TK-4510

Here is a pic of the Dave M helmets frown. We will be duplicating the Dave M helmet for this tutorial (to a point) so we are going to try and match the small details.

Well, its been 3 days. I let the helmet dry and it looks pretty good. Today I am going to do some painting and decals. To start out you will need some stuff. I have pretty much everything here that I am going to need. Paint, brushes, q-tips, thinner, etc...

I am assembling the tutorial now. I will be painting the frown and vocoder and ears. The rest will be stickers provided in the kit.

LOL Yes, I can see your point. In regards to this armor and helmet....Its over and the soup has been soured. In regards to the prop community its a heard lesson learned. I think Mike H. had a good point when he said "let the TE lineage be a lesson to us all." I DO love troopin' and I DO love my helmets. Chris is a good buddy of mine and so is Guns. I want to wash all this other crap away but I cant....I got both my helmets because of friendship and I hope thats how this hobby continues.

Gino, I agree with you to a point. I think that the original sculpts should NEVER have been be recasted. I think the TE lineage is a grey area as Matt has gone out of his way to rip you, GF, and Tony off. Unfortunately this has spawned many recasts of the same work. Yeah I admit its messy and its a perfect example of what not to do. But I also think its too late. There are alot of ANH parts available now. I know a guy who has hero molds that are amazing. Theres another guy in my garrison who has the complete set in hydrostone and cap nback and faceplate in resin. His armor sets are flawless and you cant tell them apart from the set he bought. I heard about a year ago that moncal was working on some ROTJ armor and was shut down. Then there is MFX, SDS, and a few others......Its over man. That armor and helmet will be the standard in two years or less and the FX will evolve into a hybrid of both. I know you can see this too. I think if you dont want it recast then you should not release it. Its inevitable... If you recast something so you can sell it and make good money on it, its foolish to think that it wont be copied..... Especially if its an expensive item. I think you are the only person who has used common sense when it comes to this. You go out of your way to make it difficult to recast your work. You are very secretive about your techniques. You are protecting your investment so you can continue to profit from it. Its too bad you didnt have the armor first or this would have ended up differently. With all this being said, thats why I support and promote TE2 so much. The guy loves the armor and helmet and paid alot for the molds. I want him to be successful, and I want people to turn to him for their needs. Not the next set of TE armor that Dan is working on or any other armor that people are working on. Its a sad line of history. I have decided to embrace what we DO have and forget the rest. MIke

Thats a dead link for me... I cant see it.

He has never sold a helmet that I am aware of. Isnt that what recasting is all about? Profiting from someone elses work.... AND you guys stole and recasted a screen used item. "Who is the fool? The fool or the fool who follows him?"

I request that this thread now be locked. I started it and here we go. I dont need anymore info.

That is just an awesome helmet Chris. Thanks for mine!

I dont have any armor at the moment, but when I do go about making the next set it will be a "clean" screen accurate set. What I mean is.... If you look at the Gino v2 helmet, its clean but closely resembles the Dave M helmet. Thats what I am going for. I wouldnt mind a nasty f'd up set too just for kicks, but in generel I like the clean accurate look. Now sandies.. Thats a different! I am wondering too.... Gino, how do I go about painting the tube stripes? Can you kindly PM me about this... I may want to do it for the tutorial:)

I used a thhe plastic part that holds toilet paper ($3.99) and some rubber o rings ($3.00) I just cut them down to the correct size then glue on a mic tip

Thanks Gino

toilet paper holder and some rubber o rings!!

Yeah, its the brian r. helmet but I was hoping for a screen identification. Matt also got ahold of the Dave M. Helmet too, I thnk. I dont think the Brian R. was ever anywhere near the camera. Possibly in the background when vader walked by the squad in the death star.

I scanned all the way through ANH and couldnt find his helmet, BUT. I did notice that alot of stunts only had three teeth cut out. The fourth was just white on alot of them. I also noticed that most of the background helmets mic tips were white rimmed and not black always. What a bunch of crappy helmets!!! I love em'.....

I just heard from T*E that his first helmet was never identified. You guys with HD better get on it!!!!

Its a screen used helmet I think, but I am not sure if its ever been identifird

See? Thats weird huh? What helmet was it? Was it ever identified?

No

Anyone know? I know it wasnt the STS.....It wasnt the SFS....was it? Anyone? Has it been identified?

Yes, you can. I have painted ABS with it too. Just make sure the surface is prepped for paint. Wait till you guys see this thing in bright light!

Painting! I have to give credit where credit is due here. Mike Harrison TK-1536 talked about using a special paint on his website a year ago and I tried it. Its REALLY great paint and matches FX ABS and most other armors very well. Its GLOSSY as ABS as well. It does have specific rules that you cannot violate however. Rule #1 FOLLOW THE CANS DIRECTIONS!! Spray your coats on 5 minutes apart and do not re-coat the paint "later". If you think you will be OK to repaint the helmet in a few days, you will sadly be mistaken. I know from horrible experience. I painted some armor with this stuff and decided to add another coat a day later and the WHOLE armor set turned into a krinkly mess... If you follow what I tell you here you will do VERY well Heres another tidbit that I learned the hard way. If your running low on light and decide to paint outside at night with a spot light on the helmet.....THE BUGS WILL LOVE IT. They will come from near and far to land on the glossy white thing!!! They will die in the sticky goo... Thats a real bummer when that happens......Anyway.. The magic paint is called Rustoleum Professional High Performance Enamel. The sku number is #7592 Gloss white. It comes in a tall silver can. You can find it at Home Depot. This stuff is like nail polish once it dries. Stick the helmet on a pole in the yard or somewhere you can get alot of spray mist in the air and not piss anybody off. If you paint in the garage, use a mask and open the door cause this stuff is insanely stinky. Also move or cover anything you dont want paint dust on. Go over the helmet and check one last time for anything that needs to be taken care of. You dont want to seal a mistake for ever, do you? Shake the paint can for about 3 minutes straight and really mix it up good. Start by applying a nice even normal coat of paint all over the helmet. When I spray I hold the can about 8-12 inches away from the helmet and spray left to right from top to bottom and UNDER the rim a bit too. Imagine the helmet as a pie. Spray a slice left to right from top to bottom and move on to the next slice working all the way around the helmet. Do this until sure you've covered the whole thing. Once you have done the first coat, wait 5 minutes.....(shake between coats for a few minutes)... Now do it again, working all the way around with a nice even coat. This paint lays on really nice and thick so not too much now, just a nice even coat...That was the second coat......(shake the can and wait 5 minutes). Now the 3rd and last coat, again nice and even.... Once it has been covered in glossy goodness you will need to move it back in doors. I have a place in my garage that I can stick the pole with the helmet on it where nobody can get to it. CAREFULLY put your helmet (holding the pole only) in that spot that will be secure. DO NOT touch the helmet for any reason for at least 48 hours (2 days). I recommend 3 days for a nice hard shell. The helmet completely cures in about a week. So I will pick back up in three days!

I got home today and ran right into the garage and grabbed the helmet, so here we go. The first thing we need to do now is grab some 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper. Lightly sand the helmet. Go all over the helmet and just sand a little of the rough primer off. Do the whole thing. Once you have a nice smooth helmet you will need to thoroughly wipe it down with a clean cloth. run your hand over the helmet and feel for any rough spots. If you find some that you missed earlier, lightly sand them down. Wipe the helmet down again for the final time.

LOL!!!