WCA Deathwatch helmet & armor

While waiting for assorted things to cure tonight, I started in on a new project...



VERY rough right now, but I think the concept is solid.

I took one of my MR Boba casts and just started chopping.

I basically reversed the fix I did to the original MR. The visor was pinched in too tight at the bottom on the original. I pinched the top way back in to match that. I was able to narrow the front by about 1/4" just by adjusting that, without messing up the lines of the helmet. I want it a bit narrower still, so I'll have to build up some material.

I narrowed the horizontal part down to a slit with epoxy putty.

The most fun part is the cheeks. I cut out the old one, reshaped the remaining area a bit, and added in a Sintra panel. I've only extended the length of the front by about 1/4" or so, but it looks elongated like it should.

Take a look at Two-Face Fett over here...



The left side (in the pic) is the original shape. The right is the altered one. The helmet LOOKS really tall because of the changes, but it's not much different at all.

Added bonus - since the cheeks are not as deeply indented, it will be roomier too.

For about an hour of work so far I'm REALLY happy with how it's going. I think this will come out great.

Other scheduled mods include a rebuilt keyslot area, getting rid of the RF ear cap mount, and making a new cap for that side.

Fun stuff!

looking really good. be nice to see how this pans out.

Do you ever sleep?

Looking good already. Keep it up!

Hahaha!!! I should sleep more. I totally forgot that I had even posted this here

A'den commented on another board and I told him he was mistaken. Oh man...

Anyway, since I'm here!



The other cheek is in. I've also trimmed out the earcap bump and cut out the back keyslot area.

It's coming along nicely!

Awesome, man.
It's shaping up to be another masterpiece.

Any chance you are going to be selling these? Incredble work

This helmet looks great!! I'm looking into getting a custom mando together and I thought of maybe going with the animated Clone Wars version. Let me know if you will be making a run of these

Once this is done I'll be making at least a few... I don't have the attention span for an ongoing run, but a handful I can do

I've been working at it on and off over the weekend. The bondo is in on the cheeks, I've cleaned up some details, and put a bit more primer on to see details. I have to build the back detail and ear caps, then mold it up.

Excellent work so far STG.

Much like my cats, rabbits, wife and friends, the Mando helmet was complaining that I spend too much time on clones. So tonight I did a bunch of work on this.




I think that after this latest bit of epoxy gets sanded I may even be happy with the shape of the face at last!

I finished the rough shaping of the ears, and got the little bumps at the bottom.

I noticed that the trim around the back of the helmet is way more pronounced than Boba's, and that the details behind the ear caps were slightly different. I added some new sintra strips on to make the borders stick out more, then epoxied around them to smooth them out.



I also tightened up the eye slit even more. They really do have a tiny, tiny little opening. I figure folks can always sand away some if they actually want to *see*.

I'm planning to just look out the center for the most part, so the horizontal will be decorative.

Primed and starting to look like something. This shot is neat, because it shows how much camera angles matter. This is a low shot, and the helmet looks REALLY tall, but it's the same height/width as the Boba helmet it started off as.

Nice! What will you charge for the kit?

Looking good Man. Can't wait to see more!

We're in silicone! I got most of it done last night, then I fell asleep. Tonight I'll wrap up the rubber and, curing time wiling, start on the shell. I hope to have the first cast in hand this week.

As for selling them, I haven't thought that far ahead yet. First things first: make sure it works / looks good!

Looking great can't wait to see the finished product!!

Very nice, man! This is shaping up to be another masterpeice. Can't wait to see the paint job!

I like the look of this might have to make a deathwatch after I finally get my first mando done

Very nice!

If you're going to make a few, I'm very interested in a helmet as I'm in the starting fase with a custom animated mando.

if all goes well, i should have the first cast tonight!

The mold came out great!

For the casting, I tried something new... Smooth-On's Cast Magic Silver Bullet. It's a powder you brush on the inside of the mold, and it gives a metallic finish that's embedded into the resin. Sort of a "light" version of cold casting.

I'm really happy with it! It's not as shiny as rub n buff, but it's about as good as your average silver rattle can. A $4 container of it will probably do 6-8 helmets, so it's a trivial cost. It adds about 15 minutes to the casting process but that's not much really.

Anyway, less words, more pics! Here's a raw cast with the visor area trimmed and a T-visor.com visor fitted into it. I had to trim the visor down a bit to get it to fit, but nothing major.







Here's the first cast I made today, painted up as Pre Vizsla:





And the second cast as Jango. This one isn't quite done yet, but it's 2AM and I have to go to work in a few hours

woa! Fantastic job stormtrooperguy! Any thoughts about what you charge for one helmet?

I've been bad about updating here. My Pre Vizsla project is moving along.



Working on the backplate now.

Armor is carved out of MDF / Bondo like my clone, then vac formed out of 0.080 HIPS.

cool...im liking the paint job

Look forward to the updates of this!

Hey stormtrooperguy!
As you know, I'm working on armor myself, I am looking for either a kit or the bucket itself. I can do the armor, but how much would the helmet be?

yo what are you making those helmets with?

The helmets are cast with Smoothcast Roto, and the silver finish comes from smooth-on's cast magic silver.

it just keeps getting better and better, great work man! ^^

The prototype back plate is done. I have to refine the edges / fill some dimples, but the overall fit is good.

looking beautiful as always, excellent work!

prototype is assembled!



i mangled the bottom in assembly... over trimmed, over glued, etc...



but it will still be workable. i'm going to start in on the addon parts this week, and hope to have the pack knocked out by the weekend.

now i just need to learn how to use my lathe!!

marching forward!

primer and final filler down on the body.



you can see there that i've also made up the base for the rocket assembly. it will be cast in resin ultimately, so for now the original is just loosely fitted into place.

i also made up the bottom vent/thruster/whatever for the center tube. it's not particularly accurate since i only had a couple of fuzzy shots of that part. it's good enough for me though! it will also be cast in resin.



the rocket base will be 1.5" PVC... it should plug right into the resin socket. i hope



hopefully randy will be able to help me out with the lathe and get the rocket made. i could do it by hand, but it would be nice to have it more precisely crafted.

yo man do you take orders?

can't wait until you built the dark saber

Originally Posted by pondababacutoff

can't wait until you built the dark saber

i *think* i have a good idea as to how to do it. but that will be the last thing

for celebration, i'll probably have either just a hilt, or a hilt with a static black blade just for posing.

Beautiful Work! I am getting ready to embark on this costume too. Your work here is invaluable, thanks!

Boy, building jetpacks is thirsty work...



Let's just pour a nice, refreshing cup of Smoothcast ROTO!



Hrm... this isn't tasty at all!



But it does make a pretty awesome base for the thrusters!



I'll just have to do a bit of detailing on the underside and make the base to mount it to the pack. The final ones will be made with Featherlite rather than ROTO, since ROTO is heavy.

Progress marches on at an alarming rate! 2 weeks till C5! PLENTY of time!

Since last I updated here, I've finished the sculpts for the jetpack, molded the resin parts, cast them up, and assembled my pack:



I made the thigh armor:





And last night did the hands, cod, knees and shins:



The shins might be flared out too wide. They looked good over my jeans, but I'll need to see them over the suit with the right boots to be sure. If they are, it's easy enough to sand the mold down a bit and re-pull.




Now it just needs some sanding and paint.

ya know, i don't really even like the clone wars, but this is completely awesome, and i want one!

Beautiful work!

You are truly an epic artist! Out of curiousity...if you WERE to sell a limited run of these helmets, how much would you charge?

I'm sure it's out of my price range...but it might be better than having to heavily mod an already expensive helmet. :P

Plus these look ten times more amazing than I can imagine mine turning out. :P

The helmets are for sale on the Mando Mercs board. AdamScottFM is doing the casting... there's a thread in the trading post. His current run is done, but I'm sure he'll do another some time.

BIG night tonight! My armor color quandary has been solved, straight from the source. From Kilian Plunkett, lead character designer for the Clone Wars series:

Visla’s armour is actually a dark gunmetal colour. So it’s metallic and slightly reflective but it’s a dark, very, very slightly indigo, grey. His flightsuit is a very dark green gray. Only his boots and the leather ‘vest’ that his breastplate sits on are actually black. The values are close to each other, anything that’s not fully black is about 70-75% black, the blue sections should pop quite a bit from the rest of the outfit.

Turns out that a local Star Wars author that I've come to know is friends with Mr. Plunkett. He relayed my question on the colors, and now I know for sure. The Gentle Giant one isn't right

Beyond that, *I finished the @#%@!@#!ing vest!!! UGH. It took me 2 tries to get it right. I used the pattern drafting tutorial on TDH. The first one just didn't sit right... not sure what I did wrong, but I scrapped it and started over. Second time was the winner!

I ended up doing something like you see in the movies regularly... My vest is not black, it's deep, deep blue. I made one in black and it just didn't look right. I remade it in midnight blue, and now it looks black in photos, but has some detail to it, rather than just being a solid mass of #000000. I'm going to apply some black weathering to it as well, so it should read as black nicely, but looks... I don't know... richer?

Here's a bathroom mirror shot of the flight suit and vest:



I've got the armor clamped on with magnets. Each of those silver dots is a neodymium magnet pulling at just shy of 8lbs. Works great for clamping most anything... the PSI is about as good as a 1" spring clamp.

Since the Deathwatch shoulder armor sticks out pretty aggressively, I added a 1.25" wide strip of 0.125 HIPS into the sleeve, so that it supports the shoulders and makes them stand out, rather than falling flat against my arm.

I also picked up the cape fabric tonight. Cotton duck in a nice shade of light blue... looks and feels good.

Here is is just draped over my shoulder:



*phew*

Neck seal is up next.

Awesome work stormtrooperguy! This one turns out fantastic!

just wondering if you have any completed pics of this?

Originally Posted by Verbal21

just wondering if you have any completed pics of this?

indeed! Vizsla is finish and 501st / Mando Mercs approved!







I've been working on post-celebration upgrades... New gauntlets, lighter jetpack, and an updated belt. All coming soon!

Most impressive!

How did I miss this thread? This is excellent!

I think you took a pic with my son during CV(I have too look for it)... I would have introduced myself.

I think its amazing how you've sculpted this AND the animated armor in the last two years.

Gorgeous, I love it, I'm definitely going to have to do this when I finish my Fett

Building my Pre Viszla now and this is a great reference guide. Are you going to be making any runs in the jet pack kit at all? or any other armor parts? If so PM me please.

Although I was a bit surprised at the detail of the pack itself. I though the one they used on the Clone Wars was the arena pack with the other rocket head on it. Guess i'd have to take another look and some screen grabs.

But this is amazing man. Great work.
Finally... which template did you use for the vest and what color did you use? Looks black/blue/gray-ish.

Cheers.

That is truly awesome man! Brilliant work. Are you eventually going to make the Darksaber as well?

That looks sick man...absolutely sick...makes me want to tackle a Deathwatch myself!

thats so amazin! i was wondering, do you sell these still? if so for how much $$??

Great work!