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Original Scout Trooper/Biker
 Helmets & Armor
(ROTJ) 
 

May 2010 - We've just a NEW Photo and Video review of an original Biker/Scout Trooper Helmet to a new section here....


For photos of other original Biker Scout helmets and costumes - just read on....

Produced for Return of the Jedi, the Biker/Scout Troopers were designed by Nilo Rodis-Jamero to accommodate a character who could move around quickly and freely on single-man speeder bikes. Manufactured out of vac-formed ABS they have a really cool look about them which probably explains why they've always been one of the fans favourites.

Above a couple of standard promo shots, and below Lucasfilm's biker exhibit seen at a number of shows, in this case the San Francisco "MOM" Exhibition a few years back.

Below, here's a great shot from Brinn 71 of him wearing one of the original Biker Scout costumes when doing some work for Lucasfilm a few years back. Thanks for the pics Brinn!

Below a great photo from Grant from a recent Lucasfilm Exhibition of a screen-used Biker Helmet. Considering its age it looks in really good condition.

We've received some really photo's and assistance from the guys over at BikerScout.Net and a number of these photos have been kindly donated by them.

We've still not been able to track down who manufactured these for RotJ. Certainly the design work was done by Nilo Rodis-Jamero and there are shots of the being assembled at Lucasfilm's HQ in California, suggesting it may have been done there. There are a number of these helmets in the LFL archive and you can see that the one above is different from the one below.....

However the interesting thing about these helmets (which like many in the SW trilogy were Vac-formed ABS) is that the cap, back and hood sections were all manufactured in two halves and only the face section is a single piece. Therefore the Left and Right sides had to be glued together, reinforced, filled and finally painted. Detailing was then added to the nose section, acrylic visor added and finally the decals - which are now extremely delicate.

.and below a shot from Patrick H who took a photo of the same helmet when "Star Wars In Concert" toured Tulsa.

Below some more shots of this same helmet seen at the Star Wars in Concert exhibition - this time they're taken by Rog from Germany - who's also made a cool discovery.....

Perhaps the easiest way to identify this particular screen-used helmet is the white crescent shaped scratch on the front of its visor....

Above, in this useful shot from above you can see a slight crack going down almost its entire length of the helmet - a give away from the twin-half design that saw the helmet made in two sections (left and right), which were then attached, filled and painted....

However, it was the weathering on its face that gave Rog an idea and having gone through some of his photo's, when he found....

...that it looked VERY similar to the one seen on the Kenner (and more recent Hasbro) toy figure card..... Hence a quick zoom in and scan and voila! - a match....

In Rog's great comparison below you can see how the weathering matches up perfectly - hence we're able to place this particular helmet in the movie and as part of the costume they used in so many of their publicity photos.....Well done Rog!

..and just to show how much this guy gets around....

Rog has noticed him here (above left), as well as below as the the Scout who takes a beating from Leia and Wicket. The markings on the front and rear are real giveaways. So its good that we've been able to nail this particular helmet in the movie and that's its one of the most prominent. Its also nice to know that its been well looked after in the Lucasfilm Archives.

Below, one more great photo of this helmet, this one kindly supplied by Zenwalker.....

Below, a couple of interesting shots of what could well be a production made (although clearly unfinished) Scout Trooper helmet that's in a private collection. We've not been able to see it but apparently its made from the same materials as the originals and has clearly been manufactured using the same techniques with the split left and right sides....

...and from the rear you can see the join and the presence of some filling. The rear section does look really sharp although from the photo above the face section perhaps a little less so  - although that would be expected since front and rear sections are not vac-pulled in specific pairs; instead everything is formed, cut and then the parts randomly joined together.


Finally, below another original Biker Scout -this one was previously owned by Steve Sansweet is now part of Stephen Lane's private collection....Don't forget to check out our HUGE review of this great helmet including full Video overview here....

Back to Real/Original Helmets menu here