I laser cut an extension piece out of some styrene sheet and then glued it to the edge of the original collar. I have some progress photos of it on page 4 of this thread.
Black Series Darth Vader Helmet Mod Thread!
- Thread starter Jennigirl
- Start date
I laser cut an extension piece out of some styrene sheet and then glued it to the edge of the original collar. I have some progress photos of it on page 4 of this thread.
StephenMG
Active Member
Argh!!! DarkLyte and Jesse Atteberry, you are messing with my head! I'm in the process of blocking up my original chin vent with the intention of opening it back up to a more realistic ESB size. But now that I've seen both of your ANH-style vents I'm having second thoughts...! 
Both of your's look fantastic.
Both of your's look fantastic.
StephenMG
Active Member
Yep, same here (except mine wasn't laser cut). My extension is a double layer. The first layer is a glued to the inside of the original neck then the second layer is glued to the first to bring the thickness up to match the original. You can see the result before filling and flaring in post 115 - Black Series Darth Vader Helmet Mod Thread!
Solos blaster
Sr Member
I really, really, really wanted one of these just for display purposes but after looking at this thread, I don't think I can...
Argh!!! DarkLyte and Jesse Atteberry, you are messing with my head! I'm in the process of blocking up my original chin vent with the intention of opening it back up to a more realistic ESB size. But now that I've seen both of your ANH-style vents I'm having second thoughts...!
Thank you! Let me know if you need an extension and vent filler piece. I have a few more left.
Jesse Atteberry
New Member
Argh!!! DarkLyte and Jesse Atteberry, you are messing with my head! I'm in the process of blocking up my original chin vent with the intention of opening it back up to a more realistic ESB size. But now that I've seen both of your ANH-style vents I'm having second thoughts...!
Thanks!! Still a ways to go but slowly getting it done.
streetspider
New Member
How do you fill it in? And what if you scratch the original helemt plastic from sanding?
Jesse Atteberry
New Member
It’s ok to sand up the black plastic because to make it more accurate you will need to repaint the jaw a gun metal color anyways.
StephenMG
Active Member
I use a variety of fillers depending on the situation - car body spot filler and epoxy putty (Milliput) being the most common. As Jesse says, the plastic is inevitably going to get sanded but it's going to get repainted anyway.
StephenMG
Active Member
Thanks DarkLyte, although it's too late for me now, I've got a lump of styrene already firmly glued in place! I've still got the filling to do but I think I'm going to go ANH after all. I would be grateful to know the dimensions of your chin vent though if that's OK?
The extra layer of styrene sheet means that my layers of grill and cloth (plus my ugly speaker mount!) won't fit so nicely now though. I'm going to have to switch to the Fram filter mesh as it's not as thick as the expanded mesh I'm currently using. I'm not complaining though as I think the Fram mesh looks better.
I'll PM you the dimensions of it. However save yourself some time with the original speaker holder and take the original plastic mesh grill to a belt sander. I was able to make mine half as thick and it gave me tons of room to fit the Fram mesh and some thinner black mesh in between. Everything fit perfectly.
Why not?? Get one!
StephenMG
Active Member
Thanks a lot, much appreciated.
When I replaced my lower grill mesh I wanted to keep everything unmolested so I could replace the original parts if required - hence I made my own speaker mount. There's no chance I can replace the original grill now though!
No matter, it'll all fit fine once I use Fram mesh instead!
Solos blaster
Sr Member
Because now I think I’d have to mod it first lol.
bwize
Sr Member
I finally got around to picking this up off ebay and love it. I plan on giving it the 2 tone paint scheme and replacing the grills with metal ones as well as the tusks. One thing I have noticed that I have not seen anyone else address, is the gap/cutout on the lower eye lense where it meets the cheek. I assume that this is for air ventilation, but I plan on cutting a custom piece of plastic to fill in the open space as this will be a display piece.
Is everybody else's mask have the cutout on the lower eye lens or is mine just not fit right?
Is everybody else's mask have the cutout on the lower eye lens or is mine just not fit right?
zjunlimited
Sr Member
Same on mine.
bwize
Sr Member
Cool, thx. I was a little worried that mine was messed up.
It's so when you wear the helmet, your body heat has somewhere to vent so the lenses don't fog up.
streetspider
New Member
I have the hasbro one with the weird shaped hood or dome i was trying to figure out how to cut it and reshape it, its kind of to pointy at the middle brow between the eyes
Great upgrades...I see this helmet like a 1:1 version of the small small Riddell Vader Reveal helmet.Not really accurate..but nice to have.I still have one in my collection.
As I was young my dream was to scan and cast this small Riddell one in 1:1 that I can wear it.
As I was young my dream was to scan and cast this small Riddell one in 1:1 that I can wear it.
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