My First Sculpting Experience -- Stormtrooper Helmet

[VacTrooper]

Hey, New here. Thought I would start off with this....

Over Christmas Break, I sculpted my own stormtrooper helmet to go with my armor that I made myself using a vacuum-forming machine:

I've been modding that suit for some time, and I figured it was time for a helmet of my own...

As of now I have plaster casts ready to be heavily sanded and modified to get the perfect bucket for my armor. I used my AP helmet as a guide, which really helped because I had the measurements of an accurate helmet at my disposal.

Over the next several days, (or weeks, or months, or years... :wacko ), I will be trying to get an accurate helmet, and in the process, tweaking my armor even further that accurate "came off the Star Wars set" look. Or, at least get close enough to get into the 501st.

Here is some more information about my setup. I use a 2'x2' forming table to produce formed pieces of armor. I use HIPS (PolyStyrene) to form armor. It's 1/6" thick, which is good for trimming and wearing, because it's light, yet strong in trooping events. I need to paint each part after assembly with Rustoleum Gloss White. Over time, the armor picks up scratches and cracks, which i leave on the armor, again, to give it the screen used look. When the amor cracks enough, I use gaffer's tape to fix the cracks (like in the movie). Hopefully you get the idea that I'm shooting for every little detail to pull this look off.

Enjoy the pics, and watch this topic, because I'll be working pretty hard on this helmet.

 

[Darth Sabre]

Great job!

I've always wanted to do this myself. Hope you had fun doing it.

Doug

 

[Newbie Doobie]

MOST IMPRESSIVE!!!! The shoulder pauldrons should be about 3/4" of an inch longer for your frame,as well as the forearm covers(about 2 1/2" inches longer),and the hand pads should moulded to your size as well. The lower legings are almost spot on,except the bottoms are flared,and aren't on the orginals,and the belt is too short,height-wise. It's obvious that the colour is yellowed in places,but I guess that's from the oven. Otherwise,this is fantastic! The gloss is great,so is the helmet! What did you to make the molds from?

 

[takevin]

Looks good but this should be in costuming or the prop forum.

 

[clonesix]

Did you sculpt that in plaster? Or did you pour the plaster into your AP helmet? I am a little confused by the pictures.

 

[VacTrooper]

Thanks All! I do like the ideas here, and are all things I plan on fixing in the future... yup... I'm a bit tall (6'5"), so I'll need to make these mods.

The thing I did with the helmet was I sculpted each piece I clay, Vacuum-Formed the clay molds (as opposed to using silicon, which would have reacted with the clay due to the sulfur contenet), and then backfilled the formed parts with plaster, kinda like what they did with the armor parts in ROTJ.

All those things on the armor are TOTALLY fixable. In fact, I have some mods I would like to do myself....

 

[jschlosser]

The thing I did with the helmet was I sculpted each piece I clay, Vacuum-Formed the clay molds (as opposed to using silicon, which would have reacted with the clay due to the sulfur contenet), and then backfilled the formed parts with plaster, kinda like what they did with the armor parts in ROTJ.

Nice job. I'll have to give that a try.. what clay did you use? Roma Plastina? Firm?

 

[marsattack]

looks awesome dude.
cant wait to see more.