My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP

[Happy13178]

So, I started off my build today...got a rubies vader costume on Ebay and promptly got bit by the bug, so some pieces I'm remaking and some I'm buying to upgrade. I was tempted to grab a Darth Ugly, but not sure I want to make an ANH costume overall. This isn't meant to be totally screen accurate, I just wanted to clean it up and fix a few of the more glaring errors, and see if I can work over the dome to make it look a little better. I have zero experience in modelling and sculpting, as of right now everything I'm doing is stuff I've picked up from reading other threads.

So, here's the start. It's....a Rubies. Stripped the tusks, grill and eyes along, got rid of the velcro, and removed the foam inside with some time and Goo Gone. It's pretty scuffed from the previous owner, but it's going to get painted several times over by the time I'm done, so no big deal. Lot of before pics...

Picked up my rotary tool to remove the extra plastic around the eyes and start in on squaring off the bottoms of the mouth grills. Have sopme more to do on the grills, but need a better bit for rotary tool before I go at it.

Debating if I should go at it with the heat gun next to fix the neck flare or tackle the dome mount on the mask....little nervous about the latter. Has anyone tried shifting it with nothing but a heat gun before?

 

[gaines]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

I found a Rubies Supreme costume for $450 and am preparing to mod it, so I'm VERY interested in seeing more updates on your progress.

 

[Happy13178]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

I found a Rubies Supreme costume for $450 and am preparing to mod it, so I'm VERY interested in seeing more updates on your progress.

I came to a temporary halt while I waited for some items to be delivered. Got some Tamiya Epoxy Putty in the mail today, and found a hobby store not too far from here I'm hoping carries a good primer. I can't start work on the dome yet, too cold in garage and can't have the fumes in the house from fiberglass from pregnant wife.

So next steps are going to be to add depth to the eyes, correct the tearducts, and fill in the nose, and probably a good sanding after.

What were your first impressions of the Rubies? I didn't think it was too bad, may have to cut the bodysuit and replace the netting to air it out a bit, but all in all it could be worse.

 

[WarPig]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

I started with a Rubies Supreme. I ended up upgrading literally everything, and sold my Rubies to another RPF member.

All in all, I thought the Rubies suit wasn't all that bad. My initial use was to liven up the neighborhood kids' Halloween, which it accomplished admirably. Of course I got bit by the Vader bug in a big way, so I started upgrading "this and that".

 

[vader45]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

What were your first impressions of the Rubies? I didn't think it was too bad, may have to cut the bodysuit and replace the netting to air it out a bit, but all in all it could be worse.

My first impression was when I was a noob and I thought it looked good. The more I studied Vader and the screen used Suits...it started to look more and more crappy....

all the hard parts are cheap flimsy crappy plastic. No metal details. The armor is tooooooo thiin and looks like it would snap in half. The body suit is the same equivilant to wraping your self in plastic bags. The cape looks like its made from a table cloth. The problem is, the suit has the core of the ROTS suit but matched with a ESB/ROTJ helmet.

 

[gaines]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

What were your first impressions of the Rubies? I didn't think it was too bad, may have to cut the bodysuit and replace the netting to air it out a bit, but all in all it could be worse.

Well I still am a noob AND I'm a big guy who can't find clothes that fit off the rack, much less a costume to fit in a world full of "one size fits all" crap.

Overall I'm pleased. I know there are numerous inaccuracies and it's not of the highest quality, but for the price I think they did quite well and I look forward to improving and replacing it over time.

 

[Happy13178]

Re: My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP - PIC HEAVY

Well I still am a noob AND I'm a big guy who can't find clothes that fit off the rack, much less a costume to fit in a world full of "one size fits all" crap.

Overall I'm pleased. I know there are numerous inaccuracies and it's not of the highest quality, but for the price I think they did quite well and I look forward to improving and replacing it over time.

I think when I'm done the helmet I'm going to at the very least give the chest/shoulder armour a paint job, and replace the chain on it. I'm also going to cut a panel out of the back of the bodysuit to replace with the mesh for some ventilation. I have exactly zero experience with most of this stuff....I can sew and use a sewing machine, but the last time I touched a model or any modelling materials I was a kid, fully 25 years ago if not more. Please excuse any messiness, I'm learning as I go along, and doing the best I can.

Anyways, did a bit more today. Busted out the Tamiya Epoxy Putty, and the hobby store near me carries the fine surface primer, they specialize in RC cars so they carry everything Tamiya.

Started off by going at the mask with a heat gun to try and at least minimize the neck flare, spent about 20-30 mins heating and reshaping it, and I'm mostly happy with it now....may do a tiny bit more, but I think the worst of it is gone.



Also cut the top helmet mount and used the heat gun a bit more to mold it down for a slightly better angle. I'm still figuring out what to do with the mount on the dome, I cut it off with the dremel to make space to reinforce the inside with fiberglass (also haven't used before) and will replace it at a better angle a bit later. I'm thinking when I lay the fiberglass I'm going to put some magnet strips in it to connect it better.



And sanded the outside to prep for tryout out the epoxy.



Cleaned off the outside a bit after sanding and started with the first round of putty.



Filled in the old tearducts and started fixing the bridge of the nose.



Started in adding some depth to the eyes, and filling in the space around the nose, and a touch to fix one of the grills that got buzzed a bit when I was squaring it off



I'm waiting for it to dry, will see if its good for a little sanding tomorrow and some more epoxy to continue to fix up the face. I'm not totally sure about the depth of the eyes, and I may square the mouth grill pieces a bit more, but its coming along. Comments, anything else anyone can point out to correct at this stage? I'm open for suggestions.

 

[Happy13178]

Added the notches and some new tearducts, not sure if I got them quite right or not, will see how it looks when its dry. cleaned up the eyes quite a bit, not sure if I need to add any depth to the bottom of the eye sockets. A little more cleaning up and it'll be heavy sanding time and then priming, then on to the dome.

 

[gaines]

I'm still a novice when it comes to judging authenticity, but your work looks great! I'm excited to follow your lead on mine.

 

[clancampbell]

Good work so far!

You need to get rid of the silver nose insert, it totally throws out the whole nose shape.....

Rich

 

[Happy13178]

Good work so far!

You need to get rid of the silver nose insert, it totally throws out the whole nose shape.....

Rich

See, I was under the impression that the insert was supposed to stay in, seen other people mentioning it. Did I misunderstand?

Right now I think the only parts of the mask I'm not happy with (that I can do anything about) is the small ridge above the nose, just below the 3 notches and the tear ducts, which I'm finding a bit challenging to get the right depth of. Working on cleaning it up, then the sanding.

This coming weekend is supposed to be a bit warmer, so I can possibly take a crack at the dome. I'm still figuring out how to add material to the curves above the brow to make them more pronounced....think the ridge by comparison is a lot more straightforward, if not easier. The plan is to lay a strip of painters tape down the middle as a template for the width of the ridge, dremel down the sides, and build up/flatten the unsanded part of the ridge. Using fiberglass repair kit to reinforce the inside before sanding, and bondo along the length of the flare to thicken it up a bit.

 

[BigT]

I think the eyebrows are very well ESB like accentuated.

My Rubies is almost at a similar stage. I left the nose insert in there too. This will be filled and sanded e basta. The eyes need still lot of work on mine.

However, I will not modify too much. The Rubies is only my stunt helmet for certain situations.
My hero helemt is a SPFX ESB II which is not 100% film-accurate, but not too far away from it as well.
Here some pics of the mentioned regions how it looks on the SPFX.

 

[Happy13178]

Thanks for that, think I have the nose ridge almost right now. Need to do one more quick touch up sand and maybe a bit of epoxy to fix some problem areas, then I'm going to hit it with a high grit sand and prime it so I can see better if anything else needs to be fixed. Will post a pic or 3 when I'm done the next part.

I think if the temp is above zero this weekend I'm going to do the fiberglass on the dome...I've heard it can generate heat, so sitting in a cool garage probably won't hurt it. After that, the bondo to thicken.

 

[Happy13178]

Busy week, but got a bit more done. Grabbed a fiberglass repair kit and laid a couple strips of cloth with a few coats of resin down the dome's ridge (after a quick sanding).



And cleaned up the eyes and nose a bit more. Ended up adding some depth around the lower part of the eyes as well, and in the sides of the nose, didn't look quite right otherwise. I'm sure I need some more correction on it, particularly on the tearducts, but its tough to see what I'm doing at the moment, so I'm going to sand and prime it so I can see what else needs to be done.

 

[Happy13178]

Started work on the dome this weekend...did a light sanding, cleaned it off and after putting some painters tape down the centre (about 1" wide, think that's the right width), buzzed the sides with a rotary tool to give the ridge some definition.








Started thickening the flare with a coat of bondo around the inside, little messier than I'd like, but will have a chance to fix it this coming weekend. No pics of the inside yet, been a bit busy, will post them a bit later. I also got some really strong magnets from some old destroyed hard drives, will be using them to mount the dome to the mask. They snap together hard enough to hurt fingers, so they should hold it securely enough through some hardened putty.

 

[gaines]

I also got some really strong magnets from some old destroyed hard drives, will be using them to mount the dome to the mask. They snap together hard enough to hurt fingers, so they should hold it securely enough through some hardened putty.

You're going to position those magnets on the inside of the dome and use putty to attach them? If so, I would be very concerned with them pulling loose. As you know, they are extremely powerful and will take a lot of force to pull apart.

 

[Happy13178]

You're going to position those magnets on the inside of the dome and use putty to attach them? If so, I would be very concerned with them pulling loose. As you know, they are extremely powerful and will take a lot of force to pull apart.

One's going in the dome, will secure it either with apoxie or some fiberglass. The other will be in the mask, under the mount. I tested the two and the hold is strong enough to keep it in place, but not enough to break anything....only when they're right beside each other with nothing between them is the pull the strongest.

 

[gaines]

One's going in the dome, will secure it either with apoxie or some fiberglass. The other will be in the mask, under the mount. I tested the two and the hold is strong enough to keep it in place, but not enough to break anything....only when they're right beside each other with nothing between them is the pull the strongest.

That's excellent. I guess I didn't consider how much weaker the magnets would be when kept that far apart.

I've enjoyed following your progress so far and am excited to see what you do next as I will be following in your footsteps.

 

[Happy13178]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm waiting on a delivery of apoxie to make the next major steps, most of what needs to be done right now is sanding and trimming. It's supposed to be above zero in the next few days, so I'm going to try to apply another coat of bondo to the dome flare to even it out.

The pics don't really show much detail on the ridge, but dremeling it down on the sides to add definition already made it look better, and trimmed the upper brow on the dome to define it a bit better too. The apoxie will be to build up the ridge a tiny bit, left the tape on for now while I'm sanding the rest, but I didn't bore through the helmet and the fiberglass reinforcement seems to have helped too.

 

[Happy13178]

Much as I REALLY want to move forward with this, have to wait a week or so for some Apoxie to arrive...its not sold around here. Lots more sanding and trimming, I'll post some more pics when I've done a bit more to the dome. I think the mask is pretty much done, was debating whether or not to lengthen the "teeth" grills, but I've done what I can to correct the flaws, using CSMacLaren's list of flaws.

The dome is going to need a bit more work, but I'm confident I can add .some definition without killing it. I want to add more definition over the "eyebrows" and add a millimeter or two along the length of the ridge, along with thickening it, but would rather use apoxie over bondo, seems like it'd be easier to work with.

The only things I don't think I can correct is repositioning the grill teeth over the mouth, and widening the mask. CSMacLaren's posts showed it should be wider, but I think I'd do more harm than good by heating and trying to pull it apart. I AM going to fix the brows to make the eyes a bit "angrier", think it looks a bit better that way and it won't require too much extra work to add over it.