fan made Darth Vader ESB Helmets



Darth Vader Helmets - The Empire Strikes Back 20th Century Helmet
Here are some photo's taken of my 20th Century Vader (so named as it was produced by 20th Century for some publicity work around the time of the special edition releases from an original ESB helmet).

The face is VERY clean and sharp and the features are very well defined, more so than the Don Post Deluxe or derivatives. The dome may possibly originate from a ROTJ mould and perhaps suffers from a little too much swell.

Above, a couple of photo's taken with my new camera, see bottom of page for detail shots
If you'd like to see this Helmet in 3D Click here

Above is outside, close-up of face and tusks, and Below a comparison shot showing its sheer size against a standard Don Post Helmet (my first helmet bought in 1979)

There are more shots of the 20th Century Vader here and below here's two excellent picture from Steve The Swede of his newly acquired 20th Century (July '03). Superb!



Below, two shots of the 20th Century, which specifically show the sharpness of its face and the overall quality of the finish.


...and below a final of mine which this week-end (April '04) was able to get signed by Dave Prowse.

Below, a picture from me old mate JohnB (DarthChops)in Portsmouth of progress so far on his ESB Vader. This a shot of his old helmet ( a 20th Century, he's now gone for a Don Post Deluxe) with the armour from an BAT in Mexico, and a self-made cape from his mother-in-law (family has its uses!). Looking excellent so far mate... along with a rather excellent looking chest box (cheers john for getting me one of these too!).


For a Comparison of the 20thC and CKing (Don Post Dlx) go here or go here for a comparison of the 20th C against the ANH (JB)

Darth Stone's 20th Century (ESB)

Next up we've got a couple of Darth Stones Vader helmets - this first one ESB and the other an ANH - but both from the same 20th Century (ESB) casting

The interesting thing about this first one is that its made from epoxy resin instead of the normal polyester resin. The advantage of the epoxy over the traditional resin is that of a considerable weight savings.

This casting with everything loaded into it weighs at about 4 pounds. Almost half of what a Master Replicas ROTS helmet weighs - which is a very welcomed saving in weight that's a huge benefit for anyone wearing it (i.e. trooping with the 501st). Below an internal shot showing the hard-hat liner, padding and cooling fans - remember thats 4lbs with everything included!

Darth Stone's 20th Century (ANH mod)
Bit confusing this one as its an ANH helmet in the ESB section, but I wanted to keep with all the other 20th Century helmets as that is the base....

Next up a new take on a 20th Century Vader, this one by Darth Stone who recently (2011) decided to modify a 20th Century helmet to take it back to the ANH look from which the 20thC originally derived. The face plate is still pretty much the same but the dome has been re-sculpted and widows peak added.

Stone's spent over 200 hours researching photos and stills from the movie to get as close a match as possible - and as you can see that time was not wasted. Studying and comparing other domes for their detail also helped him to understand the finer details - such as which lumps were supposed to be there - and which were just failing molds or poor layup from subsequent 20th C castings.

From that work was born a master helmet form, from which Stone created his new mold. From this new mold new casts can be (relatively) easily made. We have tp say that Darth Stone has done a remarkable job on this new 20th Century derivative and it looks extremely impressive. The photo's are pretty darn good too!.
Celtic Touch 20th Century
I've just received a review from Jedi Punk of his brand new Celtic Touch 20th Century and it sounds like extremely pleased with his purchase. His first comment was "It's gorgeous - absolutely hands down my favourite piece in my collection"

Jedi Punk continues "It has nice sharp edges to the cast, a very nice paint-job, nice dark lenses, and aluminum sensor billets. Thick dome with reduced flare. Really cool dome attachment system too!"

JP's given it a "9 out of 10" and mentions only a couple of minor traits "It has a couple of hardly noticeable spots in the paint, and it only comes with the larger mouth mesh. Also, I believe the dome rides a little too low (Ed- which could easily be fixed)- Overall, I love this helmet"

So I'd say that's a very honest review and by all accounts this helmet looks to be a very good purchase with JP adding that the supplier was "excellent to deal with". High praise indeed!


Based on the 20th Century mould these new helmets from a prop-maker in Australia look to be very good. The producer's done a lot of work to it and looks to have produced a quality helmet.

The most noticeable aspect of this particular helmet can be seen when you remove the dome to reveal a unique face design which covers the top and back of the head and a nice looking fixing mechanism as opposed to the normal single ring used on most others. Its padded too!

What also seems apparent from these photo's is that he's reduced the dome flare which is evident on a number of 20th Century helmets and that has to be seen as another positive point with this helmet.

..and finally a couple of shots of the face which again appears to have the nice sharp features of the 20th Century, a design favored by many (myself included).
JF Langlois from Canada has sent me these shots of his Celtic Vader. In his case he was unhappy with the overall finish and so therefore completely re-sprayed his and its looks superb!

He's got the colours just right, most obviously with the gun-meal highlights which look excellent.

CKing (DP Deluxe cast) Helmet
Produced by CKing a couple of years back, this helmet is a superb reproduction of the ESB look. Using a very low numbered Don Post Deluxe helmet as its source, it was cast and cleaned up to provide the best possible finish. The very limited run was completed and the prop fitted with accurate lenses, mesh and Aluminum tusks and an excellent paint job!

Since its was put together to provide the best possible fan-made helmet, its a very sought after and valuable item.
Below and right, a couple of images of his ESB chest and shoulder armour and the completed costume on a mannequin.

Below KL's sent me some really nice images of his Vader (and GF/Follano Hero Stormtrooper), which decorate his Hong Kong lounge. Now I recon he's been working on this for well over a year, but as you can see the efforts been well worth it, and he has an outstanding display. For more images of his collection then go to his site at OOhYeahKL.

As previously mentioned, its a derived from a low-numbered Don Post Deluxe, re-sprayed to match the screen-accurate colour scheme with quality lenses, tusks and grills. The low numbering important as they suffered less from the flared neck and drooping mouth present on later versions.

He never seems to have a problem with burglars, funny that!

A magnificent piece of work.
After a great deal of searching, regular contributor Well Paid Killer's finally got himself a CKing (DP Deluxe) copy helmet and he's chuffed to bits!! Who can blame him as it look superb.

Below, EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the face showing the detail. Great photo!

..and below a shot with it sitting on his mannequin. Now that looks evil!


20thC/CKing Vader comparison page here
Below are 3 NEW shots of Adidino's excellent Vader Life-size which he's recently completed. Full size props such as take a huge amount of time, effort and most of all cash to put together. However when you see the completed lifesize it all seems worthwhile...............


The photos above were updated Dec '04 following some addition work from Tony. The background to the separate major elements are: JB Helmet, GH Chest Armor, Leather from Rein-one and Codpiece from DavidYr1. His previous version is below



Mike's ESB Vader Fencing Helmet
Here's an interesting project. Mike's decided to replicate the Vader Fencing helmet used by Bob Anderson for the fight scenes in ESB. Bob was Dave Prowse's stand in for these scenes (since he was an Olympic Fencing medal winner). Anyway - using photo's and measurements from the real helmet in the Paul Allen archive.....

He's used a couple of existing helmets as his base for the new project. Using a nice sharp Rubies Statue face (NOT the new one, we're talking about the $10,000 lifesize here), along with a Don Post deluxe dome, he's produced the following....

And and you can see its looking extremely close, although clearly in better condition and with "missing" grill.

You can see that he's even finished off the Perspex cheeks in exactly the same way as the originals

Below, here's a comparison I've done showing the original on the left, with Mike recreation on the right. Impressive!


DP C/A Copy

Above and below some interesting shots Thomas (aka SithLord) of his fiberglass ESB helmet, which originated from the Don Post Classic Action. This helmets roots become apparent when the dome's removed and the fixing mechanism clearly shows it's a CA copy (note the two photo's to the lower right, the higher one's the fiberglass copy, the lower the original CA). Nevertheless its a very nice helmet although suffers from the CA's extended neck flare.


And below a nice comparison shot, again from Thomas of his completed Vader costume and a comparison against our Dave. Nice job!



Jo Rybos sent me these pics of his DP Classic Action copy (in fiberglass). Its an interesting original to base the cast on, but like the Deluxe the face is very good. Darth Sybor's had it professionally painted and has fitted the correct grilling, lenses and Aluminum tusks.

he's also added a neck brace from Jedi Jeffrey and the result is a very nice looking helmet.



Here's Ob1Al's work-in-progress full size Vader, again based around a Fiberglass cast Classic Action copy... Despite being a WIP you can see its really getting there. I really like this moody b/w shot

The facemask is a fibreglass cast of a DP CA finished by Ob1Al. It has lenseman amber lenses mounted from the inside and Russrep billet sensors (who also did the belt buckle). e satin-lined cape and inner robe is custom made in a heavy wool blend material with the correct (garden) chain installed. The electronic chestbox is a jedijeffrey kit and the body "leather" from a Rubies Supreme costume.

The mannequin was originally a 6'3 fibreglass mannequin with added wooden spacers to add extra height and bulk using lots of foam padding and duck tape. With the armour and boots, the finished mannequin stands at approximately 6' 9" tall. Its also signed on the side by Dave Prowse himself


BAT (Mexico) Helmet

Above and below are four pics from previous contributor MadMick in Australia of his new Vader. Now originally he thought they were of a ROJ helmet (although the lower lip doesn't look thick enough), but now following consultation with Dark Jedi we think its from Bat in Mexico (well known ebayer) who also does Vader armour (see Darth Chops above). Either way its a nice looking helmet, with an interesting fixing mechanism.


South America Vader Helmet
Here's another helmet producer who's been selling his wares recently. Again it looks to be a very nice looking Vader for a reasonable price.

although as is the case with a number of these helmets the dome detailing appears soft.

However the overall finish is very good and I believe he's selling these as a nice package including a shoulder/chest section which looks very nice indeed. Thanks to Ron L for these shots.

The outer cape is perhaps a bit lightweight but the overall look of it is extremely impressive. I recon Rubies should look at this to see what a quality display piece can look like!

I'm assuming its the same as the one above as the helmet connection looks the same - although that also look suspiciously like the one recently produced in Australia.
Paul W from the UK has sent me the following great pics of his new completed ESB Vader. The Helmets either a DP or DP copy (with correct colour scheme)

He bought most of the pieces from the previous owner but has spent many months working on this to get it the excellent state its now in. It stands 6ft 8 on an adapted mannequin. Paul said he got the idea of doing a life-size Vader from this site - that's great to hear! JB ESB Vader Finally a couple of photo's below from Ryan of his JB ESB Vader helmet (pre tusks added) Update December 2008 - BUYER BEWARE - There are still a number of people who have ordered from this vendor, some over a YEAR ago who have not received their helmets. You have been warned!!!!

Its a nice looking helmet and from the looks of it think that the face is probably a 20th Century derivative (see top of page) married to a recast Ghost Host dome.

Check out a Comparison page of Vader's here ..or click here to go back to the Darth Vader sub-menu I've also added a new JB ESB Helmet prototype here