Who said that its undersized?All props of the OT are only made for meduim sized persons.And when your head is too big or its too tight a prop is not
automatically undersized.
I'm referring more to how DP made the molds off the original helmets they were lent from Lucasfilm. All of them shrank as they cured. The results look okay on their own, but when set next to the original article, one can see the size difference. I didn't say they were tiny and only suited for children. Just not quite 1:1.
When you look in Brandon Arlingers book you can read the dimensions inside the helmet.And a person with a 60cm head has a very tight fit that the helmet must touch his cheeks.And that is exact the same with the DP.Because I have a 60cm head.
I'm going to leave this bit til I get home this evening. I'm at work right now and, as much as I might wish to, I don't have Brandon's book on the OT costumes, Rinzler's making-of ROTJ, or any of the other stuff I have at home to check. I remember off the top of my head the guy who sculpted the RG helmet saying he had what he considered an unusually large head, and that he sculpted the helmet as close as he could to a bust cast he'd made of himself. Numbers, I do not recall. I'd also have to ask if there was any shrinkage in the generations of molding and casting before they got to final vacu-form bucks for the helmet halves.
There's too much I don't remember specifics for, but just a general mental echo. Things such as picking taller extras than for the Stormtroopers (in general -- I
still have no idea what's up with the super-short RG in the Vader-chokes-Jerjerrod scene)... Like, 6' instead of 5'10"? If I'm remembering at all accurately, I have these three to offer. I'll try to overlay them when I have time. I'm 6'1". That's me in the DP, the original ROTJ costume, and me in the Rubies:
That said, my head's right about the same measurement as yours. I can
sometimes get the DP helmet on, as I showed. The Rubies isn't
that much looser on me -- I still have to hold my head positioned just so to not have things run into each other -- but enough so I don't abrade my cheeks getting it on, or have a panic attack trying unsuccessfully to get it off...
How would you guys suggest re-painting the DP? I’m not very skilled in prop painting, and have no idea where to begin with painting that flexible vinyl/rubber/whatever it is.
What would I prime and/or paint it with that wouldn’t crack when the helmet flexed? Would I prime it at all?
The material of the DP is solid.Its not really soft.
Are you sure you don't have an Altmann's RG, but think it's a DP? The DP RG is the same soft vinyl you don't want to leave in a warm car as their other helmets. Mine was kept relatively cool and it still formed itself to the box it was stored in when I moved:
That's after sanding off all the ruined paint. Then I did my best to re-shape it. But the flat spot on the top still needed filling and re-contouring with epoxy putty. So long as you keep it in a cool place it should be okay, but always try to store it on/in something that will help it hold its shape. If you feel like it, maybe do what I did after re-shaping this one, and epoxy in a length of 1/8" aluminum sculpting armature wire around the return edge of the avontail.
I never painted mine but I know that you can paint it easy with carcolors.I would sand it first..plasticprimer,primer...after that sand it again and paint it in the red you want.The Original was "Candy apple red"...but every company is selling another red under this name.Thrust me you will never find the perfect red.
The problem with the color is that it looks different on every pic.On the videos I saw its a lot deeper red as on the most pics.Also in the movie.
I think its not so bright red like most people are painting their helmets.Why made Don Post the helmet in this dark red?I think they wanted to match the real color.They failed...but I think that shows that it was a darker red.
It was:
The DP and Rubies are pretty close right out of the box. You can actually achieve decent results just from making sure there are no scuffs or blemishes and then hitting it with about seven or eight coats of a good gloss clear.
If you need to do any altering or filling or repairing, then yes to a good automotive or Tamiya plastic primer, then the closest rattle-can match I've found is actually RustOleum's gloss Regal Red (and still doing a few clear coats over that). In the process of turning my CylonTrader RG helmet into a ROTS/Rebels/Force Unleashed version (closer-trimmed avontail), I've been doing many layers of alternating colors of primer, sanded down, to fill in the already-minor surface flaws. For fun, I did one layer in the Regal Red, then sanded that down:
Under a strong flash (or soundstage lighting) it'll always show up brighter. There have been pics of the DP and Rubies upthread. The pic of me in the painted DP, notice it looks too bright compared to the robes. In dim lighting it looked more like how the helmet appears on film. The good old Star Trek uniform dilemma -- do you make it how it looks in person, or how it looks on-screen? Because, what with the different lighting involved, you can never have both in a single item. After that, when I had to strip and re-shape it, I opted for something more like the original. It'll be displayed on its own, so I'm not worried about it looking too dark against the robes at home. And at cons, it'll usually be getting hit with a flash under bright lighting. So that's my recommendation.
