IMC Titanfall, so it begins

Alrighty so this is my first ever real helmet/ armor build and after reading a lot and following various threads I decided to man up and start my own. Currently I am obsessed with Titanfall and would love to have the armor of the pilot to use at PAX and other various events. So here is my progress thus far, I started earlier this week and just now finished all the pep work. Just ended my contract at my job so while looking for a new job I figured this can keep my time. I know that the pep has a lot of wonky spots and its going to take a LOT of a bondo and sanding it looking right, but hey its a learning experience right?

Nice! Looking forward to see more

I give you my warm welcome and wish of good luck.

We're here to help, so ask many questions, and post many pictures to get constructive criticisms. Oh and there are a mountain of tutorials in and outside the 405th so go read up!

Alrighty here is my first update:

So yesterday I got to resin and smoothcasting the helmet, that was pretty easy and didn't take long at at all. Then today was my first ever experience with bondo, and I admit I was dreading it due to hearing a bunch of horror stories about it. All in all though it was actually kind of fun and though I only just did a quick layer and then a 2 second sand job I think it will come up pretty damn nicely if I do say so myself. I also did a quick spray of primer black so it would be easier to see what need more sanding and what not. Then I also picked up a new dremel today so I started playing around with the details, though I am nowhere near ready for it; however it has an interesting effect that I might use throughout the other panels, thoughts?


Resin and Smoothcast:



bondo attempt number 1:




Dremel Test:


Still got a crap ton of sanding and polishing before this thing is even remotely pretty but it is a step in the right direction.

more stuff and things. It is crazy hot here right now in Seattle and me being an Alaskan isn't dealing well with it. However, I did manage to get around to another layer of bondo and some rough sanding, The back panel is finally starting to take a smooth shape and the font now is definitely in the rough but I can already tell its going to be a lot of work. I also started to mess around with the craft foam to lay in some rough templates for detail marks. I like them all minus the front/top vent-ie bit, going to have to play around with it and also add the tube dealie underneath it once its all sanded and smooth.

Kaustic,
I've had negative experiences with priming early on. Creating a seal between layers of bondo decreases the adhesion from one layer to the next. If I may make a recommendation, try to get it as close as you can before hitting it with primer, then sand out the areas you need to beef up, and apply more bondo as needed. I use a LOT of bondo in my stuff, and maybe others would say different from what I've put up there, but it's been my experience to date. You might see one layer chip away from the one beneath if there's a primer layer.

Good luck, keep it up, and take your time. For a first time, it's looking nice.

thanks Ghost I really appreciate all the advice I can get. One thing I did do was hit the area I started bondoing with a quick 80 grit to scuff up what primer was there. Not sure if that helped but it seems to be sticking well so far and I will definitely hold off another round of primer as long as I can. I think I mostly did it cause I was having a trouble seeing rough spots between the pep line work, resin, and first layer of bondo with sanding. I also admit I am like a kid with a new toy and I just want to play with it as much and as quickly as possible, but I am really aiming for a high quality helmet done right.