TOPIC: Revan's next project

Well that looks spiffy on you! How does it fit/feel?

Darth-Revan, that actually looks pretty amazing. Do you have a photo of inside the helmet? Am curious with how it sits against your head. How generous is the padding and is there a chin strap to minimise tilt when you shift in movement? How's the visibility and the weight? There's a realistic quality to it in these recent pictures more so than the previous ones you posted. Does it get hot? I imagine with ordinary perspiration it may fog up your sight. Nice update.

SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!

Ok, here we go! The helmet fits perfectly, but isn't very comfortable. You'll see why below (I provided pictures heuhueheue).

You see the parts I circled in red? They are technically the walls of the inner mask. They're a bit floppy, and by that I mean that they can be moved around a lot without breaking. The problem is: They end up right where my ears sit, which makes it terribly uncomfortable. It even hurts. It feels better when I put my Balaclava on, but it remains uncomfortable. I'm definitely gonna have to fix this somehow. Maybe by adding some padding.

The helmet is not moving around on my head thanks to the padding that is already in place, and the flappy shits on my ears. Helmet is easy to put on and to remove. I just need to move the walls of the inner mask to the sides a bit while doing so. There is no chin strap, but my chin is sitting inside the respirator (I don't know if you understand what I mean), making the mask more comfortable and more stable on my head.

As for my view, well, it looks a bit like that:

I'm seeing pretty well to be honest, I'm impressed. In my Revan mask, I see close to nothing. Now I see almost 3 times more than nothing, which is nice! My breathing is not interfering with my vision since, like you can see, there are holes in the "respirator" that allows me to breathe without fogging the lense of my visor. Another plus I don't have on my Revan mask...

Mask is not too heavy. I mean it feels heavy while in hands but once it's on my head it feels alright. Trust me, no way I could forget it's there though hahaha! I don't know yet if it gets hot. I could try to wear it for a while and see if it does (That could be a good test).

As soon as I finish my current costume project I'll start working on this one. I hope I answered all your questions my friends. If you have more, feel free to ask, I'm always happy to answer !

EDDIT: Oh, and I can't look up hahaha! That "thing" going around my head, the outer mask if you want, is preventing me from looking up. As soon as I try to, it hits my shoulders, stopping the rest of my head in its movement. Annoying, yet funny hahaha!

Darth-ObstructedVision wrote: Thanks for the feedback. With your own little 'Mythbusters' implementation you may have dispelled the question about visibility when wearing a helmet. You've become the epitome of poor optics. With the inability to look up, your headaches will unlikely lessen. Peripheral vision is obviously lost between the Revan mask and the Starkiller but do you have the same restrictions with Revan (since it's just on the front of your face rather than your entire head)?

OvrcAHst wrote:
Hahahaha. You're laughing but my Revan's mask IS giving me headaches. The way it rests on the top of my head is painful. I've tried adding some foam padding but the mask starts moving around like crazy. Endure the pain vs look like an idiot. I chose to endure the pain.

I have litteraly NO peripheral vision with my Revan mask, since the visor/lens is flat (I provided pictures below). Plus, there are like two small "pannels" on the sides of the visor, which are created by the fact that the visor/lens is inside the mask. On the other side, Starkiller's visor/lense is curved and much larger, both in terms of height and lenght, giving me a better vision, peripheral vision included.

I don't see very well with my Revan mask on. I keep bumping into things/kids and I often miss to fall because I missed some obstacles. You could say it is a bit dangerous. I haven't trooped with the SK yet (Obviously I'm gonna need the full costume to do that), but I can already say many of these things won't be a problem with this helmet. The more I work on other costumes, the less I like my Revan costume. It has so much flaws and problems. I only wear it for short periods of time. And the worst part is: Everytime I remove it, something breaks. EVERYTIME. I keep repairing it but it's always the same story. I have to find better ways to have it hold together and replace many of the mechanisms doing so.

Alright, enough complaining for now. Here are the pictures I was talking about. I tried to take pictures from the inside in order to show what the vision looks like but it doesn't compare to what I see, so it wasn't helpful. I took pictures from the outside of the mask in order to show you how the lens are designed. I hope this will help you understand what I'm saying about the better peripheral vision.

Hi Darth-Revan,

You could use expanded foam strips and create a well for your ears to sit within which would prevent the mask wall pressing on them. This is similar to the arrangement of pads in NFL helmets. Or depending on how tight the fit is you may consider using replacement headphone earpads like these:



I can see what you mean about the two lenses within each mask, the Starkiller visor is much more wrap-around.
Anyway I don't know if you have seen this picture before but I thought it might serve as a bit of inspiration for your efforts. I found it looking for backgrounds for a presentation I've been asked to create and thought of you!



Hope this helps,

For Tyeth

Thanks for the advice For Tyeth. If you go up, and look at the pictures I provided, you will see that there is already some foam padding outside of the inner mask, which makes it so the inner mask doesn't touch and scratchs the outer mask. However, that fact is leaving me not much space to add padding near my ears. It would have to be something really small for me to still be able to fit my head in it. Note that the pain is eased when I wear my Balaclava. It's not perfect, but a lot better.

As for the picture you provided, it truly is awesome. However, since I want my costume to be approved by the 501st like my Revan and my Anakin, I need to follow the CRL closely. One missing detail and my request is gonna be rejected. As of now, I'll be aiming to be admitted with the level 1. I would have to buy 6 different sabers to be able to reach level two, and I'm not gonna spend that kind of money for empty hilts, especially since some of them are really expensive. Being admitted/having your costume approved can be a pain in the ass, depending on the costume. Some costumes requires you to meet more criterias. This one isn't very hard, put acquiring the pieces is gonna be tough.

Hi Darth-Revan,

I heard that these costume groups are very picky, another member here (sorry can't remember your name, I'll look it up later) was turned down for his Obi-Wan Kenobi costume and to me it looked better than some of the costumes in the films!

Regarding the helmet again, could you possibly cut away some of the foam block between the walls of the helmet, gently bend the wall outwards then attach the piece you cut off onto the INSIDE of the wall to rest on your ears. This is what I mean on the left hand side of the helmet:



You would still have the same thickness of padding but it will sandwich the wall plate.

kind regards,

For Tyeth

Reading through that "CRL" thing you linked to, I noticed that among the hilts pictured on their example belt are Saberforge's Gladius (v1), Epoch (v2), and Fury. So that's interesting.

Hope all goes well with this. I wish you good fortune on the path to whatever being accepted by these guys means.

Darth-Revan, Mate, it seems (when Mask/Helmet is donned) you're more 'pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey' than a Race-Horse with Blinkers on. Good thing you're not claustrophobic having such a small gap for line of sight, or are you?

Question, how many pictures do you need to send for the 501st to approve it?

For Tyeth wrote:
This is a VERY GOOD idea my friend. Haven't thought of that. Definitely gonna do that.

As for the pickiness of the groups, yes, they are picky, but very friendly. If you're missing something, even the smalled details on your costume, they will tell you and help you making the wrongs right in order to make sure you will be admitted. I had no problems joining as Revan since my costume was already perfect, but some of the details on my Anakin were corrected a few times. You need to be open minded and accept criticism. Being part of one of this group is a tough job and will require time and money. If you're not ready for that, and not ready to be possibly rejected, then you should think twice before getting into making a costume.

Ryan-rising: Yeah, for the level one you can have sabers of your choice, as long as you have 6 sabers total. I intend to hang my collection to my belt in order to achieve that.

Ovrcahst: nope, not clostrophobic (THANK GOD)

MommyHoldMe: 1 from the front, 1 from the back, 1 from every side, and some close ups on important details. The last part depends on the costume and how many details are required per parts. For exemple, in order to reach level 2 with my lightsaber, I will have to take close up pictures of it, same thing for the boots and so on.

Ahh thanks for the info! Never had any idea how they did the approving process.

I'll add to what I said that it is a bit random as well. Let me explain.

The costumes are approved by the GML. There is one GML/Garrison, mine being the Canadian Garrison. Some GML are more permissive than others. Some will just look at the costume in general and base their decision on that, while some others will ask for more details, making sure you're not missing even the smallest criteria. This can sometimes be a pain. Best way to do things is to write to your GML and ask questions. I wrote to mine a few times already concerning my Anakin (I will post pictures of that costume once it is finished) to see how accurate some of the details had to be. Best exemple is my saber:

I REALLY wanted the Graflex 2.0, even though it only comes in ANH, ESB and TFA configurations. I showed some pictures of the saber to the GML and asked him what I would have to do to have it being considered accurate. All I have to do is change the activation card, which is gonna be pretty easy, since I know Sloth Furnace is selling some brass ones.

Helmet is for sale. 350 shipping included anywhere in the world. PM me if you're interested

Helmet gone!