Daft Punk helmet

Status
Not open for further replies.

lequack517

New Member
Hello, Im new to the forums here and i didnt know where else to post. I wanted to make a thread on my build of my daft punk helmet. Now i still feel like a noob to the whole prop making business even though i made a whole spartan suit. The spartan suit i made was out of pepakura. The Daft Punk helmet i am making started out as pepakura but at first i made a helmet that was too big, so i started over and the next helmet came out too warped. I decided to do it out of clay since i like clay better than paper.

IMG_0184.jpg


I than made a silicone and plaster mold out of it so i can cast my new helmet.

IMG_0195.jpg


I ordered some liquid plastic i found on ebay to cast the helmet. Unfortunately the silicone mold ripped and tore and made all kinds of grooves in the helmet. Its obvious that i cant keep it like this. I also want to sell a few casts so i can pay back for all my expenses on this project. That means i need a perfect mold of the helmet so it wont be too much work after i cast it.

IMG_0216.jpg


I layered bondo to fill in the large gaps and imperfections but i ran out... So now i just keep layering on the fiberglass resin to fill the small bumps. I layered up the fiberglass resin than sanded it down and repeated 7 times. After that i spray painted it and sanded it down so i can see all the low spots

IMG_0240.jpg


After i sanded it

IMG_0247.jpg


Thats what it currently looks like ^^^ I have a lot more to do with it and i was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions on how i can get it super smooth? If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. THX See you soon
 
I'm not sure of the best way, but I was going to use some of the techniques that Volpin used when he made his (I’m building a Tron Style Daft Punk Helm). Build up with bondo, then smooth, then prime, then identify low spots, build up a little more with either spot putty or bondo, then prime (alternate primer colors to identify depth when sanding) etc….. Until I get the desired smoothness and shape(I was even thinking of using gloss paint to see if it made the flat spots and dips stand out). You can check his work out here:http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2009/08/daft-punk-helmet-part-1.html

Best of luck!
 
unfortunately i never noticed that it was not so proportionate. The ears are way off center and i am having trouble on warping it into place. I don't know if its that bad or that noticeable. I really dont want to start over if i dont have to. Feedback welcome.

line.jpg
 
After cooking the helmet for 1 minute at 200 F i was able to warp it into place. After countless layers of resin, bondo and sanding it down, i finally got it somewhat smooth.

IMG_0264.jpg


The top and bottom bands needed to be moved back so i built it up with bondo and sanded down the other part.

IMG_0292.jpg

IMG_0299.jpg

IMG_0295.jpg

IMG_0298.jpg


Again after countless layering and sanding i got it nice and smooth and ready for molding.

IMG_0287.jpg

IMG_0321.jpg

IMG_0331.jpg


as soon as i make the mold, i am going to cast a few helmets and make one of them the final helmet, and another helmet will be a visor mold. I already got some PETG board and jury-rigged together a vacuum former. Any one have any idea on the temperature and time to cook the PETG board?
 
I started to mold it by trying a new method and instead of using silicone i used latex

IMG_0346.jpg


That didn't work because it wasn't drying properly. That was a wast of money because i went back to the silicone.

IMG_0358.jpg


For the outer shell, instead of plaster, i decided to make a foam box.

IMG_0361.jpg

IMG_0364.jpg

IMG_0369.jpg


After all that i attempted to remove the silicone but realized that i didn't use a releasing agent...

IMG_0371.jpg


after many hours of scrapping, i finally got almost all of it off and i was left with big cut marks in it. I had to re sand and smooth it out for the new mold.

IMG_0379.jpg

IMG_0395.jpg

IMG_0411.jpg

IMG_0419.jpg

IMG_0425.jpg


I had to cut and re apply some foam to fit the new mold and now im just waiting for it to dry so i can start casting.
 
Very interesting how you're using spray foam as the mother mold material. Where did you get that idea? Looking forward to seeing how that works out for you.
 
when you heated up your helmet in the oven, did it just go a little soft and then you can bend it back into shape? also does the bondo go back to its original hardness? i may try this with my security helmet as it is kinda warped too =/
 
yea so when i cooked it, i put it in for a minute at 200 degrees to make it malleable. My helmet consisted of plastic, bondo, and resin so i dont know if a full bondo helmet will become malleable or just crack. I would try it on a test peice first. Also the foam shell did not work as good as i thought it would. when i put the mold inside the foam shell, it moved and didnt set tight against the walls. The end result was a warped casting. I definitely want to re-due the shell, fix somethings on the helmet, and re-due the mold.

IMG_0426.jpg

IMG_0427.jpg


So i figured that since the visor is so screwed up im going to vacuum form the visor of the original helmet. I ran into problems because i broke the air tight vacuum during the process and i didnt smoothen the edges around the visor. I can still use the visor to make a visor mold.

IMG_0436.jpg

IMG_0439.jpg

IMG_0440.jpg

IMG_0441.jpg

IMG_0442.jpg


As you can see, looking through the visor is not 100% clear so i need to smooth out the visor a bit more before vacuuming it again.
 
Ok its been a little while since my last update. Sorry for the lack of updates, i have been trying many different things and experimenting with the helmet but i finally made some progress. So in the last post i showed you that broken and cloudy visor. Well that visor was not a complete wast, i found a use for it. What i did was reinforce the back with bondo and foam so it wont warp. What i will use it for is a visor vacuum mold. So i will vacuum my new visor on top of it.

IMG_0445.jpg


So I didnt like how the inner ears looked. I remaid them with wood, like how i shouldve in the first place. I then edited the mold to accomodate the new ears. After all that i realized that i wasnt happy with the outer ears as well, so i cut them out and replaced it all with wood. After some sanding i was ready to once again reedit the mold.

IMG_0465.jpg

IMG_0467.jpg

IMG_1277.jpg

IMG_1284.jpg

IMG_1288.jpg

IMG_2381.jpg


After i edited the mold i decided to try a new method with the outer shell. Instead of doing the box idea like last time, i was going to use foam and split the helmet up in sections with shims. Overall the casting process went quite smoothly, the only poblem was taking the foam shell off of the mold because i forgot a releasing agent. Nearly destroyed the mold.



IMG_2408.jpg

IMG_3277.jpg

IMG_3279.jpg


The helmet came out pretty nice, nothing like Volpins tho. Yes the visor is dented, but that doesnt matter cuz it will be cut out and discarded. The rest of the helmet will be sanded down smooth to be painted or chromed.

IMG_3282.jpg

IMG_3289.jpg
 
ok so i feel stupid. It seems that i didnt reinforce the edges of this visor mold and as a result of the vacuum forming, it crushed under all the pressure.

IMG_3314.jpg

IMG_3313.jpg

IMG_3315.jpg


Im now frusturated becuase i didnt want to cut the visor out of the master helmet (just in case i need it), but it seems i have no choice. I added a layer of mud to build up the visor and i then started to sand and cut the visor out.

IMG_3317.jpg

IMG_3326.jpg

IMG_3330.jpg

IMG_3333.jpg

IMG_3336.jpg


It seems i found an air bubble! I left the visor in my truck during the day in the sun and a huge bubble appeared. I took a knife to it and as you can see its pretty big.

IMG_3343.jpg

IMG_3344.jpg


After i filled in the holes i sanded the whole thing with 60 grit sand paper and worked my way to 1000 grit. Its so smooth.

IMG_3349.jpg


So now im going to order a new peice of PETG board and vacuum this visor. Hopefully it comes out good. In the meantime while im waiting for the PETG to get here, im going to start fixing the final helmet and getting it smooth.
 
Wow your helmet looks awesome!hope mine turns out this well. Used a dremel to cut mine out, can't imagine doing that with a saw XP. Lemme know how your vacuum forming goes as I'll be trying that fairly soon hopefully and may need to pointers!
 
Right when i was reading this thread I thought, "I'd really love to see someone install LED's.." lo and behold, the video of it looks GREAT! Can't wait to see the finished product! Keep up the good work :)
 
Used a dremel to cut mine out, can't imagine doing that with a saw XP. Lemme know how your vacuum forming goes as I'll be trying that fairly soon hopefully and may need to pointers!

I started out with a dremel but it was taking way to long becuase of the thickness of the plastic. I just used the saw to cut the thick and straight parts. Just a warning though, the saw is not as precise as a dremel and will cause jagged edges. The vacuum forming took a while for me. After four tries i finally nailed it.
 
So, on the third try on vacuum forming this visor was ok but not great. What had happened was during the process the vacuum former broke its seal so the plastic didnt go all the way down against the visor. So what i did was take a blow torch to it to heat up the plastic, and formed it by hand. This resulted in uneven heating and caused massive stretch marks.

IMG_4071.jpg

IMG_4087.jpg


So after fixing the former and retrying with a new piece of PETG board, i finally got a successful form. I put some tape over the edges of the visor after cutting it out so it will be protected from bondo. I smeared bondo all around the edges to make a perfect fit for the visor as well as a lip on the other side.

IMG_4090.jpg

IMG_4084.jpg


Right now im starting to rush on it because i want the whole thing done by time fanime con in san jose.
 
That helmet's lookin pretty nice. It's a shame the molding process has been giving you so much grief, but at least next time you go to do it you'll be that much better! You've been using some interesting low cost techniques... I'm liking them. Good work so far, keep going. One question tho. What's the visibility in that visor like?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top