Rubies Stormtrooper Helmet modification
- Thread starter alienbuilder
- Start date
alienbuilder
Sr Member
hello rohin,
most of the padding was made step by step and in a kind of "freestyle". I ve made also some (not well done) templates for my clone trooper paddings: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=228161&page=10
but in general I started with some foam padding material with 1 and 3 cm thickness. I cut out the separate padding-parts and made them fit into place inside the helmet, maybe also with some tape. you can try the helmet on from time to time ta feel were some more padding should be needed or where it is to thick. for the stormtrooper the main paddings were the neckring, the back, especially the ears an some round dome paddings. but its depending on what style you want to have of course. for the mouth area I wanted the padding to be a reflection of the outer helmet so I made these 2 round paddings where the mictips are. I guess these should look different in a TFA bucket.
after cutting out all the main paddings, I was sewing "pockets" for these, using the material I wanted. for the neckring it was a cheap artificial leather. but this depends on what you want of course. here we ve got some special shops for sewing were you can find several types of fabric.
when everything is covered with fabric, you just have to put the pieces together where they touch each other in the helmet. the missing or empty places should be filled with fabric too than. I used an airnet fabric witch is used for backpacks mostly. mine was already 5mm thick so its already a padding. I used this fabric without any foampadding at the nose area and in the middle of the dome.
I sew everything by hand, but if you ve got a machine, it would be much faster of course.
in point of the black lining at the lip, I m not sure, what do you mean, might be my bad english. do you mean the (originally) rubber lining around the opening? if so, I just sculpted it with some filling mass and than painted it black.
hope this as already a little helpful, but if you ve got any questions, just pm me or writhe it here.
ah, and you may have a look at the earlier sites of the clone trooper helmet tread and also here http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=233851 were the "outside" of the paddings can be seen. this might help also a little bit.
anyway, I would be very exited to see what a cheap TFA helmet would look like after a modifikation.
best regards, hinrich
Last edited:
Hi Hinrich,
Thanks for the quick reply! I actually love what you did with the inside breather padding. I'm actually looking to replicate what you have done. I love the round dome padding for the ears!!! Your entire design looks so premium! Reminds me of the Master Chief's helmet here: https://youtu.be/1COoIaS_iAs?t=30s
My head is small for the bucket, so I guess I will go all out with the padding
And yes, I mean the rubber lining around the opening. You gave your helmet a nice round curve in the opening. I was wondering if you could briefly explain the steps you took. Where do you get this rubber lining and how do you put it around the edge?
Thank you so much!
Your work is an inspiration
Rohin
alienbuilder
Sr Member
thank you guys very much for the compliments.
depending on the decals: I didnt used decals but painted everything. its not so hard to do so, if its wanted and the color is pretty much robust. in my case, for the black stripes in the gray areas I first painted these black and put some tape stripes at the linings I wanted to stay black, than added gray.
well, I didnt use any rubber on my helmet. I found some of these rubber material, but didnt used it. the reason is the following. I had to add some material at the opening, because the hole was too large, so you could see too much of my head while wearing it. so I completely laid out the interior with a layer of fiberglass and put in some extra aluminum net into the neck area for more stability. for that reason the neckring is around 5mm thick there. so my rubber lining was not fitting anymore. so, after filling and sanding these part of the helmet, I just put some thick tape around the opening, but circa 5-6mm away from the opening. than I added some new filler there and before it hardened out completely, I put the tape away. than I gust had to sand down these polyester lining a pit, fill some holes in it, sand again and my lining was finished. no rubber, but with some black mat paint on it, its looking pretty well.
here is a small cut section of my helmet.
sorry I have no photos of how I made it, but I forget to make step by step photos at that time.
best regards, hinrich
depending on the decals: I didnt used decals but painted everything. its not so hard to do so, if its wanted and the color is pretty much robust. in my case, for the black stripes in the gray areas I first painted these black and put some tape stripes at the linings I wanted to stay black, than added gray.
well, I didnt use any rubber on my helmet. I found some of these rubber material, but didnt used it. the reason is the following. I had to add some material at the opening, because the hole was too large, so you could see too much of my head while wearing it. so I completely laid out the interior with a layer of fiberglass and put in some extra aluminum net into the neck area for more stability. for that reason the neckring is around 5mm thick there. so my rubber lining was not fitting anymore. so, after filling and sanding these part of the helmet, I just put some thick tape around the opening, but circa 5-6mm away from the opening. than I added some new filler there and before it hardened out completely, I put the tape away. than I gust had to sand down these polyester lining a pit, fill some holes in it, sand again and my lining was finished. no rubber, but with some black mat paint on it, its looking pretty well.
here is a small cut section of my helmet.
sorry I have no photos of how I made it, but I forget to make step by step photos at that time.
best regards, hinrich
Wow thank you so much for the cross section! The mat finish is looking like rubber (like the efx storm trooper helmets). Good stuff! Thank you so much for all your advice. I'll post pictures as soon as I start work
Regards
Rohin
alienbuilder
Sr Member
I used a 2 component glue to glue them on, but cut in a little hole inside the helmet before gluing. the 2 component glue is epoxy based and ok, but a special PVC glue could be better I guess. after that I filled the slits with polyester filler because I wanted the helmet to look like one piece. But I didnt sand the filler down at that point. first I filled up the whole ears with polyester. the filler and the polyester layer of the inner helmet will be connected that way. but careful: if you do it that way, just give several small portions of polyester into the ear, otherwise its getting very hot and could burn the PVC. after stabilizing everything with fibreglass from the inside, I filled everything else at the outside and sanded all nice and smooth. hope this was a little helpful. will you post some pictures of your helmet? I m always interested of how other people are doing things and what a helmet looks like finished.
best regards, hinrich
mjohnsimon
New Member
This is amazing! I have a rubies helmet and I'd love to modify it given the chance. But I have a question though: What filler did you use for the outside of the helmet? I know for the inside, you used a Fibreglass polyester resin, but what about the outside? Thanks for any info in advance!
alienbuilder
Sr Member
hello mjohnsimon,
for the outside I used a polyester based filler, just the same I resculpted the helmets entrance with. this is the stuff I used:
I m sure its not the best filler you can get.
But I used a special primer for PVC first, out of a rattlecan. and around the slit between the 2 half pieces I have cut some x shaped slits into the PCV with a dremel so the filler would have some more grip. you can slightly see the filling process on one of the first pictures. the helmet is gray there, that is the primer. the brighter areas (a little bit pinkish) are the ones with the filler on it.
for the outside I used a polyester based filler, just the same I resculpted the helmets entrance with. this is the stuff I used:
I m sure its not the best filler you can get.
But I used a special primer for PVC first, out of a rattlecan. and around the slit between the 2 half pieces I have cut some x shaped slits into the PCV with a dremel so the filler would have some more grip. you can slightly see the filling process on one of the first pictures. the helmet is gray there, that is the primer. the brighter areas (a little bit pinkish) are the ones with the filler on it.
alienbuilder
Sr Member
I used 2 coats of a high gloss white car paint out of a cattle can. painted one time and did the 2nd coat after one hour though. its not very thick. for the black parts I used a matt black. when using rattle cans I m always using brand named auto k. its a german company and in my opinion very good for the price. but I think each paint would be good thats used for cars normally. I can also highly recommend the mat black paint they use for the bottom of cars. its dry in about 30 minutes.
alienbuilder
Sr Member
just a normal matte paint rattlecan, the one you use for the underside of cars is normally pretty good.
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