Making a Captain Phasma Chrome Helmet

As you might know, there’s a new Star Wars film in theaters. Shawn Thorsson had told himself that he wouldn’t make any props from Episode VII until he’d actually seen it. For better or worse though, as he puts it, “When images of the chrome stormtrooper started popping up online, I started getting flooded with messages from folks asking me when I’d be starting this project.” Well he did start it, and ended up finishing it more than two weeks ago!

The detail and shape of the helmet is really incredible, especially considering the small amount of information apparently available to him at the time. The build started out with having DO3D generate a model of the helmet, which was then divided into slices that his two CNC routers could cut out in MDF. These pieces were glued together and primed with paint. Cracks were then filled in with body filler, and thus began a long cycle of sanding and filling.

After this was done a mold was made based on this helmet (plus a few 3D printed parts), which appears to be a very involved process for something of this quality. Additionally, he made a custom vacuum fixture so a piece of acrylic could be heated, then molded into the correct shape for the eyepieces.

The upside to doing all of the work upfront for a custom helmet mold is that helmets can then be made as needed. As shown in the gallery, he made at least five of these helmets and painted them with a glossy black base coat. This allowed him to try out several types of chrome paint, and he settled on one called “Mirror Chrome.” Finally, after some finishing touches, including some nice “weathering” work, the helmet was ready to be proudly worn!

If chrome stormtrooper helmets aren’t really your thing, or if you don’t think just one incredible piece of Star Wars VII headgear is impressive enough, check out Thorsson’s flametrooper helmet that we featured in November.