Bounty Hunter Ideas?

I'm trying to come up with an original bounty hunter design for a fanfilm that I'm working on. The hardest part, I am finding, is the helmet. It's not like I can just walk into a store and walk out with one that works. I'm not going to use the traditional Mandalorian design, just because I don't want to do something that's been done before.

I was thinking of using a respirator as the base of the design - it would hide the nose, mouth and chin, and I can get one for about $20 using a friend's employee discount at the hardware store. However, beyond that, I'm stumped.

The actor who will be playing this particular hunter wears glasses, and I absolutely hate to see glasses in a Star Wars fanfilm - it totally destroys the illusion, in my mind. So I need to cover the glasses, but without making his field of vision too narrow, as there's a fight scene involved.

So, any advice, suggestions or ideas would be most welcome. Thanks.

 

You could use that same hardware store to get a clear faceplate visor that wood/metal workers use for protection when working with shop tools like band saws and the like.

Get some mirror coating paper at an auto shop like PepBoys to make the visor either one way mirrored or black. Then you can glue some painted extra parts on the outside of the visor to make it look like it has integrated range finders, target scopes, etc.

Finish with a plain bike helmet, painted to match your desired color scheme, maybe add a Foriegn Legion style neck hood or chain armor to the back, and you're ready for the hunt!

Have fun!

 

tell him to get contacts but then again who said you had to use a helmet for a bounty hunter its begining to be too cliche but if you want to use one so bad i seen a SW comic with a bounty hunter but he weres a stormtrooper helm & different types of armor.

 

Just popping in, but did you say that there is such thing as a bounty hunter that wears a stormtrooper helmet? Because before I read what you said, I was angry that the person doing the fanfilm that I'm in was having the bounty hunter that's in it wear a stormtrooper helmet! But he also might have said that he would not be wearing body armor. Maybe I can convince him to do that guy from the comics.

 

Since when did bounty hunters need to wear helmets? If it's imperative that you hide his eyes, just give him some funky goggles or something, like the ones Han uses when hes fixin the falcon...either that, or get the guy some contact lenses, like someone said earlier. And for the love of mynocks, don't buy a paintball mask and try to pass it off as a helmet, please. Same goes for catchers masks, goalie masks, or motorcycle helmets.

 

I would think that helmets are pretty much the norm for bounty hunters. It protects one of the most vital areas of the body. It can contain sensors and possibly life support equipment. It also conceals identities. It's not required, but would seem smart.

 

If it's ideas your looking for I would head over to a sporting goods store and/or stores that sell motorcycle helmets and paintball supplies. Just walk around, maybe with a digital camera if you have one and take some pictures of different helmets. Then come back and cut things up in photoshop and mix and match pieces for different looks.
EDIT: Also try military surplus stores. They usually have gas masks and stuff like that. Contact your local fire department to see if they have any broken or otherwise useless SCBA's or particulate respirators.

While Dengar and Snoova (a Wookiee bounty hunter from Shadows of the Empire) didn't wear helmets, Quag_Myr_Rumm is right. Helmets protect the wearer from biological and checmical weapons, excesively bright light sources that would blind an unhelmeted warrior, and also allow the hunter to survive in environments that are too hot or too cold, where the air pressure is too high or too low and allows them to fight in alien atmospheres. Notice how the Clone Troopers in Ep2 continued to fight even after they were enveloped in a cloud of dust from the fallen Federation ship. Plus they conceal the identity of the hunter. Helmetes can also aide the wearer in targetting as well as operate additional devices via tongue switches or voice commands.

 

well it was just a back ground character that wore the helm but i don't know if it was a bounty hunter or just a smuggler or something

 

Yeah, the paintball mask was already done in Duality, anyway.

He's got this weird thing where he's allergic to contact solutions, so he can't wear contacts. But, he's a great actor and excellent stage fighter, so I wanted him for the role. But I digress . . .

My reasonings on the practicality of wearing a helmet are pretty much the same. Someone shuts off the lights? IR sensors. Poison gas? Environmental filters.

But thanks for all the ideas. I might just use a combination of a respirator and dark-tinted goggles over his glasses, as a last resort.

Again, the JC pulls through for me . . . how I love this place!

 

The thing about the helmet not being necessary is true. If you want his face hidden, perhaps some sort of mask. You could probably even model something off a paintball mask, then give him some cool goggles or something.

Some form of body armor is pretty common amongst most of the hunters I've seen (short of droids) so you might want to try just playing around and drawing up some cool armor designs.

-Jet

 

Just a little note... I found this little kids army helmet at a salvation army for 30cents. Once I took the little plastic parts out of inside it, it fit my head nicely, and I was thinking about using it for a custom helmet of some sort. See if you can find something similar, because it fits snugly on an adult head, and after some modifications, could be really cool.

 

Have you thought about using a cycling mask, the kind that inner city cyclists use to protect from car emissions. They cover the nose, mouth and lower parts of the face and usually have a funky filter design on them.

Not too sure about covering the glasses though. Unless you did as has already been suggested and bought some ski type goggles. You could always add extra details to them such as laser pointers, leds, scopes etc...

 

I think covering the eyes is key here. When someone has shades on, they look cooler, and you never know where they're lookin. That adds to any sort of way your actor may carry himself. I think the kids helmet thing is a great idea, maybe something that covers his eyes that is attached to the helmet eg. blast sheild, hard goggles etc... If you need something cheap, get an old pair of safety glasses and do the snowblind paint technique. Cut small pieces of tape to make "slit" on the inside of the glass and paint the inside silver,black,yellow etc. and once dry, remove the tape. You'll have small slits that YOU can see out of, but noone can see in.

 

I built my own riot helmet out of an old builders helmet [but you couldn't tell afterwards]and fibreglass -the end result was a bit of a cross between Vader and a police riot helmet with a pull up visor and neckshield.It had an eye slit all the way round the front - it was easy to see out of but to narrow to see in-perfect for glasses and it looked pretty sinister too.It can also take a bloody good beating as me and a mate tested it with a big chunk of wood!-got me top marks for my design and technology course. I liked it so much I used it in a bounty hunter painting I did as well ,only I added the biker scout sun shield thing or whatever it is above the eyes.

 

Something else I thought of the other day.

When I was in the Air Force, the guys that helped launch the jets wore headgear that was designed to let them talk to the pilots while they were on the ground (plugged into the jet via cable) and keep the noise level down. It was pretty cool looking and if painted just right would look good for a bounty hunter's head gear. I'd check with a military surplus. I can't figure out for the life of me what they were called.

I'll see if I can find out.

EDIT- I think they're called End Of Runway (EOR) Helmets. The EOR troops would wear them just before launching the jets. I'm looking....

 

If you're talking about what I think you are, they appear on ebay as flight deck helmets.

 

That's it. With some modifications, it could be cool.

 

I had an interesting idea I was going to do for Dragon Con but went with something else.
I was going to use an anakin robe in black to cover the entire costume; illusion and suprise are essential. I was going to construct a rifle/bazooka that hangs on the arm by a strap, with the handle and trigger like the old Commodore 64/Fighter pilot joystick mounted on top. It would be a quick draw feature, and because it was anakins robe, the weapon would be drawn between the right tabbard/cloak, where your hand would come out.

 

Also, you could modify a Don Post Boba or Jango Fett helmet to fit your needs. Also, you could vaccu-form a helmet. Another option is Sintra, the best material for bounty hunter armor, and it's easy to form. You form it with a blow-dryer or something easy like that.

 

Howdy again.

Where can I get this Sintra stuff? The people at Ace Hardware and Home Depot seem to know nothing about it.



Help me, Costumers, you're my only hope!

 

Look in the phone book under plastics. It's not usually a consumer-purchase item. I bought my 4x8 sheet from the only person in town (Waco) for about $45. Other places are different prices. He was surprised that I wanted it, since he usually sells in bulk to manufacturers and such.

Sintra is the brand name, you can ask for PVC board and may get a better answer. Remember, 1/8" is the thickness you want. The 1/4" stuff is way too thick to cut and doesn't boil and bend. A 4x8 sheet should be enough to meet all your armor needs. I've done a Boba, Jango and some more chest armor out of a little over one whole sheet of the stuff. Gives you plenty of room to mess up.