mortifactor's stuff. ESB Trooper Helmet. Trick or Trooping (in the loosest sense)

[parfaitelumiere]

Re: mortifactor's first prop build - Graflex ESB. Allegedly finished.

Looking forward to get a correct ESB graflex bottom and a red button to amke a ESB graflex too.
It was my first idea, but the board was so difficult to find I finally made a ANH version, even I had several genuine kobold flash reflector holders...
the other issue is to find a genuine folmer graflex "new york) bottom with correct cap angle.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: mortifactor's first prop build - Graflex ESB. Allegedly finished.

That's a mighty fine ESB lightsaber ... As for the brown T-tracks found by saberfreak ... Roger mentioned in an interview that he was given a whole roll of the stuff in Singapore if I recall correctly ... so eventhough it's harder plastic if you have enough meters of the stuff you can roll it up . . . so that said I'm not 100% convinced rubbery T-tracks is the way to go for Luke/Darth ANH :wacko . . . I certainly hope that one day we do get the know what was really used, in the meantime let's enjoy the plastic T-tracks provided by GINO and Roy

Chaim

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

Just before Christmas I received a lovely helmet kit from RS Propmasters. They didn't have the HDPE kit unfortunately, so it is 1.5mm ABS. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with high quality paint adhesion and forgo the battered TK look :lol

I rested the cap on the faceplate and left it staring at me from the workbench for weeks.. until I decided it was time to stop saving pictures off the internet and start actually doing.


Eyes

Dug the first eye holes by sticking a fresh scalpel blade and rotating.







I was ready to use power tools here, but found making holes with the blade in combination with scoring far easier and controlled.


1# Drew a conservative eye line.
2# Scored around line delicately, doesn't take much. Sharp blade is ideal. ABS feels like cutting through chocolate.
3# Rotated blade to make holes in the corner, scored in between holes and gently cut/snapped away the material.
4# Tip: Always look at reference pics while doing it!! I imagine it is possible to remove too much or too little and get a weird looking TK.







Nose/frown/teeth/moustache

I always saw this part as more of a moustache/nose area on the helmets - but on the net it is called a "frown" made of "teeth"

1# Drew a line
2# Scored and snapped
3# Tidied with a small jewellery file. A set of them is very cheap. Used to see them in poundland back in the UK - yep £1. Probably in dollar stores, too.








I figured at this stage it was potentially wearable.... first TK helmet experience!





Ears

Next up, the ears!

1# Cut roughly out with scalpel. The RS ears come pre-marked, but I decided not to trust them.
2# Took constant refitting and trial and error. Took off millimetres at a time.
3# Would have been better to do it once I had the cap and faceplate riveted together in their final position. Do this first!
4# I used a rotary tool with sanding drum for this part, marking areas to remove and shaving of minuscule amounts at a time.
5# I'm not too worried if they aren't a 100% fit, I want an authentic looking end result. As long as they aren't way off.
6# If a perfect fit is desired, one of these is priceless and most likely necessary: (a contour gauge duplicator - check it out if you want to do an idealised, hero or ROTJ helmet.)

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP



Funnily enough, felt like Kylo Ren in this thing. Sounded like him too.




Just prior to final adjustment below.






Final rivet placement. Notice the wrong sets of holes on the bottom! Luckily this is hidden by the ear caps.
I also played it safe with the trimming on the back, I want as many options as possible for ear placement at this stage.

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

A few minor adjustments and ready for paint. If you see anything awfully wrong with it, please come forward! :lol

Some black cloth shoved in to assess the eye lines.












Thinking about making the brow a little higher.

 

[matty matt]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

Looks great.

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

Been way too busy at work, can't believe it has been sitting since January! I'm looking for a bit of HDPE from an RS bucket, if anybody has an offcut or anything if they built a kit. I'm trying to get a colour match for an undercoat. Does anybody have any laying around? Or even anything RAL7034 coloured! What about you German guys on here? (I can't get the actual paint shipped to Japan , gotta be a swatch)

On the up side, I've managed to find 3 golden MGC mausers while living here, for about $80 a piece. One has been partially sand blasted but it was a little bit rough with the die cast, so am going to lovingly scrub the others until the gold is gone!

 

[thd9791]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

Nice work on everything! Seriously have to compliment you on the graflex clamp screw. Looks dead on

 

[jkno]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

The helmet looks great so far!! Will be following!

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Graflex / ESB Stormtrooper Helmet WIP

Chugging along slowly.



Could only find transparent primer. A real pain to ensure I got it all covered.








Found some easy to get RAL7034! Even if it is a shade or so off, it is close enough for my purposes (a few exposed nicks and scratches)















Looks all right! I was surprised to see Vallejo doing RAL7034 in such a convenient format. I can't get the spray paint etc shipped from Europe, so this was my best option.

 

[kurtyboy]

Re: mortifactor's first prop build - Graflex ESB

Just keep in mind Roger Christian is talking about ANH, which was prepped in 1976 and eventhough the T-strips, as he recalls were on a roll and thus most likely rubbery, ... by the time ESB was made in 1979/80 they could have switched to the use plastic T-tracks, which were replicated from the original stuff ... since Roger also mentioned in a later comment : 'I've got one (G R A F L E X) in my hand now. I'm making some (new lightsabers), exactly as I made my originals - I've had the T-strip made EXACTLY as I put on the first one, and i've had bubble strips made identically to the ones that i used. I'm making a few of those. I don't know what I will do with them.' So if he's still able able to recreate and replicate those exact T-strips now, he most certainly could when they ran out of stock back in 1979/80 ... now whether those ESB were rubbery or plastic still remains to be seen ... though GINO watched some first hand and is adament to claim they were plastic ... and I don't see why I should not trust his excruciating observations

Chaim

My hard plastic real track from Saberfreak came rolled up. Had to heat and straighten it.

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Stormtrooper Helmet / ESB Luke DL-44 in Progress!

Starting up something else with this lot - First up will be a Luke ESB DL-44, with parts from Boba Debt's run.





These gold plated MGCs are plentiful online here in Japan, problem is - what to do with the damn plating!

I have 2 and a half because I was unhappy with the condition of the lower on one of them. It looked like it had been target practice for a couple of BBs (see the bottom one on the pic below). Luckily, with these everywhere, I managed to score an already sandblasted lower section to swap out. That one will be saved for a Han ANH, as it has a random hole in the front of it (would be covered by the plastic grill parts, but Luke's has nothing there).






Oh.. .how I wish I could sand blast the whole lot!!

I picked up a proxxon micro sander, oscillating.





Result: Very useful for getting around the recesses, beats a rotary tool at the job.






It's tough sanding/polishing through the nickel layer to reveal a copper one beneath. The copper is quite difficult to remove also, underneath is the tell-tale bluish hue of the diecast (bluish compared to the yellowish nickel).

Trouble is, it is too much labour. It took me 4 hours to get to this:




And this is the easy part, the upper is hell to do. I've decided to change methods and will clean up and paint with rustoleum flat black with a going over of wire wool (it looks great on scottjua's recent live fire). This brings me to the next question - how do I disassemble the upper? I need to pull out the back part so it can be stripped (not enough clearance for a layer of paint in the movement, I imagine) and the rest painted.

 

[kurtyboy]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. Stuck on ESB Luke DL-44

I think you just unscrew the back of the bolt. Just going from memory here...

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. Stuck on ESB Luke DL-44

I only had a brief window of time to paint my storm trooper helmet, and went for it. Unfortunately, I missed a small area under the tubes with the paint - I'll need to re-coat it. My paint set up is atrocious, cramped in a cardboard fortress on my balcony. I miss open spaces!

How long shall I wait before re-coating with Rustoleum? I know it has to cure completely or risk ruin. I might just forget about it for a week or 2 and then touch up the patchy areas. Can you partially re-coat rustoleum like that? (i.e. not having to re-coat the entire object, just a patch)

Anyone got any experience?

I've never used enamels before and am very cautious with it - luckily, plenty of people seem to paint their cars with it on the internet :lol I've got plenty to read.

 

[mugatu]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. Stuck on ESB Luke DL-44

You could try electro-cleaning the MGC's to remove the plating. It would take a very minor investment and if you aren't careful, it might have unintended results on the zinc, but it should quickly remove the plating in a few minutes.

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. Stuck on ESB Luke DL-44

You could try electro-cleaning the MGC's to remove the plating. It would take a very minor investment and if you aren't careful, it might have unintended results on the zinc, but it should quickly remove the plating in a few minutes.

Even the vinegar I used with the sander resulted in a little pitting. I'm too scared :lol

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. Stuck on ESB Luke DL-44

Some more of the RS storm trooper helmet now.

Vallejo HDPE shade was a success!

Let's go back outside.

After the ordeal of using rustoleum right in my own face (respirator included), here it is curing in the sun.

Detail time! Love the Tamiya paints at the moment. XF-1, flat (matte) black.

Looking close to the originals now. Just way too clean! haha. Notice the few paint nicks showing the HDPE shade. Did it by custom cutting masking tape. The rustoleum is a bit too strong to scratch off for real.

Testors for the ear parts, as recommended by many. To be honest though, I think it looks a bit wrong.

Lines done by thin masking tape.

Not copying this helmet exactly, just using it for reference. Some amazing shots.

Some Tamiya semi-gloss black enamel. It wouldn't adhere to the rustoleum at all, but when it cured it was strong. The Tamiya brushes are very good and feel great in the hand.

You can see how my DIY room has advanced throughout this project :lol

I love how the RS kit has the deformity of the originals. Working on the inside here, cutting the foam. Inside of my helmet is pale grey like what was witnessed by the StarWarsHelmet guy who handled this ESB example.

Decal time!!

The decals for the ESB helmet have a fine screen printed texture. I will be using adhesive backed vinyl like the photographed example, but I didn't want to struggle with finding screen printing ink and mixing up colours etc. I decided to stick to my comfort zone and do an experiment.


Here I used some Tamiya XF-82 grey, straight out of the jar it looked spot on to the available photos. I masked a rough shape and airbrushed it onto the vinyl. As the paint was touch dry, I pressed on it with a piece of linen from an old tote bag. This gave me the criss-crossed texture I was looking for.

There is a slight tell, as the screen printing mesh would be tight and uniform, whereas the linen can look a little wavy if I'm not careful. Pretty minor though.

I traced the decals from the photos of the real ESB helmet, sizing them accordingly. Masking tape time. Tamiya. Best I've ever come across. Can you tell I am in Japan? There is only Tamiya. But, they make EVERYTHING!

Looking close to the real deal!

Turns out I put my template the wrong way round when I masked up the vinyl. Mirror vision decal :lol. I'll do this one again (the real one isn't a perfect trapezoid, surprise!)

This is how I trace. Laptop lightbox. Just put your laptop on it's back.

Here's the copy. Will transfer and make sure it is spot on by eye.

r



Meanwhile............

 

[juajn7fernandez]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Trooper Helmet. Paint and custom decal stage.

We never got to see the finished helmet and blasters! Unless you started another thread??

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Trooper Helmet. Paint and custom decal stage.

We never got to see the finished helmet and blasters! Unless you started another thread??

Hey, they are still on the work bench haha! I have a big update coming, was going to wait until the helmet was complete rather than do it peacemeal. Before Halloween I hope. I have too many other hobbies and a full time job to just sit down and just complete something :lol I can't get the tube stripe decals quite right.

 

[mortifactor]

Re: mortifactor's stuff. ESB Trooper Helmet. Paint and custom decal stage.

Been chipping away at the Stormtrooper helmet between work and other projects.

^ This is what the decals look like with the masking tape removed. Just about right, although even since I've applied them I haven't thoroughly scrutinised my end result compared to reference yet... too afraid to trigger a do-over!!!

Got the blue tube stripes done also..... but.............. masking tape mishap! I accidentally painted what should have been masked and vice versa. This means the blue stripes are slightly thicker than the white. The reverse of what I observed! Doh! Anyway, I have applied them for completeness for now. I can easily peel them off and replace when I come back to it. I wanted the helmet in a state of completion for a particular calendar event.........



I am shocked by what would have been a 3 weekend project for me last year has taken me almost 1 year to complete. That's what getting a new job can do to you :lol