Modifying the Nico Helmet

[TKModder421[TK]]

Ok, so I built Nico's helmet shortly after he released his files around 4 years ago, and I have a build thread that I started back then, and that I only recently updated to show how it ended up turning out. Here's a couple pics of that build.

  

 

I love that helmet and the sculpt that Nico created. But over the years and with so much new reference material from Solo to Andor and everything in between, I've been wanting to modify a few things to make the helmet a bit closer to what I've been seeing on the screen as well as make it easier to assemble along the way. 

I started about 6 months ago with wanting to try my hand at modifying the files and make the cheek tubes penetrate into the chin area. That was the beginning of a long journey, ha!

I didn't really have any experience with 3D software, other than tinkering with minor modifications on files before. I've been working on a mod in my spare time, with some insight and plenty of reference from Ryder Kinion I've finally got it to where I'm ready to start a build. I ended up lightly to moderately modifying every part, as well as utilizing and slightly modifying David Os's ear and temple trap pieces. The list is pretty extensive, I won't go into every little detail I modified but here's an overview of some of the main changes I made:

 

1. I slightly narrowed the overall sculpt side to side as well as slightly reduced the height of the dome.

 

2. Added alignment pegs and holes between almost every piece that attaches together.

  

 

  

 

3. Like I mentioned, I made the cheek tubes penetrate into the chin and added attachment plates between the end of the tubes and inside the chin piece.

  

 

4. Modified the teeth to add the last tooth and added attachment plates to secure them better to the inside of the helmet.

 

5. Added a slight recess to the regions where the tears, temple traps and back traps sit. As well as cut out a hole behind the tears and back traps for ventilation. I plan on adding a black, breathable fabric backing similar to what has been reported by those familiar with the screen used helmets.

  

 

6. Modified the brow trim to look similar to the rubber trim used on screen-used helmets. I may end up trying to use actual rubber trim. We'll see what works best.

At this angle you can really see not only the brow trim difference, but also the reduction in height of the dome, the angle of the vocoder and the modification of the point where the cheek tubes penetrate into the chin.

 

7. Modified vocoder angle and length of some tubes and added additional alignment and attachment points.

  

 

 

8. And for all the fans of the Mimban trooper, I modified the Mimban shield and pins to be more narrow and sit closer to the width of the helmet and increased the height of the brow trim feature on the shield

 

 

I made a couple miniature test prints along the way which helped me see if my mods were working the way they were supposed to. They also helped me see other modifications that needed to be made. These are the first two I made. They were printed at 35% scale, the one on the left was the my first test print to see if the alignment pegs and keyholes worked properly as well as seeing how the tubes to chin connection looked and worked in real life. Then after comparing to reference and talking to Ryder we both agreed it needed to be narrower side-to-side which made the dome too tall and square. So I slimmed the whole thing down by 3% and reduced the height of the dome. But then after seeing it in real life we felt it was a bit too narrow.

 

  

 

  

 

So I decided to try it closer to 2% narrower from the original and it finally looked right. So after a few more tweaks to a few details (and after getting a larger resin printer, that I picked up at a great deal), I decided to give it another go at a test print. This time at 50% scale. I finally feel that this is the one!

 

  

 

 

 

 

And now I think I'm ready to start my build. I think I'm going to avoid all the heavy post processing work this time around and get the big pieces resin printed with a strong resin, probably from Corellia Creations and resin print all the smaller pieces myself. As I've found from doing miniatures, resin is so much easier to get to paint ready than an FDM print.

 

This may be slow go on my part, as I try to work on it in my spare time when I've got the motivation and energy, ha! But I'm hoping my excitement to see the finished piece will provide me with enough.

 

Wish me luck, I'll post updates as it's coming along!

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Loving the updates, looking forward to seeing the progress, good luck

[Sly11[Admin]]

Exploded views are very cool, helmets looks fantastic.

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

Love seeing the effort going into this!

 

Can't wait for the build.

[TKModder421[TK]]

Finally got my prints back from Corellia Creations and they look amazing! The brow came back a bit warped, but once it's affixed to the rest of the helmet you'll never know. But I'm going to experiment with some rubber trim first and decide which looks best as I get into it.

The alignment keys worked fantastic and it virtually holds itself together. I did use some tape between parts so I could handle it (except for the brow trim, that's held on with fun-tak).

I temporarily attached some test pieces I had made previously, but I intend to reprint them.

Here's some preliminary shots of the raw print. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by TKModder421

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Vry nice indeed

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

It looks beautiful, but the people demand bigger/better quality pics!  

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

Very cool! I purchased those files during the initial crowdfunding-type offering, but have yet to get into 3D printing. Someday…


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[TKModder421[TK]]

8 hours ago, TheRascalKing said:

It looks beautiful, but the people demand bigger/better quality pics!  

Haha, ok, I swapped out the thumbnail size for the original size images in my post. They're still not great - bad lighting and I was taking them from a distance to reduce perspective lens distortion from my phone camera. But I'll try and get some better quality pics here soon, "for the people" 

[TKModder421[TK]]

24 minutes ago, MaskedVengeance said:

Very cool! I purchased those files during the initial crowdfunding-type offering, but have yet to get into 3D printing. Someday…


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Oh nice! That's when I got the files as well. This is actually my second build of this helmet, but this time I made a bunch of modifications to the files though, so now it's different than Nico's original files.

This time around I chose to have someone print them for me, so that's always an option for you

[Nairy[Staff]]

Wow, looks great! 

[revlimiter[Staff]]

Just incredible.

[TKModder421[TK]]

Alright, so I've gotten through the initial sanding of the raw print and laid down the first round of filler primer. 
 
I started sanding the dome and decided I wanted to experiment with some of the rubber trim I ordered from sealsdirect.co.uk, to see if it would work as brow trim.
 
I specifically looked for rubber extruded square U channel trim that was close to 15mm in height for the walls, and chose their US161 that had a 6mm panel (the gap between the two walls) and also US56 that had 16mm walls and a 13.5mm panel. After I received them I found that the US56, though it had a thicker panel to give me leeway in the trimming I would have to do, was too thick and the panel would buckle and fold as I tried to curve it around the brow. So I grabbed the US161 and it almost looked perfect.
 
So I cut off an appropriate length and trimmed off one of the walls, turning it into an L essentially.
 

 
 
Here's what it looks like up against the helmet
 

 
Seems to be a pretty good match!
 
Now unfortunately it's panel is a little less than 1mm short and so it doesn't quite touch the forehead, but honestly you almost can't even tell. If you zoom in close you can see the gap, but from a distance and at a normal angle you don’t notice.
 

 
 
 
Now the brow trim from the files that I modified is the fit that I was going for. As you can see below, the "panel" area tapers down as it gets closer to the ends.
 

 
 
So I ended up taping the rubber trim panel-to-panel with the printed brow trim and used that as a guide on how to taper the rubber trim. 
Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of that. 
 
But after I got it tapered down properly, I decided to attach it with some Fun-tak and take a quick pic.
This is the basic idea of what it will look like if I decide to go with the rubber trim
 

 
 
I'll get some better pics as I get further into the build. But let me know what your first impressions are.

Edited July 28, 2023 by TKModder421

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

Very crisp, good sir! Love seeing progress on this mod build.


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[TKModder421[TK]]

1 hour ago, MaskedVengeance said:

Very crisp, good sir! Love seeing progress on this mod build.


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Thanks man! I appreciate it. It's coming along, slowly but surely lol

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking good

[TKModder421[TK]]

Looking good

Thank you sir!


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[TKModder421[TK]]

Fun fact: In the last pic I posted, other than the rubber trim, the helmet is holding itself together (even the ears) with only the alignment keys I added when I modded the files. Of course, I had to be careful picking it up, but I thought that was pretty cool 

Edited July 28, 2023 by TKModder421

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow this is really nice work, the mods really paid off.

[TKModder421[TK]]

1 hour ago, Sly11 said:

Wow this is really nice work, the mods really paid off.

Thank you! I agree, I'm stoked with how it's looking so far

[jsilvius[Staff]]

Hey Greg,

How is the project coming?

I bought Nico's files recently and just started printing them.

Would love to see how your version is coming along. The raw steps look amazing.

[TheSweatshop]

@TKModder421 been following this build, have you talked to Nico about releasing your mods?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

42 minutes ago, Sweatshop said:

@TKModder421 been following this build, have you talked to Nico about releasing your mods?

Contact Greg directly via private message, he has said previously he's happy to share his files for those who have purchased Nico's files.

[TKModder421[TK]]

On 9/28/2023 at 5:24 PM, Sweatshop said:

@TKModder421 been following this build, have you talked to Nico about releasing your mods?

I did reach out to Nico, just to let him know what I had done and that I was wanting to share with others that have bought his files. He asked what exactly I had modded, he said in case he wanted to release a new version (which he's been talking about for the past 4 years lol, I got sick of waiting so I decided to take it on myself). I sent him a list and some images but he never got back to me. But I don't want him to lose any revenue on his files, that's why I'm only sharing with those that can present proof that they've purchased the original files 

[DarthSaiyan8697]

I noticed that the ears on Nico's R1 helmet are not accurate enough. I even made a comparison between a 3D render of a TK bucket from the production of Rogue One and Nico's R1 bucket. Personally, I wish that either you or Nico could modify the ears of the helmet, although you mentioned that the ears were one of your least concerns.