Darth Voorhees

yes indeed Sean, these are the newer corrected ears.

Looks to me like they are over trimmed. Not much you can do but get new ears. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but i personally dont see another option. This thread may help you http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/26301-ne-helmet-build/

Thanks Red! Yours is next!

LOL sorry Paul! ..i just built this last night and this morning Thanks John...all for you bud! Thanks Tolo!

Thanks! Yea i wanted to really show how much time that part takes. rather than just say "keep trimming till it fits". It really takes quite a few steps, but taking the extra steps really helps get a near perfect fit every time.

Thanks! Yea i know this helmet is scary in comparison to some others. The ears especially. Also the ear part of the tutorial basically holds true for most makes of helmets now adays

Both ears on, teeth trimmed

Once we are happy with the fit, drill the holes in the ears, and mark with a pencil where to drill the holes on the helmet. I used a .09 mechanical pencil with the lead over extended..you have to be careful, but its a good way to get the pencil to reach the helmet. Proceed to screw the ears to the helmet Now you may have a gap towards the bottom... Just push the ear flush with the helmet: Now while holding this in this position, CAREFULLY drill a hole through the bottom of the ear..WATCH TO NOT DRILL YOUR FINGER!! Put the screw in..and your done!

Ok...so here we go with the ears... They are very gernerous with the amount of plastic on them, so first basically i size them up.. Make usre you position the ear to cover the seam on the lower screw Then make basic marking to start trimming.This is where i will add a notch to help keep the ear straight due to the different levels of plastic from the faceplate to the back. It also helps hold the top of the ear from shifting around as i mark the cuts on the tube curve. And here will be my basic first cuts The first cuts are rough and done with the cutting wheel on my dremel Then the fine tuning begins. These next few photos are just the steps it took to get the ear to fit properly. These adjustments are done with the sanding drum on the dremel

Hey troopers, i know its been a while since ive been VERY active here, but i wanted to share this with you all because i know some people are hesitant to build the NE helmet because of its unsual construction. This is what i came up with, which seems to work well. OK, so the first thing i did was fit the cap to the back, and trim the helmet back, similar to our more common helmets with linage, like ATA, AP, CAP etc. First line up the cap with the back, and center it best you can. It has notches to guide you, but they arent a perfect fit, and it gives you a little left to right play. So center it best you can and tape it on the inside and the out side like this: Then i marked it off with chinamarker/grese pencil right behind the side traps on both sides and marked the familiar curve, and cut it like so, on both sides of course: I then glued the cap to the back...which was a little tricky. I did the center back first, between the traps. I remoeved the tape from the center section and left the tape on the sides on. i put the glue on the cap on the inside and let it run just a little to where it needed to be to make contact with the back..i then quickly sprayed zip kicker in there and quickly pressed the parts together. Once that cured up, i diod the sides which were easier as the back was now holding everything from shifting. you can pretty much pull the back down towards the inside of the helmet, put glue on there, spray in a little zip kicker and pres the parts togther. Obviously do this on both sides. I then drilled 2 holes on each side, so we now have this: Then we fit the faceplate in a position to you liking. You can tape it on the inside to hold it in place while you then mark the faceplate through the top hole on each side (not the ones near the tubes) ...then take the faceplate out and drill the holes you just marked. You can then assemble the face to the now one piece cap/back. [ in hindsight, now is a good time to install the brow trim] Again, angle to your liking and THEN tape it into place again and drill through that lower hole into the faceplate, and put a screw in it. Repeat for the other side, and you should be at this point: Then i installed the brow trim...but as mentioned above, it will be easier to put the brow trim on before you screw the face to thew cap/back. We now have this.. Then is the tricky part with any TK helmet. the ears.... Stay tuned for that shortly

Greg, what event is this your talking about? I dont see it on our calendar, and it doesnt sound familar to me. We really wouldnt want you to do your first troop alone either! Like was said, you really need someone there with you, like a handler or at least another trooper, till you get the knack of it, especially for your first outing!

Looking forward to this. The E-11 kit is a pretty big undertaking and i myself couldnt even keep up. I had too many other things i was doing at the same time. If it was only the E-11's id probably still be doing them. I worked with Vern doing mine and cast all parts off of a real sterling without modding the natural finish and i also cast them in black onyx resin. Sounds like your on the right track, and im looking forward to what you produce

Testors dries fast..id say an hour or 2 is plenty ....i just wait till its not tacky anymore and then recoat. I used testors 1138 for the grey. I use Humbrol matte black for the vocoder though.

Na, not stupid at all, this will likely help another trooper with the same question

hey bud, i answered your PM, but wanted to reply here as well if anyone had the same questions....for adhesive i ususally use zap a gap CA glue with the zip kicker. But i have used regular super glue without issue. I do usually add screws in for added strength though. You will need a scope rail/counter bracket from evilboy, and t-tracks from Marv. There is a couple of build threads here on the forum that can help, shouldnt be to hard to find. They go to gether very similar to the doopy doo kits so those build threads can help as well For the spring you can get a real one from here: ------------ Towards the bottom of the page they are $20 Or you can use any wire you can coil around the correct diameter tube and use that. I have used armature wire (usually used for sculpture) in the past.

It looks like that one was trimmed. Ive built a few ATA kits over the last couple of years and the only change in the belt i saw was you no longer see the wood grain through the plastic, as his older wood bucks were replaced with something else...maybe metal like the thigh ammo belt. I never noticed any difference in length/size. But that does look bigger. interesting.

This was is very sad news. I was shocked when i first heard of this on the dented helmet and then on facebook. I've never met Bill in person, but we have had many conversations and have both bought and sold to one another. He truly was a great person. He will be missed RIP Bill

What the heck happened to drive her away!

41 Been in the legion since 2008

Yep! The ATA Magmas were only made in a limited run, around 25 kits or so. I dont think ATA has many left, so these are in fact rare. Of course, its your armor and you can do what you want with it, but you are correct, the Magma troopers are rare, especially the ATA. Also keep in mind that if you did paint it white, if it gets scratched it will show red which may be a little weird and you may have to touch it up more than you care to do lol. If you do decide to paint it, sand all the armour completely with a 400-600 grit sand papaer to give the paint something to grab. That SHOULD help in keeping the paint on the armor Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy! BTW im waiting for the postal pick up now:) So your armor will be physically on the way today!

Totally understandable Lee. I had a feeling it may have been the best you could get it. I guess maybe RT-mod should just have that center strip go all the way up to help when taller guys like yourself build his armor. I went into more detail in PM... But again bro, its a great build...i sent in your approval You should get your number soon

Frank is correct Lee, but other than that, i think your good to go for your standard 501st approval, and probably EIB. My only suggestion, would be to trim the top of the cod piece, it is too tall. the side "swoops" of the cod should go right to the belt..you shouldnt see it start to wrap around. I think it was supposede to be cut at the height of where the center strip on the cod stops. If you relly need the space, if you can at all drop the placement of the belt a little do that. Because the center strip on the cod doesn't go all the way up. Technically the belt height is correct as it should be just under the ab buttons. But if moving it down a bit will hide that that line ends, it will probably be worth it. Looks like you used Chicago screws to hold the belt on...if that's the case you could probably make 2 more holes lower down and try it out...if it looks silly you can just move it back up. But id try trimming the top of the cod first.