Noobs first build. RECON Helmet.

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Ghost Bear 027

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Hey all,
I've wanted to do this for a long time, and life has finally given me the time, patience, and resources to have a go at creating something I've been eyeballing for years. I've always had an affinity for Halo, the Vancouver like colors and the story captivated me while I was serving in Iraq and ironically, playing a horror shooter game took me away from the realities my scouts and I faced on patrol, ambushes, escort, and mortaring. It's something you'd have to live and survive in the streets of Baghdad for a while to really appreciate I think. Regardless, I love the games, even if I'm not the best at them, and wanted to have a go at this. This should have lots of pics as I've gone through, and am still working on this, so I'll try to keep it updated as I go along.

Much thanks to Cereal Kill3r for the youtube instructional videos and answering the occational email. Heck of a standard to shoot for. Look his vids up on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/dghezzo they are priceless as far as your learning will go!

I pulled inspiration from a few different helmets throughout the game and my own experience as an Army Scout Platoon Leader, and you can see my reference pics taped to the wall in many of these photos here. Those can’t be underestimated and really helped me keep things in dimensional and design perspective.

As to the RECON pep I used, I ended up just sawing the chin off of this one after I coated it in resin and rondoed the inside. I really hated how long it was, and it seemed way out of proportion to where it needed to be. I kind of free handing it to get what I wanted and am happy how it came out. Curious to hear your thoughts as to whether or not you think I got it right, I might be emotionally attached to this after so many hours and dollars! I want to make casts for some friends in my old unit and their kids, and really want this to come out right for them and for me.

I thought, "What would I want as a Spartan?" And the answer was increased optics like Romeo and Jun had for sniping, and a bit of extra armor (counter sniping is a rough business after all) and increased communications capability like all real scouts want. Basically, everything I wanted as a real recon soldier myself. This is my design and hybrid.


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Nice build! I like the addition of Jun's forehead attachment it really breaks up the monotony of the smooth helmet.
I decided to go with the simple nod attachment I guess you could call it on mine.

while I was serving in Iraq and ironically, playing a horror shooter game took me away from the realities my scouts and I faced on patrol, ambushes, escort, and mortaring. It's something you'd have to live and survive in the streets of Baghdad for a while to really appreciate I think.

I feel ya on this one I spent 4 years in 4-31 INF up in FT Drum, NY as a fire support specialist. You get thrown around like a ragdoll so to speak when you deploy its nice to have a small distraction.
 
So I kept looking at the helmet I had made to date, and while I was happy with the skills I learned and was able to execute, I knew I could do better. So with the small amount of time I have here and there (finishing my MBA, getting married, getting a job, and now traveling for more training for that job to get certified a dozen times over), I've gone back into it. The end goal is a sleeker, more organic shape, and really bring out that "fighter jet/tank hybrid" that was the original inspiration for the original Spartan armor. I've always been partial to the Recon helmet, and love the concept art I use for the avatar, but looking at tanks like the Leopard 2A6, the Merkava, and the F22 and the Sukoi T-50, I think I've got the right direction and am loving the time I can dedicate to this. Putting a nice big comms suite in the back, cleaning up a lot of lines, making it as symmetrical as I possibly can without going crazy, and working on the details to be able to stand back and be truly proud of what I produce. I'll try to keep posting as it comes along, often in baby steps, but it will come along.

And a better shot here of initial shaping of the visor. I LOVE that the intakes stick up a bit like a wolf's ears! :D

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You can see the wood blocks I used for filler in the optics mount clearly here. Rim added to the visor, and more work done. The sanding never stops...and my dog always manages to come lay in the pool of bondo debris...

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And a few hours later with the ears, the bell around the back, the intakes up top, and the viewscreens (the teeth on the visor), and beefing up the chin and lower (vents/armor/beats me thingies) along the bottom next to that chin block. It's coming along a bit. Joining the mid section of the rim of the helmet was tough, but using some concept art, I added the round segment (tootsie roll looking tubes) to link the front where the cheek vents meet just before the ear with the armore that wraps aroudn the back of the helmet.

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Hope to get some more time in next week on it after a friends wedding, and always open to feedback, recommendations, and constructive criticism.
 
Ticking away a bit at a time. I find myself doodling in my notebook at work with ideas for this bloody project, but it's starting to take shape. Backside needs a lot of sanding and shaping still, but the overall shape is there. Hope to get a coat of primer on it this weekend to see what the coming week will bring for me in terms of sanding, filling, and reshaping. As we used to say in the Army, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

This just seems to be moving slower than faster.

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Love it. It has a Japanese feel to it. My first thought about the intakes is that you could actually use them to move air in/out if you want to. Very nice work.
 
Thanks all! I appreciate the support. It's tough to spot faults with your own work, so if you see something, feel free to let me know. I'll hold back the tears ;) As of 7 Nov, this is where she stands. I thought I was going to be in trouble as Battlefield 4 came out, but Odin's Raven is that game terrible on the 360... I really do intend to have this primed this weekend and finished by next to start molding it. In it's current state, it must weigh 10 pounds with all the bondo on it...

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PC or go home for BF4 man!

The helmet itself is awesome and terrifyingly good! I promise that the more time you spend with it, the more flaws you will find that we would never. The artist is always his own worst critic! But keep up the good work.
 
I'm really diggin' this mod to the recon helmet. It looks fantastic. Keep up the good work man, I'm rooting for ya!

On a side note, BF4, in my opinion, is amazing on the 360, WHEN IT WORKS. haha. If you ever play and need a squadmate, shoot me a PM.
 
"Dear Katsu, Never talk to my husband again on the matter of needing a newer gaming system." ~ Signed in the third person- Troy's Wife Liz.

I hear you, but can't invest that kind of money in a new graphics card every 2 months to keep up with the competitive types. Between working on this helmet (and hopefully future helmets too), DJing, being a husband, keeping the dog occupied, and holding a normal job, a few hours on XBOX a week are about all I can pull off. I'm all about ease of use. And as little hacking as possible, which would be the console. I'm praying the One is a much better system and game. Playing on the 360 for now just to unlock some stuff, but I don't think it can hold a candle to BF3 in any way. If I went PC, it might also confirm that I really suck on 2 different systems, and then I can't blame server lag with the same amount of credibility that I now hold in my head while rolling my eyes and "Oh..OK..." when some 14 year old mountain dew fueled killing machine steam rolls me.

Apothacary, look me up on live mate! Live tag is the same as my screen name here, and always up for team play in a team based game. If one can imagine...

This weekend is to finalize this Recon helmet, so I hope to have a nice pic to post late tonight or tomorrow though.
 
Has anybody out there heard of glazing the exterior with Rondo instead of dabbing spot putty all over a piece? I had to fill in the intakes a bit because I didn't want the silicone to get in behind a lot of the recesses that had formed from the bondo, didn't want the silicone to be so deep that it actually sagged from its own weight when I started casting, and didn't want to pack more bondo in there because it's kind of a pain. So while doing it, I thought "why don't I just glaze some edges with this as I've got the paintbrush in there right now anyways. Should work right?" It did, and it worked really well! It ran into all the recesses and crannies, went on smooth, leveled out nicely, and did a great job of joining pieces at the seam (like around the sides of the air intakes I built on this helmet). I wish I'd thought of it before now. A bit heavy, and I know it can be brittle on impact, but I plan on molding and casting this anyways (and the helmet already seems to weigh about 12 lbs with all the bondo build up on it...) and nobody would want to wear this thing for any longer than necessary.

I'm still using spot putty in some spots because if the Rondo didn't work, I didn't want to have to fix up too much, but it came out really nice. If you're looking to smooth something out, look into it. Priming tonight, so hope to get a pic posted soon.


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Some work yet to be done, but overall it came out nicely before that first coat of primer. Few divots and scratches that can be hard to identify in 12 layers of various pink and grey bondo/paint, but should be a pretty quick fix. I had to buy a can of grey, and thought that what was actually black was a deeper grey, but I must admit: The black looks VICIOUS! I will keep that in mind...

If you see something, say something. Promise I won't cry.

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