Master Replica Pinch Fix "How I did it!"

Hey guys. I thought I'd write up a little instructions of how I fixed the pinch on my master replica helmet.

I’ve never done anything like this so please bare with the less than professional ways
I used to do it.

Things I used.
Hairdryer
Toothpicks
x-acto knife
super glue
JB Weld the kind that you cut and kneed together as needed
#5 welding shield
painters 3m tape
duct tape
Phillips screwdriver
Hand held Plexi glass cutter

I started by peeling back the lining about a half inch to an inch all the way around the existing visor.
I used an x-acto knife to cut any stingy glue holding the lining on. I made slits near the eye ends to peel it back easier. the arrows in the pic point that out.
I used duct tape to hold the lining back and out of the way.
I used a small Phillips screw driver to remove the screws all around the visor. There are a lot of screw so take your time with them.
I would have re-used the screws but I thought it would be near impossible to re line up new holes in a new visor with the existing holes for the screws and I didn’t want to drill
New holes into the helmet.






I cut three toothpicks to the size I wanted the mandibles to be spread and I taped them together using 3m painters tape to not effect the paint on the helmet.
I heated the helmet inside and out with a blow dryer and added the “spacers” toothpicks to the openings so the helmet wasn’t stressed and started taking that shape. It’s actually pretty bendable and easy to shape once you get the initial visor out and add heat to it.

I used spacers like in this picture.
This pic shows the spacers I made and where I had them and the arrows are pointing to the gap I'll talk about when I'm putting the visor in below.



When I removed the visor I split it apart and used mostly the eye part to trace the size
Exactly. I modified the bottom part making it as wide as needed to keep the mandibles open to the correct size. After I traced the size I wanted I cut the new shield with a hand held plexi glass cutter and a straight edge. This takes some elbow grease and patience to do it right. I was able to hold the new visor down flat to make the cut. I broke my first visor cause I didn’t cut deep enough before I tried to crack the excess off. You really have to score it almost all the way through to avoid this.

In this pic when I say I cut it too short I meant too narrow.



I got the size I wanted and put it in to fit but it wasn’t wide enough so I super glued toothpicks on either side to make up the distance. Now the shield rests nicely on the
Toothpicks and is holding the mandibles open.

Once a I got a nice fit all around with the new shield I starter at the bottom with the JB weld and small pieces and started bonding the helmet and shield covering up the toothpicks at the bottom and heading upwards with small pieces of needed bond.
kinda blury pic of the weldbond



I got to a tricky part where the mandible was sticking slightly out further then the other
So I needed to exert extra force to push it back in slightly to bond to the shield. Otherwise there would have been a gap. Besides the cutting of the new visor this was the second most challenging step cause I had to hold it together in place with force for a half hour or more for it to bond to the shield.
this pic shows where I applied the extra pressure


I used less bond around the eye parts because it was pretty snug in there already with no gaps.

I took the duct tape off the lining and laid it back down and it covered the weld bond from the inside nicely.



And there you have it. I was worried about the paint coming off because I was handling it so much put where ever I could I used causing and a soft t-shirt to exert pressure to cover my finger tips. I also taped the visor with the 3m painters tape to protect it while I was jb welding it on.


Thanks to everyone on here who helped me out with the questions I had along the way.

Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial, it really came out great!
I've used that 2-part putty before for prop projects. Really good stuff.

this really is a great helmet once the pinch is gone. Great job!

That looks great!

Thanks for the info.
With your instruction, I hope to make the same correction to my MR helmet.

Excellent! I was hoping someone would figure a way to do this in a less "invasive" method. Great job!

Question...

Is the original visor wide enough to cover the area needed to "correct" the pinch?

I like the idea of using toothpicks to fill in the make up space...could this solution be used to simply fill in the gap on both sides of the original visor? Thus saving the need to purchase a new shield.

thanks guys for the compliments!

Unfortunatley the shield that came with it is VERY thin and incapable of holding the fiberglass open with this method. It is also too narrow to use to correct the pinch. It has screw holes all the way around it so you'd see them exposed if you widened the opening more that just a little.

The key is the heavy shield making the front keep it's corrected shape and stay in place. the most important part is the cut of the shield to the size you want the opening to be. because I cut mine a little too narrow I was able to use toothpics on either side to make up the distance lost by the cut.

YOU HAVE BIG BALLS!
AN REALY AWESOME AND HELPFUL THREAD!
THANKS A LOT:thumbup

Would this work?

http://www.sentrysafetysupply.com/di...ycarbonate.htm

Escho,
That visor you linked to should work. It looks very similar to the RJ Safety visor that several members have used. It didn't specify the tint grade, but it looks pretty dark.

As far as cutting it goes, w34payton should probably answer that one.

it looks like that one will be okay.

If not this is the one I got. I actually ordered two worried that I would mess one up when I cut it.
http://www.mfasco.com/product_info.p...8b87323e7fb3f3


I actually did mess up the first one because I didn't score it well enough with a plexi glass cutter. You really have to make sure you cut just about all the way through before you try to crack it. It also helps to tape the visor inside the cutting area to give it a little more strength to avoid cracking.

here's a pic of the first one.


Even though the visor was thick I was able to push down and lay it almost
flat as I scored it.


i took a pic of the aprox spacing I used to measure the front / bottom part of the T. I used the existing t visor to cut out the eyes. Remember I cut it a little too narrow in the front so here is aprox the width you'll need to cut yours. This width is taking into account the toothpicks I had to add. This is aprox width you'll need to cut it.



hope that helps! congrats on the awesome helmet score!! and remember to be patient, have good lighting when your removing the screws and working on it and set it upside down on something soft and non abrassive and handle it gently or with something soft covering your finger tips.

Good luck man!

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tips. You guys are all awesome here and everyone has been super cool and helpful. I really appreciate it.

I'll post pics as I go through the process. I just hope mine comes out as good man! Thanks again!

-Esh

It looks great!!......a thousand times better!!!

Okay, I'm doing it today...wish me luck! I'll post some pics unless I totally jack it up!

Well poo...I jacked it up, not too bad but I have to try again. Mine needs to be a bit wider than the meausrements. Plus I'm going to use a different technique to keep the visor in, I tried two different ways and neither seemed like they are going to work right...I'll keep you all up to date if you care enough...

Used this tutorial to fix my MR bucket.. Worked like a charm!!!

I´ve been putting it off for several weeks now, because I couldn´t get myself to do it, but I went ahead today and got it done in 3 hours total..

YAY!!!!

Thanks for the great tutorial, dude!!!

very nice tutorial!
with that i think i´m gonna lay hands on mine!

Excellent man, Great job!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, that's a really great tutorial! I've kinda wanted to buy the MR for a while now but the pinch has put me off. I think I may think again.

All MR's are pinched unless the previous owner corrected it themselves...but stock from MR..its pinched

I just finished the repair to mine with this tutorial, I went another step and drilled the holes out for the screws on the new visor and then replaced them with ones that are about a 1/16" longer, excellent results.

W34payton, can't thank you enough for posting this!

I am waiting on getting an MR helmet from a member here and I'm pondering doing this. I am a bit concerned about realigning the helmet causing it to stress fracture over time. Any thoughts?


By the way yours looks great

HI all!
I'm a new member here and I'm planning to go for a Boba costume.
But ofcourse I have some questions, In ROTJ Boba Fett have a helmet with red straps and a difrent RF then in ESB, but on all other pictures then in the movie you see a ROTJ costume with ESB helmet, on Star Wars Exhibit it's a ROTJ costume with ESB helmet, on TK-409 he have pictures on a ROTJ costume but a helmet with yellow straps and a ESB RF look a like. And I have find some pictures on starwars.com and wookiepedia too.
I am really confused, what is the helmet for Boba FETT, I know that he have diffrent helmets, but why dose some use the ESB look a like helmet for a ROTJ costume is it wrong or right?
//Oscar//

PM sent Little TK Boy

El1te

man that seems intense.

thanks for the tutorial.

Nice!!!! Great tutorial!!!

looks great thanks for posting the tutorial

Interior and exterior, This is the best one I've seen yet!!!

Originally Posted by Master_Cellist

Interior and exterior, This is the best one I've seen yet!!!

Its an MR helmet. They all look like that

that worked really well, i've heard horror stories of people breaking stuff and ruining the paint while attempting this

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the kind words. I took some more pics of it tonight. I would just say if you're going to try this, just take your time and treat the paint gingerly. I love this helmet!!!

Do all of the MR helmets have the same pinch in the mandibles? The ones they show up for sale on the internet don't seem to have the "pinch"?

Awesome tutorial! Loving the Boba Fett lid shots! Always wanted to know what the material is made of inside and can it be bought seperately!

is it possible that they laser scanned the originally and in tie it has deformed and pinched itself

I just want to know if they are all pinched? Or is it just the luck of the draw?

all pinched

Originally Posted by BobaFettSlave_1

all pinched

That's what I was afriad of, thanks....

Where do you find a Plexi glass cutter? At a craft store, or will a sharp Xacto do the trick?

I'm seeing about having some T-visors laser cut. If things work out, I'll let everyone know.

I suspect there may be an even easier way to fix the pinch.

Originally Posted by Slave I

Where do you find a Plexi glass cutter? At a craft store, or will a sharp Xacto do the trick?

any hardware store should have them. the shields are thick. You need a heavy duty plexiglass cutter to score it. I think an xacto knife is too thin and would dull if you tried to score plexi glass with it.

im a lill scared to mess with my MR ESB lid and fix the pinch

Originally Posted by w34payton

any hardware store should have them. the shields are thick. You need a heavy duty plexiglass cutter to score it. I think an xacto knife is too thin and would dull if you tried to score plexi glass with it.

Okay, so you score it, but you don't go all the way through . . .

I'm going to look into the laser cut option, but I think it would actually be etching deeply. Will have to see. My second MR should be here on Tues.

wondered if some one could sort the pinch on my MR ESB lid for a small fee ???
shouldnt the visor be green for esb ?

Originally Posted by stormshadow2100

wondered if some one could sort the pinch on my MR ESB lid for a small fee ???
shouldnt the visor be green for esb ?

I had an MR before and got rid of it because of the shape. It just bothered me too much. I really think my idea will work, and it's very simple, but I'm not going to say until I try it out on Tuesday. I don't want to look like a fool for oversimplifying if my idea doesn't work

Originally Posted by stormshadow2100

shouldnt the visor be green for esb ?

the shield I used is a #5 Welding face shield Dark Green like this one. i prefer green to smoke on my ESB bucket.

Working on my pinch tonight. Old T visor out and working on the pattern for the new.

I successfully cut my replacement visor without any breaks or anything. The fit was so good, it stayed in place without securing, though of course I will lock it in to elimnate the gap, especially in the upper right corner as you're looking at it, since that is part of the shaping problem too.

My idea for a really easy fix didn't work out, though. Had to fix it by the new standards.

Well...thanks to Nathan, I finally got up the courage to try this. Danged if I didn't get the exact same gap on the left side. Tomorrow I plan to sit with glue in the obligatory position for thirty minutes. The welding shield is a heck of a lot thicket than the MR visor, so it really reinforces the new shape. Tutorial rocks right down to the toothpicks. I'll post a picture when the visor is glued. I used a dremel to cut the visor. Sounded easier and cuts like butter.

...And, done! Bolts worked like a charm. Still used some JB Weld for good measure like the tutorial suggest, but I think the two bolts would almost have done it all on there own.

Excellent tutorial, I´m gonna do it soon with mine! thank you!!!