Brow trim to long on ata tk?

[mandalorian01]

hello all. i recently recieved my ata storm trooper helmet i have ran into a small problem, i have everything roughly trimmed out and i test fitted the two halves with the brow trim on and the trim its self has about 4 inches of excess, I cut all the way to the trapizoids on both sides so i am wondering if i need to cut some off the brow trim or keep cutting the helmet back until the brow trim fits, any thoughts?

 

[syllander]

Until the brow trim fits length wise? Should be pretty clear if you have it too long. Did you assemble the helmet already? You should have the brow trim temporarily in place before riveting or bolting the cap to the face, to allow that 1/16" or so room for the seal. If you mean height of the brow, that is entirely up to you. You can rotate the face in towards the neck opening to get a higher brow, but ultimately will need to trim some off of the brow area on the dome if you're looking for the move along trooper type of high brow. Too much info?

 

[Darth Voorhees]

Do the brow trim last to make sure its the length it needs to be. ATA always gives you extra length to make sure you can do what you want with it. Same will go for the neck trim he supplies

 

[mandalorian01]

Yes I meant length wise . . There's a good bit of excess . I was jus trying to make sure I cut enough off the helmet before I got to shortening the brow trim . Do you think this is enough trimmed off ? I believe it is but this is my first time assembling a ata helmet so I'm asking the veterans .

 

[syllander]

Yessir, just follow the trim line and you'll be golden, pony boy. Watch the apex of the trim there. Best to keep a little radius to help avoid cracks. Looking good man!

 

[mandalorian01]

just one more slight set back.. i am having trouble getting the ears to fit flush at the top next to the eyes, i believe the two halves meeting and the change in thickness is the main reason. Any one know how to solve this...

 

[syllander]

It's a matter of where to sand to allow the ear piece to fit properly. To sit flush it takes a bit of a scallop as the area is slightly contoured and the step between the face and dome as you stated. Hard to get perfect, but if you look at enough screen caps you'll see most of theirs aren't perfect either.
Hold the ear piece against the side and look at what area contacts first. This is where you'll sand off to allow the gap to close. And when you drill/fasten it together that should pull out some as well.

 

[mandalorian01]

alright one ear down one to go. just the details painting left. what kind of paint works well on this? i have some acrylics i thought id use

update!!

 

[syllander]

SEE? Ear looks good, Def a lot of variability on the screen used lids. Need to get the teeth bigger though, still pretty small. Also gotta decide if youre doing twinkie or rectangular shaped teeth.

most use humbrol paints to hand paint. Look on trooperbay, they sell the correct black and grey for this. Also pay attention to how mush paint you use in the frown. Only want it to the top of the teeth, which should leave a little area of white still around the teeth area, if that makes sense.
Brow looks good too, I personally hate the low brow look....

 

[mandalorian01]

-Syllander, thank you for your comments and critiques, they have been quite helpful. and as for the "teeth" what have you found is the best way to sand them down? i used a dremel at first to get the overall shape and then a small nail file to get them in a uniform fashion.

 

[syllander]

Always glad to help where I can brother!
best way is to get some mini files( sold in 10 pc set typically)so you have different angles of attack. Flat, round, flat edge file, etc...
I've found that to be the safest and easiest method.

 

[Darth Voorhees]

i use a dremel sanding drum from tha back and get em almost all the way out that way and then fine tune with an x-acto knife. But the files Syllander mentioned would be good as well Ive been building these for so long i can do them in my sleep lol If you haven't already go check out whitearmor.net...there's everything you'd wanna know there about these helmets and thensome

 

[mandalorian01]

hey again i am nearing completion with the helmet. I have everything done with the exception of the hand painting details. Over all im pleased with how the assembly of the helmet went. the left ear was the most difficult as it didnt want to fit right. (You can tell in the pic) I think i did alright for my first build .Comments?

 

[syllander]

Not a bad job man. The fifth was right about the shape of the teeth though. And still too small. Not trying to harp brother. Yeah, that ear is a pain in the ass! Looking good man. You could get little things nit picked, but wouldn't stop 501 approving at basic level, the eye trim seems a bit too clean. This IS nit picky, I know, but most screen lids stil had a little excess showing on the eyes. Did I mention nit picky lol.....

 

[Darth Voorhees]

Looks pretty good man. The ears are always tricky.

Maybe something here could help? Its an NE build i did, but the ears i did the same as i do ATA, AP or MTK Lids. I tried to show exactly what i did.

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26301-ne-helmet-build/

 

[tk16180]

if you look at the original the teeth are more like rails between the upper and lower lip.


i used a square file to give a good corner.