Royal Guard Helmet build thread

[merkava74]

So for those who knew about the fiasco, this is the infamous Fenixprops Royal Guard helmet. Bittersweet starting on this build.

The helmet itself is cast quite well, from very thin hand-laid fibreglass. It is so thin you can literally see through it. There is no gel coat or reinforcement. Just glass. It was laid in 2, front and back, and then joined together with probably glass resin. On initial inspection, the helmet looks good, with some obvious cast joint lines, some bubbles and some tiny cracks. But will see more clearly after priming.

What I do like is the sculpt. It is very hard to find a good sculpt of the Royal Guard. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it has to look both classy and menacing. It has to be long and slender, yet evil. Sounds like my ex...

So this helmet fulfills my asthetic criteria:

This build will be a pretty straightforward one: Prime - smoothen - prime - paint - seal.

I will be using automotive paints for this build, and will be using original Ferrari Red (Rosso Corsa). The challenge for this build would be a very glossy black base coat, buffed and polished before the red goes on, buffed and polished before sealing it with automotive top coat.

Here is the helmet primered with a rough coat to see the imperfections. More appeared, naturally. Sigh.. my poor elbows...

That's it for now. This will be a slow build, as I am pretty tied up at work, and also building more than one helmet at a time.

Thanks for viewing!

 

[merkava74]

Just a quick update for today. Puttied up the entire helmet to be sanded down baby bottom smooth... man I am going to dread the next 2 days.

And I hope one layer is enough, but that's wishful thinking as always.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Doesn't it feel great, after all that hassle to finally dig your fingers into this project? You've got your chores cut out for you this summer ... this will become an amazing piece ... will you make the full costume?

Chaim

 

[merkava74]

Lol! Yes, putting aside all the negativity, the joy is always still in the build!

No, I won't be making the full suit. I'm mostly into helmets for display only, except 3 that I will make in full: Vader, Fett and HIC.


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[bdgr]

I also have a Fenixprop Fiberglass Royal Guard helmet and had to add a lot of Bondo to strengthen the thin areas of fiberglass. One option that I did was to actually put a thin layer of Bondo in the inside of the helmet so I didn't have to sand super smooth all that Bondo if I applied it on the outside. It also allowed me to not have to fool around with the outer shape. The only negative thing was that it made the inside of the helmet a little smaller. Still fits with plenty of room and is more space then my Don Post Royal Guard helmet. I've trooped with it with fans in the inside of the helmet.

Best of luck on your RG helmet build. Looks great so far.

 

[merkava74]

Thanks for the advice! I'm not intending to troop in it, so won't need to strengthen the helmet, just need to get the outside smooth. But great idea bondo-ing the inside!


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[usajdm]

God I love the Royal Guards...
Awaitng more progress.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[merkava74]

God I love the Royal Guards...
Awaitng more progress.
Thank you for sharing.

Thanks man. Just managed to finish another helmet build (http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=242292&p=3690974#post3690974), and can now get back to the Royal Guard. But I don't think this will be very interesting, as it will just be for me to sand it down, and send it to the car paintshop. Watch this space!

 

[mugatu]

Have you picked up this helmet (along with the Cody) here on the RPF? I would love to have both of these.

 

[merkava74]

Have you picked up this helmet (along with the Cody) here on the RPF? I would love to have both of these.

I got the Royal Guard off eBay, from Fenixprops. I had a pretty bad experience with this purchase, and the thread can be found here: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=241633

I hope yours will be better.

Cody is made by EVO3, you can find him here or through FB. Having said that, mine was bought off another guy here who happened to have a kit lying around that he wasn't going to build. I hope EVO is not too busy as he usually is.

Good luck!

 

[usajdm]

Hi again.
Quik question if you don't mind.
What kind(brand) of filler are you using?
Thanks,
Robert

Oh and ah, lets get moving on this will you?
I want to see some more progress.

 

[merkava74]

Hi again.
Quik question if you don't mind.
What kind(brand) of filler are you using?
Thanks,
Robert

Oh and ah, lets get moving on this will you?
I want to see some more progress.

It is a generic car body filler. I can't remember the brand, sorry.

And yes, I would so like to have more progress, but my day job requires me to travel out of country every week. So it's only weekends of me and not the whole of it that I can spend some time on them.

 

[joshimus]

It is a generic car body filler. I can't remember the brand, sorry.

And yes, I would so like to have more progress, but my day job requires me to travel out of country every week. So it's only weekends of me and not the whole of it that I can spend some time on them.

We have no time for your excuses...get this helmet done!

 

[bradyapba]

are you planning to sell this? I am looking for a helmet.

 

[merkava74]

are you planning to sell this? I am looking for a helmet.

Sorry bro, this is for my personal collection. You might wanna try Fenixprops where I got mine.


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[merkava74]

After a loooong time, I finally found this lying around and got down to finishing it!!

Got it sanded down and painted gloss red. Came out beautifully, until I mistook Clear Glaze for Crystal Clear, and screwed the entire paint job up...

So it was back to sanding it down...

And finally, a proper wet shine Red Guard is complete!!

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[wasupyo]

Amazing!! Glad to see you got back on this project


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[mattycsi]

Thats a really nice job. I'm just in the midst of 3d printing one of these, hopefully it will turn out as nice as this one.

Is that the Ferarri Red or did you go with something else?

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Is that the Ferarri Red or did you go with something else?

From my own research, I recommend RustOleum's Gloss Regal Red (with or without further clearcoats).

--Jonah

 

[mattycsi]

From my own research, I recommend RustOleum's Gloss Regal Red (with or without further clearcoats).

--Jonah

Thanks. It doesn't appear to be available over here unfortunately.