My Rubies Vader helmet upgrade WIP

[CSMacLaren]

Eek, you're using THAT article? How embarassing! *BLUSH*

 

[Happy13178]

Eek, you're using THAT article? How embarassing! *BLUSH*

It's truly a great article, helped me identify the longer "teeth", the thinner mouth side on the right when facing, etc. I like the eyebrow adjustment on the mask in particular...the angrier look is fitting on him. I saw an "official" australian helmet, and he looks kind of scared, along with the excessively elongated mouth section. I'm certain I'm going to have to redo the tear ducts, don't think they're long enough and too wide, but I need to prime first to get a better idea of what needs doing.

Initially I was going to just buy another helmet, would have been much easier, but I don't think I would have gotten as much out of doing it myself...I can appreciate some of the smaller details much better now. I can't say it cost less, with the materials I picked up, and ended up getting some detail pieces from fenix. Down the road when I have some more cash I may play around with an ROTJ reveal kit, but working on the costume as a whole now. Got an ESB cape from a member here, going to pick up better belt and chestbox, picking up some fabric to remake the inner robes myself (doesn't look too challenging for sewing), and while they're not accurate, I have a pair of frank thomas boots to use until I can hit up some surplus stores to see if I can find some better ones. at least they're black...

 

[Happy13178]

Got a chance to do some more this weekend, and with a fresh new 3lb tub of Apoxie clay, went at it.

Used a rasp to lengthen the "teeth" a bit, will have to put a bit of putty behind them to make sure they look right in profile, but I'm ok with them at this point. Also used some putty to thicken up the one side of the mouth to even it with the thicker side.



Did some extra sculpting to get "Angry eyes" vader, adjusting the upper brows on the mask and widening the node bridge a bit to get some definition in it. I bit the bullet and braced the inside tubes with a wedge of cardboard a la darkerside and gave the mask the heat gun treatment to add a little more width to it. Not as wide as Darth Ugly, but I think he's gone from anorexic to athletic.




The dome got a lot of work. Used a fair chunk of the apoxie clay inside the flare to thicken it out and on the outside to get definition for the brows. I took a crack at just filing into the plastic, but couldn't get it to look right, didn't feel like there was enough material to work with. Also added the ridge along the length of it.







All drying now before I start sanding it and touching up any pits or grooves. At this point I'm trying to figure out if I need to add more depth to the eyes or if it's good as it stands. Getting closer to replacing the mount inside the dome and working on the angle/mounting system.

 

[Celtic007]

Dome is looking good. I tried something similar on mine, but was never really happy with the way it came out. Good luck on the rest of the helmet.

 

[Happy13178]

Dome is looking good. I tried something similar on mine, but was never really happy with the way it came out. Good luck on the rest of the helmet.

Thanks, appreciate it. I'm going to have to just put the mask aside fairly soon and just finish it, every time I look at it I see something else I'd like to fix, and I don't want to over correct it. I think I went a bit too pronounced on the angry brows, will see how it looks once it's sanded down a bit. I'm trying to balance what people have pointed out as inaccurate with what I think looks good....kind of a hard line to hit. I'm sure at some point I'll grab another Rubies and try again, learned a lot from this one.

 

[Happy13178]

Big pic heavy update. Did some more work, sanded a bunch, and this is where I'm at:

I'm not totally happy with the neck, did a couple blasts with the heat gun to reduce the flare, but what it really did was highlight the warping around it. I don't know if there's much I can do about it, can mess around with the heat gun for a while but don't know how much good it would do. Or I could build up the neck with some sculpt to lengthen it a bit to try and fix it up, but I'm concerned the sculpting clay will dry too hard and crack. Or, I could paint it up and hope that it's not as noticeable.

On a brighter note, the dome came out a bit better than I thought it would. Need to do some more sanding on the front, inside and out, but the sculpting clay helped define the lines much better.

Re-attached the mount. The blob in the middle houses two of the ultra powerful magnets I put up pics of earlier. With the hardened apoxie between them the grip is almost perfect, strong enough that I can lift up the dome by the mask, but not so tough that it feels like it'll rip anything out.



This is how it sits when attached...any comments on the angle? It looks like the dome is sitting so close to the face because the front edge needs to be sanded still.

 

[EvilMatt666]

Great job, looking miles better than the cheap lopsided mess it was.

 

[CSMacLaren]

Lots of sanding, in your future, I see!

 

[Happy13178]

Lots of sanding, in your future, I see!

Think this is about halfway through the sanding, the interior front of the dome I'm doing with a dremel, exterior by hand, but that's not too bad. The mask I just went over with 400 grit wet sand, 600 is next, then 1500, then priming time. What do you think about the neck, anything I can do with it?

 

[Happy13178]

Great job, looking miles better than the cheap lopsided mess it was.

Still pretty lopsided, it's way more apparent at some angles than others. Not sure how much of it is supposed to be that way, you can really see it on a top down angle, although most of it should be hidden by the mask:



I think I've got the dome angle right, but the neck I'm pretty iffy on. It definitely won't match up to the upper edge of the armour, but I think the cape will cover my neck when wearing it. problem is when the flare is corrected, one side is slightly shorter than the other.

Anyone know how flexible Apoxie is when hardened? I'm considering taping some cardboard around the lower edge of the neck and lengthening it by about an inch to correct the look, but the plastic is obviously more flexible, don't want to do it all up and have it break right away.

On a side note, decided I'd do up the armour a bit more too, was just going to paint it to match the new paint job on the helmet, but decided to add the ridges on the shoulders as well. Paint job will match the one here: http://www.therpf.com/f9/my-darth-vader-helmet-upgrade-rubies-supreme-159549/ , managed to find the same paints he used.



I'm aware it isn't perfect, but it'll do until I upgrade it down the road. Got a better cape from Lumpy on RPF, found some german army boots and getting a proper belt and chest box from portumac, trying for a passable ESB look. Only so much upgrading at a time.

 

[shenphong]

I like it, its definitely pretty good looking for the budget and would make a very passable display.

 

[Happy13178]

Got a little more work done this weekend, have a new baby arriving soon so taking what time I can now before my schedule fills up with diapers.

Did a quick run over with primer to identify the problem spots, and was able to fix a few right away. Need some more primer, but will have to wait until the hobby place is open again to get any more.





I'm a lot happier with the neck now, I ended up biting the bullet and applying some apoxie to even the warping. It fit pretty well, doesn't feel brittle or likely to break anytime soon. It's amazing how much the non warped neck affects how the helmet looks while its on....hard to notice issues while it's on the table. Not sure how well you can see the affected area now, but that's a good thing. The pic is a bit lopsided, looks perfect in real life.



Overall I'm happier with the way this looks now. Still need to put the tearducts back, trying to figure out the best way to do it. I filled in the ones I made earlier with the dremel, hard to control where I want them to go, debating if there's a better way with what I have on hand right now.

 

[CSMacLaren]

Holy smoke that's a great effort there!

 

[DarkLordVader]

Wow! Great job!

 

[BigT]

Yeah, I'm still impressed too

The more I'm working on my Rubies, the more I understand the problems of that helmet.
The long nose, the sunken cheek, the mouthwalls etc.

I also was long time the meaning, the nose insert should be left in place and filed in.
But comparing it to my SPFX, I saw that extending the roundet part on the outer side is the better way. Since then you can beat the long nose problem at the same time and it becomes the correct side profile.
So I will pull out that insert and go this way. Maybe ending up with a mess, but that's a padawans risk

Staying curious about your progress! :thumbsup

 

[Happy13178]

Yeah, I'm still impressed too

The more I'm working on my Rubies, the more I understand the problems of that helmet.
The long nose, the sunken cheek, the mouthwalls etc.

I also was long time the meaning, the nose insert should be left in place and filed in.
But comparing it to my SPFX, I saw that extending the roundet part on the outer side is the better way. Since then you can beat the long nose problem at the same time and it becomes the correct side profile.
So I will pull out that insert and go this way. Maybe ending up with a mess, but that's a padawans risk

Staying curious about your progress! :thumbsup

I'm not worrying about the long nose, more taking Mac's lead and going on feel. Vader looks the way he does because of the sum total of all the detailed parts. The benefit of this to the average hobbyist is they can leave a few details out and still get a passable Vader. Partially because of the secrecy issues for finer details not being available and partially from what we're starting with, I chose to correct the most glaring issues and leave the rest alone.

I took out the nose piece because I had to, it was a bit messy after the work done, so I took it out and filled it in to correct width/depth. I had more issues with the bottom ridge on the bridge of the nose, just because of the odd angles to be sanding in. I'm very aware of what this helmet is lacking, but I'm doing it because I enjoy the process and learning about better ways to do it. I may well grab another rubies later to take another crack at it. I still have to paint, and I'm sure I'm going to screw something up, but I'm doing the best I can with the available knowledge about techniques on here. We'll see how accurate it gets afterwards.

Helmet has been primed over a couple times to fix minor flaws, so has the mask. I'm placing the magnets inside the mask mount and then doing a final prime before painting, hopefully starting this weekend as its been getting much warmer.

 

[Jabberwocky]

This is looking really good! Its making me want to go and start my own Vader!

 

[BigT]

I'm not worrying about the long nose, more taking Mac's lead and going on feel. Vader looks the way he does because of the sum total of all the detailed parts. The benefit of this to the average hobbyist is they can leave a few details out and still get a passable Vader. Partially because of the secrecy issues for finer details not being available and partially from what we're starting with, I chose to correct the most glaring issues and leave the rest alone.

I took out the nose piece because I had to, it was a bit messy after the work done, so I took it out and filled it in to correct width/depth. I had more issues with the bottom ridge on the bridge of the nose, just because of the odd angles to be sanding in. I'm very aware of what this helmet is lacking, but I'm doing it because I enjoy the process and learning about better ways to do it. I may well grab another rubies later to take another crack at it. I still have to paint, and I'm sure I'm going to screw something up, but I'm doing the best I can with the available knowledge about techniques on here. We'll see how accurate it gets afterwards.

Helmet has been primed over a couple times to fix minor flaws, so has the mask. I'm placing the magnets inside the mask mount and then doing a final prime before painting, hopefully starting this weekend as its been getting much warmer.

Agree completely! It's an affordable way to experiment. And to become more addicted to the vadermania
Oh man, predicted 20C here this weekend, still can't believe...

 

[brightestknight]

Impressive..... most impressive.

 

[Celtic007]

Looking really good. I like the thickened dome. One thing i noticed is the angle of the dome looks a little off. I think the back needs to be a little lower.

This was mine before I lowered it


and after I fixed the dome mount.

I think the after looks a lot closer to the movie one.