torsoboy
Sr Member
Hello RPF!
I'd like to start off my membership here by showing off one of my current WIP projects. I've been a long-time fan of the Coruscant Guard from Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (back in the 90s). I have another big costuming project I'm working on preventing me from working on the rest of the costume at the moment, but I have some time to put toward the helmet of this costume.
This helmet is currently in its third incarnation of my personal design. Since all of the artwork featuring this helmet/costume are all so different, I've boiled down all the features that I like into one design and I've given it my own personal features as well.
Version 1 was a cardboard build that got trashed before it was even fiberglassed. It ended up being way too large for me to continue working on. This helmet was built back in the summer of 2007.
Version 2 was a cardboard build that was fiberglassed and bondoed. It was much smaller than the first one (though now that I'm onto V3, the V2 was even too big). The build was finished, but due to financial issues, I had to sell it. This helmet was also built back in summer 07.
Version 3, the current version, was initially created by using front, side, and top photos of Version 2 to create a 3D model in my modeling program, Rhino3D. I take tons of photos of all my projects, so I was able to bring in the necessary views to build my 3D model off of. I adjusted several aspects of the helmet for the new version: I made the snout smaller and closer in to the face. I thinned out the dome a bit, and I adjusted several angles on the back rim area.
As I've been building several Pepakura models lately, I brought my 3D model into Pepakura Designer and got to work. The mesh was kind of messy on the dome, and I didn't know enough about the program at the time so it came out with a TON of parts (I now know how to make it a simpler model with fewer pieces).
Modeling and Pepakura problems aside, it resulted in a physical model of my 3D model - symmetrical (Version 2 was not symmetrical), properly adjusted, and a better size.
Next, just like most Pep builds, I fiberglassed it and started slapping on the Bondo. I built a chin greeblie out of some scrap wood (based on the TK chin, since these guys are just Police Stormtroopers anyways and since this detail is not consistent among the artwork).
I got the whole thing Bondoed and a first smoothing pass was made, but then my group Ghostbusters and group ODST projects sprang up and this helmet sat on my shelf for a few months. I recently did some spring cleaning, getting rid of old permanently-unfinished projects and old artwork and such, leaving this project on the shelf to be taken up another day. Well, that day came last week.
Really all I've done recently was give it a couple coats of primer, a couple sanding passes, and I also added some detail to the rear rim portion of the helmet.
The rear detail is my own design. The original artwork for this helmet didn't show any rear views, and the Luke figure from Shadows of the Empire didn't have any detail on the rear of the helmet (likely because there was no rear views in the artwork), but I felt it was annoyingly bland back there. I felt detail was necessary. My initial thought was to go Boba Fett on it and add a recessed vent. I decided against it and chose to go with some Clonetrooper detailing because it's a more direct lineage. A while back I picked up some ribbed vinyl shelf lining, and I used that to create the vertical ribbing in the recessed panel to mimic the look of the Clonetrooper helmet's rear detail.
Future plans for this helmet include more smoothing passes, installing the visor (obviously), adding car door trim around the neck hole, adding the temple wedges, and adding details in the ear recesses.
I'd like to start off my membership here by showing off one of my current WIP projects. I've been a long-time fan of the Coruscant Guard from Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (back in the 90s). I have another big costuming project I'm working on preventing me from working on the rest of the costume at the moment, but I have some time to put toward the helmet of this costume.
This helmet is currently in its third incarnation of my personal design. Since all of the artwork featuring this helmet/costume are all so different, I've boiled down all the features that I like into one design and I've given it my own personal features as well.
Version 1 was a cardboard build that got trashed before it was even fiberglassed. It ended up being way too large for me to continue working on. This helmet was built back in the summer of 2007.
Version 2 was a cardboard build that was fiberglassed and bondoed. It was much smaller than the first one (though now that I'm onto V3, the V2 was even too big). The build was finished, but due to financial issues, I had to sell it. This helmet was also built back in summer 07.
Version 3, the current version, was initially created by using front, side, and top photos of Version 2 to create a 3D model in my modeling program, Rhino3D. I take tons of photos of all my projects, so I was able to bring in the necessary views to build my 3D model off of. I adjusted several aspects of the helmet for the new version: I made the snout smaller and closer in to the face. I thinned out the dome a bit, and I adjusted several angles on the back rim area.
As I've been building several Pepakura models lately, I brought my 3D model into Pepakura Designer and got to work. The mesh was kind of messy on the dome, and I didn't know enough about the program at the time so it came out with a TON of parts (I now know how to make it a simpler model with fewer pieces).
Modeling and Pepakura problems aside, it resulted in a physical model of my 3D model - symmetrical (Version 2 was not symmetrical), properly adjusted, and a better size.
Next, just like most Pep builds, I fiberglassed it and started slapping on the Bondo. I built a chin greeblie out of some scrap wood (based on the TK chin, since these guys are just Police Stormtroopers anyways and since this detail is not consistent among the artwork).
I got the whole thing Bondoed and a first smoothing pass was made, but then my group Ghostbusters and group ODST projects sprang up and this helmet sat on my shelf for a few months. I recently did some spring cleaning, getting rid of old permanently-unfinished projects and old artwork and such, leaving this project on the shelf to be taken up another day. Well, that day came last week.
Really all I've done recently was give it a couple coats of primer, a couple sanding passes, and I also added some detail to the rear rim portion of the helmet.
The rear detail is my own design. The original artwork for this helmet didn't show any rear views, and the Luke figure from Shadows of the Empire didn't have any detail on the rear of the helmet (likely because there was no rear views in the artwork), but I felt it was annoyingly bland back there. I felt detail was necessary. My initial thought was to go Boba Fett on it and add a recessed vent. I decided against it and chose to go with some Clonetrooper detailing because it's a more direct lineage. A while back I picked up some ribbed vinyl shelf lining, and I used that to create the vertical ribbing in the recessed panel to mimic the look of the Clonetrooper helmet's rear detail.
Future plans for this helmet include more smoothing passes, installing the visor (obviously), adding car door trim around the neck hole, adding the temple wedges, and adding details in the ear recesses.
