1:1 Scale AS (Averaged Symmetry) Trooper Helmet.

That's also been my goal since forever. I've put more thought into in-universe functionality than is probably healthy.

Hah; you and me both I guess... :D

The gray bits are sensor covers/indicators. The traps and tears to aid situational awareness, the ears for the audio sensors, the teeth for atmosphere sensors (quality/quantity drop low enough, solenoids snap the frown openings shut and internal systems switch over to onboard air). The black lines aren't slits, but breaks in the coating for clearer readings through the smoke transparent shields themselves. The black outlines are isolating gaskets.

Yup; you certainly did your homework ;)

The tube stripes are some sort of ill-defined trooper marking. They vary in number, and several troopers have none.

That's the only reason I could come up with too. Maybe every trooper in a squad has a different amount of stripes, so they can recognize each other in situations where verbal/radio communication is impossible or undesirable.

It's not a very effective method though. It can work with troopers 1 through 4, but imagine trying to make out in low light conditions if you have trooper number 8 or 9 facing you! besides; it only works when they're facing each other; there is no recognition from the back!

One thing that irks me about the Rogue One version is the black lines and tube stripes being openings. A truism of military hardware over the ages: "If there is an opening, dirt will get in it." Troopers in the field would have an impossible time keeping those things from jamming or clogging.

I actually like that feature (because the identification markings are just daft), and am planning to incorporate it myself. And I know all too well about dirt getting everywhere. It's a pain when cleaning real equipment, but when creating a prop, it's the perfect opportunity to add more weathering and dirt of course.

And another truism is that 'all contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder'; often the choice is for the cheapest option, not the best one. So I could imagine the Empire doing exactly that. Their doctrine of quantity over quality before, and during, the Rebellion Era certainly supports the notion...
 
That's the only reason [for tube stripes] I could come up with too. Maybe every trooper in a squad has a different amount of stripes, so they can recognize each other in situations where verbal/radio communication is impossible or undesirable.

One notion I had, but would need to dig through the OT pretty much frame by frame every time a Stormtrooper is on-screen and catalogue each helmet's context in a scene... If troopers normally have 10-13 depending on some factor, but commissioned officers wearing standard armor in the field have none. It'd have to be some non-critical information they convey -- but still relevant when in armor, and apparent in the variations of the garrison uniform.

- Term-of-service, but only if a trooper has "gone career", first marking being when they hit ten years, and counting up from there...

- Reverse term-of-service, counting down from, say, fifteen or twenty, and the poor guyes never make it below ten before they become casualties.

- Primary MOS -- such as, Infantry gets 13, heavy-weapons gets 12, melee and crowd-control gets 11, etc.

- Possibly even enlisted rating, starting from one end or the other, depending on prevalence of who has how many. If most have 13 stripes, I'd say that's Private, then 12 for PFC, 11 for Corporal, 10 for Sergeant... And that wouldn't be problematic in the field because the AR vision systems in the helmet would flag all the troopers in your field of view with their operating numbers and ranks. Helmet markings would just be a redundant/backup visual indicator.

Or like that.

I actually like that feature (because the identification markings are just daft), and am planning to incorporate it myself. And I know all too well about dirt getting everywhere. It's a pain when cleaning real equipment, but when creating a prop, it's the perfect opportunity to add more weathering and dirt of course.

And another truism is that 'all contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder'; often the choice is for the cheapest option, not the best one. So I could imagine the Empire doing exactly that. Their doctrine of quantity over quality before, and during, the Rebellion Era certainly supports the notion...

I agree it does add that much more visual "excitement" to the prop, but I'm too keyed to functionality and consistency. I try to handwave as few OT artifacts off as "production errors" as possible, preferring to find some in-universe rationalization. Helmet/armor asymmetry is one thing I do accept as an error-of-haste/not caring. Not talking about the different knees on a Stormtrooper. Mean more that one forearm has ten indents and the other has eleven, and Brian Muir never caught it until someone asked him just a couple years ago if he'd done it deliberately for some reason.

So is it possible the Emire has a huge stockpile of helmets with tube vents numbering from 0 to 13, to account for the existence of the on-screen variation in number in the OT? Yes. But what function do the vents serve that having more or fewer -- or none -- doesn't substantially enhance or impair performance? Is it possible they have huge bins in every garrison and base QM office for replacement swappable sensor units to pop in behind the traps and tears with sensor-window slits, and it's just part of their standard daily maintenance of their gear? Yes. But I'd question the cost-benefit analysis.

One thing I considered was maybe the tube stripes are just indents, not vents with backplates. Albeit crisply-detailed indents. And the number of indents varies, as the ones on the backs of the Scout Trooper helmets apparently vary. I beiefly entertained the notion that they all have 13 indents, but varying numbers get painted blue, but they're sharp enough and deep enough that the unpainted ones would still be shadowed and it'd be almost impossible to tell except from inches away whether you were seeing paint or shadow.

But I keep coming back to having to allow for the OT variation, and anything that so minimally impacts the functioning of the helmet that there'd be no battle-performance-measurable difference between no vents and thirteen vents isn't worth bothering to include at all, IMO. The lowest (or, more prosaically, second-lowest) bidder would more likely opt for no vents, as that requires the least amount of time, design stage or manufacturing stage, and time is money.
@DynamicMenace, don't mean to sidebar things. I feel it is at least somewhat germane, or I'd've taken it to PM or something. As I said, time is money, and I do appreciate the effort spent on factoring physical tube vents into the design. It will save a lot of headache for those who want them as physical slits, and are easy enough to fill and smooth over for those who don't. :)

- - - Updated - - -

That's the only reason [for tube stripes] I could come up with too. Maybe every trooper in a squad has a different amount of stripes, so they can recognize each other in situations where verbal/radio communication is impossible or undesirable.

One notion I had, but would need to dig through the OT pretty much frame by frame every time a Stormtrooper is on-screen and catalogue each helmet's context in a scene... If troopers normally have 10-13 depending on some factor, but commissioned officers wearing standard armor in the field have none. It'd have to be some non-critical information they convey -- but still relevant when in armor, and apparent in the variations of the garrison uniform.

- Term-of-service, but only if a trooper has "gone career", first marking being when they hit ten years, and counting up from there...

- Reverse term-of-service, counting down from, say, fifteen or twenty, and the poor guyes never make it below ten before they become casualties.

- Primary MOS -- such as, Infantry gets 13, heavy-weapons gets 12, melee and crowd-control gets 11, etc.

- Possibly even enlisted rating, starting from one end or the other, depending on prevalence of who has how many. If most have 13 stripes, I'd say that's Private, then 12 for PFC, 11 for Corporal, 10 for Sergeant... And that wouldn't be problematic in the field because the AR vision systems in the helmet would flag all the troopers in your field of view with their operating numbers and ranks. Helmet markings would just be a redundant/backup visual indicator.

Or like that.

I actually like that feature (because the identification markings are just daft), and am planning to incorporate it myself. And I know all too well about dirt getting everywhere. It's a pain when cleaning real equipment, but when creating a prop, it's the perfect opportunity to add more weathering and dirt of course.

And another truism is that 'all contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder'; often the choice is for the cheapest option, not the best one. So I could imagine the Empire doing exactly that. Their doctrine of quantity over quality before, and during, the Rebellion Era certainly supports the notion...

I agree it does add that much more visual "excitement" to the prop, but I'm too keyed to functionality and consistency. I try to handwave as few OT artifacts off as "production errors" as possible, preferring to find some in-universe rationalization. Helmet/armor asymmetry is one thing I do accept as an error-of-haste/not caring. Not talking about the different knees on a Stormtrooper. Mean more that one forearm has ten indents and the other has eleven, and Brian Muir never caught it until someone asked him just a couple years ago if he'd done it deliberately for some reason.

So is it possible the Emire has a huge stockpile of helmets with tube vents numbering from 0 to 13, to account for the existence of the on-screen variation in number in the OT? Yes. But what function do the vents serve that having more or fewer -- or none -- doesn't substantially enhance or impair performance? Is it possible they have huge bins in every garrison and base QM office for replacement swappable sensor units to pop in behind the traps and tears with sensor-window slits, and it's just part of their standard daily maintenance of their gear? Yes. But I'd question the cost-benefit analysis.

One thing I considered was maybe the tube stripes are just indents, not vents with backplates. Albeit crisply-detailed indents. And the number of indents varies, as the ones on the backs of the Scout Trooper helmets apparently vary. I beiefly entertained the notion that they all have 13 indents, but varying numbers get painted blue, but they're sharp enough and deep enough that the unpainted ones would still be shadowed and it'd be almost impossible to tell except from inches away whether you were seeing paint or shadow.

But I keep coming back to having to allow for the OT variation, and anything that so minimally impacts the functioning of the helmet that there'd be no battle-performance-measurable difference between no vents and thirteen vents isn't worth bothering to include at all, IMO. The lowest (or, more prosaically, second-lowest) bidder would more likely opt for no vents, as that requires the least amount of time, design stage or manufacturing stage, and time is money.
@DynamicMenace, don't mean to sidebar things. I feel it is at least somewhat germane, or I'd've taken it to PM or something. As I said, time is money, and I do appreciate the effort spent on factoring physical tube vents into the design. It will save a lot of headache for those who want them as physical slits, and are easy enough to fill and smooth over for those who don't. :)[/I]
 
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@Inquisitor Peregrinus, no worries man, i dont mind the discussion as long its about the subject matter. which in this case it is. and indeed, for the ones who do not want the tube slits they can most def be filled in and smoothed over easily.
 
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I suppose the side-tube slits could be a form of corrugation, but there's a fairly reasonable explanation that dies not requite the slits to be functional at all:

A lot of designs of military equipment (particularly uniforms) are based on older traditions and incorporate design elements that may no longer be functional. Consider the "false eyes" of pseudo-Corinthian Roman helmets for instance, the various false fold-back facings in contrasting colours on 18th century uniforms, polishable brass butt-plate on the Lancjhester SMG or the non-functional lapel on most suit jackets (to cite a civilian example). It's perfectly reasonable to assume the precursor of the Storm-trooper helmet has a mask-like breathing apparatus, and that the side tubes originated as corrugated air tubes. The slits on the "modern" helmets could easily be put in "just because that's how a helmet is supposed to look". Being non-functional would explain the painting, the variable number of slits and the curved and straight versions.

That's my take anyway.
 
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I suppose the side-tube slits could be a form of corrugation, but there's a fairly reasonable explanation that dies not requite the slits to be functional at all:

A lot of designs of military equipment (particularly uniforms) are based on older traditions and incorporate design elements that may no longer be functional. Consider the "false eyes" of pseudo-Corinthian Roman helmets for instance, the various false fold-back facings in contrasting colours on 18th century uniforms, polishable brass butt-plate on the Lancjhester SMG or the non-functional lapel on most suit jackets (to cite a civilian example). It's perfectly reasonable to assume the precursor of the Storm-trooper helmet has a mask-like breathing apparatus, and that the side tubes originated as corrugated air tubes. The slits on the "modern" helmets could easily be put in "just because that's how a helmet is supposed to look". Being non-functional would explain the painting, the variable number of slits and the curved and straight versions.

That's my take anyway.

And it's a good take. I'll tackle my real-world thinking first. Liz Moore could have sculpted or specified indentations or cutouts. There were plenty elsewhere on the Stormtrooper helmet, as well as the other Rebel and Imperial helmets, the Stormtrooper armor, C-3PO, the "Death Star Droid", the "Skeleton Droid"... By ROTJ, there were more helmets (and armor and humanoid droid costumes), with more indentations and cutouts. I'm thinking specifically of the Scout Troopers, with the indentations on their own version of wraparound half-tube. The Stormtrooper tube stripes were still topical, being stickers, now, instead of hand-painted with stencils. Even though they made all-new Stormtrooper helmets, and could have re-done the stripes as indents or slits then.

When it came time to do the clone troopers, the design settled on mixed cues from the Stormtroopers of the Original Trilogy and the Mandalorian helmet of their genetic donor, with the tube stripes shifted back and done as actual straight vent slits with black backing (despite not even being physical artifacts this time). They were revised/evolved to visually bridge the Phase I design with the OT Stormtrooper, with the vents removed and OT style curved blue topical applications.

The Old Republic (the game) added more retroactive continuity, changing the context of everything in the Prequels, OT, and the comics set in the period. So I'll switch here to in-universe continuity -- acknowledging that the pre-Disney games and comics aren't canon, but also that that period is arguably "safe" from being overwritten. Indeed, more and more references to it are making their way into the new canon. So...

Trefoil visors seem to have been all the rage circa four thousand years prior to the movies. Mandalorians overwhelmingly favored them, the Republic's troopers in the Great Sith War featured them, even civilian armor-makers often used the design in their publicly-purchaseable wares. As the original Mandalorian race died out over the roughly thousand years covered, and warriors and bounty hunters were welcomed into the culture, they brought many helmets featuring that visor design in with them.

Thus, ironically, both Jango's helmet and the new Republic troopers' helmets commissioned by the Kaminoans were updated versions of the same archaic design era. The side vents on the Phase I helmets were inspired by the three vents on each side of the old Republic "Commando" style helmet, though the base design is more derivative of the old standard helmet. Though the Kaminoans had done armies before, this was the first for the Republic, and their updated Republic Trooper helmet design was more theoretical than tested when put into the field, and update development began pretty much immediately.

I think it's telling that the side vents were removed for the Phase II, and kept off through Phases III and IV (up until Rogue One threw a wrench into things with their new take on the Phase IV). Also, that the tube stripes on the Phase II aren't universal. All of the infantry have them, yes, and some of the Commanders/Special Forces... But many of the Commanders and Special Forces are lacking them. Just like Mr. No-Stripes in ANH (and the others wearing that helmet in that movie -- couldn't have been the same character for all instances). So we're back to topical markings of indeterminate meaning.

Up until they decided to "improve" on the classic design for Rogue One and didn't stop at simply making it symmetrical. The earcap greeblies didn't need to be changed (and why they weren't leveled along with the brow, I don't know), the tears didn't need to be enlarged, etc. Since I've been mindful of all of the above for literal decades, changing those lines from markings to indentations or openings with backplate just jumped out at me as wrong.

Others may do what they feel is right, of course, but this is my hill to die on. ;) The original helmets had no indentations or openings in those spots, a decision reinforced by everything that came after for thirty-nine years. So I reject the hubris of the Lucasfilm artists who thought they knew better three years ago. Cleaned up and idealized? Super. More consideration given to how to depict certain features? Absolutely. Arbitrarily changing the nature or look of distinctive physical features? Control-Z.
 
ok guys had to reprint. the first one failed. but this one is looking better. and almost done, back and dome are still needed to be done. coming along slow but sure, :D
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Fantastic print what material / filament brand are you using? Oh and when are the files available lol wink wink cough cough!!

Awesome work and subscribed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Fantastic print what material / filament brand are you using? Oh and when are the files available lol wink wink cough cough!!

Awesome work and subscribed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amazon brand i do believe. and sorry files re not available..lol ,, and thank you. :)
 
construction and prepping has begun. here is the cap and rear component assembled and being prepped for the molding process. still a LONG way to go.
 

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