Fan made replicas and helmets

[sergiurusu]

I customized my own Royal Guard helmet which came out great.

Who made the Royal Guard helmet, was it a Don Post? Please do you have any pics?

I really like the Sandtrooper helmet. I'm still pretty new to prop collecting(2 efx stormtrooper helmets & waiting on my efx vader limited), but I'm starting to appreciate all of the bumps, scratches, and deformities alot more. I'm sure you've seen the "Move along" and "Stop that ship!" sandtrooper helmets over on starwarshelmets.com. This looks like a good representation of those two. I wish I had the dough for a sweet collection like you have.

On the AT-AT driver helmet, If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for it? Also, is the person you bought it from still selling them? The AT-AT driver is one of my favorite helmet designs and I'd like to add one to my collection.

The fiberglass AT-AT helmet you see above I got from a RPF member. From what I know there are 3 talented custom creators who also make them: Cal from Farawaycreations.com, Dark Agent (aka dorsettrooper) and Dan Laws. In fact I already got my second AT-AT bucket, this time from DarkAgent (DA) who makes helmets for 501st too. I'll post pics soon, I just need to upgrade it a bit with better hoses.

Here are some pics of the AT-AT helmet DA showed me (not my helmet) - if you want more details about this helmet, or his Stormtrooper or TIE Pilot buckets drop me a PM and I'll send you all the info and pics I received from him:

[Snowtrooper]

Thanks for the info sergiurusu. I'm looking at one from Farawaycreations and hopefully get a quote sometime soon. The nice thing is, that he's only one state over(Colorado).

[sergiurusu]

Thanks for the info sergiurusu. I'm looking at one from Farawaycreations and hopefully get a quote sometime soon. The nice thing is, that he's only one state over(Colorado).

No problem. They are making 2 helmets for me. It took some time, so the waiting was hard, and hopefully the result is great. When I'll get my 2 buckets from them I'll show them. Their AT-AT lid is still in prototype state IIRC. DarkAgent has ready ones, here it is mine from DA, also compared to my older AT-AT lid:

[JediTricks]

Thanks. It is a fan made helmet, I got it from a 501st member. The AT-AT Driver helmet is in the real movie gray color as per StarWarsHelmets review of the screen used AT-AT bucket. It is a a superb helmet, really heavy and sturdy. It feels like a real AT-AT Driver helmet should.

That's an interesting comment. "It feels like a real one should," does that make it a prop replica or something fantasy-based? The helmets for a lot of these sorts of things were done very thin and light and meant to work for the camera alone (it's why the Batmobile is purple on the set, because of how the camera interprets that into black while real black gets washed out). So should they feel like something worn by an actor, or by a character?

Thinking about it, I suppose I personally prefer the fiction-based replica, something that feels substantial like it could be used in that universe, it's why I never bought any of the resin stunt saber hilts despite their looking so good for so little money.

As Jez said this is not sure to be made by eFX since the only original remaining one is in private hands.

That shouldn't hamper it, eFX has made replicas from private collectors' pieces, they were crowing about that with the authentic Stormtrooper Hero helmet replica since Lucasfilm's only one of the 5 is frankensteined with Stunt parts. So unless that private collector doesn't want to allow it, I don't see that being an issue.

I have a custom ROTJ Luke Lightsaber hilt. Didn't get the MR version when came out regretfully but the custom is very well done. I still want an MR version when I get around to it.

I customized my own Royal Guard helmet which came out great.

Ha, we're fan-made saber buddies! How much did you pay for yours? I almost regret not having the MR version, but wasn't it like $300? And the screen-inaccurate version was $500? I still to this day don't understand that Elite version, what's the point?

My step-father isn't way into SW, but he went to Celebration IV after I told him about the first few days to take photos and see the sights, and he wanted to do a whole Royal Guard costume after seeing them at the Boba Fett Rocketman thing.

[sergiurusu]

That's an interesting comment. "It feels like a real one should," does that make it a prop replica or something fantasy-based? The helmets for a lot of these sorts of things were done very thin and light and meant to work for the camera alone (it's why the Batmobile is purple on the set, because of how the camera interprets that into black while real black gets washed out). So should they feel like something worn by an actor, or by a character?

Thinking about it, I suppose I personally prefer the fiction-based replica, something that feels substantial like it could be used in that universe, it's why I never bought any of the resin stunt saber hilts despite their looking so good for so little money.

It feels like a real helmet should: heavy and sturdy almost ready to go to battle with it, and not flimsy like the Star Wars screen used helmets were. Hope you understand what I mean now.

That shouldn't hamper it, eFX has made replicas from private collectors' pieces, they were crowing about that with the authentic Stormtrooper Hero helmet replica since Lucasfilm's only one of the 5 is frankensteined with Stunt parts. So unless that private collector doesn't want to allow it, I don't see that being an issue.

It is in private hands and the owner is not interested in having molds made after it. BTW the MR/eFX Stormtrooper LE is not what was advertised, it is a beautiful lid, but it was just scanned and has some inaccuracies, even compared to the fan made helmets. So don't trust MR or eFX that much, we'll have to see how their new Hero Legend will look like...

[Snowtrooper]

I think the new efx Hero Stormtrooper will be pretty good. They are taking a screen used helmet, disassembling it, and casting new molds from it. Plus Gino, who worked on the Vader Legend/Limited, is also working on this project. I've seen some of the ST helmets he's made in the past and they look very good to me.

[JediTricks]

That's what I've been told by both Bryan and Gino, it's not just a passive scan, it's active mold methods that won't damage the pieces. If it was a scan like the LE, it'd be nowhere near worth the price of admission.

[sergiurusu]

I know it is made from original screen used helmet, but so are many Stunt buckets available like SiMan, CfO, TE/TE2 etc. (personally I like the rough Stunt much more than Hero). To be honest I'm afraid eFX will clean up the helmet too much.

[Snowtrooper]

I'm sure there will be some cleanup with the efx helmet. There were faults that were cleaned up on the Vader legend. I think Gino explained over on RPF why it had to be this way. In short, he said its too hard to get every fault done on a mass produced item like this, so they pick and choose which ones will make it. I guess if you want to make sure every scratch and deformity is there, a fan built one is probably the way to go.

[sergiurusu]

I read that too, we'll see when they are released. Tomorrow a new helmet might be here.