Making Hero out of AP

[SCTrooper[TK]]

I  started this build and wanted to share.  I have quite a few uncompleted projects, painting the details is stressful for me, I develope a palsy when painting and it drives me crazy. I hope you enjoy and look foreward to any coments.

 

[SCTrooper[TK]]

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good so far

[Snaps[TK]]

Nice job so far

[Trooperman]

Good build, this is gonna look great when you finish it

[bpoodoo]

And I'm the same way about detail painting.  I have several helmet kits but only 1 completed (the Dan Laws).  And that involved lots of mineral spirits and lint-free tissue to fix my mistakes as I went along.  But it helped figuring out how to erase my mistakes on a top detail application of paint and not have it interfere with dried paint underneath (e.g. the base white or gray trap).

 

Helmet is looking good.  One of the views of your heroized helmet looks at lot like this screen cap (link from starwarshelmets.com):

 

 

I had the idea of making one  "convertible" helmet that could be a stunt or a hero with a quick switch out of parts and some adjustments.  One of the difficult aspects is that the actual shape of the helmets differ between stunt and hero.  The hero is wider and shorter.  The general impression I get is someone took it out of the thermoformer, quickly assembled it, and then sat on it.  I'd made this animated GIF of helmets in the LFL archives to help visualize the difference between the shapes of a Hero and two Stunts:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B13YyeojRHKeLUxmUFNFY0Z6eWc/edit?usp=sharing

 

Troopermaster has good photo comparisons of his Stunt and Hero as well as photos from a Hero in the LFL archives:

 

https://www.facebook.com/trooper.master.37/photos_albums

 

One trick I use to change the shape of a helmet is to slightly push together or pull apart the faceplate and cap&back at the seam where they meet behind the forehead.  Pulling apart gives a higher brow but also makes the helmet taller.  Pushing together gives a lower brow but also makes the helmet wider, which is more like a hero.  I afix two fuzzy pieces of velcro to the helmet, one on the faceplate and one on the cap&back.  And I put a bracing material (e.g. hardened instamorph) on the back of a sticky piece of velcro which I press onto the other two pieces to maintain the desired separation.  This works better on more flexible materials (e.g. HDPE) but can make subtle changes in more rigid materials (e.g. ABS).

 

What you have looks really good.  The only other thing I might suggest is trimming a bit more of the undercut on the sides to add to the impression of greater width.  But that would probably mean retrimming the ears, and you've done a great job on those. 

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Thanks for the comment's.  Hey David, I will be removing lots of material for the undercut.  The hero helmet is very special and TM is it.  I tried to adjust the brow looking at different helmets. the 11- 12 stripe one in particular.  I am not sure if there was more then one helmet with stripes like this. 

 

My satin black paint dried up on me, so I order another. Just when I was in the mood to pain

 

Mr Laws said he would have a hero soon, but I have not seen anything yet.  

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Coming along. Sorry for the low quality pics.

Edited September 15, 2014 by SCTrooper

[SCTrooper[TK]]

[SCTrooper[TK]]

I took these pic's in the garage with fluorescent light. The brow isn't as low as it looks.

[Tolo[TK]]

Really nice job you did!!

 

 

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[bpoodoo]

Outstanding job on both the helmet and the paint work. I didn't think it would be possible to make such a convincing hero from the stunt helmet but you pretty much nailed it.

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Convincing is the word. Nice work Nick!

 

Have you a plan for the bubble lens?

[SCTrooper[TK]]

Convincing is what I was shooting for.  Thanks for the kind words.  Germain, I have some hero lenses that came from a guy on here and they look great but, difficult to see through.  There made from thick resin like material I think it's called purplex  or something like that..  I would really like to troop this helmet.  Congrat's on your level 3 approval.

[Bone[501st]]

Why not ask Troopermaster for a set of bubble lenses?

Although they are rather thick, too, once you have installed them, you will be pleasantly surprised ...

 

Oh, and by the way: very nice paint job!

Edited September 27, 2014 by Bone

[Locitus[Admin]]

I think you mean perspex. It's a brand name for plexiglass. It is acrylic plastic.

 

Nice job on the helmet btw.

 

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[SCTrooper[TK]]

Thank's Skipper!

 

 

@ Bone I may do that. 

[Vidakovic Igor]

does ear piece has to have three visible screws

[JLight[TK]]

Hero ears only have 2 screws. One at the top and one at the bottom. No middle screw. They also have only 3 bumps not 4.

 

 

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[Sly11[Admin]]

Nice work, you have done, look accurate it does.

 

 

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[SCTrooper[TK]]

I wasn't happy with the tube stripes.  There from trooper bay and they are great for the stunt helmets, but not quite right for the hero.  So I did them free hand which took a few attempts.  The spacing and thickness are a bit off in places.

 

[The5thHorseman[501st]]

Looks perfect! Very nice handpainting 

[bpoodoo]

Yep very nice. Painting tube stripes freehand involves too high a degree-of-difficulty for me! Some variation in spacing in thickness is expected and is typical in the ANH movie helmets.

[usaeatt2]

WOW!  VERY NICE.  Quite an inspiration.

 

I started an AP hero back in July, but got sidetracked by other work.  I'd be happy if I can even come close to the look you've achieved! 

 

I made bubbles lenses for my AP Hero...  1.5mm thick, almost no distortion.  I'll send a pair if you'd like to try them.

 

I detailed making the lenses about halfway through my first post:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27936-first-timer-ap-armor-build-thread/?p=353560

 

[SCTrooper[TK]]

WOW!  VERY NICE.  Quite an inspiration.

 

I started an AP hero back in July, but got sidetracked by other work.  I'd be happy if I can even come close to the look you've achieved! 

 

I made bubbles lenses for my AP Hero...  1.5mm thick, almost no distortion.  I'll send a pair if you'd like to try them.

 

I detailed making the lenses about halfway through my first post:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27936-first-timer-ap-armor-build-thread/?p=353560

 

These lenses are really nice. Very hard to photograph.

 

Visibility is great and fit great.

 

Thanks,  Aaron