The Helmet

The Biker Scout helmet is a very unique looking helmet. In this section we will discuss its design and the pre-made helmets and kits that are available for those fans that do not want to hand sculpt their own helmet.

The Scout helmet looks to have been custom sculpted by the crew over at ILM during the pre-production of "Jedi". A few fans on the internet claim that the helmet is based off an 80's motocross helmet, but I am thinking the art direction was just just based off that design, and the helmet was indeed custom sculpted from the ground up. I have never seen a helmet as oddly shaped as the scout trooper helmet, even the dome part of the helmet is unique to itself.

The Design

The scout helmet consists of a main body, a front faceplate, and a visor.

The Main Body has a dome and side plates. The side plates have a large, cylindrical ridge that wraps around the entire body, at ear height. The cylindrical ridge is accentuated on the front with concave areas where ears would be. Black half-moon-shaped holes have been cut out of each of these concave areas. We assume this is for airflow and or improved hearing of the wearer. On the backside of the ridge, there are seventeen(17) vertical decal stripes on the left side and nine(9) vertical indentions on the right side.

The Front Faceplate is very unique in its look. It has a large, semi-curved goggle design utilizing a tinted bronze or reddish colored lens (not green like the stormtroopers, but, green will work in a pinch). The goggle lenses are situated in a recessed area. In the center, above the recessed area are three 1/8 inch wide vertical lines. The cheek areas of the front faceplate have a sunken in look and there is indention just below each goggle area, giving the faceplate a hint of the "baggy-eye" look. The 'snout' of the faceplate is a long recessed vertical area with a rounded top. It has been carefully taped off along the top of the recess ridge and the recessed area has been painted black. A 1/8 inch grey plate has been fixated over the black area and a detail piece with faucet area has been attached to the front bottom half of that plate to give the helmet that 'sci-fi' look. The detail piece is painted grey and the faucet aerator is black.

note: Found-parts reference info from bikerscout.net research: The Snout Detail was kit-bashed from a plastic Tamiya Yamaha XS1100LG Midnight Special 1:6 Scale motorcycle model kit.

The Visor is basically a custom sculpted 'blinder' similar to those used by horses. It's probably intended to keep the wearer of the helmet focused on what is in front of him, not what is to the side. The visor has an odd "fish hook"-shaped decal in the bottom front corner of the left side panel. The visor has a slightly curved top to it, and the sides taper in - towards the cheeks. It is not perfectly square with 90 degree angles on the edges. This is one of the distinctive features that distinguish the good fan made helmets form the poorly crafted fan-made helmets.

You will probably want to refer to our plaster casting , vacuumforming sections, and fiber-glassing to make your final parts.

Pre-made Helmets and Kits

The good news is the fans do not need to start sculpting their own helmets from scratch to have a good looking scout helmet. There are a number of options out there in the market already:

Rubies Inc. Scout Helmet (officially licensed)

Contrary to the "hardcore" scout costumers out there, I recommend buying the STORE BOUGHT, officially licensed Rubies Inc. Vinyl helmet. If you can find one of the older Don Post helmets for sale at flea-markets or ebay, the vinyl material used on those was a little thicker than the Rubies. I think the last year Don Post made a Scout helmet was 2001.

Just so you know. There is only ONE Scout Trooper helmet being sold in the 'retail' market, the Rubies Inc. Helmet. There is no one else supplying or licensing a Scout helmet, and Rubies only makes one type of helmet for the scout trooper character. So ultimately you just want to find the place selling the best priced Scout helmet. Photos of the helmet vary from store to store, but you can be sure that it's the same Rubies helmet being offered.

The worst part about the Rubies/Don Post (DP) helmet is the fact it is made from blow molded vinyl. This is a very durable material, but not the best in holding its shape. The face plate has a tendency to flair out on the sides, making the helmet look wider than it really is. We suggest velcroing the insides of the faceplate to the cheek areas of the main helmet. This will help keep the faceplate from flaring out on you. Also, gluing a curved metal bar to the inside of the helmet, to help maintain the shape, is not a bad idea either, but not 100% necessary.

Altmanns Scout Helmet (officially licensed - not in production)

Altmanns-Armour.com in Australia made a licensed Star Wars Biker Scout helmet but rumor has it that in 2004 they finished their run of 500 helmets and lost the license. The helmet was completely vacuumformed in hi-impact plastic and had cost about $250.00 to import in from australia (from a secondary dealer). These days, the Altmann's helmets can be found form time to time on ebay for $500 or so. For the money spent, a number of the hardcore fans feel that the Altmanns helmet is not as good a buy as the Rubies/Don Post helmet, but they all agree that the light weight plastic and attention to detail was excellent.

Fan-made Helmets and Kits

There are a couple of other helmets out there that are not licensed. These are generally recasts of Altmann's helmet or modified Don Post helmets, and usually made in someone's garage. Quality varies from maker to maker and the price is generally between $75.00 and $175.00 for a KIT that you assemble. 'Buyer Beware' is the case when buying one of these garage kits. You never know what you might be buying so ask lots of questions.

Helmet Makers with good reputation in the community: Kropserkel, Moncal, and MLC.