Star Wars – Return Of The Jedi

An original “Scout Trooper” Helmet used in the George Lucas classic Return of the Jedi. Released in 1983, Jedi was a fitting conclusion to the original trilogy as Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance finally overcame the dark forces of Darth Vader and the evil Galactic Empire.

Joining the newly revamped Stormtroopers were a new Imperial tactical unit, the lighter armoured, but more mobile Scout Troopers, nicknamed “Biker Scouts” due to their use of the agile and effective Speeder Bikes

From a costume design perspective, the creative direction of John Mollo on A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back was replaced with the partnership of Aggie Guerard Rodgers and Nilo Rodis-Jamero, with Nilo taking responsibility for the majority of the Imperial designs including the Scout Trooper.

Like most of the Imperial Helmets made for the original trilogy movies, the Scout Troopers were vac-formed and in this case from 5 separate sections of Haircell ABS plastic; specifically the left and right halves of the back and cap, the left and right halves of the visor, and the front facemask section. After Vac-forming and trimming, the left and right sides of the back, cap and visor sections were then glued together – and the gap between them filled and sanded. The facemask was then attached and the entire helmet spray-painted white. Finally the grey acrylic lens was added along with the nose detailing and helmet decals. So all in all a considerably more complex task than your humble Stormtrooper!

The snout detailing is actually made from parts kit bashed from a model Tamiya Yamaha motorcycle kit, along with a resin cast of a household Faucet Aerator. The ear vents are simply just a crescent shape cut out of the helmet side – with some black material glued to the inside wall of the helmet to provide depth. The rear trapezoid decals are extremely thin and fragile – to the extent that they’ve worn away in a few places. However the vertical black stripes look screen-printed on like the tube stripes on a Stormtrooper helmet – so are much more robust.

It is estimated that 20-25 complete Scout Trooper Costumes and Helmets were made, however what is surprising, is that this is the only original helmet known outside of the Lucasfilm Archive. This extremely-rare helmet, now nearly 30 years old is in fabulous condition. It still has some of the bumps, scrapes and weathering present following its endeavours on the battlefields of Endor, including a cracked lens, which probably occurred during filming but it remains a stunning display piece.