DroidHunter

Ok, nothing fancy here. I started off by doing a simple search for Stormtrooper helmets and used one of the images to print and cut out a basic shape for the traps. It took a little time playing with the dimensions of the jpeg after pasting it into a Word document, but it didn't need to be perfect. After that I printed the page, cut out the traps and tacked them on my helmet with a piece of tape. I used a pencil to outline the shape. My traps were a little short, so I traces the bottom line, then moved the cutout higher and traced the rest. Then it was a matter of marking off with blue painters tape and painting the black. Once you have the black are painted, remove the tape right away or else it really started to get gummy. For the next step, I simply overlapped blue tape over the edges of the black. If you use a nice bright light (I have one of those silly lights that fit over you head so it is hands free) you can see through the blue tape. This lets you decide how thin or thick to make the black layer.paint the grey the same as the black, always starting on the tape and brushing inward. To get the soft curve along the top, just make a gentle swoosh with the brush in the corner. Once done, again remove the tape right away. I also find you can use a tooth pick to scratch away major imperfections within about 10 to 15 minutes. No paint thinner needed. And done! Hope that makes sense. I'll add to this when I do the cheeks and grill lines.

Will do. I have a little Christmas gathering tonight and a birthday party tomorrow but then I'll write it up.

Last night I was watching ANH on blu-ray (again). But this time I really used it to get some good screen shots on the large screen. At the start of Chapter 5, a group of TK's are escorting the good princess to Vader. There are two troops in front of her as they walk. The Trooper on her right (left side of the TV screen as they walk towards the camera), appears to be wearing a Hero helmet. The frown is definitely of the Hero variety. They eyes are smaller and cleaner. And it looks as if the ears only have 3 bumps. Am I correct in this? Sorry if it is old news here. I had never heard any comments about this before. Was this done accidentally or on purpose? Just curious.

I am in the process of working on my ATA build, and I am of course chronicling it in the appropriate location. But I have a question about the traps and thought I would post here. I wanted to have a fully painted helmet as opposed to using decals. For the tube stripes I grabbed a set of Trooperbay's hand-painted templates. However, the rest is being done by free-hand with a little help from my trusty roll of making tape. How do these look so Far? I have two questions: (1) Is the black outer line too thick? They seemed a little heavy to me, but no more so than some of the decals/pinstripes I have seen floating around. Probably too thick for some, but my question is whether they are sufficient for ANH stunt approval. (2) The trap on the back of the helmet has what appears to be a slight clockwise tilt. But it really does not. I followed the line on the back of the cap, which as you can see has a curve to it on the ATA helmet. Any problems with this? My eye thought following the helmet detail was better than following a non-existent straight line.

I lost my Mom to cancer on Thanksgiving Day 15 years ago. I was only 29 at the time and she was 55 years young. She battled for about a year and a half, but in the end, there was nothing else that could be done. It took me a long time to get passed that. It took a long time to learn to enjoy the holiday again. She never met my wife or my wonderful children. But time does have a way of taking away some of the pain. It happens a little at a time, but it does happen. As noted above, going through the grieving process is an important part of the healing. Friends and family will help, At the end of the day, you will get through the dark times in the same manner in which you have made it through difficult times in the past. I wish I had some magic advice for you, but I don't. You will get through it. And the pain does subside in time. It's just something you will carry with you, and in some ways it will make you that much stronger. Hang in there Vern. I'll keep a good thought for you and yours.

I can't find the link now, but I believe the recommendation is for a satin or semi-gloss black. The mix ratio suggested was something along the lines of 2/3 gloss to 1/3 flat. I did a 50/50 mix. But I agree with Jason that you will see all manner of variation regarding the gloss level of the vocorder and mic-tips. Here is what the 50/50 looks like:

After watching the Trooperbay video one more time, maybe I will give that a shot. I'll post up any progress pics.

First off, I really appreciate your feedback as you are always here to help out on my thread. I have looked through Panda and Trooperbay's posts/videos on putting in the lens. I am wondering whether that will work for me as I aligned my ear screws a little off in order to get them to sit right. I plan on using 1 lens, but I have considered putting a few (i.e. 3 or 4) wooden posts along the eye line and screwing the lens into them for mounting. Similar to what Alexey did in this post, but as a single lens. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24950-ales-anh-stunt-ata-helmet-assembly/page-2

I didn't think the full kit had the counter and the power cells. The pics didn't used to show those pieces.

I plan on disassembling the whole thing in order to mount the lenses. After that, I'll paint the screws.

While the idea scared me half to death, I decided to not only paint my tube stripes, but to do them in the hand-painted style. Naturally I used Trooperbay's template! Let me know if these will pass muster. A few of them are a little rough along the edges, and a few corners rounded off a little. The glare makes it look like there are white spots, but there are none, The stripes are solid. Just a few glitches in the edges. What do you guys think? I will start shrinking my pics before posting after this.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

First paint!

I appreciate all of the advice. I testing things out by painting the hovi-mics. They are small and mostly recessed, so minor errors won't show! I waited about 2 to 2 1/2 hours before the recoat and all went well. Good practice before starting the teeth and tube stripes. And I used a mixture of Testors gloss black and flat black on them.

Painting has never been my thing, but I want to hand paint my helmet anyway. I know Testors recommends repainting either within 1st 3 hours or after 48. What amount of time do you guys generally allow between 1st and 2nd coats?

Fixed my last post. Check out the pics there and let me know if you think the gaps are okay. Thanks guys.

I finished up both ears and mounted them with 3 screws each. I also went ahead and used a second screw assembly to anchor the left side of the cap to the face. This made the ear fit better. So, the right ear has the gap in the front and the left ear has a gap in the back. The question is, will this pass approval? Let me know what you think. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Well, I will chime back in on my original thread. I'm 44 now, and I have my TK kit in hand (got on the list in January when I started this post, and received it in September!) It will probably be Spring again before I get this thing in any kind of trooping order, what with work, kids, etc. But I've squired a few events,and I fit right in as far as age is concerned. I will be 45 when I finally get to troop, but I'll be 8 at heart again when I do! Now back to my build....

When painting the traps, do most people mask off the area (assuming templates are not purchased) or simply paint free hand? Seems like tape would be necessary in order to get those nice straight lines. If so, is there a recommendation for either blue painter's tape or sign vinyl? I have a large sheet of vinyl I am going to use to make my own templates for the trap stripes, and just wondering if that would be better to use than tape.

I mounted the top two screws after finishing about 90 percent of the ear trim. Overall, the ears are ok, but still need some work. On the left ear as you look at the helmet, I plan to trim more around the front of the upper section (red line) in order to close the gap at the cheek area just above the tube. Then I am going to bolt the face and cap along the edge of the tube under the ear in order to bring the two section together. Hopefully that will pull the front gap along the tube closer in. Eventually I plan to rivet the parts together and cut down the screws along the inside, but not until after the lenses and the painting is done.

I plan on painting them by hand, so I will take care to make sure they are as flat as possible. I also saw a post that recommends painting the tube stripes white first in order to seal any possible bleed points in the template. Here is the gap I mentioned. Just wondering if I should put another anchor point (that will still be under the ear) in order to help with the mounting process. I would trim the cap back more in order to get rid of the molding ridge, but then it won't overlap the faceplate.

Thanks my friend. I appreciate the advice. I am having trouble with the second ear because the face plate and cap back don't fit together at all on that side. I don't want to rivet anything down right now but am considering putting a second screw about 2 inches below the first in order to pull the pieces together. Any reasons why that might be about bad idea?

Good luck with the build my friend. Sorry to hear about all of the bad luck but it looks like you will be able to turn this thing around.

Yep. I figure, why not go all the way. I can't paint for squat, but I'll give it a try.

Is this correct as far as which set of templates goes on which side of the helmet?