Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods - FINISHED!

StephenMG

Active Member
Hi all,

Just thought I'd show you some work I'm doing on a cheap Rubie's 2-piece First Order stormtrooper helmet. The background to this is that I recently bought a Hasbro Black Series stormtrooper helmet which has scratched an itch I've had since my Dad took me to see Star Wars at the age of 11 back in 1977! I've never been able to afford (or justify) the high prices of the better helmet replicas so the Black Series lid was a dream come true. However, that triggered another itch for a First Order helmet to display with it! Same problem though - the better replicas are just too expensive for me.

So, even though I'd read the Rubie's 2-piece helmet was cheap, a bit nasty and slightly undersized, I bought one. For 30 quid I was pleasantly surprised with the general look, if not the finish! It's clear that some of the details have been 'tweaked' in order for it to be moulded in only 2 pieces and the net for lenses can be forgiven - these are the reasons it's so cheap after all.

Proportions didn't look too bad but it's definitely undersized. Disappointingly it looked 'wrong' sat next to the Black Series. The back half looked too shallow though making the 'temple' details too far back. I decided to do some surgery to try to make it look a bit 'bulkier' while keeping the proportions about right.

OK, purists look away now! This is never going to be any where near an accurate replica. It's purely intended as something nice to plonk on my shelf with my Black Series lid.

So, the aim is to bulk out the helmet generally. Firstly, I cut the faceplate off and have now started to reassemble the front and back halves but spaced apart - around 5mm at the very top of the helmet, expanding to around 15mm at the bottom. The faceplate is then reattached but dropped down about 4mm and 2mm forward so that it locates in the correct place to maintain the expanded proportions. The photos show progress so far - all the pieces spaced out with the crown joint fully 'plated' with styrene strips. The 'fore and aft' dimensions are now on a par with the Black Series Rogue One helmet. Once it's all reassembled I'll fill the spaces with styrene and filler. The temple area will have to be remodelled as it's now all over the place!

I know this is a horror show for the rivet-counters (sorry!) but if it gives me a reasonable representation of the helmet that I can display next to be Black Series, I'll be delighted!

Rubies-mod1.jpgRubies-mod2.jpg

More progress soon...:)
 
Last edited:
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Like the progress, even in the current state it looks better than the original lol. I look forward to seeing how it looks when all finished (and the progress), will then see if I am brave enough to try and do it to mine.
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

For the lenses you can take the approach I likely will, and what folks doing Stormtrooper bubble lenses have done for years. Cut a rectangle of smoked acrylic sheet a bit bigger than the overall visor opening, put it in boiling water for a couple minutes, bend to the curve and gently press through with your fingers form the back until you've got itto the right curvature and even. If you've never done it before, there is a learning curve, but it's short and the material cost is pretty low.

--Jonah
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Looking forward to see how you get on with this, I got a Rubies FO helmet some time ago and I put it away until I can get motivated to improve it. Just might have to get it out in the new year and start modding it.
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

For the lenses you can take the approach I likely will, and what folks doing Stormtrooper bubble lenses have done for years. Cut a rectangle of smoked acrylic sheet a bit bigger than the overall visor opening, put it in boiling water for a couple minutes, bend to the curve and gently press through with your fingers form the back until you've got itto the right curvature and even. If you've never done it before, there is a learning curve, but it's short and the material cost is pretty low.

--Jonah

Thanks Jonah. I haven't given much thought to the lenses yet to be honest but that technique is certainly on my 'to try' list. Having said that, the amount of effort I put in to the lenses will be in direct proportion to how well the whole thing turns out!!!

Looking forward to see how you get on with this, I got a Rubies FO helmet some time ago and I put it away until I can get motivated to improve it. Just might have to get it out in the new year and start modding it.

It's a pretty good basis for modding I think even setting aside the slightly shrunken dimensions. I'm only going to the lengths of chopping mine into bits because it does look too small next to a full size Black Series helmet. If it's displayed on its own it would look great with just a repaint and decent lenses. :)
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

the TFA Stormie helmet IS smaller than a classic TK. From what I've seen the Black Series Rogue One helmet is basically the same size as the OT lids were, and the TFA shouldn't match that. Here's my anovos next to an RS Props classic TK:
OMGUXW6.jpg
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Thank you Dan. That is a very useful photo.

I was aware the TFA helmet was a touch smaller than the OT and R1 ones, but the Rubie's helmet is smaller again - reckoned to be about 85% the size it should be. It's noticably too narrow and your photo confirms that so my aim is just to 'bulk up' the Rubie's helmet a bit.

Could I trouble you for some basic measurements Dan? Just overall height, width and depth of your Anovos would be extremely useful if it's not too much bother? :thumbsup
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's TFA Stormtrooper helmet mods

I'm already beginning to wonder if this really is worth the effort but am pressing on regardless!

I have now cut the helmet in half in order to widen it. I've spaced the two halves out by about 15mm as originally it looked very, very narrow. It looked ridiculous to start with but as I plugged more and more of the gaps it started to look better...with a bit of imagination!

Next step is to remove the mesh and nose armour section - this latter part will need to be reshaped to allow for the wider helmet so I will make a replacement from scratch. I have a piece of 1mm thick steel mesh with 2mm hexagonal holes which looks about right. I'll shape that to the correct profile, fix it in place to cover the front then will fix a new styrene nose armour 'plate' to that. Before that though I'll be adding more styrene strips to the huge gaps I've created then will make good with filler to smooth the whole thing off.

This is a lot of effort for a cheapo helmet but it's great fun!
Rubies-mod3.jpgRubies-mod4.jpgRubies-mod5.jpg
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

I've made a little bit of (slow) progress, thanks for asking.

I got sidetracked when my daughter asked me to make her a lightsabre though! How could I refuse! That 'distraction' has been going OK - it'll be a sort of Anakin/Vader/Luke mash-up! I've been scratchbuilding components from bits of PVC pipe, plastic sheet, casting t-track sections etc. and will mount them all on a piece of chrome pipe - see photo of the bits I've made so far.
IMG_20161211_102358338.jpg
Back to the helmet though. I've removed the face section for now as I intend to replace it with a piece of steel hex mesh curved to the shape of the 'face'. On to that I will mount a new scratchbuilt armour section. I've been concentrating on the 'jaw-bone' area for now though and have built up and filled the plastic in the gap created when I spaced the two halves apart. That's just about finished so I'm now moving on to the dome. Picture of progress to date below.
IMG_20161211_101739966_HDR.jpg
Onwards and upwards!
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Impressive... Most impressive! May have to commission you to sort out my First Order helmet.
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Oh this looks fantastic! I'd love to see a thread on that lightsaber as well!

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Thanks for the support guys. Progress is going to be even slower with Christmas looming but I'll keep chipping away at it!

I had some 10mm ABS rod delivered yesterday which I'm hoping to curve using a heat gun to weld around the bottom edge of the helmet. It really does need beefing up in that area so if this doesn't work I'll do it with multiple laminated strips of styrene instead.

I'll start a thread on my 'quick and dirty' lightsabre once I've taken some photos!

:thumbsup
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Stephen - please could you update this, if you've progressed further. I was thinking of purchasing the Rubies FA helmet and modifying it, just as you are. Be interested how you got on with this.
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Apologies for the dismal lack of updates! I've had quite a long 'break' from this while working on a commission for some book artwork. I have made a little progress however (nothing too dramatic though!) so will take a couple of photos and post them up later. :)
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Here are a couple of pics as things stand. It doesn't look hugely different from the last time but I have done some work on it..honestly!

I wanted to beef up the bottom edge so I took some 10mm diameter ABS rods, heated/shaped them to fit around the bottom edge and glued them on. I backed that up with some Milliput (2-part epoxy putty - the yellow-green stuff in the photos) and I now have a solid bottom edge which holds the whole thing rigid. I plan to build the bottom up further with more Milliput now that I have a solid base to work on.

Most of the gaps have now been plugged with plastic sheet ready for filler to smooth things out. Next job is to sort out the 'temple' area.

The random looking strip of plastic on the very top of the helmet is where I'm starting to build up some extra plastic to round off the crown. At the moment it's too square - both as a result of my cutting and patching and because the original Rubies shape was not rounded enough.

Overall the dimensions are much closer to actual size now I think so I'm pleased with the way things are (slooowly) progressing. :)Rubies-mod6.jpgRubies-mod7.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

Been doing a bit of work on the 'temple' area which was a complete mess after my cutting and chopping!

I made a couple of 'trays' the correct size/shape for the black trapezoid area then glued them in place. I then packed the area around them with Milliput - white this time rather than the yellow-green stuff so I can get a better impression of how things look. It's really transformed the look of the thing so I can't wait for it to harden so I can sand it smooth.

P.S. Ignore the rubber duck with the egg-box hat - that was my daughter's handiwork! :)

rubies-temple1.jpgrubies-temple2.jpgrubies-temple3.jpg
 
Re: Cheapie Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper mods

A bit more progress. Filler applied to the sides and crown where my 'stretched' sections are. Sanded and smoothed.

I've also built up the bottom edge with Milliput to extend it and to curve it under a touch. The original Rubies helmet had no return on the bottom edge at all. It's had its first sanding but there's lots of dimples to fill and wavey edges to tidy up yet. The Milliput has stiffened the whole things up and given it a bit of weight. It's feeling a bit less like a plastic flower pot now!

Next job is to fill the moulded-in joint running above the brown, over the 'temples' and round the back. Its too wide so I'll fill and re-scribe it in due course.

It's never going to be 100% accurate (which was never my intention) but it's starting to look quite nice now. :)
Rubies-mod8.jpgRubies-mod9.jpg
 
This thread is more than 5 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top