Stormtrooper Helmet ID - Pic Heavy

[Fulcrum]

I am pretty positive it is a C.Oakley ANH fiberglass helmet.
But a positive ID from others is always benificial.

My main concern would be:
Is it from CO or is it a copy.
Next question:
When looking at the helmet,Why is the right side of the face
pushed inwards? Was this a flaw "for lack of a better word"on the original?
or was the mold not seated in the mother mold properly?
Last question:
If it is not a copy, how would you finish it?
Should I remove all the bumps and flaws or leave them?

Here is a few pictures and I can take any other view that is needed.

 

[JoeR]

Yep that's an Oakley, I had one exactly the same a few years back.

Joe

 

[Too Much Garlic]

That's not an ANH, that's a RotJ and the pushed in face is an "accurate" RotJ feature.

And for heaven's sake DO NOT remove the surface details and don't paint it with a too thick layer of paint. You want all the original muck to be visible. Anything less and you'll have ruined the kit, imo.

 

[Fulcrum]

I thought the ROTJ had fiberglassed ears made to the helmet
and on the ANH, the ears were seperate?

That's not an ANH, that's a RotJ and the pushed in face is an "accurate" RotJ feature.

And for heaven's sake DO NOT remove the surface details and don't paint it with a too thick layer of paint. You want all the original muck to be visible. Anything less and you'll have ruined the kit, imo.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I thought the ROTJ had fiberglassed ears made to the helmet
and on the ANH, the ears were seperate?

Err... no. All original helmets had separate ears.

 

[Fulcrum]

Err... no. All original helmets had separate ears.

I was refering to the ones C Oakley sold,not the original helmets.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I was refering to the ones C Oakley sold,not the original helmets.

Oh... well... possibly. I honestly don't know. Isn't there info on that on starwarshelmets.com?

 

[Nwerke]

Good grief, DO fill some of those lows and highs, they're a bit extreme. I can assure you that original ROTJ background helmets, at least, aren't THAT uneven.

Keep in mind that the originals were vac-formed over a male buck. You don't want to lose what detail is there, but you do want to lose artefacts from the fibreglass moulding, which was done into a female mould - and a damaged one at that by the look of some areas. I'm referring to things like the odd 'bead' around the detail on the earpieces: shouldn't be there.

The faces are asymmetrical on all screen-used helmets: comparatively concave on one side and convex on the other. A sculpting flaw, but like human faces which are rarely 100% symettrical, this is what gives the Stormy his character IMO.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Since this was taken from the outside of a helmet... those are paint flaws. If made from an original... then those paint flaws would correspond to the original - would be stupid to remove.

The extra detail on the ear piece... sure... but eradicating paint details on the helmet is like removing all the nicks and dents on a Vader helmet. Heck... that's the kind of details people pay extra for.

 

[dirtydave]

Paint on a ROTJ helmet?

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I think maybe I should shut up now... lol

 

[electric jay]

okaley made original sculpts based on an idealised trooper lid called "ANH" acronym for Another Nice Helmet, IIRC.

This is NOT a copy of a screen-used lid, it is a fan sculpt cast in fiberglass. No vac-forming, just a fan copy. NO SCREEN-USED PARTS.

And yes, OP, that is a real Oakley, not a crappy recast. it's just a badly done original. not to say that the guy didn't do good work, but that is for sure a "second".

 

[Fulcrum]

Not absolutely sure that I agree..
I am not positive, but I do not believe they were sculpts.

 

[wooten]

Not absolutely sure that I agree..
I am not positive, but I do not believe they were sculpts.

Oakley made his armor/helmet along with some guy that worked at Elstree didn't he? The Oakley ROTJ is supposed to be one of the best you can get, or so I thought.

Of course, the example on starwarshelmets.com is different...it's a one piece helmet with ears molded on.

Here's some more background on the CO if it helps anyone:

http://forum.whitearmor.net/lofiversion/index.php?t947.html

-John

 

[Nwerke]

The rivets under the ears make it look like a cast off a screen-used to me, but I'm no expert. OTOH, what I can say is that real ROTJ background lids are a lot smoother than this. Not perfect, very wonky, they DO have highs and lows, but they are definitely nicer. (The highs and lows are wider, shallower and fewer.) And yeah, they're not painted. So if this is a cast, something odd has happened during the process.

 

[Fulcrum]

Thanks, I seen the ones on starwarshelmets.com.
If you scroll to the bottom of that page,there are a few with the seperate ears.

 

[wooten]

Thanks, I seen the ones on starwarshelmets.com.
If you scroll to the bottom of that page,there are a few with the seperate ears.

I believe those are the ANH oakleys, not ROTJ. Maybe I'm misreading the site. Wouldn't be the first time I guess.

-John

 

[JoeR]

My background Jedi helmet has lots of superglue runs on it. This is an Oakley, I'm just not sure what it was cast from, the rivets do look like originals. But it is not accurate to anything as it has been messed with....

Nice kit for it's history but there are much much more accurate helmet kits about.

Joe