The assembly of the helmet
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Pages - 01 - 02 - 03
Wanting to buy a Stormtrooper helmet kit that was screen accurate, but didn't have a lot of money to spend on it at the moment, I decided to buy a helmet kit from "Authentic Props" for half the original price as I then would get a flawed kit with thin spots in the plastic that I thought I could just fill up with bondo on the inside to strengthen it anyway.
Finally the package arrived, and I opened the box to reveal the helmet parts on the inside, not knowing what to expect.
The first things I saw was a piece of white foam over a white helmet, surrounded by a lot of paper.
The first things I saw was a piece of white foam over a white helmet, surrounded by a lot of paper.
Moving away some paper revealed a big shiny white helmet inside the box, and it didn't look bad at all considering I bought a flawed kit.
The woman on the paper even seemed happy for me.
The woman on the paper even seemed happy for me.
And there you have the back piece of the helmet, and it's not looking bad at all.
The only thin spot on this was on the front of it where it will be glued onto the face plate anyway, so it didn't matter at all, and didn't need to be filled up with bondo either.
The only thin spot on this was on the front of it where it will be glued onto the face plate anyway, so it didn't matter at all, and didn't need to be filled up with bondo either.
The back of it looked very good as well, and there were no thin spots to worry about there either.
Finally I got to pull the scary face of a Stormtrooper out of the box, and it looked very good and shiny with no thin spots to worry about or fill with bondo, so my plan of filling it with bondo didn't come to use after all.
The ear pieces for the helmet were really thick and obviously didn't have any thin spots.
Also they had a convenient text on them, telling which side they should be mounted onto.
Also they had a convenient text on them, telling which side they should be mounted onto.
Also in the box was a big bag O' stuff containing all the things needed for the helmet.
Inside the big bag O' stuff were two decal strips of curved dark blue stripes, a sheet of grey decals for the helmet, a smaller bag O' stuff, a sheet of green foil for the lenses, and two rubber trimmings for the brow and neck opening.
Inside the smaller bag O' stuff were two aerators made of sink parts, six white headed bolts for the ear pieces, ten nuts for various bolts, two washers, and two smaller bolts.
As you can see in this photo, the face plate needed some amount of trimming, such as trimming out the holes for the frown and lenses, along with drilling some holes and trimming the edges.
On the edges of the face plate above the tubes, a small amount of excess plastic had to be trimmed away, so I used a pair of scissors and a sharp blade to cut the plastic off.
After having cut the excess plastic off, I sanded the edges smooth using sand-paper as this stuff was made for that kind of thing.
In this photo, you can see a line running down the side of the helmet back.
This line is there to show where you should cut away the excess plastic before bolting on the ear pieces.
This line is there to show where you should cut away the excess plastic before bolting on the ear pieces.
Using a pair of scissors, I cut away the excess plastic, and this is what the helmet looked like after having done that.
Some holes suddenly appeared on my helmet.
I don't know how.
I don't know how.
Having put a couple of bolts through the holes, I could see my helmet come together for the first time, and it looked pretty darn cool.
The other holes on my helmet were made for the ear pieces, so I decided to trim them next so that I could see what my helmet would look like with those on as well.
Starting with the right ear piece, the first step was to cut away most of the excess plastic around it with a pair of scissors.
Starting with the right ear piece, the first step was to cut away most of the excess plastic around it with a pair of scissors.
The next step was to grind away the rest of the excess plastic with a grinding bit on a Dremel multi tool.
After having removed all the excess plastic, I sanded the edges smooth using some sandpaper and a piece of herring on a stick.
With a small cone shaped grinding bit, I made the appropriate angle on the inside of the holes where the ear pieces will be bolted onto the helmet with tapered screws.
After the right ear piece was trimmed ready, it fit perfectly into place.
My helmet can now hear things.
My helmet can now hear things.
To trim the left ear piece, I did the same things as before, cutting away most of the excess plastic with a pair of scissors.
Also I'm wondering why it's called a pair of scissors when there's only one.
Also I'm wondering why it's called a pair of scissors when there's only one.
The next step again was to grind away the rest of the excess plastic with a grinding Dremel bit or something else of similar function.
If you ever wondered how far you should grind one of these, it's down to the line you see right below where I have already cut it.
If you ever wondered how far you should grind one of these, it's down to the line you see right below where I have already cut it.
After the left ear piece was done, the edges were sanded smooth and other such things.
Now the left ear piece fit perfectly onto the helmet also.
Here is a photo showing both ear pieces when mounted.
The next step was to put some decals onto the helmet.
This sheet contains four decals for the back and front of the helmet, along with three decals for the face plate, one being a decal for the frown, but since I wanted to paint the frown, I didn't apply it.
This sheet contains four decals for the back and front of the helmet, along with three decals for the face plate, one being a decal for the frown, but since I wanted to paint the frown, I didn't apply it.
The decal for the back of the helmet was made the way that you have to apply it from the top and cut away the excess part of it on the bottom of it, rather than being a complete decal made to fit right inside where it should be, so it seems.
And so the excess part of the decal was cut away.
What I stated before that these decals are not complete, meant that they lack the black stripe on the bottom edge of them, so I applied masking tape around this area to paint the stripe onto the decal myself.
Some painting later and the decals looked like they should.
Here is a composite photo of both the front helmet decals.
There was no work needed for these as the bottoms of them will be covered by the brow trim anyway.
There was no work needed for these as the bottoms of them will be covered by the brow trim anyway.
Before adding the face plate decals, I decided to grind open the holes for the frown and lenses so that I wouldn't mess up the decals in any way if doing this after applying them.
There were two different Stormtrooper helmets in the movies, one being a "Hero" helmet having three holes on either side of the frown, and a "Stunt" helmet with four or more, I chose to grind open all five holes on either side to make a "Stunt" helmet.
There were two different Stormtrooper helmets in the movies, one being a "Hero" helmet having three holes on either side of the frown, and a "Stunt" helmet with four or more, I chose to grind open all five holes on either side to make a "Stunt" helmet.
The way I opened the holes for the frown and lenses was to use a grinding bit on a Dremel tool to grind away the back side of the holes until they opened.
This method will give a nice clean line around the opening and the holes will be shaped exactly the way they should be.
This method will give a nice clean line around the opening and the holes will be shaped exactly the way they should be.
After grinding away the plastic behind the excess piece inside the lens hole, the excess piece simply dropped out of it, and the lens hole now has the exact shape as it is meant to have.
Here is a photo showing all the holes that I made through the face plate, and they have now all been sanded smooth.
Behold the unsymmetrical glory of a prop replica helmet from a low-budget 1970's movie.
Behold the unsymmetrical glory of a prop replica helmet from a low-budget 1970's movie.
Now I could start applying the decals onto the face plate.
These are the decals for the face plate tubes.
Each strip has thirteen dark blue curved stripes on them, and are the decals that are most likely to get messed up when applying them.
Each strip has thirteen dark blue curved stripes on them, and are the decals that are most likely to get messed up when applying them.
The stripe decals are all individually placed on a sticky white strip with a less sticky surface than the decals so that they won't fall out of order when the strip underneath them is pealed away, and so that the strip over them will peal away after the decals have been applied.
After the decal stripes were applied, I used the round back of a screwdriver handle to press down the decals securely.
The strip used to hold the decals in order had a less sticky glue on it than the decals, so it pealed right off without tearing any of the decals off.
Now the face plate has decals on the other tube also, and they all turned out very good.
Not having any paint for the frown yet, I decided to start working on the brow trim.
As I wanted a somewhat high brow as seen on the "Stunt" helmets, I cut away a small amount of the edge at the front of the helmet.
As I wanted a somewhat high brow as seen on the "Stunt" helmets, I cut away a small amount of the edge at the front of the helmet.
To prevent the brow trim from falling out of place, I cut a slot on either side of the helmet where the edges of the brow trim will be placed later on.
Now the brow trim is in place but not yet glued on because of the helmet having a different shape without the face plate inside of it.
Here is a photo showing the helmet put together with the brow trim attached to it.
Finally I got some paint for the frown, but had to mix it with another paint to get the same color as the decals.
I masked off the areas around the frown to the appropriate shape for the "Stunt" helmet.
I masked off the areas around the frown to the appropriate shape for the "Stunt" helmet.
I wanted to paint the frown with a paintbrush instead of using spray paint as I wanted the finish to look just as lumpy as on the screen used helmets.
I also decided to hand paint the chin of the helmet as it's easier to paint the edges round with a paintbrush, rather than trying to mask the edges round with tape to spray paint it.
Also this way I would get it just as lumpy and unsymmetrical as on the screen used helmets.
Also this way I would get it just as lumpy and unsymmetrical as on the screen used helmets.
I made the round edges by using a long bristled paintbrush with a drop of paint at the front of it so that when I put the paintbrush onto the chin piece, the paint would flow into a perfect circle.