Clone Helmet: Commander Stone

by Bwilson Props in Craft > Costumes & Cosplay

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Clone Helmet: Commander Stone

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How can you turn a toy helmet into a movie prop? Like this:

you'll need:

Masking Tape

Electrial tape (white)

Humbrol Enamel Matt Red (number 60)

Humbrol Enamel Matt Grey (number 32)

Commander Stone reference pictures, front, back and side photos

a good amount of paintbrushes

A Clone Helmet voice changer helmet

Visor Shortening

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Using your electrical tape, create strips that make the visor shorter by 75%, this will give it the ATOC (Attack Of The Clones) look and authenticity.

Stripe Darkening

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As you will see on any ATOC and TCW (The Clone Wars) infantry clone helmet, the grey stripe is dark grey.

Seperate the helmet into the two pieces, then mask off the top of the black helmet strip, then the white vent thing (can someone tell me what that is in the comments please) on the back of the helmet, then mask off everything above the grey stripe, lastly, you're going to mask off the ear tops and the curving around the front of the grey stripe, make sure you have masked off everything around the grey stripe, then apply the Humbrol Enamel Matt Grey (number 32) to the stripe, leave it somewhere to dry out of the reach of anyone and anything else. i'd say leave it for 3 hours.

The Head Stripe

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now you've probably noticed that the head fin looks like a completely seperate piece of the helmet, it's becaue it's the battery compartment, use the lines as a guide when masking off the helmet to create the head stripe which should stretch from the black strip at the front to the top of the grey headstripe at the back. As soon as everything around the headstripe is securely masked off, apply your Humbrol Enamel Matt Red (number 60)

Apply it in layers, leaving an hour or two between each coating, i'd apply about 3-5 layers of red, once all 5 layers are applied, give it 24 hours for a full *curing

*Curing: meaning drying and applying properly

The Second Head Stripe

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this one is a fine red stripe, running over the top of the grey headstripe.

start by masking off the grey headstripe and making the entire red stripe area 2cm above the top of the grey stripe, follow the 2cm height around the entire top of the grey stripe and keep the masking tape completely straight throughout doing this, so i'd use multiple pieces when going around the back.

Once the masking tape is secure, apply 2 coats of Humbrol Enamel Matt Red (number 60) to make the stripe a good shade of red, remember to wait an hour or 2 between coatings.

The Entire Back of the Helmet Section

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So 98% of the back part of the helmet is completely red, start by masking off the white vent thing on the back of the grey helmet and the grey grill on the back. i'd also mask off the black headstrip and everything in front of the ear sections as the pictures show, keep two side vents white too. follow wherei've kept the face of the helmet white and it should be a breeze, i'd also use a thicker brush for this part too, give this back part a whole 24-48 hours to dry.

Your Finished Product

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Once your back area is fully dried and unmasked, put it back together and you'll have your Commander Stone helmet. I hope you enjoyed this instructable and as always, have a good one ;)

EXTRA: Weathering

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With weathering the helmet, use a mixture of 25% acrylic paint (use blacks and browns), 75% water and mix the two together in a cup, this will seperate the oils from the paint.

With a paintbrush, cake the helmet in the gloppy mixture, just cover the entire thing in the mixture for 2-3 minutes, then wipe off the excess. What did this just achieve?

It will get in the cracks, darken the red and make some authentic looking dirty marks on the helmet.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can use a cigarette/cigar lighter to create blast marks on the edges of the helmet, gently put the flame underneath the visor edge and wait for the black marks to start coming through, if it catches fire, put it out with a damp cloth, this part can make or break your helmet so be very careful!