HOWTO: Make Black Series R1 bucket more accurate

[ireachy]

On 12/22/2016 at 5:19 AM, Par_ said:

 

Black series helmet update: I changed the brow to have electrical tape versus plastidip, because I only plastidiped the brow's underside instead of the entire thing, so the edges fray. Then after failing to get plastidip out of the can I untaped the helmet and some plastidip already on came off with it in an area or 2. So electrical tape works, and hopefully once a CRL is up and functioning, it could pass basic.

I also updated the interior with padding and a home made elastic... chin strap. It actually keeps the helmet on my head when I look down pretty well It was majorly inspired by the chin straps that the Shoretroopers have inside the helmet to keep it on the wearer, so I assumed that the Stormtrooper helmets have it as well.

 

Thoughts on brow welcome hopefully I'm not kidding myself with the tape (I have it slightly tucked into the skullcap so it stays down. This stuff's edges don't want to stick very well). Aside from a few wrinkles at the very ends of the brow where I tucked it into the helmet, it hopefully will pass. Here's to hoping!

 

 

 

 

Here's the interior of my helmet, with 2 different kinds of padding.

 

 

 

 

Par_,

 

I followed your method regarding use of black electrical tape for the brow. If you pull / stretch the tape as you lay it down along the brow it tends to stick better and conform to the curve. I applied a single strip of the tape aligned with the top front edge and then tucked the reminder along the underside of the brow - the part that is white and inaccurate on the BS helmet. Using the rounded end of a wooden coffee stirrer I then pressed along the under edge to make sure the tape adhered fully. Some of the tape ran over onto the faceplate under the brow. I also pressed this into place.

 

I then used a scalpel blade and cut the excess tape from the faceplate, aligning the blade along the underneath edge of the brow. Using fine pointed tweezers I then removed the excess tape very carefully.

 

Finally, I noticed that I has two very small air bubbles on the front of the brow. Using the scalpel blade I punctured a very tiny hole in the bubble and then smoothed away the bubble. Worked a charm.

 

I haven't added any tape to the upper surface of the brow. The taught electrical tape has blended perfectly with the helmet's original rubber plastic and you cannot see any seam.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Sly11
Edited to restore the image by Sly11, 2020

[ireachy]

Thank you Ian! Yes I have to say the cheek tubes are scary to do, I've messed up on a few areas. Howeer, nothing a little Loctite Superglue gel won't fill (obviously may need some white touch up paint though xD )

 

Look forward to seeing your mods! The X-wing trim may work too, anything that works helps  I will recommend for the jaw seamline that it's more of an angular cut, and not at the side all that much. I did this on mine, and it makes it look like a gap. If you went more towards the top of the actual jaw itself it would look better.

 

Will pluck up the courage soon for the tube stripe cut away. Superglue gel is a useful tip thanks.

 

I'll stream through plenty of ref material before I tackle the jaw seamline. Thanks for the pointers. 

 

If any help then here's a link to the pics I took at Celebration Europe last year. There are many tighter / better pics out there than these, but I did try and get some unusual angles for a few of the shots. Feel free to use if you'd like.

 

http://s1146.photobucket.com/user/Ian_Reach/library/SWCE%20-%20RO%20-%20Stormtrooper?sort=3&page=1

 

ireachy

[Parquette[TK]]

Thanks for the ref photos! Putting them on favorites for my build

 

Before cutting the tube stripes away, I'd reccomend going about seeing what/how other people hollow out small areas on armors and such. So far I don't know anyone else that has hollowed the cheek stripes out, but I'm certain people have done similar things for different costumes.

[ChicagoVader75]

Great work, makes me want to pick one of these up and try similar mods myself!

[Parquette[TK]]

Rogue One TK helmet in the house!

So since my mods to the helmet in this HOWTO thread for the Black Series are to make the helmet pure R1, the biggest thing that bugged me was the height of the brow. As you all saw in an earlier post, I used electrical tape to cover the white underside of the original brow, but it just wasn't enough. There was still too much of a white gap between the eyes and the brow, and overall, the helmet just  basically let me know it's not an R1 helmet, but rather, one that strikes me as a larger version of the OT Sideshow Collectibles Sandtrooper helmet.

The other day I cut up a bit of some extra weather stripping (same as the neck hole trim earlier) and glued it to the front. I left the ends of the weather stripping on so that it would go around the top and bottom, and now it looks so much better! 

Also in the first pic I just painted it with the Ace Hardware Gloss White Enamel paint. That will come at a later step. 

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by Par_

[Parquette[TK]]

Edit: Problem with pics fixed

Edited February 6, 2017 by Par_

[Parquette[TK]]

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. Been having problems with painting the helmet a new white. Hopefully once the weather gets warmer I'll be able to paint it with a friend. 

 

Anyhow, until then, hope this thread has been of help to everyone! Will have more soon  

[artimorty]

I own a hasbro bs bucket since last Christmas. Bought it in an offer with Kyle Ren's. Nice price for both of them. Happy with the pair but thinking about improving both. This thread helps a lot. Couple of questions here. Having own an EFX lid for almost threee years now, modded it, and thinking about how to get rid of the damn seam line below the teeth... it's very disappointing to learn that I've to provide a seam in this bucket! Hide one in the one that has it and create one in the one that hasn't l! This hobby is getteing a little frustrating...<br><br><br>

Second question is more practical. The tube stripes closer to the ears have same blue stripe inside a different and much bigger hole... when modding it, did you cut out the blue tube stripe or the whole hole that contains it? I think the first is the right answer, but confirmation is appreciated. Thanks.

Edited February 27, 2017 by artimorty

[Parquette[TK]]

Hey! To answer your second question first, I completely hollowed out the tube stripes, and am planning on backing the underside with something blue. Screen grabs are telling me they used blue tape, hence some overlaps you see in the vents. Plus they were designed to be actually air vents for the actors, so maybe?

 

The seam along the jaw isn't a mandatory thing, just something I think helps with the SA of the helmet. However, the one I made was too high up. It should have been done at an angle so that it actually went into the jaw, instead of a seam just above the jaw and in the cheek of the helmet.

 

But before adding to your frustration, keep an eye on the CRL thread for any information regarding the helmet in the different levels. For all we know, the jaw seam may not be neccesary for basic!

 

Hope this helps!

Edited February 28, 2017 by Par_

[Parquette[TK]]

Here's my R1 Black Series mod currently I changed the brow to look lower by adding on rubber strips in the front and underside. To hide the seam on the top I put electrical tape over it. I also painted over the gray parts because i intend to repaint them next.

 

After taking these pics I sanded most of it down with really fine sandpaper (1500 grit). This reflects the slightly dull appearance of the screen used piece (though mine is duller. It gives the look I want though).

 

 

 

[Parquette[TK]]

More updates coming soon

 

Hold onto your butts!

[HothGossip]

Hi there. Impressive work so far! I've just noticed that the screen used helmets have a different lens shape to the Black Series. Look at the centre corners (where the eyes meet) and you 'll see that the screen used ones have an almost vertical angle change where the Black Series eyes shapes taper to a point:

 

http://img09.deviantart.net/8fc4/i/2016/210/a/3/costumes_of_rogue_one____stormtrooper_21_by_topgunsga-dabuv3u.jpg

 

http://target.scene7.com/is/image/Target/50702022_Alt02?wid=520&hei=520&fmt=pjpeg

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=black+series+helmet&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiX8ujimdvTAhUfOsAKHTUdDqcQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=950#imgrc=V-vs5d9tNKJRwM:

 

Also it really looks like the frown is slimmer on the screen used. This kinda puts the whole screen accuracy/authenticity of the Black Series bucket in doubt! Whatchthink?

[HothGossip]

Ps. I love it that you can see in R1 that some of the stormtrooper extras pulled their frowns down for the hero look. It's a shame the Black Series doesn't come witha brow you can lower like the OT helmets

[Parquette[TK]]

Thanks for the compliments! In regards to the accuracy, the frown is only a subtle difference, which shouldn't make a difference. I've actually recently changed the eye shape to better reflect the kind of eye shape the helmet's have. I also came up with a solution to "lower" the brow through a cheat I'll post all updates here soon.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Par_

[PolaDroid]

From what I can see this is exactly the direction I'd like to take my BS helmet in - I'm having trouble seeing the majority of the photographs though. I'm using Tapatalk. Anybody else having similar issues?

 

 

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[HothGossip]

Looking forward to more updates

[Parquette[TK]]

Sorry for the long period of silence, but now I just came up with an idea. 

 

So there have been many mods to this helmet, and the helmet is getting into what I hope is really screen accurate. So instead of writing it down in an update, why not just make a video showing all the mods and explaining what I did? Then later on I would update the first post with all the mods/materials that I bought/did to make it visually accurate.

 

I will let everyone know something.... there is an assymetrical "bump" that is visible on the left eye in this pic. It is taken from the original trilogy helmets. I am already finishing up one I put on the helmet with bondo. You can see how the right eye swoops down on the bottom, will the right eye's bottom has more of an arc.

[darthcue[TK]]

is it just me or the picture links are broken?

[Parquette[TK]]

Some of them are. At some point I'll update the first post with all the best mods (along with the easy ones), so everything needed will be in the first post.

[darthcue[TK]]

Some of them are. At some point I'll update the first post with all the best mods (along with the easy ones), so everything needed will be in the first post.

that would be great!!! Hope to see your updates soon!

[Parquette[TK]]

*********FIRST POST IS UPDATED WITH MY ALMOST FULL TUTORIAL!!!!!!*********

[PolaDroid]

The write up is excellent but the picture links are still down. Any chance you could upload them somewhere new?


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[Stormy3D]

Agreed, I was looking forward to this tutorial. Did anyone get a backup? That would help a ton.

[AM-1124]

Just got a BS helmet I’m nodding to mimban. Pictures not working on this thread.


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[Parquette[TK]]

My apologies to everyone: I no longer have the pictures of the process. 

 

Maybe somewhere down the road I'll be able to have another crack at the BS helmet: but that'll have to wait. Currently at college and poor xD 

 

Thanks to everyone for understanding!!!