Scratch building Ralph McQuarrie concept helmet.

Taking a long look at my helmet…I’m not so happy with the separation line between dome and under part. It’s wobbly and the edges of the plaster have crumbled. So I decide to re-work the line and make it more sharp and clean. While the putty is drying I found my old Kenner vintage Boba Fett figure. I re-modeled and re-painted it when I was 14. The paint job has fainted over the last 21 years, but still not a bad job.

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I reached the boring stage, filling and sanding minute bumps and put holes…anyway I sharpened the separation line between dome and bottom.
Now I’m pleased with the result, before it looked like a lousy job, now it has that industrial sharpness.
Also made the reinforcement strip at the back side of the dome a bit thicker. Got rid of the glossy paint job and gave it a matt finish.
The pictures show only the first layer, the second layer is drying right now and looks real sleek. Now it’s finally ready for further painting.

Bolted on the range finder stalk, easy to remove for transport and it can also be dropped into forward position.

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Well this is it! I finished painting the exterior of the helmet. I took a close and hard look at the initial illustrations of McQuarrie so that I could mimic his paint style.
Still need to “pad” the inside for comfort but no hurry there. Now I can display the helmet.

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Well, I've been lurking on this thread long enough.

Everything looks incredible!

At first, when you widened the visor area, I didn't like it, because it didn't 'look' right. But after examining the source illustrations, I have to conclude that it is pretty damned close. You've done a great job, and if/when you decide to mold/cast these, I'm on board for a copy.

Question, though: Should there be two 'divisions' of the upper cheek, under the mandibles? It's hard to tell if McQuarrie was intending for the first division to be an actual separation, or if it's just supposed to be a shadow. There seems to be evidence for both.

Please keep up the good work!
 
Question, though: Should there be two 'divisions' of the upper cheek, under the mandibles? It's hard to tell if McQuarrie was intending for the first division to be an actual separation, or if it's just supposed to be a shadow. There seems to be evidence for both.

Thanks Rubio95.

The “division” or “shadow” of the lower cheek took me a while and I made an educated guess. I went for shadow, it matches the cast angle and grey tone seen in the rest of the illustration. Also on close inspection the dark part runs a bit over the top of the circle on the left-hand cheek. If it was a separation that would seem odd, however a shadow could do this.

There are more inconsistencies, on the side elevation of the helmet the range finder is dead center of the helmet, but the frontal/quarter drawing shows it to be positioned more forward above the cheek. Again I had to choose and went for the forward position.

It can be brain wreaking to build a 3D model based on sketches, but it’s also fun to witness the study and evolution process of the designer.
 
Thanks Rubio95.

The “division” or “shadow” of the lower cheek took me a while and I made an educated guess. I went for shadow, it matches the cast angle and grey tone seen in the rest of the illustration. Also on close inspection the dark part runs a bit over the top of the circle on the left-hand cheek. If it was a separation that would seem odd, however a shadow could do this.

There are more inconsistencies, on the side elevation of the helmet the range finder is dead center of the helmet, but the frontal/quarter drawing shows it to be positioned more forward above the cheek. Again I had to choose and went for the forward position.

It can be brain wreaking to build a 3D model based on sketches, but it’s also fun to witness the study and evolution process of the designer.

Jeez, you're absolutely correct! I missed that detail....this pic shows off what you're saying:

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Either way, it's quite obvious that you've spent a lot of time contemplating the helmet's design before you began sculpting. That's so awesome!

I look forward to more updates. And remember what I said about casting....:)
 
I like to experiment…so I made a couple of stickers of the mandibles, one for each side, just to see how it would look if Mc Quarrie envisioned them as painted on patterns. The stickers are made of material used in the old days of advertising design, so easy to remove without damaging the paint job.

…my conclusion, it’s not bad looking and could fit the style, however from a frontal look at the helmet I get a humoristic feeling, like staring into a clowns face or that mask from “V for Vendetta”. Probably because it has the visual effect of making the face wider. The cheekbones left all white gives a more serious/mysterious look, more fitting for Boba Fett.

Any thought? Just curious…

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Thanks for the complements all! It has been a fun project so far. Especially like exploring the sketches and getting into the mind of the artist.

For now I think I’ll only leave it with the helmet, doesn’t take up as much space. I enjoyed the McQuarrie concept build and am thinking of do several more in the future, starting with the McQuarrie Darth Vader helmet, with the elongated “snout”. But that’s a project that still needs to for in my head.
 
zie ik hier misschien een coloboratie onstaan:), zien er beiden goed uit.

like the job on the helmet, made my self a cardboard Boba helmet. had a lot of fun to work with the W.O.F.TEMPLATES.
 
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