Another Rubies Vader Helmet Mod

[AFettFullofDollars]

Took a break while painting my Fett helmet and decided to do some mods on a Rubies Deluxe Vader helmet that I had lying around. It's not 100% screen accurate, but with a little effort they can make a decent Vader display bucket.

Here's what I did:

1) Squared off the bottom of the grills.
2) Replaced the wire mesh behind the grill and in the chin. (Used a paint roller strainer)
3) Dremeled out the eyes and replaced the lenses using Dk Green Welder's Visor
4) Rebuilt the bridge of the nose using sheet styrene and bondo.
5) Repainted the helmet using the gunmetal/black paint scheme.

What I did wrong:

1) Filled in the indentions on top of the cheeks and didn't rescribe them. I never liked those anyway.
2) Used Dark Green Welder's Visor for the lenses
3) Reinserted the silver nose plug. (I'll probably take that out and just paint the interior of the nose silver.
4) Used the original Rubie's metal tusks. (Once again, I'll probably replace them with accurate ones some day)
5)Used a metal paint roller strainer for the mesh.

Anyway, this is just a 'fast horse' mod to sit my shelf. At 5' 8" it's not like I'm going to join the 501st as a Vader!

 

[AFettFullofDollars]

Okay, Now I know why they showed up like that.

 

[justice91423]

Thanks for posting this. I'm about to do paint a rubies and I was hoping to find someone who has already tackled it. Can you expand on how you did the paint job? Ie. Did you use primer? did you use a finish coat? And what brand did you use?

Thanks again

 

[AFettFullofDollars]

As for painting the helmet, the first thing I did was lightly sand down the entire helmet with 800 grit sandpaper. Then I primered it with a clear primer for plastics that I got at Lowe's (Just ask for it in the paint dept.) I then gave it a coat of light grey primer and gave this a light sanding. I used Vaslpar Satin Black and Model Master Gunmetal Buffing Metalizer. I used the Satin Black because it lays more evenly on the helmet than the Gloss Black. After they had dried I gave the helmet three different coats of Valspar High Gloss Clear Coat.

 

[justice91423]

As for painting the helmet, the first thing I did was lightly sand down the entire helmet with 800 grit sandpaper. Then I primered it with a clear primer for plastics that I got at Lowe's (Just ask for it in the paint dept.) I then gave it a coat of light grey primer and gave this a light sanding. I used Vaslpar Satin Black and Model Master Gunmetal Buffing Metalizer. I used the Satin Black because it lays more evenly on the helmet than the Gloss Black. After they had dried I gave the helmet three different coats of Valspar High Gloss Clear Coat.

Very cool. Thank you very much for responding. Can I ask, why the two different primers? Also did you paint the dome also, or just the face?

Thanks again

 

[AFettFullofDollars]

The clear primer for plastic is formulated to help spray paints bond to the type of plastic that is used in making the helmet. I tried using regular primer first and the paint just peeled off when I removed the masking tape. The gray primer was used on the helmet to give me a uniform picture of my mods that I did to the helmet (i.e.-covered the bondo and sheet styrene of the bridge of the nose). No, I did not repaint the dome. Just the faceplate.

 

[justice91423]

The clear primer for plastic is formulated to help spray paints bond to the type of plastic that is used in making the helmet. I tried using regular primer first and the paint just peeled off when I removed the masking tape. The gray primer was used on the helmet to give me a uniform picture of my mods that I did to the helmet (i.e.-covered the bondo and sheet styrene of the bridge of the nose). No, I did not repaint the dome. Just the faceplate.

I went by Lowe's this evening, but the guy in the paint dept didn't know what primer I was referring too. Any chance you know the exact name of the clear plastic primer?

 

[AFettFullofDollars]

It is Valspar Primer for Plastic. It's over with the spraypaints.

 

[NegativeEleven]

Definitely agree that you should use that plastics primer. I repainted the cheap rubies "talking vader" toy helmet for my girlfriend and realized quick that spraypaint peels off with the masking tape if you don't have some other type of primer underneath. Also, for the gunmetal color, I used Rustoleum Metallic Charcoal from Walmart. It's a great color, but kinda pricey for spraypaint. I think it was over $5 a can.

 

[PistolSolid]