I finally recieved my first helmet, a Celtic Touch. I know a lot of people reguard them as being inaccurate (the dome) but I think they look nice, and I think they were better then a rubies for a starter helmet. I bought it from Karo from his scratch and dented sale so it needs a little bit of TLC, mainly the paint. I've already started to remove the clear coat which was a greenish tint, it looks like old sticky tape. I'm hopeing that if I can remove it all I wont have to repaint the faceplate as its in pretty good nick.



Luckly for me Karo was really nice and also included a CT project faceplate that he'd been working on turning into an ANH version, it still needs some work but I am hopeing to get something sorted out.



Appologies for the crappy stand and not so good picture, taken at 6ft and eye to eye.

Awesome. I had my eyes on that helmet for a while and the price was the best I've seen for one of these, but I just couldn't swing it. Good to see it came to a good home.

The CT may not be accurate, but its coolness factor more than makes up for that. I just love what he did to that helmet and it's an awesome design. The dome could easily be exchanged with something less flared... but it really isn't necessary.

Can't wait to see more.

Agreed, for a first Vader helmet the CT is a great place to start and the extra faceplate is a heck of a bonus!

Back in the day, this was a highly regarded helmet. So it's a great starting point in the hobby! Congrats!

Thanks for the comments, I hope I can do a decent job on them.

EDIT

Does anyone know or have the bottom vent dimensions for ANH? or even a accurate template?

Vaux,

Your question assumes that all Vader masks are of equal size to where one measurement will fit all. The Celtic Touch is supposedly a modified 20th Century. Assuming the dimensions are roughly the same, the 20thCent is smaller than the screen used. You thus have to make the call as to what shape best conforms to the proportions of your mask so that it stays artistically elegant, rather than to force the mask into measurements that may or may not look right.

Ok then, I've looked at pictures in this thread:

http://www.thepropden.aokforums.com/anh-faceplate-paint-scheme-vt2303.html

And decided that the vent is about aslong as the 4 middle teeth, which on the CT measures about 55mm so I went with that measurement across the top edge, It doesnt look to be an equilateral triangle, but I'm not sure if that is because of the foreshortening.



Does this look alright? The vent looks to start about 10mm from where the bottom of the chin ends.

Looks about right.

Sanded the cutout planning on filling the bit above the red mark, not sure about the straightness of the downward edges, it looks squed but I belive this is due the the black paint which is actully further down at the (viewers) right. I've been looking at pictures and it looks like I'm going to have to flatten the vent panel and also add a more defining edge to the bottom of the mouth, it just seems to merge into the vent panel

I don't think you should start sharpening things too quickly. The paint may have obscured some of the sharpness, depending on how thickly it was applied, but light sanding could bring out the sharper edges, but some things really are softer than you'd expect.

Its a strange faceplate, I'm pretty sure it was sold as a cast. There arn't any holes in the tabs and they havent been filled in, the ESB version has a strong bottom mouth edge (between the two tusks) this on the other hand doesnt have that sharpness, it curves round at the bottom of the mouth. I've been looking at the top market helmet pics SL, TD, TM, VP etc and they all have a pronounced bottom mouth edge, you have a TM so you'll see theres a strong edge between the two tusks.



See the difference? The ESB has a pronounced edge while the project just curves it needs building up and sharpening to make it more accurate.

What is that helmet to the left?

CT ESB the CT Projects on the right

Oh, okay. You'll need a better reference than the CT to go for accurate. I'll see if I can find some good shots of the original helmets showing that area.

How's this: