www.TK560.com

[Lp Zeppelin]

Hey guys how hard is it to Make molds of thae trooper helmet parts and how hard is it to pull on the vacuform.

thanks,
Lp
_________________
I wonder What lady clones look like under the mask? I wonder?

[Solo]

I have a question as well regarding this topic as well, sorry Zep...
I guess we will bot have to wait for an answer.

Can you pull helmet parts ie. shell with a 5 HP shop vac, or will you need a high vac system?
_________________

[tubachris85x]

I havent made my own helmet before, but as far as sculpting it, thats pretty hard in itself to make sure both sides are symetrical and looks good. Ive seen trooper helmet molds made from MDF, but the face plate was made in several sections, rather then one whole solid chunk of MDF. I guess you have better control that way, because for instance, you have the "eye" section of the helmet. You start on the left eye, from the outside of the helmet, to half way through the bridge of the nose, and from where the top of the face plate, to just above the "mouth". You can accuratly measure and sculpt that one section, and just reverse the measurements for the right side eye. You would use this method for the rest of the face plate.

Another way of sculpting the helmet, is to sculpt it from clay, and make a plaster mold of that, and form a solid plaster cast from that mold.

Pulling a face plate I imagine can be difficult, just because of the dips and details you need to produce. However, if your using HIPS, you shouldnt have too much trouble so long as you have vasaline, or I use baby powder as the releasing agent.

From what I learned, you will only really need a high vac system if your using ABS just because of how difficult it is to work with.

Hope this helped.

-tubachris
_________________

[jegner]

90% of a costume is in the face, and the stormtrooper helmet is no exception. Gotta get that right, or the whole costume suffers.

There have been several makers make their own from clay. Master Replicas makes one that is a 3D laser scan of an original. Andrew Ainsworth, the original maker of the trooper helmets for Lucas back in 1975 also sells them. Many of the 501st use a helmet called a TE, ABS-80, and others cast from an original helmet.

I've been working on a new helmet sculpt but yet to have a useable mold. Dome and back, ears, and the face is all that were used originally.

Recasting is a big no-no in the replica prop communities, regardless of origins, so filling a kit with plaster and forming that is not considered a good thing, and will get you black listed among the replica prop/costume circles unless you own the original prop or have permission from the original prop owner.

[drcrash]

[jegner]

Wow, Paul thats a tough one.

Take as an example: Let's say you made a piece of art, all unique and original. People loved it, and you were asked to make copies of it for sale. All within your rights. You sell a few of the copies, and a few months later, you see someone selling copies of your art on ebay! You don't get any recognition, or compensation. You are P.Oed.!

Thats the rub with recasting. It gets to be more of an issue when dealing with popular icons like Star Wars.

Over on www.theRPF.com sort of the grand-daddy of replica prop groups, the code of conduct in this 'gray marke't is this: if you own the original, screen used prop, you are allowed to make replicas of it. If you buy a replica, and make a copy of that, and do so without permission from the original artist/ owner, then this is considered 'recasting' and is considered unethical, and by some, stealing.

So, one may ask, what is the difference, recasting an original, and recasting a copy? Well, it has to to with ethics. Take the trooper helmet. TE, aka Trooper Expert, who bought an original screen used Star Wars stormtrooper helmet. Paying more than the cost of a new car for it. He then spent time and effort making molds. He then vac formed it, and made replicas that he sold. These were very limited in availability, and were of top quality. About as close to the screen used one as you would likley get. Later on, TE even spent the cost of a house to buy a full, screen used set of armor! And did the same thing. He made molds, and sold copies.

All, ok, to the replica prop communitity. TE had an original, so he was ok to make copies. George Lucas and his lawyers might have a different opinion, but thats not who we are talking about here.

Now someone comes along, and buys one of TE's helmets. He then makes a copy of it. Then sells them on ebay for about 1/2 TE's asking price. This 'recaster' is out for a quick buck. Did not incur much in the way of expense, and did not have permission from TE to make copies. Each helmet sold was one less that TE might have.

Wait, it gets better...

Star Wars props were, many times, made from scrap, and bits of junk left over from once commonly availalbe parts.

An example, the Stormtrooper blaster is a British L2A3 Sterling 9mm machine gun with a WWII US Tank spotting scope, a German analog machine counter, and some rubber strips added. I bought all these real-world parts, spending considerable time and money tracking them down. I have made molds from these parts. I sell these from time to time on this site. I take offense when I sell a kit to someone, and a few months later, find that same person selling recasts of my kits. This unfortunately is part of this hobby, and happens from time to time. That $50 kit, cost me a $1200 to make! The recaster, cost him the $50 kit, some silicone and some resin. I'd have a pretty low opinion of him. After all, I own the original parts! Even though these were not ones used on screen, they are however the exact same type of parts as the ones used on screen.

No fair use, no open source agreements., that I know of.

Lucas owns the rights to all things Star Wars related, and cracks down from time to time on blatant violators. In many cases, no licensed version has ever been offerred. The costume community is a recent phenomenon. And the Lucas Machine allows these small time, cottage industires to survive, just as long as it does not cut too deeply into his profits!

Technology has a lot to do with it. Also, there is a weird 'honor-among-theives' at play here as well.

If someone were to make G-code CNC CAD files of these things, and all you needed were a home- CNC mill, it might be a tad different.

An example of this is the open source G-code for making your own M1911 or AR15 receivers. Israel Franco's CAD drawings of the trooper armor are the only ones I know of, and these are for reference use only.

Ethics.