It's about time I posted about my Rubies Supreme (yep, another one of those coming up).
My original idea to build a Vader helmet was to sculpt my own from clay then cast up the result in GRP. As I'm sure you all know though, that helmet has got a lot more going on than meets the eye. I was soon bogged down in so much detail that the project was rapidly loosing its appeal. Luckily I mentioned all this to a friend who managed to obtain a Rubies Supreme for me for the princely sum of £40 (I don't think it's ever been unpacked from its box). Now I know that the Rubies isn't exactly renowned for its accuracy but I very much liked what I saw and anyway you can hardly go wrong for £40 can you.
Having taken a good long look at it, and then watched Empire a couple of times, I've decided to go for the ESB look. I'm not going to be too religious about it though; I'm simply aiming to correct the worst of the problems and use this entire process as a learning exercise on the road to doing my own sculpt. For me this is all about the learning experience and the sense of achievement.
Anyway, enough twaddle.
Here's the subject before I'd done any work.
I took a few reference shots just to keep a record of progress.
The first stage was to remove all the bits I didn't need or that would get in the way whilst I worked. This included the lenses, the internal foam, the grill work, tusks and all the ruddy velcro. I'd like to remove the straps too but can't find anything to replace them with when the time comes.
Next I started to cut way the excess material around the eyes.
Once that was done, I had a much better idea of the sort or work required. I used some Klean Klay to try a few ideas out around the eyes. I don't know about you but I can't help but think that this Vader looks a bit too calm - he's not frowning enough. In case you don't know, Klean Klay is an oil based clay that doesn't dry out so you can really leave things for days at a time and come back and play a bit more. It's also sulphur free so you can cast it if you want.
Here though, I'm simply using it to try out ideas without committing myself. You can also see here that I've filled in the nose slots and the tears. I used Car Body Filler (P-38) but this proved to be a big mistake; the stuff just comes right off when the plastic mask flexes. I've now switched to Milliput with much greater success.
Other work so far done has been to reduce that neck flare. I used a hot air gun (the sort of thing you use for paint stripping) to heat the plastic then bent the plastic to shape and dowsed it in cold water to set it.
Future plans so far are:
1. Reduce the hollow cheek effect.
2. Thicken that RHS part of the mouth triangle.
3. Make the eyes deeper.
4. Square off the mouth vents and lengthen them slightly.
5. Sort out the band that runs over the helmet.
6. Add that joint line on the nose (roughly where that 4th slot is at the moment).
7. Correct the Nose slots.
8. Sharpen up the whole thing slightly.
9. I'm also toying with the idea of redoing the two upper lines that terminate at the tusks (don't know what you call them).
10. Make/buy replacement lenses and tusks.
11. Replace the grillwork.
12. Sort out the helmet attachment.
After that I'll see how things stand and decide on a course of action - hopefully getting some feedback from here along the way.
My next job before all that though is to give the entire mask a complete sanding so reduce the glossy/matt areas to a uniform finish.
I also have a couple of questions that I hope people can help me with.
Firstly, what width of band for the helmet would people recommend? I've read that 1" wide is about right - is that correct?
The inside of the nose looks to be flat on some screen grabs I've taken but rounded on others - which it right?
All comments/suggestions (other than "don't waste your time with a Rubies"
) gratefully received.
Jon