My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET **FINISHED! see post #207

Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Wouldn't a thick coat of SA white paint, cover-up those slight imperfections and reduce the appearance of the channeling?
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Once painted you don't really notice any of those channels/Bags or tear details. Some of the existing discovered helmets have them and some don't . Some have greater detail on the cap and some don't like the one above. Some have 5 teeth cut out and some have 4. Some have snug fitting ears and some don't. No 2 looked exactly alike as they were assembled quickly and by different people. The ones with greater detail on the cap came from the same mold as the ones that don't its just that as gino said hdpe has a mind of its own and does strange things , so sometimes these things show up and sometimes not.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

I've never see the bags under the eyes of any original helmets. Do you any photos to prove this?

Fans will help cooling the plastic quicker and keep the vac running the whole time until your ready to remove the plastic from the mould.

TE helmets never looked right to me. They were far too deformed and it looked as though he didn't keep the vac running and lost pressure. The pulls looked loose if you know what I mean?
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

I agree with you on the TE .We've all seen the u toob vid of him pulling ROTJ Helmets with his oven and a shop vac in his kitchen. lost opportunities there. I will try and dig out some pix i had of the ainsworth helmets after they were delivered to elstree. Its hard to see on the painted helmets especially as the light source on most of the pix comes from above which casts a shadow under the eye's. Its not just the eye "bags" but a lot of other differences from helmet to helmet which can be attributed to bad casting on ainsworths part. As i said before the indentations above the brow trim etc.

Anyway not to hijack Gino's thread but i will try and find those pix.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Some of the existing discovered helmets have them and some don't .


For sure. The Davin and Move Along both have those "bags" under the eyes to varying degrees and because of the lighting conditions in Gino's photos, the bags as emphasized. I'll bet when a coat of paint goes on them, the effect will be minimized and it will look more like what we see on the other helmets. So, get it painted!
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

I was just gonna point out the Move Along Trooper has baggy eyes...maybe he was up all night lol.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Gino, will the kits have the correct tear detail or will that still be removed and smoothed over?

Keith.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

For better or worse, that's the one and only detail I don't really feel comfortable being let out. I really would like to have been able to, but I have every reason to be afraid to do so.
Regardless of that one detail, this new version is far superior to the V2 in terms of screen accuracy, and has many other features not present on the V2 (most which are a direct result of the way the HDPE forms and creates certain details).
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Thats an important detail to be missing, especially for the hardcore trooper fans.
The remains of that tear detail is even there on the Jedi helmets.

Maybe the V4 will have it.

Keith.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

The missing tear detail in the kits really bummed me out.I even asked Gino if the tear detail could be filled with epoxy,but he said it wouldn't stick to the HDPE.:cry
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

It is the nature of HDPE the cooling lines are very hard not to get.
There is only a small window in HDPE to get it formed. Most people think because it takes so long to heat up and cool down that there is a long time in which to form it.
The mould needs to be really hot so as not to shock the plastic when it hits it but you also need to cool it down quickly so it doesn't pull away. There are systems out there that cool moulds from the inside and also systems that cool volumetric amounts of air in the forming rooms. What I mean by that is that the air in the room is sucked out and replaced with cool air very quickly, almost instant.
There are also vac forming machines with built in cooling systems which cool the HDPE down for you.
Unfortunately it is very hard to form this stuff on homemade vac machines and even entry industry machines like the Formechs etc.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Thanks.
PS, I was able to form them without the humps under the eyes. :thumbsup


.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Can you show us some pics of the one without the humps Gino?
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Of course. I'm going to try to get it built up, then take pics of it naked.
Then paint it and take more pics.
 
Re: My V3 HDPE TROOPER HELMET

Thats an important detail to be missing, especially for the hardcore trooper fans.
The remains of that tear detail is even there on the Jedi helmets.

Maybe the V4 will have it.

Keith.

Ditto that Keith, I read the whole thing thinking this was it.. the lid I was after. But as you say maybe the next time.
Awesome work on the colour HDPE Gino.. nice work bruv! :thumbsup
 
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