New Helmet from RS Propmasters

I wrote early in the summer, while finishing the helmet from AuthenticProps (AP) that I really wanted a helmet from RS Propmasters, and true to my word, I ordered it early june, got it after we got home from our roadtrip and tinkered with it during the summer.

RS are the only ones that can provide a first generation cast from an original screen used helmet, preserving all the inaccurasies and charming bumps from the original helmets.
Some of the original hemlets looked pretty rough up close, with paint runs and the paint chipping after a while.
The original "stunt" helmets were made out of khaki coloured HPDE plastic, which is a kind of greasy plastic that didn't hold the paint all that well.

StarWarsHelmets.com has a really good collection of reference pictures of screen-used helmets, and some interesting history on them.

Here is a picture of the "Dave M"-helmet, showing the paint chipping, but being well preserved with everything else intact.

I wanted to make my helmet a "replica"-helmet, in that I wanted it to look like the ones that was used in the films, with the white paint chipping a tiny bit here and there, exposing the khaki colour underneath.

Here is how it looked when it arrived, this is 1,5mm ABS and you can really see the details in the helmet:

Here it is assembled and sat next the AP (which has now gone to a new home) and TM. the RS on the far right:

I took extra care in finding a good colourmatch to the original khaki (ordered it specifically from a local paintshop, which cost a little extra...) and sprayed the whole helmet (minus the ears, the originals had white ABS ears) with that as a base, before masking off where I wanted the paint chipping to be with liquid masking fluid.

Why would I paint the entire helmet khaki before painting it white and only having tiny bits of  the khaki showing you might ask? Yes why indeed. It would almost be like wearing a shirt with a collar under a sweater, having only the collar from the shirt visible. But not quite. If this helmet is to be worn, and maybe some paint is to chip off, it will show the khaki underneath, naturally, as the original helmets did. And I personally am very fond of that.

With ears attached, and I hate to say this, I almost like the look of this unfinished Khaki helmet more than the white finished one:

Then I did some tests with the masking fluid on a spare piece of plastic:

Took care in finding a white which was not COMPLETELY white, but with a hint of creaminess, something that turned out to be a waste of time and money, because the helmet turned out WAY to creamy, and I had to just buy a regular white called "radiatorwhite" and spray the whole thing again.

Here it is painted "radiatorwhite" and with other hand painted details:

And a final comparison with the TM on the left and RS on the right, I suppose the untrained eye can't tell the difference:

Some differences are noticeable, specifically the shape of the cap'n'back and the cheektubes, and not to mention all the small bumps and irregularities on the RS.

This was an enjoyable project, and I learned a few things along the way.
The new helmet is now my preferred one, but I'll keep them both.

RS Propmasters has since started making replica helmetkits in a material very similar to the original HPDE, that captures the minutest detail and are super sharp, although they are pretty expensive. Maybe someday I'll "upgrade" to that, it never ends...