Hasbro Black Series (HBS) Boba Fett mod

Naw, it's fine. It's been a rough several months and I'm on edge more than not. When I said the original helmet, I meant collectively the six Lucasfilm assets made in 1978, as opposed to any replicas, toys, or other reproductions made since. I was just a little honked off that y'all were commenting on that rather than the mod in progress. Hoping for critiques, insights, or suggestions. I'm still on the fence as to whether to correct that on the HBS and, if I do, what approach to take. Because it would mean the interior, as well, plus having to make a completely new visor, rather than re-using the stock one with more protection...

But that's no excuse for getting snippy. Carry on. I'll go back and clarify the language in my previous post.

ETA: From rough eyeballing with a straight-edge held up to the monitor, and using both the pic I posted and the one you posted, MMM, it looks like correcting that lack of kink on the HBS will add 3/8" to 1/2" at center-front. I can make it work... To prevent any cracking along the extension, d'you think I should use a thin-thin layer of plastic glued down over the exterior? I'm thinking my paper-thin .010" styrene. More, it will mean cutting and re-shaping the bottom wedges of the left and right-lower earcaps. It's a lot for something a lot of people would never notice, but if the objective is to see how close we can get this lid to the originals, I feel like I gotta at least make the attempt.
 
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I will say the worst thing about this helmet is that I don't already have three of them. :p
Welp! This is now attended to. *lol* Picked up a second Boba during GameStop's flash sale last week for under a hundred US, and have the white Prototype Boba on pre-order through them, too.

Things have been bad the last few weeks in a general sense, but the good news is it's let a lot of peripheral things happen. I've got my first WhiteShadow helmet liner, I got my first Hyperdyne rangefinder controller, and I snagged sixteen LiPo batteries from a local electronics-recycling shop for 75 cents each. I'm hoping by this weekend I'll have pictures of my progress to post. Sorry it's been quiet so long.
 
I've tried to do some research, but I simply haven't been able to put the time and energy into it (ironic, despite the world being shut down these days), but is it possible for someone to show me how accurate/not accurate the Black Series helmet is to the screen accurate version?
It would be great if I had a side by side comparison. I'm a very visual bloke.
 
Are you talking paint apps, or overall physical shape? Both are close, but not 100%. For starters, they made it symmetrical, overall, where the original so wasn't (the right side of the sculpted helmet that all six fiberglass helmets were pulled from is almost an inch longer on the right side at the ear than the left). Size-wise, it's so close as to make no nevermind. In detailing, there are discrepancies, most of which I'm addressing (and part of what's taking me a while): The bottom edge is straight, where the original has a slight concave "kink" to it at around the ears, so the front "tusks" framing the visor should be about a centimeter longer, which will shift the location of the left-tusk rectangular notch (that is missing, anyway, and that I added in what turns out to be the wrong spot); the upper-right earcap needs to be extensively reworked, not least is shifting the whole thing up a good half-inch; and not all the molded-in damage is in exactly the right spot (never mind issues with the killstripes or the really fiddly scratches and weathering), but I'm not bothering with those, since I'm not building this as a Boba.

As to the pro/con versus a cast helmet with lineage? Well, for starters, ya gets what ya pays for. Anything out there more accurate out of the box is also more expensive. Everything off about this one can be addressed with time on the part of the end-user. It's an equation: Initial outlay in $$$ to minimize time, effort, and cost of materials on your end... versus less of the first but requiring more of the second. Or, in simpler language, how much is your time worth? Unless you're someone like me who likes the challenge. But I'm probably demented, so there's that. Until I can get things set up to photograph more, here's the best side-on shot of the HBS so you can compare to the side shots of the Pre-Pro 3 and ESB Hero posted on the previous page:

hasbro-black-series-boba-fett-premium-electronic-helmet-review-7.jpg
 
Thank you for the breakdown, Inquisitor Peregrinus!
The helmet looks huge on me when I wear it, so I wasn't sure how much of that is me being vertically challenged, or if the BS helmet was actually made a little larger.
As I figured, it's definitely my smaller frame.
 
I mean, maybe? We're used to a certain fitted-ness, from Jango and Din. It can be easy to forget that, back in 1980, that thing was a bit more of a bucket on Boba:

1593890402666.png


Look past the shoulder and collar plates, which can bulk one up a bit, to see how big 6'1" Jeremy Bulloch was in comparison to the helmet.

That said, I'd only recommend a 1:1 Boba for someone six-foot-plus of average or more build. A decade ago, I'd suggest a Rubies two-piece Jango for someone between five and six feet, but they're harder to come but these days. I have high hopes rumors are true and the next -- or one of the next -- Black Series helmet(s) is Din's from The Mandalorian. Yeah, Pedro's still 5'11", but the helmet is shaped more to him, so it would work on probably at least several inches shorter.

As for slight... Well, I don't know how slight is slight, but much can be done with large shoulder bells, padded/quilted flak vest, heel lifts, and other methods to expand your silhouette and have it still look right.
 
I mean, maybe? We're used to a certain fitted-ness, from Jango and Din. It can be easy to forget that, back in 1980, that thing was a bit more of a bucket on Boba:

View attachment 1321218

Look past the shoulder and collar plates, which can bulk one up a bit, to see how big 6'1" Jeremy Bulloch was in comparison to the helmet.

That said, I'd only recommend a 1:1 Boba for someone six-foot-plus of average or more build. A decade ago, I'd suggest a Rubies two-piece Jango for someone between five and six feet, but they're harder to come but these days. I have high hopes rumors are true and the next -- or one of the next -- Black Series helmet(s) is Din's from The Mandalorian. Yeah, Pedro's still 5'11", but the helmet is shaped more to him, so it would work on probably at least several inches shorter.

As for slight... Well, I don't know how slight is slight, but much can be done with large shoulder bells, padded/quilted flak vest, heel lifts, and other methods to expand your silhouette and have it still look right.
Golly, I didn't realize it was that large on him too.

Thanks again for the pointers. I was mainly curious to know how accurate it was just in general, and using that information for future purchases, whether it be a more accurate Fett helmet or something more custom.
 
How do you get the dome off? Seems to be on there tightly. I removed the screws in the back and the one at the front but I can’t seem to loosen the dome.
 
I found mine was partially glued around the right ear, where the rangefinder fits in. I used a flat bladed screwdriver to pry it apart gently after I'd gutted everything else out of mine.
 
I found mine was partially glued around the right ear, where the rangefinder fits in. I used a flat bladed screwdriver to pry it apart gently after I'd gutted everything else out of mine.

Doing this will allow it to all go back together like before right? Just as tight etc. Once I do this, will the dome come off easily enough?
 
WOW THANK YOU!!! I hope if Rob Pauza does a v3 or anyone out there does a new mandalorian helmet, they work out the visor details to match the black series design. The black series has the best scallops for the best visor possible.
 
I'm still here. It's been a difficult summer and fall for me, but I'm sorta kinda hopefully coming out of it. I'll be dusting this off after the weekend and posting where I am with this currently -- physically and existentially. I stumbled into some things that have me facing some hard "how extreme should I go" questions.
 
I'm still here. It's been a difficult summer and fall for me, but I'm sorta kinda hopefully coming out of it. I'll be dusting this off after the weekend and posting where I am with this currently -- physically and existentially. I stumbled into some things that have me facing some hard "how extreme should I go" questions.
Hey! Can't wait to see more updates! But still, take as much time as you need! :)
 
First round of insightful comparisons. RafalFett, your ESB Boba damage templates are magnificent. And also a testament to how closely Hasbro got the stuff they did, in fact, get. I used them, taped to the helmet, to get a sense of what was off. The results are... irritating.

Most notably, the back skirting. The right side dimensions are almost spot-on:

HBS BF Right Rear.jpg


But, as you can see, shorter than the original at the bottom. The brow band is perfect (except some of the damage is mislocated a little).

The left side is more interesting:

HBS BF Left Rear.jpg


Same again, but this is following the curvature, which is uniform on the HBS. If it were a shallower flare on the left, and it mated up to the brow band up top, it'd be just right at the bottom. I've known for ages the original prop is asymmetrical as hell. Didn't quite realize the flare of the sides was that different, too.

They obviously took their skirting length from the left side of the original, rather than averaging the two, or even just doing something like this, because this is about 5/16" too short on both sides, and a little over 9/16" too short at center back (closer to 19/32"):

HBS BF Rear Inside.jpg


...Which means they scaled the inset and keyslots down to fit:

HBS BF Center back.jpg

HBS BF Rear Inset.jpg

HBS BF Rear Keyslots.jpg


The flat bottom edge of the HBS I knew was wrong. There's supposed to be a slight kink around the ears. I thought, from stuff I'll get to in the next post, that the front needed to be lengthened. I didn't realize the back needed to be lengthened, and to varying degrees. Feel free to comment. I'll be back in a couple hours with more.
 
Okay, moving around to the front. When I was originally siting the left-mandible rectangular slot, I printed out Levi's damage template for that side and, when it didn't quite fit, shrunk it slightly until it did, marked and cut, moved on... Later, when Mr Mold Maker pointed something out, I realized that reduction meant the front of the helmet was too short, and needed lengthening. Turns out, I was wrong about that. The asymmetry of the original is even more apparent on the front of the helmet. The whole vertical portion of the visor on the original is off-center toward the left by about 3/32":

HBS BF Front Visor Vertical Edges.jpg


But with everything aligned on the brow band and at the earcaps, the mandibles are the right length, as you can see right there. Found the actual problem, though. The HBS, for whatever reason, widened the horizontal visor by about an eighth of an inch, which shifted the cheekbones down the same amount:

HBS BF Visor Opening Inside.jpg


You can also see there more evidence of the vertical part of the 'T' being offset on the original. This is a frustrating thing for me. I could cut the sides of the visor and pull it up, hide the seam with a thin (.010") sheet of styrene laid over the whole face, and then cut out the visor and cheeks... But that leads me to:

HBS BF Front Right.jpg

HBS BF Front Left.jpg


What you're looking at there is evidence the HBS' cheek insets are too shallow. They should be at a steeper angle. That's what the flare of those curved pieces means, when, when they're aligned at the back edges and held to the contour, they stick out so far at the front. The cheekplates themselves are about the right size. Just hard to site them properly, as they're meant to fit into a steeper curve. If I were able to tweak things a bit better, the Borden connector would be in exactly the right spot, so there's that.

So.

At this point I'm looking at three options: Leave it as is; cut out the cheeks, cut the sides of the visor, cut out the back skirt, and replace all the too-small/wrong-shape bits; something in between those extremes,

I am inclined, for my prototype helmet, to address everything, to make as close to a symmetrical version of the original white Supertrooper helmet as I can. I am equally inclined, for the other two, to leave the face, and just do a longer back skirt with a new, bigger, keyslot inset on all three. The trick, at this point, is how to sort out the back skirt/earcap base interface...

As it is, the bottom edge of the back skirt is at the right angle, but too short. If I put a new one in at that length, I need to extend the helmet sides the same amount, and the back ends of the cheekbones. That would have the ultimate effect of making both sides the length of the right side of the original helmet.

I could average out the two sides, which would still require lengthening the lower ends at the ears, but at a different angle. I could use a full size keyslot inset in a full size cutout, but sacrifice about a quarter of an inch off the generous real estate of the top of the flat inset plate to shift it up enough to fit. I'd still have to extend the back ends of the cheekbones by about an eighth of an inch to meet the new back bottom edge, but the helmets would at least have the slight "kink" between front and back halves I consider so distinctively Boba.

All in all, I still consider it a good base to work from. I'm going to compare it to the hard-plastic Rubies helmet from a few years ago later, now that I have a better idea what I'm looking at and for. Anyone is welcome to take their own approaches to what I talk about above or end up doing, myself, even if I don't know how many would be as unhinged as I to tackle something so extensive. *lol* Given the accuracy of the dome and brow band, overall face shape, and so forth, I do still think I prefer taking one of these and modding it to ridiculous lengths over scratchbuilding one.
 
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Thanks for the kind words, Jonah! I wouldn't rely only on my stencils for a 100% accuracy, as these are not perfect, but good for a starting point. It is obvious that Hasbro wanted a symmetrical look and to achieve that they had to alter/reduce some of the areas. eFX , while not perfect, did a better job with the helmet.
 
Levi... Your research is solid. I trust your estimates more than most people's facts. :p I don't need the damage locating to be accurate to the micrometer, as I'm not doing a Boba bucket, but the raw dimensions and proportions are gleanable from all of the photo reference -- some with rulers -- and you've been right far more than you've been wrong. You've worked from known quantities like the Honeywell microswitch, Polaroid viewfinder lens, Borden connector, etc., and measured things against those, and so forth. The size and positioning of the visor cutout in your templates I take to be well within reasonable tolerance to the original prop, for instance. Certainly close enough for the purposes of these comparisons.

I know eFX and others have more accurately re-created the original prop, but I want the best base I can find for a symmetrical version of the original prop. Your templates are giving me an idea of where they changed things and how, thus giving me the range of options of how to address those changes -- if at all. I could use the dome, brow band, and earcap substrates as a scaffold to rework the horizontal visor height (while maintaining face length), and replace the cheeks and rear skirting with more-accurately-sized-and-shaped pieces that are simple enough to make. It's all elbow grease and time, both of which I have in plenty. Your templates are easily good enough to do all of that, balanced out right and left.

As with my Black Series Stormtrooper helmets, I'm using these as bases to make idealized "what-if" versions of what these would more likely have been in-universe if the people making them had cared more about symmetry, while getting as many of the characteristics of the originals as I can closer than Hasbro conveyed. I use the original props for reference, and do my best to honor them, but I am not seeking to replicate. :)
 
So I just re-read the first two pages to this point. I'm wincing at how many things I missed or misinterpreted early on. I'm glad I caught them before I got too far in. Based on everything, I think where I'm going to go from here is:

• Start with the damage templates I've been using here as the basis for a new, lengthened rear skirt. Warm it enough to hold the curve. There's fiddly stuff that's easier to show than tell, around the lower portions of the earcap substrates. New additions will be mostly, but not entirely secured in place in this and the following step, due to each having portions that overlap the front/back join.

• Cut an 'L' cut... or, rather, I suppose, a '¬' cut from the midpoint of the horizontal visor opening back, then down to the bottom edge, slightly behind the cheek cutout, so I have that vertical edge defined. Removing enough material in the horizontal cut to shift those pieces up an eighth of an inch. Repeat as needed for the inner face plate. And oval out the circular passthroughs on the visor so it stays in the same spot, even as the lower face shifts up. Fiddly cleanup TBD at the bottoms of the "mandibles" to lengthen them back out to compensate. .010" thick sheet styrene bonded over the front half while front and back clicked together to make sure the curvature's right. This also has the benefit of covering most of the topical damage.

• Cut out the cheek insets. Trace the flat cheekplates as starting point for templates to make new ones. Average out the angled "cheekbones". Once they're cut, cleaned up, and securely attached, use them to finalize cheekplates. New bottom line starting at mandibles, angled down just a degree or two heading rearward, to meet the new rear skirting just behind the earcaps (3/32" longer than existing, at that location). As with the above, make alterations necessary to inner faceplate pieces.

• Cut out the opening for the keyslot inset at center back, frame in, and add a new keyslot detail. Most of it I can do from scratch in less than an hour. The actual curved keyslot piece... RafalFett, would you, by any chance, be willing to isolate that portion of your 3D helmet model and put it up on your Shapeways shop? I already have lots of your Mando things bookmarked for purchase as I work my way down from the helmet, but this I'd need first. If you are not so inclined, that's all right, and I'll sort out that area once I get there. It'd just be nice to know in advance what approach I'll have to take with the most complex shape out of all this.

• Earcaps to be continued after all of that is addressed.

But first, tomorrow I'm going to post comparison pics of how the older Rubies Boba is with these elements.
 
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