Our Skiff Guard helmet has been a long time in the making. Years of researching, prototyping and developing. Having sought out as much reference as possible from books, online sources and screen grabs, Jude also hunted down any found parts and used them for size reference. Using photoshop to overlay photographs of his sculpts onto the images of the original helmet he was able to recreate this iconic helmet.
The first of the ordered helmets to be shipped had the screen accurate helmet liners made by FibreMetal. The FibreMetal logo is embossed into the head harness tightening wheel. The correct style rivets used to join the head harness to the shell were also sourced.
The six studs on the sides of the helmets that connect the jaw to the shell of the helmet are aluminium replicas of the wader boot studs. We had these precision made from aluminium for strength. Plastic casts just glued onto the helmet was never an option for Clothears. We go to great lengths to make sure our helmets are a screen accurate as they possibly can be and withstand use.
The build for these helmets has also had its challenges. The vacuum forming of the baseball glove shell, dying natural leathers to the correct even colour, casting 4 individual tusks and a vast amount of mould development to get the jaws to cast perfectly without air bubbles or distortion, fitting comfortably to the shape of the shell without effecting the helmets recognisable shape.
The paint work has been done by Jon Bird. Layers of colours built up, followed by sanding, more paint and weathering. Jon has even gone to the lengths of recreating the over spray pattern inside the helmet just like the original.
To really show this helmet off we decided to create a custom stand in the form of the Sail Barge. The barge enhances the helmets distinctive shape, a nice extra addition to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of ROTJ, also the first of which will hopefully lay the way for other new helmets and complimentary bases. The base stand also houses the brass Clothears Costumes Coin.
Exhibition shots by ToroModel Studios. toromodelstudio2009,flickr.com/photos/toromodel/
