Fascinations Metal Earth Luke Skywalker Helmet 3D Metal Model Hobby Kit

This is only the 2nd Star Wars metal helmet I’ve done, but I like the way it turned out. It only took me a couple of hours to do. I used tweezers, wire cutters, needle nose pliers, and round plastic pen (the body I used to help shape certain pieces; the rest I shaped by hand. There were a few difficult steps, but that’s to be expected. Certainly make sure the connection points are solid, but before that make sure the shape is bent properly before fastening. I often shaped and then reshaped before I fastened the connection points, making small corrections each time, based on the next couple steps ahead. Don’t be too worried about this one, I really like the result.

I have built many of the metal earth kits and this is worst one I have ever worked on; suggest you don't spend your money on this one or be forewarned of the issues in trying to build it.The second step in building it is to form the sides of the helmet which requires bending the metal. Usually this is not too bad to do in the kits especially if you have dowel or something else to help to form it. In this case the metal is not conducive to bending (a lot of the kits have striations in the metal to help with bending, this kit does for the base column), the bend is a compound bend and the form you need to make does not follow a from for which you could use a dowel.First time ever for me the metal pieces in the compound bending cracked off and there is not a way to fix it (sometimes super glue will help you out) thus the kit is ruined. Built R2D2 for my grandson and hoped to have Luke Skywalker helmet completed for him for Christmas but will have to do another kit for him.