WIP: "Darth Ugly" ANH Helmet Build

[CSMacLaren]

Here are a couple of pictures with the hemet on me. I've worn Boba Fett and Clonetrooper helmets and this one seems to have ALOT of room inside compared to those!

Without armor I'm reminded of Dark Helmet from Spaceballs!

Your shots here scared me, not because you look ugly, but because Ugly looked off. Then I realized it was photographed in the mirror. I mirror flipped the photos in Photoshop and then breathed a sigh of relief!

I understand that Prowse had to look through the chin vent or the mouth holes in order to see where he was walking. If you're trooping, consider this, as you don't want to walk over little kids. The screenused Vader wasn't quite suited to nodding or looking at his feet - even in the opening scene of ANH, Prowse had to hunch forward to look at the Rebel bodies.

One thing I had noticed being around Brits (not to knock anyone) but I've seen some upper class friends walk up to you and then they tilt their head back a little so they can look down at you in a snooty fashion. Well... they weren't exactly friends... But anyway, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt did that - until he was bound to a wheelchair, so his having to look up regardless mitigated his coming across as snooty. If you look at TESB, you'll see that Prowse did that on camera. Vader looks best when looking straight on or if the camera was shooting upwards (where the helmet is looking slightly upwards). Or if Prowse does look upwards.

I've seen a photo or two of people in costume of Vader hunched down so that the costumer could see the kids through the mask lenses, and at that point the posture of Vader looks a bit ridiculous.

 

[clonecollector]

Fascinating. How do you calibrate your head height with how far up the hardhat liner has to be positioned within the Ugly mask?

I winged it. Lol!

I saw a photo of where Darth Stone placed his bolts and tried to imitate that. Now, what it will look like with the chest armor under it... I'm not sure. I figured I would then play around adding a shim to the liner for fine tuning. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I should have some chest armor in a couple of weeks.

Moving, acting and speaking like Vader will be a whole other exercise... but I'm sure my wife and kids will have fun teasing me while I practice. Lol!

 

[clonecollector]

Here is the helmet with a coat of semi-gloss paint. I popped metal tusks on to see how they look. I'm realizing just how difficult it is to photograph Vader's helmet... I can't get it to look exactly the way I see it in real life!

Next step is to brush on the gunmetal highlights.

 

[Darth Serberus]

Nice looking lid!
Good job on the build, lovely neat work
I found another super secure way of fixing the dome to the faceplate was using sewage pipe connectors. The dome male tube end pushes snuggly into the rubber o ring of the female connector. ( and no, I'm not being rude! Lol) I'll see if I can find some pics?
Your hard hat liner is a nice approach too. Though I do prefer the two piece version myself.

 

[clonecollector]

Nice looking lid!
Good job on the build, lovely neat work
I found another super secure way of fixing the dome to the faceplate was using sewage pipe connectors. The dome male tube end pushes snuggly into the rubber o ring of the female connector. ( and no, I'm not being rude! Lol) I'll see if I can find some pics?
Your hard hat liner is a nice approach too. Though I do prefer the two piece version myself.

Thanks!

Post up a pic of your method! I knew I'd be wearing this so I went for a method that allows the helmet to look the same all the time. ( lucky I just slip it on this way. Lol)

 

[clonecollector]

Here is the Darth Ugly painted up!

This is my first Vader paintup and I already see spots where I got some gunmetal over the black. I'll have to figure out how to cover that up with a respray.

 

[clonecollector]

Its been a long while since I updated here but I did a couple of more things to the helmet to show!

The first is two smudges that go to the right side of the c scar... if you have the c scar then you should have these smudges.

After this the only real thing that "could" be done to the helmet is lower the dome a little. I say "could" because the back of the dome already sits close to the back of my neck. This is primarily for a costume and I may ruin the look of the costume as a whole. I would also have to do some removing of material at the top of the dome mount... and even then I'm not sure it would work. I may just call this finished then!




You may also notice that I added metal mesh to the back of the eyes and mouth/ chin grills. This a trooping mod that while not screen accurate will prevent anyone from seeing into the helmet. I've seen that Darth Stone uses something like this in the helmets he builds. The screen is from a set of old speakers I kept around because I thought I could some day use it. (I know, it's like being a hoarder)





Finally, a few shots of the helmet.






A shot of me in costume (before the eye mesh installed)

 

[scottjua]

Dude! Nice! I Like the idea of keeping the two parts together. I can fit into my esb ugly with them attached as well.

This looks great!

 

[clonecollector]

Dude! Nice! I Like the idea of keeping the two parts together. I can fit into my esb ugly with them attached as well.

This looks great!

Thanks!

 

[CSMacLaren]

Looks great. A suggestion is to wear the shoulder bells beneath the edges of the armor. You currently look quite wide, but this under-the-armor approach can help you achieve a taller, slimmer look, as was Prowse's look in ANH.



Hope this helps!

BTW, what make of armor is that? I'm glad Ugly's neck is able to sit well on the armor without falling into the neckline.

 

[clonecollector]

Looks great. A suggestion is to wear the shoulder bells beneath the edges of the armor. You currently look quite wide, but this under-the-armor approach can help you achieve a taller, slimmer look, as was Prowse's look in ANH.

View attachment 181537

Hope this helps!

BTW, what make of armor is that? I'm glad Ugly's neck is able to sit well on the armor without falling into the neckline.

Thanks Mac!... I really enjoyed putting this kit together and trying to get all the little details in.

The chest and shoulders are from Sith Armor. I got it primed and I painted it using automotive aerosol paints. The gunmetal is brushed on.

I only have the shoulders on with Velcro strips so they do just hang there... I tried padding different parts of the armor to get a decent look. There is no padding under the shoulders though. If I raise up the neck part the armor then it looks like football pads. I will play around with it again to see if I can get a better profile... maybe if I simply leave a little extra material they will hang looser... I will try that tonight!

I do have another issue going on with the armor. Not sure if its the armor but I think is the shape of my chest. I have a strap the keeps the bottom of the armor close to my chest to get a better look. If I don't used it the armor wants to lift off my chest. (I had a large chest back when I worked out).

 

[CSMacLaren]

Another idea is to temporarily not wear shoulder armor and photograph yourself just to see the silhouette's difference. If you costume that way, keep your shoulders covered.