Rear Slits, Potential Discovery ?

Good find!

Altough the original helmet was sculpted in clay, it's not impossible if they used some real stuff to achieve excellent results with each concept they had. One good example is the medical droid's face made with a studio microphone:



And here are the measurements for the back of the helmet:



And please post a higher resolution image so we can take a better look.

Originally Posted by RafalFett

Good find!

Altough the original helmet was sculpted in clay, it's not impossible if they used some real stuff to achieve excellent results with each concept they had. One good example is the medical droid's face made with a studio microphone:



And here are the measurements for the back of the helmet:



And please post a higher resolution image so we can take a better look.

thanks rafal

I will indeed, this was a camera phone job, as i saw the thumbwheel in passing, as i find some more and start getting measurements i'll shoot with my dSLR

do you by chance have any close shots of it also, as i see there is a radius on it, some have a straight chamfer some are curved, would be good to compare, as i hunt !

Ask and you shall receive!

I posted about that in your thread... I think it could be a counter. They used a Hegstler counter on the ANH stormtrooper blaster... not the same as this type, but they might have had some parts on hand they could have scavenged.

Great find..very interesting

Originally Posted by clonecollector

I posted about that in your thread... I think it could be a counter. They used a Hegstler counter on the ANH stormtrooper blaster... not the same as this type, but they might have had some parts on hand they could have scavenged.

haha @clonecollector, i'm worried what your post has done to me, all i can think about for the past few days is where can i get more counters to compare ...

there is a guy in work next week to works with very vintage gear im hoping he might have an idea where this oversized counter housing originates from !

closest i can find thus far is


waiting to hear back from the webmaster to see if he has it

i'm amazed at how rare it seems to be to find a counter with a curved backplate (not chamfered like most)

Really does look like you're on to something!

This one has 6 digits in a single "panel"

Measurements are 67mm x 127mm (don't know if that is just the digit panel or all of it, it's not specified.)

Obviously this one is a modern day version, but it could still be an old model, like the hengstler 400 used on the E-11's are still in production today.

No doubt about it Rafal.

But we already know there are found parts inside the helmet. Even if this is an actual part _of_ the helmet, it's still worth investigating.

Originally Posted by locitus

This one has 6 digits in a single "panel"

Measurements are 67mm x 127mm (don't know if that is just the digit panel or all of it, it's not specified.)

Obviously this one is a modern day version, but it could still be an old model, like the hengstler 400 used on the E-11's are still in production today.

good spot locitus

however, its not nesicary to find one build up as a 6-off as thumbwheels are stackable, so we only need to find one of anyconfig that is correct and were onto a winner !

great comparison, thought it was close, atleast its getting somwhere !

the hardest challenge is to find thoose counters with a half circle radius, as most are just chamfered

i've seen some other rounded ones but they are raised in the center, it defo looks like a vintage counter is going to be the one, hopfully some digging will come up with the goods !

This is looking good, As Raf said its thought the helmet was sculpted out of clay an probley most of it was , though lik the pic of Lucas looking at the 2 prospective trooper helmets the one that wasnt used is clearly a hard hat with a few other parts an a heap of clay to fill it out,
I know some who think there a good chance fett helmet was done this way, an a few seem to think they know which helmet was used ,How ever its all speculation at this point,
Though the shapes are 2 uncannyly close i think if you keep digging you may find the right one,

wow nice! I think its very possible it was something like this, especially after seeing the medical droid pics. If not it sure looks like it was inspired by a counter! Pretty sweet find bro..maybe you'll find a dead ringer match!

Looks like it to me. At least in part or as inspiration.
Although the center separations pose a challenge to it's straight use as-is, lots of other things look close.

This group always amazes me.

WOW..simply amazing! Impressive

I wonder if they had a few of these counters on hand and just popped them into cutouts in the back of the helmets?

It would take less time than gutting out all the slots on all the helmets that were made.

Browsing on Ebay for Hengstler counters for E-11's I came across this one:


The Hengstler 890-series counter has a thumbwheel. It might not be spot on, but maybe they were inspired by a similar counter in the same line. They did afterall use Hengstler counters in ANH for all kinds of things (they are also found in the X-wing cockpit) so they might have had more than just the 400-series in their pile of junk used for props.

I have made a 3D model and have uploaded into Shapeways, but I do not think anyone would want to buy it? Not made to any specific helmet but the original.

Holy cow... would you look at that... Simply amazing!

Welcome to the party Art!

I know.. I know... I am way behind. This is the coolest find since the dental files in the back of the helmet! TDH's members never fail to completely blow me away! You guys are just awesome!

I didn't it like that, but you're welcome.

I'm pretty excited too if we could nail this one!

Not even close