Hi all, I'm in the process of converting my SPFX ANH helmet to ESB and would like to know if someone could give me the measurements for the lower chin vent so I can open it up. Also, the correct distance from the edge that's between the upper and lower vents would be nice as well, I guess from the bottom edge of it to the top of the lower vent. This is one of the older SPFX lids with the narrow neck, I think it will make a fine ESB lid.

This is basically what I would characterize as the standard ESB vent size.


The top edge shouldn't be sanded at all, except at the areas out to the new wider corners, you only basically need to do the V part of the vent.

The way I did it was finding where the lines would touch if they continued all the way up to the mask, which is basically at the outer mouth corners, where the tusks are, or figuring out which tooth the top horizontal line extended to, which was the outer edge of the last tooth and the inner mouth wall and drew a straight line down from that. Then I took a ruler, drew in that top line and then lined up the ruler with the ANH chin vent side, so it ran parallel with that and drew it on the cast and did the same thing on the other side, like this:


Mine however ended up being a little too small, needing about ½ a centimeter additionally filed away. Total size difference from ANH to ESB on my SPFX was measured to be roughly 1½ centimeters on either side. Your measurements may be different. You may also account for the fact that the right side line is a little further out than the left side, if you continue the lines up to the mouth, but only by a little - not all want this unevenness.

I decided a bit earlier that with all the reference available it was probably a dumb question to ask in the first place, but thanks for providing me with some help. For whatever reason I decided that I didn't want to open mine up quite as much as most that I saw. I did see quite a bit of variance in different helmets and also looked at some screen caps from the meditation scene and it was just a tad wider than I preferred to go. So, not 100% screen accurate, but I think it's still wide enough to have the Empire look. Also took off the widows peak as well. Here's a couple of shots, not the best, but I think they'll do, thanks again.

Funny... you made it nearly exactly like mine... only with sharper corners.

Ha, that is funny. Now I can't wait to get this beauty painted up.

Yeah... I'm just waiting for the same thing... better painting weather!

It looks good but make the vent wider, you know you want to

Don't tempt me like that, it's not good for my OCD. My biggest fear when doing it was going too wide, I'd really rather be a bit undersized than too big, I just don't like how the really big lower vents look. Right on the money would be nice, but experience tells me I won't be that lucky, think I'll leave well enough alone this time.

If you draw a line straight down from the sides of the outside mouth slots you've got it, in fact you'd be just under the correct width

How did you do the dome mount on that?

Sorry for not getting back sooner, I didn't notice your question. I used a piece out of a busted GH dome I have that Steve made from some fiberglass matt shaped to the curve of the top of the mask. It's just a square piece that acts as a spacer to position the dome right. On an ANH lid, that combined with a piece of Velcro above the nose will make the dome sit just right. For my ESB conversion I needed something a little different and more stable. I drilled a hole through the middle of the FG spacer and ran a bolt through from underneath and then epoxied it in my dome, I then drilled a hole in the proper place on the top of the mask up around where the tabs would be. When I put the dome on the bolt comes down just far enough through the mask to put a washer and fly nut on. Hope that makes sense.

Chris