The Force Awakens Stormtrooper Helmet

[StephenMG]

Hi all,

 

I'm not really sure if this is appropriate to post here as it's a full size build rather than a scale model, although it is 1:1 scale I suppose! Anyway, a while back (on a bit of a whim) I bought a Rubie's First Order Stormtrooper Helmet. For 30-odd quid it looked like a bit of fun and nice ornament for the man-cave! However, the quality was somewhat 'iffy' and it was clearly undersized which was disappointing. My original plan was just to give it a decent paint job but the more I looked at it, the more I couldn't live with the small size (about 85% of the original I think) or the compromises that had clearly been made in order to mould it in only two pieces (back and front halves). So I decided to see if I could increase its size and sharpen up some of the details. I thought some of you might be interested to see the WIP.

 

Firstly, the back and front halves were spaced apart and the 'face' section detached and lowered,

 

Next, I sliced it in half and spaced the left and right sides apart,

 

I then cut out the 'face' area and beefed up the bottom edge with some heat-shaped styrene rod and Milliput,

 

Next job was to reconstruct the 'temple' area with a plastic card 'tray' and Milliput and to open up the side vents,

 

I rebuilt the 'face' from scratch as the original moulded part was horrible! Firstly shaping some steel hex-mesh,

 

Then fitting it and building up the 'eye' surround with plastic card, Evergreen rod and Milliput (and also re-instating other details on the side of the helmet),

 

The nose armour was made from plastic card with little 'feet' to space it properly over the mesh,

 

I then made a pattern and cast copies of the vents or catches or whatever they are on the top of the helmet,

 

Everything fitted and almost ready for final priming and painting,

 

White paint on and masking starting for the black areas,

 

The eye section is cut from a slightly bulged, tinted motorcycle visor. It had to be curved more than it originally was which I did by warming with a heat gun. That almost went horribly wrong as I overdid it and crazed a patch of the surface at one point! Cue two hours of sanding and polishing to get it back to normal clarity (preceded by a further hour or so of cussing of course!!!).

 

I appreciate this is a bit different from a 'normal' scale model but if anyone's interested I'll post some finished photos in the Ready for Inspection section shortly.

 

Cheers.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Interesting build, I'd certainly like to see some finished pics.

[Silenoz]

Me too, nice work with the changes...

[StephenMG]

Thanks for the feedback. Some pics of the final result are in a RFI thread here - First Order Stormtrooper helmet 1:1 scale

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Wow thats some good work. 👍

[Will Vale]

Great construction skills, I wasn't sure a cut and shut would work on something so curvy and mechanical but the finished result is amazing. A vast improvement on the original.

 

Is it possible to wear it?

W

 

[StephenMG]

1 hour ago, Will Vale said:

Great construction skills, I wasn't sure a cut and shut would work on something so curvy and mechanical but the finished result is amazing. A vast improvement on the original.

 

Is it possible to wear it?

W

 

Thanks WIll. Yes, it's perfectly wearable, although it's only got some temporary foam pads installed at the moment. I plan on fitting out the interior at some stage, mostly to hide the evidence of the butchery that went on!!! 😁

[HOUSTON]

COOL!