Research Project #, Fett Helmet Chin Strap

snoopyiswatchin

New Hunter
Hello all

My name is Nick K Skyler, and I am here to introduce the most accurate helmet chin strap kit ever made. I would like to thankJojoFett95 , Ord Mantell , Deancfh for their support, as well as the many hunters who have paid attention to this project.

First, I met Jo during my Fett journey, and was also attracted by his discovery of Everoak, the source of helmet chin straps. Jo prepared a wonderful article to show these details, including an interview with Bill Vero, grandson of Everitt W Vero, the founder of Everoak, and I believe we will see the article published in the near future.
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(The New Factory was situated in Crystal Palace Road at the rear of 33 East Dulwich road. The sewing work was done mainly on the first floor which was reached by an outside staircase. The shells were made at the moulding works at either 49 East Dulwich Road or 88 East Dulwich Grove)

Photos courtesy & copyright of Bill Vero
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I believe that those who have seen Ord.mantell's Everoak post will definitely think that the vintage chin strap must be destroyed to get the matching prop parts. When I received the Everoak sent by Jo, I was thinking about how to protect this antique. Hats off to you, Jo

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Everoak in the box compared to another vintage Everoak.
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Ok, if you want to keep the parts aligned with the screen, you need to cut off some extra parts, and what is certain so far is that I am not the one who picks up the scissors.

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I had an idea that it would be good to use an accurate replica instead of an antique, so I quickly Photoshopped this poster like this, which is really exciting.


Then, I started doing a lot of research.


I started looking at the history of EVERITT W VERO & CO LTD. From some photos of the factory in the late 1950s, I determined that the leather sewing was done by hand. Thanks to Bill Vero for sharing these photos. I love these historical moments. There may be many chin strap kits in the truck.


(below) Goss Workers late 1950s
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Photos courtesy & copyright of Bill Vero
 
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Drawing

In order to reproduce the Everoak chin strap as closely as possible, I copied the dimensions of the Everoak using cardboard and measured its data carefully, hoping to miss no corners, including the distance of these lines from the leather, the sewing angle of the strap and the leather, and then I drew the template with these exact numbers.

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After completing the Everoak template, these retro things are really cool, but this template is still different from the props. Everoak has a lot of unstable shapes and misplaced pinholes, and the bottom fabric is inconsistent with the bottom direction of ESB. So, I tried to fix the sewing direction of these, adding fixed pinholes and bottom fabric in the correct direction.

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Everoak & ESB
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ESB & Everoak
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Final use part
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Parts list

Mark I-D Ring

After searching various shopping websites, I did not find any ready made D-rings that fit the chin strap.

Friends in the lightsaber team thought that these D-rings would probably match Luke's lightsaber D-rings, but I personally think that Lightsaber D-rings cannot 100% match Fett's.

Now there is only one way left, I have to customize them in bulk.



When I was building the digital model, I noticed Everoak's unique asymmetrical shape.
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After I had the digital model, the next step was to find a factory. The good news was that the factory that provided car parts could make such small accessories. The bad news was that I needed to customize at least 80 kilograms of D-rings at a time....

After a round of thinking, I decided to switch to metal casting to produce them in small batches.



I chose the Anycubic Photon M3 to print some red wax resin, which only needed a simple sanding to get a smooth surface so that I could do some small batch metal casting.

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After a few weeks of casting, the worker showed me the first D-ring sample.

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The D-ring was polished very smooth.

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Nickel plating effect of cast D-ring.
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light-curing red wax and Maek I-D ring
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When I put the D-ring and Everoak together, it looked good. But the casting process shrank the D-ring as a whole, which meant that this problem had to be solved from the 3d model stage.
 
Mark II-D ring


Then I zoomed in on the model as a whole, and the Mark II-D ring had completely eaten up the Mark I-D ring.
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Then I enlarged the model as a whole, printed the red wax resin again, and put the D-ring on the nylon belt and tested it. It looked good.

Reprinted the red wax resin, put the D ring on the nylon strap to test.
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Mark II-D has a fuller ring.


I sewed the red wax Mark II-D loops onto a test belt as an experiment.
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Red wax Mark II-D ring with Eberoak.

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Red wax Mark II-D ring with PP3.

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I can also make the test belt have the same base fabric orientation as the ESB.

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(Below) Some photos of testing the chin strap and the vintage everoak.

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Everoak/Vintage Everoak/Red Wax Test Edition.

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Red wax test version D ring & Everoak.
 
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Mark III-D ring

While the Mark II-D rings look good, I wanted to finally try to make some Mark III-D ring models as much as possible based on the limited information I had and compare them to the previous models.
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Mark IV-D ring

At the critical moment when I was hesitant, the hunters in the community made valuable suggestions. I can make a Mark IV-D ring model to match them. I believe this will greatly help improve the quality of Everoak replicas.
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Mark IV-D & Mark I-D (yellow).

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Mark IV-D & Mark II-D (yellow).

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The biggest difference between the Mark IV-D and previous versions is that there are two D-rings of different heights.
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After the third model optimization, I got the red wax model of Mark IV-D, and this test result is the most satisfactory to me so far. Thanks again to God Fett for his generous help. I never thought that this project would have such an opportunity. This is 100% his credit.
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After a few weeks of waiting, I got new photos from the new factory, These final version D-rings have a shiny nickel finish. Of course, we got two different D-rings!!!
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Mark I-D & Mark IV-D.

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Vintage Everoak and Mark IV-D.

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Chin cup

For the chin cup, I found a factory that made a metal mold to mold a soft, flexible polypropylene chin cup. In a few weeks I had samples ready to arm a new batch of super soldiers.
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A few weeks later, these chin cups were delivered to me.
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Vintage Everoak & Replica Chin Cup.
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Leather

I am not an expert on leather, so in order to determine what kind of leather Everoak used, after researching a lot of information, I found the easiest way to distinguish between real leather and faux leather.
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The bottom of the leather is the best place to distinguish between genuine leather and artificial leather. It can distinguish most genuine and fake leathers on the market (except for special leather)
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There is a layer of fabric on the back of Everoak leather. I gently pulled the leather bottom and found that the leather is not PU. The bottom of Everoak has a cross-woven pattern, which is the closest to PVC. The same leather also appears on the chin strap of the British riot helmet.
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The next step is to find materials that are as close as possible. I purchased a batch of leather samples for testing.


PU Imitation leather

Comparison between PU Imitation leather and vintage Everoak, PU imitation leather looks good, but the leather texture is different from Everoak.
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Thickness comparison
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PU Imitation leather is too thin to support the function of the chin strap.


Nappa

Nappa was the first sample I got. It has the same contrast softness as the vintage Everoak, but the leather grain is very different.
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Thickness comparison
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Nappa is similar in softness to Everoak, but still relatively thin.


PVC needle leather

PVC needle leather is the sample that I think is the most promising in the product picture. But when I actually got it and compared it with the vintage Everoak, the PVC needle leather is particularly hard, and its leather grain is much sharper than Everoak.
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Thickness comparison
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PVC needle leather looks a little thicker than everoak, but it is really too hard.


PU needle leather

PU needle leather is also a sample I think is very good in the product picture. After comparing it with the vintage Everoak, its leather grain is much smaller than Everoak.
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Thickness comparison
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PU needle leather is moderately soft but thinner than Everoak.


Microfiber leather


The best of all the samples I got was the microfiber leather, which is the closest to the leather grain of the vintage Everoak, a little smaller than the Everoak, and very similar in some angled photos.
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Thickness comparison
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The softness and thickness of Microfiber leather is very close to Everoak, especially after the fabric is glued to the bottom of the leather.



All leather samples together
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Thickness comparison
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After adding the fabric on the bottom of the leather I was very happy with it.
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Microfiber leather, or Microfiber Polyurethane leather, is a nonwoven synthetic material. It is made with a three dimensional structure consisting of short superfine fibers and a PU resin layer. Microfiber leather is often used in car interiors and sofas.

Maybe you have it around you.
 

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Sewing

My GF Judy (ssssss_H) and I worked together to sew the replica leather and fabric, using a template to make the bottom fabric direction the same as the ESB or PP3. It would be even better if there were clear photos of the ROTJ or other helmets.

Thanks to her for improving my sewing skills, this project would not have been possible without her participation.
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When the final version and the vintage Everoak are put together.

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In between sewing replicas, I disassembled an Everoak helmet and removed the leather, chin strap, and bottom fabric, and of course the threads, since these parts are also antique.

This way I can reattach the fabric and control its direction to make it look like an ESB. This is the first time I have removed the threads from a helmet. One helmet only has enough to sew a chin strap. The threads are already very fragile and I can only sew it by hand. In addition to the Everoak threads, the bottom fabric is very limited in order to ensure the same direction as the ESB. The good news is that this method is feasible.
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The vintage part is really fascinating.
 
Snap Button

After we finished most of the Everoak replica, I felt that there was no more custom parts to be customized.

Until the final buttoning, I found that there is no snap button on the market that matches Everoak exactly. The closest snap button I can find is the Japanese YKK snap button. The size of YKK is close to the CAP/SOCKET/STUD of the antique chin strap. Only the shape of POST does not match Everoak. Although its size is correct, it is too flat.
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I bought some snap buttons on eBay, and although some of the buttons sellers described as the correct number, I found that they were a little small after I got the real thing and compared them, but so far this is the closest POST I can find.
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The seller of the leftmost POST described it as 14mm, but the actual size is 13mm

The seller of the middle POST described it as 13.5mm, but the actual size is 13mm

The seller of the middle POST described it as 13mm, but the actual size is 12.5mm
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In order to put the buttons together, I enlarged the stud hole to match the new post.

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The process went more smoothly than I thought.
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It's done!
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OK, smooth tapping.
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Mark I-BUTTON

After I studied this part with ord.mantell, I came up with a new idea. In order to make this part perfect, I made a digital model.
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Red wax Mark I-BUTTON printed successfully.
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Red wax Mark I-BUTTON & vintage Everoak.
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The POST part was a little imperfect, so I decided to modify the Mark-I model.
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Mark-II BUTTON

The Mark-II model is finished and looks pretty good.
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After revising the model, I looked for many factories that could customize the snap buttons. After hearing the quote of $12,000, I decided to have a cup of coffee and forget about it for a while.
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Things got to the point where my girlfriend got the news and her family had done business with the owner of the snap button factory, so I was able to pay in installments and get a small batch of samples, which was really great!

My order was smaller than the factory's usual orders, so they didn't prioritize production, and after a long wait, I got some samples. They looked good.
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Comparison between Mark II-BUTTON and YKK, the new button is closer to Everoak in terms of numbers, and the thickness is also good, very sturdy.
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CAP
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SOCKET

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STUD

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POST

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These are the parts that are the closest to the Everoak POST in my hands.

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The next step is to hammer the buttons onto the leather.


Bang !
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Final

The Everoak replica was ready and I immediately took some comparison photos. The fabric direction was the same as the PP3 and ESB, so I could pick up the scissors without hesitation this time. This is also why I chose to make a chin strap. Maybe Brian Archer used a box like this when he made Fett's chin strap system.
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PP3

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ESB

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ESB & PP3
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Replica & Everoak

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Packaging Box

To make the replica even more perfect, I decided to make a custom box too. The pattern and size of the box were quickly decided, and then it was time to make them at the factory. The factory had never seen a box with a white exterior and yellow interior, so they could only make a box with the same color on the outside. But I didn't like it to end like this.
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After a lot of research on paper, I did believe that Everoak boxes use folded kraft paper.

Clay Coated Kraft Backing (CCK) is a recyclable kraft paper material with a white clay coating on the front, which allows for high-quality printing and a natural brown back. It is popular for packaging takeaway food, frozen foods and beverages because it is moisture-resistant and tear-resistant.
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So, I ordered some coated kraft paper and sent it to the factory to start mass production of boxes. The first box I got had complete functions and patterns, and the box numbers were also good.

But it did not meet my expectations for the box, the reason was their ink, so goodbye boxes, you must be destroyed.
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I had to personally guide them to find the right colors,and after a long process of color calibration,

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I got the best colors so far, and they look cool!
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Phew! We did it. If you've made it this far, I really appreciate it. Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, because I wanted to make this work as good as possible. My Instagram name is ssssss_kyone, and I have prepared some replica ESB chin strap kits for the community, if you have special custom requests please PM me.


Finally, I'm glad to share the final result with you, may the force be with you.

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