Need some help with my SPFX Vader helmet!

[MisserCraig]

Hi everyone

Long time no see. Really looking for some general advice and thoughts from the resident Vader experts.

I was into the hobby years ago and ended up with this helmet/armor set made by the maker “SPFX”. Back then, he primarily made ANH and ESB gear, but made a few ROTJ helmets as well. This is the first ROTJ helmet he made.

I remember him being one of the go-to helmet makers at the time, but this was probably around 2005 or 2006. Not sure if his reputation still stands or if he fell out of favor after that.

Unfortunately, my vader mannequin saw a little accident that resulted in various cracks; primarily on the dome and chest armor.
So I suppose my questions are;

1. Is this helmet/armor still considered to be accurate and respectable by todays standards?
2. Is it worth repairing the damage to these?
3. Where would I even go/who would I contact to work out a repair? Anyone do this kind of work on here?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Darth Africanus]

Hi everyone

Long time no see. Really looking for some general advice and thoughts from the resident Vader experts.

I was into the hobby years ago and ended up with this helmet/armor set made by the maker “SPFX”. Back then, he primarily made ANH and ESB gear, but made a few ROTJ helmets as well. This is the first ROTJ helmet he made.

I remember him being one of the go-to helmet makers at the time, but this was probably around 2005 or 2006. Not sure if his reputation still stands or if he fell out of favor after that.

Unfortunately, my vader mannequin saw a little accident that resulted in various cracks; primarily on the dome and chest armor.
So I suppose my questions are;

1. Is this helmet/armor still considered to be accurate and respectable by todays standards?
2. Is it worth repairing the damage to these?
3. Where would I even go/who would I contact to work out a repair? Anyone do this kind of work on here?

Thanks for any help!
View attachment 1600306

Hey there well like most thing's in life these day's the past holds better histories for most people and things.

Unfortunately SPFX AKA Phil or ShadowFX as he is now know is a very unrespect bill member of prop collecting society
he is banned on most forums and rightly so because he has been recasting his work from anyone that might have a better Vader than he had.

So to answer that part SPFX is much frowned upon these day's although there are still those that support this retch.

1.No his helmet's are heavily modified and changed from the original accurate piece his helmet's might have come from.
There are far better Vader helmet options these day's that are prop accurate with perfect lineage to an original

2.If you can get it repaired for a good enough price but SPFX has made brand new helmet's nothing like his old helmet's so his old helmet's hold little worth to most people

3.unfortunately I can't help with repairs but there are great people who can help lethyry perhaps

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Yeah, those are some troublesome breaks. The whole gunmetal part needs to be stripped and painted again as you will never match the look of the original paint, even if you use the same brand. The black parts will be easier to repaint, where you just strip the affected area, fix the damage, sand smooth, then repaint the area until you've built up the newly painted surface to the same amount as the original paint.

(You may be able to do the same area fix procedure to the gunmetal areas as you can do on the black areas, but you have to repaint the whole gunmetal section to make things uniform.)

I am unsure which materials would be best to fix those damages - small cracks could probably be fixed by Bondo Glazing Putty, with the bigger, more structural damages require a material you can actually shape. Hope someone chimes in with advice.

It will be cheaper to fix the damage and repaint it yourself.

 

[lethyry]

That looks to be Phil’s really old version Rotj Dome (before he made the dome brows all round on his version 2 and eventually recast the TM) it’s not super accurate but a nice piece. I’d say it probably isn’t worth as much as it once was given the plethora of lineage Vader stuff out there now.

As for repairing this; I have done a bunch of repairs for peoples helmets/armor. But as you mentioned it probably would not be worth it to get this repaired by somebody, you may want to do it yourself if you have any experience with that sorta stuff. If I were to fix this you’d be looking at; stripping everything down to raw fibreglass, fixing the crack on the dome (grinding out the crack/fibreglass reinforcement on the inside) fixing the armor dent, and repainting, trying to blend especially the gunmetal would be extremely difficult, given how metallic flake with PU clear needs to have a perfect match to blend or it would stick out like a sore thumb. Shoot me over a PM if you’d consider selling it, I might be interested in it,

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

If you don’t want to do the repairs yourself, another option is to sell the helmet/armor ‘as is’ as a fixer-upper to someone who can/will make the repairs and put the money toward a newer/more accurate helmet/armor.

 

[MisserCraig]

Really appreciate all the help and responses. Gives me a lot of direction on which way to go. Thanks very much everyone.

 

[blewis17]

When my Anovos Vader suffered a chip on the dome, I handed it off to a guy at church who happens to work for Nascar owner. He was able to strip and repaint the dome. It's not gel coated now, but looks great.

SO... check with local automotive body repair shops. Those guys at least have the experience with plastic, metal, and fiberglass repairs and might be able to help, but it won't be cheap.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I would highly advise against automotive body repair shops. Even for something like the SPFX helmet. They are skilled at making things look smooth and perfect and not have orange peel. Exactly all the things you do not want on a Vader helmet. You want the wobbly surface. You want the orange peel. Those imperfections are part of the many small details that amounts to the look of Vader.