sprayed the first coat.

After removing the masking tape, I noticed a lot of noticeable high spots so I decided to paint larger portions of the helmet.

I then started to play with the weathering. I mixed black and burnt Siena acrylic paints in water and started blotting and wiping.

 

[Halliwax]

Thumbs up!

 

[gabe3666]

Ok so after peeling off the tape I decided that there were too many sharp lines where it would be more time consuming to sand down than paint. So I painted most of the original weathering.

 

[gabe3666]

After getting it to the right color and weathering, I realized that the original helmet doesn’t have the rubber trim on the bottom. So I’ll have to strip that off and paint the bottom. One step forward, two steps back.

 

[gabe3666]

Ok then I started applying the decals and the helmet was starting to look great....then I realized the decals were not screen accurate. So I’m going to use my wife’s Cricut machine to make screen accurate vinyl stencils so I can hand paint the details. Stay tuned.

 

[el toro]

Looking good.

 

[gabe3666]

Ok here is the update. I finished the base weathering. I also spent a few days perfecting the decals. These are pretty much as close as you can get to the screen used helmet since I took them directly from screen grabs and photos of the ROTJ helmet they reworked.

There are slight differences between the right side and left side details, which I made sure to capture in the decals. Also the gray part in the main symbol is different so I made adjustments to match them.

I applied the decals, which was actually kinda hard because I wanted to get the placement exactly like the original. Both sides are placed differently just like the screen used helmet.

I will start painting today and post what colors I used.

 

[gabe3666]

So it’s been a while but here are some pics of my progress.

 

[gabe3666]

Here are some pics of my visor process. I studied the lines on the regular yellow visor and seemed to match the lines on the blast shield, so I went with it. I taped the lines and used a heat gun and some scrap wood to make the bends. Came out good!

 

[gabe3666]

Added some final details by comparing the original helmet. And here is the final helmet 99% done, just needs the front cap replaced. Really proud of the way it came out!

 

[russellsch]

Beautiful! Well done sir!

 

[PropReplicator2]

Looks absolutely amazing!