Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup

[Brandon McClain]

Sorry to hear about the shortage of rubber, that's heartbreaking. At least you will know you have enough now for the v2 mold of the medium torso and the Eva is looking good, but just a note, the scale on it looks way too big.

[thorssoli]

I meant for it to be big, but you're probably right. I scaled the pep model to be just a bit shorter from front to back than my MkVI helmets. This means that it's almost 14" long, just over 13" wide, and just about 13" tall. It looks big on me, but I'm hoping it'll look okay once it's sitting on top of one of my larger-sized sets of chest armor. I really need to get back to work on the pep model.

Meanwhile, my new shipment of goo came in yesterday and progress continues. Here's the helmet flipped over with the parting wall removed and prepped for the second half of the mold:


Here's the print coat:


And here's the first thick coat mixed in with all of the other projects I've got cluttering my shop:


If you click on that last one, it'll take you to an annotated version.

[Brandon McClain]

Looking good!! I'm stoked to see how she turns out. As far as the scale, it looks like a height of 11-11.5" would be more natural.

[thorssoli]

I'm not so sure. I'm thinking the standard MkVI and the EVA should be somewhat analogous to a motorcycle helmet and an astronaut helmet. With that in mind, the EVA helmet should be a similar length but a bit taller and wider. I'm still not done with the pep model (I've been focused on my space marine build) but when it's done I'll stack it up on top of one of my large torso castings to see how it looks.

For now, I've finally finished the mothermold for version 2.0 of my MkVI helmet:


Today I'll be trimming up the edges, pulling the two halves apart, and rotocasting my first pull. I'll also decide on which paintjob it needs: Agent Washington, Lopez, Tucker, or Master Chief. Any thoughts?

[Brandon McClain]

Hooray!! Well, when you are ready to make pulls available let me know. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

[thorssoli]

The new helmet mold came out great. Here's the inside of the front half:


Here's a closeup of the first casting showing the only real cleanup work it needs:


I figure I could have the mold parting line completely wiped out in about two minutes with some 150-grit sandpaper.

Here's a shot of me wearing it for scale (again, I'm 5'7" tall):


I still need to make the molds for the cheek details and the nose insert. I also need to make up a forming buck for the visor. Then I can concentrate on v2.0 of the medium torso mold. Stay tuned...

[Ruze789]

I still enjoy seeing your mold work now just as much as I did when I first saw it here and on the RPF! Thanks for sharing your pics, they're always so informative to see.

Awesome work on everything as always Thorssoli! Love seeing that you're still improving on one of the best 405th MKVI helmets even after all this time. And paint that guy up Master Chief style! Other colors are cool but nothing beats a well-done Chief lid.

[got armour]

Those cast are so clean, great job.

[Brandon McClain]

Yeehaw! Sweet! Love it!

[thorssoli]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I now have three casts of the helmet, one in primer, one needs the edges trimmed down, and the third is still in the mold. Yesterday I poured the rubber for these things:


Those are the greeblies for the cheeks. They started as a couple of scraps of MDF which were ground down on the belt sander until they fit into the cheek holes. Then I notched the edges with the Dremel and added some oil-based clay to sculpt in the ribs. After I'd smoothed them out, the last step was to spray them with a gloss coat of my customary prototype color before boxing them up for molding.

Today I'll make the nose insert and get started on a forming buck for the new visor. As soon as I can make visors I'll start a classified thread and offer up a handful of copies. Stay tuned...