Cali_Nole's ATA ANH Stunt First Build

Cali_Nole · September 19, 2020

Ok, so feedback time. Still have to get back to my TD this weekend, but I am going to build my bucket after the TD, so I did some preliminary marking up of the back and cap and a little pre-planning. If you see anything "off", please feel free to call it out.

I knew from my research that the lids are definitely not perfectly round, perfectly smooth, or perfectly lined up. But until I pulled out the pieces and really started handling them and planning things out, I didn't have a true appreciation for the wonderful wonkiness of these helmets. Many, many quirks to them for sure.

Anyways, I will be referring quite a bit to pandatrooper's ATA helmet how-to. I've marked some things out for feedback before I start cutting.

Front of cap was not close to being straight, as seen below, but still did have slight "mold/pull lines", so I clamped a metal ruler aligned as best I could with the cut lines and marked my line with a china marker.

Below shows the ends of the above marked line terminating under the traps. In the photo on the left, I will probably cut just above the marked line, to more align with the front of the cap, but it was difficult to get the line marked with not much surface there. I then followed the the mold/pull lines down for the vertical S lines, leaving more rough material than I think I will need, keeping in mind I can always take more off, can't put it back on. Oh, and I will be sure to drill out a hole at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines, as I have read it can create a stress point or tear cutting sharp angles here.

Marked line for rear/bottom of cap and back:

And finally the face. I haven't marked any lines here yet but I will be cutting along the well defined mold/pull lines along the neckline. Also as you can see in the first photo, the left side of the face extends further back than the right, so I'll even that side up a bit, using the mold/pull lines shown in the second photo, again leaving more than I think I will need.

Again, if any of my thoughts / plans / lines here seem out of whack, please let me know...thanks!

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · September 19, 2020

Looking good, you may need to adjust the cut lines when adjusting, tilting the faceplate to backplate can lift and lower the brow, can also make the opening larger and smaller, there is also fitment of the ears and their angles.

Cali_Nole · September 19, 2020

17 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Looking good, you may need to adjust the cut lines when adjusting, tilting the faceplate to backplate can lift and lower the brow, can also make the opening larger and smaller, there is also fitment of the ears and their angles.

Thank you Glen. I was definitely trying to be "rough" with the cut lines. I'm trying to always remember to cut conservatively at first, fine tuning later. And thanks for the reminder regarding the ears, I was holding them up to the sides when marking my lines, kind of visualizing how they'll cover the seems, but I do still need to do a rough trimming of them to get a better idea. I was hoping to just give myself a good jumping off point.

Cali_Nole · October 2, 2020

Ok, time for an update. Minimal time over the last couple weeks to build, but I've been chipping away a little at a time.

Safety first!!

TD is mostly completed. As a review, ATA caps are pretty tight fitting on 2" pipe, so I had to slightly taper the ends of the pipe to fit them. I added tape about 20mm from the ends to mark where I need to sand down to. Used a 60g sanding barrel to knock down the outside edges and then followed up with 80g and 180g sanding sponges until I could slide the caps on and off. They're still tight, but not nearly as much as before.

When I masked for painting, I made sure the masked areas were a smaller footprint than the TD panel and cap widths. Oh and I lightly sanded the whole pipe with 220g for better paint and glue adhesion.

I was going go with Glen's suggestion of using gray primer (already had some in the garage) with gloss clear over it. When I picked up the gloss clear, I went ahead and grabbed the can of paint pictured below as well, just in case. Tested both on the scrap PVC I had leftover, and the primer I had seemed too dark with a slight greenish tint, so I went with the other one. I think the color turned out good, but please let me know if it doesn't look right.

I probably should have waited for affirmation on the gray I used, but I kinda jumped the gun and glued things up. Still have to add the clips, but the TD is done aside from those. Now I can't remember the exact measurement, but I believe the total length of the TD is about 7 3/8".

So next up, I started to work on my bucket. First up, cutting out the eyes and teeth. No photo, but the ATA face has small grooves on the inside of the eyes where the cuts should be made, so I penciled in those lines to see them better. I then used a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut to about 3-4mm of the lines, then used sanding barrels to grind away to the lines. I found the Dremel flex shaft attachment very useful for this.

For the teeth, I used the sanding barrels to start my holes and then used needle files from there. Below is what I have as of now.

I think I'm close, but please let me know what you think.

I'm thinking I might be able to cut more out of the inside corners of the eyes?

And I might be able to cut the tops and bottoms of the teeth closer to the gum lines possibly?

**TKSpartan[Staff]** · October 2, 2020

10 hours ago, Cali_Nole said:

I probably should have waited for affirmation on the gray I used, but I kinda jumped the gun and glued things up. Still have to add the clips, but the TD is done aside from those. Now I can't remember the exact measurement, but I believe the total length of the TD is about 7 3/8".

Looking good !!

If I can add some tip. You may want to check the TD caps dimensions. Take a look to the following references: Also check the screws position.

FPCoOHk.jpg?1 I2yjVji.png?1

Cheers.. :salute:

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · October 2, 2020

ATA pipe dimensions are a lot smaller than most other makes so it can make appearance look out of sink compared to screen refernces

Cali_Nole · October 5, 2020

On 10/2/2020 at 6:30 AM, TKSpartan said:

Looking good !!

If I can add some tip. You may want to check the TD caps dimensions. Take a look to the following references: Also check the screws position.

Cheers..

I appreciate you calling out something not looking right, Mario, as I am striving for as much accuracy as possible. The reference photo you attached is indeed the main photo I referenced when building my TD. Since all measurements are approximate, I tried to get as close as possible, measuring twice or more. I did re-check my measurements (photo below) and I'm hoping I'm within acceptable range. Caps are 20mm wide. Total length of TD is about 188mm and gap between caps and panel are about 11-12mm. I also did a dry fit check of my Ukswrath TD clips and they appear to align pretty well? As Glen suggested above, I believe the dimensions look "off" due to the ATA kit requiring a smaller diameter pipe. Again, thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow path though. :salute:

On another note, any comments/tips/suggestions regarding the eyes and teeth on the faceplate?

I'm thinking I might be able to file more out of the inside corners of the eyes?

And I might also be able to file the tops and bottoms of the teeth closer to the gum lines?

Or am I good to go? Thanks Troopers!

Edited October 5, 2020 by Cali_Nole

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · October 5, 2020

15 minutes ago, Cali_Nole said:

On another note, any comments/tips/suggestions regarding the eyes and teeth on the faceplate?

I'm thinking I might be able to file more out of the inside corners of the eyes?

And I might also be able to file the tops and bottoms of the teeth closer to the gum lines?

Or am I good to go? Thanks Troopers!

Look good to go, you could take a little more off if you really wanted from the teeth just don't cut into the gums, eyes look fine

**TKSpartan[Staff]** · October 5, 2020

11 minutes ago, Cali_Nole said:

I believe the dimensions look "off" due to the ATA kit requiring a smaller diameter pipe. Again, thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow path though.

Great Paul!, fortunately it's just a visual effect. :peace:

On another note, any comments/tips/suggestions regarding the eyes and teeth on the faceplate?

About your question , Teeth look good and certainly you could trim a bit, but be too careful that not pass the gum lines and the eyes you could trim a bit too. here some references , that I imagine you have seen too.

HpMlgF7.jpg?1 gu6Asxj.jpg?1

Keep on doing an awesome work !! :jc_doublethumbup:

**Firedog[TK]** · October 5, 2020

Looking good! Your attention to detail is remarkable. I can tell you are as OCD as I am, although I feel as much as I try, I am never pleased with my attempts at perfection. That’s my character flaw.

ABS80 · October 6, 2020

Those Td clips are way to wide and you can make frown hole on helmet bigger

Cali_Nole · November 7, 2020

All right, got back to work this week after a lengthy layoff and continued on my bucket. After feedback from @gmrhodes13, @TKSpartan, and @ABS80, the following progress was made (as always, feedback is welcome and appreciated):

1. Additional teeth filing. Tried not to go overboard, but I'm fairly satisfied with where they are now.

2. Additional work on the inside corners of the eyes, just to get rid of more return edge. Didn't need to remove much, but I think they look much better now.

3. And YES.....we have an EAR sighting in the second photo (more photos below)! :shok: Yeah, that was just as fun as advertised. Many instances of walking away and coming back to it later. :6: But all in all, I think it turned out pretty ok-ish. I'm not thrilled with the gap in the back, and I see where I can slightly trim to possibly close it, but I'm pretty happy with the front and I'm afraid if I keep messing with the back, it'll throw off the front. So unless there are objections, I'm going to leave it be. Hoping to at least finish the other ear this weekend...it's the easier one, right? Haha, I'm sure it's not and it'll bring me back down to earth! :laugh1: Oh, and I mostly referred to Gazmosis' Helmet Ear Tutorial, very helpful.

And noticeably, I didn't countersink the ear screw holes yet. I'm going to wait until final assembly to do that....promise I won't forget!

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · November 7, 2020

Nice work, looking good, some times you have to walk away for a while, ears can drive you to drink

Cali_Nole · November 7, 2020

Thanks Glen! And since I'll be working on the other ear this weekend, I'm sure I'll be doing this :6: followed by this :pint1: and repeat...and repeat...and repeat as needed, LOL!

**TKSpartan[Staff]** · November 8, 2020

looking great , well done :jc_doublethumbup:

Cali_Nole · November 12, 2020

So I've been working on my left ear. Maybe it was beginner's luck, but the right ear I did first seemed a little easier. I definitely found the left to be trickier. But I think I finally got the left to an acceptable fit. Please let me know what y'all think. If I'm good to go, next step will be disassembling, prepping and painting...woohoo! My plan is hand painting all the bucket details, but if I find it not working out, I have a set of Dave M. decals as a backup.

And of course, now that the bucket's fully mocked up for the most part...how could I not try it on?! :smiley-sw013:

**TKSpartan[Staff]** · November 12, 2020

It looks great tome. :jc_doublethumbup:

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · November 12, 2020

Nice work, well done

Cali_Nole · November 12, 2020

41 minutes ago, TKSpartan said:

It looks great tome.

34 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Nice work, well done

Thanks guys! I truly appreciate all the feedback you've provided so far. I also appreciate being able to put those blasted ears to bed!

Cali_Nole · November 15, 2020

Just a quick update of the latest activities. Last night I disassembled my bucket and taped/masked the face and cap/back for plastic-dip rattle canning the interior today. I'd seen mentioned in other threads (I believe RascalKing?) to basically use a garbage bag taped to the edges of the bucket halves to protect the exterior from overspray, with the interior still exposed for paint. So I employed that method and also masked off the eyes and teeth, and proceeded to spray away, 3 coats, roughly 1/2 hour between coats per instructions on the can. Photos taken between coats 2 and 3. Looks ok to me so far, will let sit overnight and check again tomorrow.

I used the time between coats to make some simple templates for the eye lenses and frown mesh. Tomorrow when the bucket interior is good to go, I'll do some test fitting. I have a ton more mesh and enough lens material for a couple more sets, so if things are off, I have some wiggle room if I need to adjust.

(In the photo of the lens material below, those are reflections, they're not beat up the way it appears.)

QUESTION: I plan on using Joseph's sugru method for mounting the eye lenses. I also picked up some extra sugru, so I was planning on using sugru to also mount the frown mesh. Basically, rolling a sugru strip fully around the frown and pressing the mesh down into it and letting it cure. But I hadn't read about anyone else using sugru for this. Just wondered if it would work, or if I should use a different method. Thanks!

As always, please let me know if anything looks out of whack or if I did something laser brained.

**gmrhodes13[Staff]** · November 15, 2020

All is looking good :duim:

**MaskedVengeance[Staff]** · November 15, 2020

Great job with those ears! Very minimal gaps and those that are present are definitely in line with screen accuracy. Since you’re using plasti-dip just make sure you don’t accidentally peel any off when applying/reapplying adhesive velcro for padding or electronics. Supposedly that can happen.

Sent via Imperial Tapatalk Comms

Cali_Nole · November 16, 2020

22 hours ago, MaskedVengeance said:

Great job with those ears! Very minimal gaps and those that are present are definitely in line with screen accuracy. Since you’re using plasti-dip just make sure you don’t accidentally peel any off when applying/reapplying adhesive velcro for padding or electronics. Supposedly that can happen.

Sent via Imperial Tapatalk Comms

Thanks Caleb! The ears were a challenge for sure. Just very tedious and required a ton of patience. Luckily there are no sarlacc pits close by or they might've been thrown in a couple times.

I appreciate the input on plasti-dip. Did some unmasking this afternoon and already experienced it wanting to pull up a bit on some of the edges. I'll for sure handle with care when I start on the internal components.

Cali_Nole · November 21, 2020

Next stop, bucket painting. The main references I'm using as a guide are @CableGuy's ANH Stunt - helmet painting tips thread and linked YouTube vids (what a glorious helmet!) and starswarshelmets.com:

http://www.starwarshelmets.com/original-ANH-Stunt-Stormtrooper-armor-helmets.htm

Sample references of the Dave M (L) and Brian R (R) helmets:

So far I started with all the black (Humbrol 85 Satin Black), as I was hoping for feedback before I continue on with the grey (Humbrol 5 Dark Admiralty Grey Gloss. I know I painted more than I needed to here, but it was mostly pulling excess paint from the borders during application of 2 coats. Ear bars are done too, forgot to take pics.