Pathfinder Helmet WIP Coca Cola?

Hey everyone,

First off glad to be back after about a 3 year break. Finally able to start working on something again I had a wonderful idea. A Coca Cola themed helmet. It branched from the fact that despite my best efforts I cannot for the life of me find card-stock in S Korea haha. So I thought to myself what else do I have available? Bam, CocaCola boxes. Problem solved haha. Thanks for checking out my thread. Stay classy, updates when I get them. Here's what I have so far;

It is an interesting substitute, but surely you could find some decent stock online. Look forward to the outcome!

ODST Stryder: I can find it online. My problem is I am inpatient, and don't feel like waiting 2 weeks for a ream of stock. I live in a barracks on a military post in South Korea. So whatever I order has to go through USA customs then SK customs before it can get to me lol. I have the cardboard from the coke available right away so its just me being lazy for the most part/.

and on the note of working with the cardboard from 12 packs of soda, i wouldn't recommend it. Its twice as think as card-stock and much harder to form into shape. I am scoring it the best I can but I'm coming across some issues. Another side note, I should not have picked the HD version lol. SOOOOO many small edges. I am getting to the point to what I have build so far I am having to take it apart to make small adjustments so it doesn't get warped too bad. also I have decided that instead of trying to keep the outer layer visible, I'll just make it a paint project to get the coke logos and what not later down the line when I get there. The small details are not coming in the way I want to be able to not use any outer coating. Oh well, It shall still be coke themed when I am finished haha.

Heres what I got done today:

This is the chin piece going up into the right side. I had the front most piece attached to the front section I had already completed, but found that if I tried to attach it to the chin piece, it would warp baaaad. So I took it off and am gonna work my way up.


This here is the gap between the front piece I had done (the one I'm holding) and the chin. The side piece I removed, sitting at the front of the pic, fits there. I struggles for about an hour trying to work out how I am going to get it attached without warping it before I decided to just take it off and go from the bottom up.


as always, thanks for taking time to view the thread. any suggestions are welcome in regards to anything you see I could improve.

I would not think this to be easy. One of my current projects is making an ONI thigh plate for a M6H Magnum and I chose to print the pep files on a 300gsm stock, even this takes a bit of work.
Are you sure you can't take a few hours leave and head to a local office supply store?

ODST Stryder: 300gsm? you are a crazy person haha. hope it works out for ya! I have ample free time to go wherever I want off post. Just haven't found any store close to me that sells any. It's ok though, where there is a will there's a way! also leave works in days not hours haha I work on a shift schedule meaning 12 hours on 12 hours off for days at a time. actually starting tomorrow starts an 8 day training period where its that schedule for 8 days. so I wont be able to get much done during this next week, but if I can manage it I'm going to bring at least the pep up to work and see if I can cut the pieces out. As it is now, I'm going piece by piece to avoid losing one.

XxDrxNinjaxX said:

ODST Stryder: 300gsm? you are a crazy person haha...

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Alrighty then, but there has to be a store nearby, it's a pretty basic material. Yes, 300gsm is over kill but I wanted to ensure it would stay ridged during the first resining stage. I work at a commercial print company so we printed it out on a large SRA3 (Just bigger than A3) sheet and got to cutting. It's the first build where I've had to use some decent heavy duty tweezers.

ODST Stryder said:

Alrighty then, but there has to be a store nearby, it's a pretty basic material. Yes, 300gsm is over kill but I wanted to ensure it would stay ridged during the first resining stage. I work at a commercial print company so we printed it out on a large SRA3 (Just bigger than A3) sheet and got to cutting. It's the first build where I've had to use some decent heavy duty tweezers.

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Trust me I would've found it if it existed haha. I can imagine having to use tweezers to get some of those pieces up. could just string it up and use it as a punching bag too haha.

So here is an update on my progress:

This is basically how I'm getting each piece cut out. printed out on normal letter sized paper. then selected piece is laid over the cardboard and taped off then cut off. I use a dull exacto to score the folding lines.


this is the lower section with the face section. was contemplating if I had to butcher it more to make it work


The next few are shots of the joined sections. It is a little warped but once I get to a stage where I can reinforce it I can easily make some supports to keep the shape while it does its thing haha


Thanks for looking at the thread!

So I have reached the point to where I can tell if I scaled right...I didn't haha. It's just a tad too small, like so much so I'm thinking of just adding a bit somewhere to make it larger but then another thought hit me. I could finish this one, and make another. Here's my reasoning; I don't have access to my normal array of materials, and I'm going to have to do some creative thinking to make this happen. For instance, I cannot use fiberglass and resin in the barracks haha, too many toxic fumes for a small room. SO! I will use the small one I'm making now as a guinea pig for tests on materials I find around here that could work. Oh and on the remake I am not going to use the HD version haha, way too many small details I can carve out later down the line. Thoughts? Concerns? Apples? Heres how far I am so far;

Its not much from the previous post but I feel like I have to note where I was at when these thoughts occurred to me lol


Thanks for viewing!

Alrighty. It is currently 3:30AM here in Korea, time to hit the hay cause I work later haha. Here's where I stopped for now:

Just have to finish that side, then the top and back circle. Then pep work is done, and I can begin experimentation while pepping the full sized one.


Have a good one folks.

Alrighty peeps. I had to work now I have a few days off and the past few hours I have spent working on this helmet. Here is the progress:

Here we have the sides all done and waiting for the dome.


And here we have half the dome attached to the sides. All thats left is the circle piece in the back and the rear part of the dome. I will knock that out tomorrow and then procure resources for my experiments on the hardening process! that will most likely happen in about 3 days when payday hits haha


Its not the cleanest pep work, and there are spots missing where I couldnt get the piece quite right and said f*** it, but Im proud of it so far. I can fix it up pretty easily later down the line. As always, Thanks for viewing the thread ^-^

Looking promising, what are you planning on using for the hardening?

ODST Stryder said:

Alrighty then, but there has to be a store nearby, it's a pretty basic material. Yes, 300gsm is over kill but I wanted to ensure it would stay ridged during the first resining stage. I work at a commercial print company so we printed it out on a large SRA3 (Just bigger than A3) sheet and got to cutting. It's the first build where I've had to use some decent heavy duty tweezers.

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Well, I'm doing all my pep with 250gsm ._. Is it overkill? ._.

Marawuff said:

Well, I'm doing all my pep with 250gsm ._. Is it overkill? ._.

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Hells no. I started out using 250gsm. Anything between 210-260gsm is perfect for armour. When you're going larger scaled pieces, such as shields or heavy weaponry, you want that extra level of strength that comes with the heavier stocks.


Looking good!

ODST Stryder said:

Hells no. I started out using 250gsm. Anything between 210-260gsm is perfect for armour. When you're going larger scaled pieces, such as shields or heavy weaponry, you want that extra level of strength that comes with the heavier stocks.



Looking good!

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Sure, hehe. You just said 300gsm is bit overkill, so I laughed. xD

TrooperJasher said:

Looking promising, what are you planning on using for the hardening?

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Ok so I have spent the last few off days searching Seoul far and wide for resin, epoxy, bondo, anything useful...finally I found a guy who sold those small epoxy syringe type deals that was also willing to order me larger quantities. So come Tuesday I have about 20 lbs of epoxy coming in hahahaha. I'm going to use that as a base for hardening, Next step after a layer or two of that will be to Frankenstein a paper mache concoction that will be a worthy sub for glassing. I plan on going out to find either an art store or medical store and getting gauze. If I can that gauze that is infused with plaster just for added strength. If you have any ideas or if anyone has had to come up with anything else because no fiberglass let me know please! I could order online but shipping for anything over a pound to korea auto adds like $20 to shipping costs...not very economical. Thanks!

Ok so i lied. I have 40 lbs of the epoxy...it almost didnt fit in my backpack, should've brought my rucksack haha.

Alrighty guys. Not a big update, but an update nonetheless. So I found this stuff called epoxy putty...this particular batch is used for filling gaps in rocks, cement, statues, etc. It stinks like no other haha. I found that if I added a bit of water to it, I could manage to get a thin coat of it on the surface relatively smoothly. So my next step once I cover the outside in a coat or two of this stuff is going to be seeing if I can add it to a paper mache type base for hardening the inside. Insight peeps?

Here we have acrylic matte varnish. That was put down in 2 layers before the epoxy to give a nice waterproofing so the epoxy doesnt warp it too bad.


This is the 40lbs of epoxy I picked up the other day. SUPER EPOXY PUTTY!!! so far so good with it. it dries fast too, 30 min to dry, 24 hours to fully cure. well might take longer considering its cold here now. I'll let ya know.


Here is the Helmet with about 1/4 of it covered in a thin layer of epoxy, I went ahead and just coated over all the smaller fine details that I can grind in later simply because I was tired of looking at them and trying to fill a small gap consistently with putty, watered down or not, is retardedly hard. SO as you can see, I'll need a layer or two more, sanding, detailing, but that will wait until I get back from working for 3 days straight. Also you can see where I etched out the visor so I can cut it out and make the thing...I have a plan for it, but I will not spoil that just yet.


On a side note, my fellow soldiers, including myself, here in Korea, drink A LOT of soda lol. So I have started a little side project as well. Tab Chain mail...If I can I am going to incorporate it into the build of the armor...I'm thinking joints so I don't have to worry so much about an under-suit lol thoughts??


And finally I went to this big ass mall here and there is a HUGE store dedicated to Gundam models...like all of them...no seriously, all of them...ITS AWESOME!!! So i picked up this bad boy for approx $45 and put it together in a night lol.


Well guys, as always thanks for taking the time to view the thread, and stay tuned for updates on the build.

alrighty guys. been a few days since the last update, I've been working like crazy and we are doing a field exercise soon so ill be busy with that. So here is where I'm at with the pathfinder.

Sanded the first layer to get it a bit smoother for application of second layer. I'm considering watering it down a bit so it wont go on as thick. also as you can see, the right ride of the helmet, looks a little "dented" i plan on fixing this with the next layer, won't be too hard just need to put a support inside while it dries.



Here's the back, It's giving me some trouble so before the next layer I'm taking my diamond files to it hard to make sure I get those pesky details carved out.



lastly, here is he inside, still needing a coat of anything lol. planning on making a slurry type mixture out of the epoxy and spreading that around for a first layer. then a few layers of reinforced paper mache then a boatload of sealer haha.



side projects:

Oceanic hehe its got a layer of acrylic medium for water proofing, AND I FOUND CARDSTOCK!!! lol took me long enough right. tis a little warped but only in large areas that can be fixed luckily.



and iron man. this on is a build that my buddy wants here. So rather than be bored with you know, only 2 helmets, i figured yeah, i can go for three haha. mad props to sharkhead7854 for the pep models for this build. all the models im using for these builds i will post links too at a later date as well as proper credit to those who provided them



as always thanks for viewing the thread. if ya have anything to comment on, suggestions, concerns, anything, please do so. Ninja out.