Hey all,
This is something I've been working on for over 6 years, an ANH Vader, full scale scratch helmet sculpt. Back when I started it in late 2018, I'd built a Kid Vader outfit for my son so that he could troop with us, and because he was growing, I needed to replace the helmet and I set myself the challenge to sculpt one from scratch out of clay, and then cast in fiberglass. Anyway, as time went on, the project just morphed into a full-size helmet (he's now big enough to wear it).
Basically, could I create, completely from scratch and using nothing as a base or from a recast, an accurate (well as best I can get it!) Darth Vader ANH Helmet, recreating the methods used on the original.... sculpted in clay, cast in fiberglass. Learning to sculpt and cast as I go, as this was the first time I'd sculpted something.
And just as important was to keep in the spirit of the original movie prop...hand sculpted with the asymmetry, warts, bumps and curves of the original prop. Painted in a rush with brush strokes. I wanted this to be more of a 'dirty' sculpt, not cleaned up or idealised too much.
I will, over time, modify the helmet sculpt for both ESB and ROTJ versions and there are always things I pick up on that I'd like to change, but to be fair, I had to call it done after this long or I could go on tweaking it forever. Better to schedule revisions in over one take after a year. I'll also create some shoulder and chest armour to match, that'll be the next project and should be a lot quicker than this took. I will need to gear up on research and start preparing an armature when I have measurements.
Actually, having said that though, my mask sculpt includes the ESB 'neck extension', so they can be cast with that included, and just needs to be cut off if going for the original shorter ANH style neck particularly on the mask's left side.
Tusks will be metal, and I've had another local garrison member fabricate those for me already.
Lenses to be a 3mm amber acrylic, heated and shaped to fit.
Through the years I acquired a Rubies Supreme, then an EFX PCR helmet which enabled my to answer questions along the way on some of the geometry, and also to get measurements.
What you see here are the master casts of the mask and helmet, both painted in different finishes as the primer paints are different types and I don't want to risk mixing them now. I now need to make the mold and then cast my first fiberglass copies.
The casts are freshly painted, and I'll let the paint cure a bit more on the helmet for several more days before I give parts another light sand to smooth some bits over, as it seems to be a softer paint (Rustoleum primer on the helmet, Duplicolour primer for the mask).
The ring mount on the mask will be finished after I've cast the first helmet so that I can adjust the height of it to suit the finished helmet and get it sitting just right.
This helmet is actually a cast of an earlier version I made, and have since done some further work on it, this time using mainly car body filler and 2-part epoxy to make the changes.
Anyway, enjoy the pics, feedback welcome.
Neck extension (e.g. ESB Meditation Chamber scene), this can be trimmed or cut back to the original shorter neck completely:
And compared to the EFX:
