Both the mask and the dome look fantastic!

Well, you have definitely improved on the dome... and it is striking how similar the Homer1183 and Rubies faces look and still being different enough to be distinguishable when compared like that.

It's amazing what you have done to the dome, though. Even though you are not going for accurate RotJ at this time, nor was I trying to push you in that direction... just showing areas that could be made more accurate - suggestions which you have taken and turned into reality, such as the lines at the brow.

I really can't wait now to see this finished and painted as it will undoubtedly look stunning - and it will be all yours and unique to all other Rubies Supreme modified helmets.

Even at this stage you can be proud of what you have achieved!

Thanks, NHM! I will say some of your challenges have bugged me but for good purpose. It's definitely helped me and prodded me out of my comfort zone. So this Rubie's project wouldn't have achieved this level of quality without your input!

Any person trying to modify their Rubie's has to define a balance between aesthetic changes and practical changes. One can spend months on this and tweak every little nuance, but for all that work why not just get a fibgerglass kit that's descended from a screen-used helmet?

I have a few more surprises.....

And here is further modification to the bridge of the nose. What I've done isn't obvious. I ground down the angled areas on either side of the ridges to make it look a little more like a Don Post, but to also allow for an aesthetic flow from the bridge of the nose to the nose itself.

As you may recall from previous shots, I merely patched this area up and tried to make it more symetrical, but it turned out to be ultra bulky. Now the nose job is totally worth it -- if you consider how many times I've worked on this bridge!

I've also taken a round tear-drop shaped Dremel bit and ground away at the inside area of the nose to reduce the nose wall thickness.

Yes, I know... I'm relentless and evil... more suggestions!

Funny how you can almost spot where the original teardrops are supposed to be on the Rubies.

Don't mind that this is the ESB Poster helmet - these details are similar on all the helmets... and remember... these are merely suggestions... not something you have to do, if you like your created look better!

NHM,

I don't follow. Are you saying the rectangular clefts in the bridge of the nose need to be thinner, and the middle one needs to be lower?

Is that it, or are you going to taunt me with some other tidbit of evilness after I'm done with all this work?

Yes.

Like on the original, the indents are roughly 4 mm in height - or exactly the same width of a small squared jewelry file I have... and there should be a larger gap between the upper and the middle indent, compared to the gap between the middle and lower indent. If you know what I mean - as seen in the comparison photo.

Again... this is not to torment you or anything... I just know how pissed I would be if noticing this AFTER I had painted the helmet and no longer had the option to fix it without stripping it clean again.

*Sigh*

You probably realize I'd have to eradicate the bridge of the nose and sculpt it from scratch, right?

Ooookay....

At least now I have AquaMend. I should be able to do this in a fraction of the time it used to take me!

As I said before... these are only suggestions of work that *I* would do... not that you SHOULD do these alterations.

I admire your progress and really do not do this to torture you... I only do it because I think you are able to pull it off and that you will be happier afterwards. Nothing mean (well, not to much) about it!

Whatever you come up with or decide... I know it'll be great!

Actually... I was thinking that you could perhaps fill up the part of the ridges that has been filed out too much, if you know what I mean... and then when the filler is pliable, you could press a file or an squared wooden plant stick down into it and shaping the ridges - I don't know how sticky filler is or AquaMend... (I think you said it was sticky at first, but then got workable).

This is pretty much how I'm planning on fixing my nose ridges, which I cut out and shaped wrong. I am correcting these... but have yet to find any good material to fill out the excess part of the ridge from the old position and I'm unsure whether AquaMend exists for sale in DK - but hopefully there is an equivalent I can use that works just as well.

Well, as I was grinding the sides to make them more concave and contoured with the nose, I notice that I was grinding into a lot of the original black plastic. A lot of it was simply in the way. The challenge here is that there are so many layers of primer, original QuikPlastic that any work I do I have to sand very carefully so that the layers don't look staggered through the primer.

But 4mm height is unnoticable 4 meters away. However, it is noticable that they are farther apart than on a Don Post. The placements, if you recall, are based on the Rubie's plastic.

Well, now I have the tools! Let's see what happens.

So... after so many distractions (Darth Ugly, the Golden Armor Vader, and now having found new owners for the Golden Armor Fett and Golden Armor EP2 Clone Trooper) I've returned to the Rubie's.

Today I ground the air vents down. I didn't do any measurements, I just "eyeballed" it.



I also took this opportunity to study the ridges in the bridge of the nose. I didn't ilke the overall shape of the nose, still, so I ground it all off.

Here, you get a better view of the shape of the lowered vents. They'll need Aquamend to refine them, but otherwise they almost look great if viewed directly from the front.



It was also at this point I noticed a crack in the original putty I had used for the bridge of the nose, mainly made up of the plumber's putty and QuikPlastic. As I pressed against this, the crack widened. It turns out the bond was not as strong as I had initially hoped.

I had been dissatisfied with the shape of the eyes for a while. It might be a good time to get rid of more than just the bridge of the nose and start over.

Here's a shot that will make some of you think I'm crazy, but I'm going somewhere with this.

It turns out that as hard as the plumber's putty was (it has some kind of metal component in it, making it very hard) it was not bonding quite right with the plastic. I found this also to be the case with QuikPlastic. That is not to say you should look down on QuikPlastic, but there are certain repairs where if I flexed the Rubie's plastic, the QuikPlastic bonds would start to break.

So now what?

Let's try Aquamend, as it supposedly bonds to "most" plastics.



Here you can see the degree of work that had gone into reshaping the eyes. The frown is supposed to meet at the topmost of the three clefts in the bridge of the nose. Instead it ends higher than those clefts, so the menace of that frown is lost. Nothing I can't rebuild.

WOAW... be careful your Rubies don't end up like mine!