I grew up watching Star Wars with my Dad and made my first Vader suit when I was 12... from papermaché and cardboard. I couldn't find the picture of it but let me say... I needed some more practice 
I've been doing props for 4 years now and a while back I decided to go for a 3d printer... find out to model my own stuff.
Over a year ago I wanted to make a File for the new Storm Trooper Armor for myself that would be approvable for the 501st. Reference was scarce (for polygonal modeling) and I just made the Helmet back then. It was pretty decent but some details were off and the shape of the dome wasn't 100%.
A buddy of mine sent me a low poly game model to look at and it came with textures. That was awesome because that gave me something to start with. A lot of details on the textures were just right and the overall proportions looked correct. I used it as a base reference to make my own model. I have sinced tracked down the origin of the model and I believe that it was JakeGreen163 on DeviantArt who made it available.
I've since had help from some dedicated Star Wars Costume Pros who pointed out various mistakes and things to improve at.
A lot of hours and dedication have gone into making this a very high quality model, as close to the real thing as possible.
501st, here I come
Some details on the model:
- Since I couldn't decide which helmet style I wanted to go with (Episode VII or VIII) i made both of them.
- The hexagonal structure on the Helmet would have been really hard to model and post process, so I came up with two 3d printer-friendly solution.
First: A glue-on solution: The hexagonal structure is printed flat and then glued in place.
Second: The hexagonal structure can be inserted into a small undercut and is held in place by the "Nose"-section.
If you don't understand what I mean, look at the pictures.
- Visor-Stencil: I have a vacformer but I figured, since it is not a requirement for the 501st approval to have a bubble lens. I could just as well make a cutout for the visor since that is easier to apply a black tint to. So I made a stencil that would fit just right.
I already printed the helmet. I'm prepping the rest of the suit next. Progress on this will not be super fast because I print a lot for customers as well. And here are the pictures!
Helmet Episode VII
Helmet Episode VIII
Hexagonal Inserts
Rest of the Suit
Alright, that's all for the first post. The printing and building progress will follow in the next posts. The helmet is already printed, so that comes right up.
I've been doing props for 4 years now and a while back I decided to go for a 3d printer... find out to model my own stuff.
Over a year ago I wanted to make a File for the new Storm Trooper Armor for myself that would be approvable for the 501st. Reference was scarce (for polygonal modeling) and I just made the Helmet back then. It was pretty decent but some details were off and the shape of the dome wasn't 100%.
A buddy of mine sent me a low poly game model to look at and it came with textures. That was awesome because that gave me something to start with. A lot of details on the textures were just right and the overall proportions looked correct. I used it as a base reference to make my own model. I have sinced tracked down the origin of the model and I believe that it was JakeGreen163 on DeviantArt who made it available.
I've since had help from some dedicated Star Wars Costume Pros who pointed out various mistakes and things to improve at.
A lot of hours and dedication have gone into making this a very high quality model, as close to the real thing as possible.
501st, here I come
Some details on the model:
- Since I couldn't decide which helmet style I wanted to go with (Episode VII or VIII) i made both of them.
- The hexagonal structure on the Helmet would have been really hard to model and post process, so I came up with two 3d printer-friendly solution.
First: A glue-on solution: The hexagonal structure is printed flat and then glued in place.
Second: The hexagonal structure can be inserted into a small undercut and is held in place by the "Nose"-section.
If you don't understand what I mean, look at the pictures.
- Visor-Stencil: I have a vacformer but I figured, since it is not a requirement for the 501st approval to have a bubble lens. I could just as well make a cutout for the visor since that is easier to apply a black tint to. So I made a stencil that would fit just right.
I already printed the helmet. I'm prepping the rest of the suit next. Progress on this will not be super fast because I print a lot for customers as well. And here are the pictures!
Helmet Episode VII
Helmet Episode VIII
Hexagonal Inserts
Rest of the Suit
Alright, that's all for the first post. The printing and building progress will follow in the next posts. The helmet is already printed, so that comes right up.
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