In an effort to salvage as much of the helmet as I could I made my own back vents out of another piece of Rubbermaid trashcan and an X-Acto knife. It worked OK.

I also picked up a desktop calculator from a friend who was selling it on eBay. I recognized her name and it turns out she was close friends with my wife and her sister married my former co-worker. Well, they got married and then I started dating my wife. Yeah, it’s a pretty small town.

Anyway, here are some progress photos of repainting the helmet, my reference materials for the back vents, my back vents, weathering my vest and my favorite photo of the repainted helmet right before going out for Halloween. And at the Halloween party I did not participate in the contest because I didn’t think it would be fair since I was going for 501st approval. It didn’t feel ethical though I was told I would certainly won. A video of me walking in is at the bottom.