Looking good. The angle of the picture is a little hard to tell, for instance the sharpness around the cheek area.

Yup... I stink at taking good pictures. Though, I can tell you that it is "sharper" than it was!

Had some fun with the Rubies Deluxe dome...

Yeah looking good. I'm not sure again if it's the pics but the sharpness and curvature on Vader's left cheek (our right looking at it) seems to be less pronounced, especially on the side on picture.

Looks like you sorted that "GH" slant/cave out.

Yeah, I haven't worked on that side as much as on the right side (left on picture). Though, it is sharper than it appears in the pictures.

By "slant", do you mean the right side of the mouth?

Yep, our left looking at it, looks like you made it straighter like it should be.

Bummer... really thought I was close to finishing this... though... due to my annoying weakness, I cannot open the lid on the filler... so I'll have to wait until I can get someone to do it... and then I will add filler on the inside at the cheeks, so I can work some more on those and at the nose ridges, so they'll be more accurate. Am nearly finished with the teeth area... YAY...

Painting is some time away, yet again, as money once again has halted my progress...

This break has really given me some time to think... and what I basically came up with was - that when strengthening the face I will also add a back piece and a dome mount... sorta in the style of the Celtic Touch, which I have always been a fan of.

Will make the face so strong that it will be able to support the fiberglass DP DLX copy dome I have lying around, after I have sanded down the dome ridge and applied a new one.

This is gonna be interesting, but also means that it will be some time before I can reveal the finished helmet.

Been thinking again... and yes, I know, it is dangerous!

I have been considering making it into a display piece instead, so that it won't be wearable at all, but am unsure whether that is really such a good idea. I have been thinking of possibly trying to sell it once finished and I guess I would be able to get more if it was wearable... but I just don't know... it just annoys the hell out of me...

The new idea was to fill the inside of the helmet and dome with expansion foam, basically fuse the two together in their correct position and then place it on top of a pedestal and paint it in steel color and weather it - simulating the two-tone paint scheme, as it would look after several years out in the harsh sun and weather.

What do you guys think? Good or bad idea?

LOL, sorry guys... I was TOO optimistic about my progress... and it has pretty much been a slow process since last update and still far from finished, as I'm considering what kind of dome mount I should add to the face and how to strengthen it at the same time, so I can get on with the re-shaping.

Have begun working on re-doing the nose slots, but still need to fill in the parts that were shaped wrong before... but again... working a bit slowly as other projects and real life has been constantly interfering.

Here's a current progress picture:



As you can probably see in the picture, I have tried to sharpen some of the features that still looked a bit rounded - other things that may not be so clear to see is that I deepened the line between the nose and nose bridge and also the teardrops. Tried also to fill some areas from the inside, so I could continue sharpening the edges, but it cracked, so I'd probably have to remove that again and find something stronger.

Just wondering what your filling with? I used some glazing putty in spots on mine ( to lazzy to mix bondo ) and it cracked...had to remove and redue. The mask is looking real good.

It's regular acrylic based putty paste/filler for holes in walls and stuff... apparently not the best suited material for helmets and props!

That helmet is vac-u-formed?

Yes. There are pictures on the first page, though taken with web-cam and crappy, they do show somewhat how soft and round the features were. There were no nose slots or teardrops, the teeth were 1mm thin and was later replaced... and I've sanded the hell out of the surface and edges to sharpen it up... nearly going through the thin plastic in several places.

Cheers

Have decided to marry this with the Rubies Supreme dome for good... and do something else with the DP DLX copy dome and cut up Rubies Supreme face - am still unsure whether I should do the Samurai Vader... or simply just throw out the face and sell the dome... 'cause as things seem atm I won't get any work done on these at all in the near future... I dunno...

However... here are two pictures.

The upside-down "U" shape of the nose wall appears to be a bit on the thick side. Is that so, or is it a trick of the light?