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German helmet

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by LCoote, Mar 10, 2004.

  1. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    I've made a start on the helmet, the most difficult part is of course symmetry.
    I sculpted the shell first, starting with a ball of putty and filed /sanded it to correct size and shape, and have added the brim which still needs shaping.
    I had measurements of an actual helmet for reference.

    Attached Files:

  2. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    front

    Attached Files:

  3. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    inside

    Attached Files:

  4. Pete_H New Member

    Looking good so far.

    Why am I having visions of Darth Vader? :)
  5. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    Thanks Pete, Yeh it does look a bit Darth Vader-ish
  6. Pete_H New Member

    Leigh,
    Too early to tell. May look more like "Dark Helmet" from Spaceballs.

    Sorry, I just couldn't help it :lol: ;)
  7. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    OK, no more Darth Vader , but still some tweaking to do

    Attached Files:

  8. John Long Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Looks really good Leigh. Interesting you post this, I just got done with an M1 helmet in 75mm. I like the way you made the shell and then added the brim.
  9. yeo_64 Well-Known Member

    Country:
    Singapore
    An excellent job on the helmet,Leigh (y) (y) Looking forward to more progress shots ! Cheers.
    Kenneth
  10. Joe Hudson Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Leigh,

    Nice work! You know I am a fan of your work and I look forward to seeing the German that goes along with the helmet. I may have missed it but what scale is it?

    Joe
  11. poetwarrior Member

    Hey, looks great!

    Helmets are always difficult to replicate. I've been working on trying to reproduce a U.S. M1 helmet in 1/6 scale off and on for some time now. I started puttering with it before the big up surge in 1/6 action figures. I didn't want to use the helmets on the market because they just don't look exactly right and I always enjoy a challenge. The helmets on the market look pretty good, but I need to work it out of my system. I've even gone so far as creating my own contour gauge to take contour readings of a full size helmet and scaling down my measurements. I admire you attempting it on the fly. I own a few German helmets in my collection and if you don't mind some constructive criticism, the crown or top of the helmet seems to be rising a bit high. If you reduce the height of the crown a little bit and make the sides, front and back of the crown a little more vertical before descending to the flaired edges that may help to create a more authentic look. German helmets came in a couple of different sizes depending upon the size of the wearer's head and weren't one size fits all like the U.S. or British helmets that had an adjustable interior suspension.

    That's my opinion, for what it's worth.

    Good luck!

    Dave Neary
  12. Anders Heintz Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Hey Leigh!

    That is looking really good. I know about making helmets and how tricky it is to sand and file it to get the right shape. Great Job :)
  13. RobH Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Leigh.

    Thanks for that!! Well done for tackling it yourself as well (i'd resort to a kit part!!).

    Did you ever try a 54mm helmet? (I recall you doing German subjects)

    nice one

    Rob
  14. garyjd Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Leigh, That helmet is looking good and Dave made some pretty good observations. What's nice is you have the extra material to work with already on the helmet. I can shoot some pics of the helmet I'm going to use when the time comes to make my own.~Gary
  15. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback

    John, I couldn't see any other way of doing it, it would've been too difficult to get the shell the right size and shape with the brim in the way.

    Joe, it's 1/16 ;)

    David, I welcome your opinion, there's no better reference than the real thing.
    I was aware that German helmets came in different sizes and I believe the measurements I have are for a medium size though I'm not positive.
    They are: width of shell 178mm, length of shell 210mm, O/A height of helmet 158mm, O/A length 272mm, but I don't know how accurate they are because I didn't measure it myself. Perhaps you could check these against some of your helmets and let me know how they compare.
    The O/A height to the crown is pretty much exact to scale but I think I need to increase the radius from crown to sides, it still looks a bit to sharp, what do you think? I have to be careful, it's easy to take too much off, than it is to put it back on

    Anders, helmets must be one of the more difficult things to get right and german helmets even more so because of the flared bottom.

    Rob, no, never did a 54mm helmet, actually I'm planning on doing this figure as a master so all the equipment will be scratched as well, but who for? well who knows, I don't have anyone lined up

    Gary, I'd like to see the pics.
  16. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    Well guys, here is the finished helmet.

    Attached Files:

  17. LCoote New Member

    Country:
    Australia
    front

    Attached Files:

  18. Lou Masses Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Damn!

    That's very well done Leigh. Are you putting anything underneath it?
  19. Jason W. Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Yeah baby! That is fantastic Leigh (y)
  20. poetwarrior Member

    Hi Leigh!

    Your helmet looks very cool! I'm having visions of a misty steppe outside of Stalingrad as German troops move in. Is your figure going to be SS or Wehrmacht? I can't wait to see more.

    Dave

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