4 Helmets Finished!!

[Ruze789]

Here's 3 of my helmets finished, after roughly 3 weeks of nonstop work (well, nonstop after a fulltime job...). They are all paper-mached, and the spartan helmets have a layer or two of wall spackle to smooth them. They could have been much better, but I had a party last saturday night that they had to be finished for, so I didn't get to add and sand the last layer. Also, these helmets remained entirely non-toxic to make until the spray-on acrylic sealer went on over the paint. My wife did an equal part of the work, I never ever could have finished all of these without her help.

The visors are gold window tint on plastic sheets. They turned out fairly well, the air bubbles are so miniscule you must be 1 foot away to see them. I would have gone with motorcycle visors, but didn't really have the extra cash to buy 4 of them at once.


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Edit 11-01-07:
Finished the 4th Helmet, pics of all helmets plus one group shot. I am in green, wife is in pink, 9 year old brother in law is in red, 16 year old brother in law is ODST.
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[Robogenisis]

Those look great. Especially for paper mache.

 

[Ruze789]

1st post updated.
And thanks robogenisis, I was pretty pleased with the mache, probably won't go that route again though.

 

[Galganaban]

haha awesome!
where abouts in NH are you?

 

[Ruze789]

Thanks!
I work all day in nashua, live in the tiny town of wilton.
And you?

 

[Vexona]

Wow that's awesome. Your family are lucky duckies

 

[Ruze789]

Wow that's awesome. Your family are lucky duckies

Thanks! And I've made sure they appreciate their helmets...

 

[Killer Koala]

They're incredible dude.

What did you use to mix the paper mache? I don't think I've worked with it since i was a kid :rolleyes

 

[supertaco]

i like the pink one. you could be donut from rvb

 

[Galganaban]

Thanks!
I work all day in nashua, live in the tiny town of wilton.
And you?

HAH! I live right next to nashua(hudson), and i happen to have no clue where wilton is

 

[Dark Rogue]

Nice, great job. Those visors look great for not being motorcycle visors.

 

[SOLIP5IL]

Whoa the odst looks cool!! Where did you get the file for that odst helmet?

 

[Ruze789]

They're incredible dude.
What did you use to mix the paper mache? I don't think I've worked with it since i was a kid :rolleyes

Thanks! I just used slightly diluted elmer's glue for the paste, and 1x3 inch strips of newspaper. I hadn't used mache in ages either, but I really wanted to try a nontoxic alternative to resin/fiberglass.

HAH! I live right next to nashua(hudson), and i happen to have no clue where wilton is

Ahh I run into hudson all the time. wilton is about 1/2 hour northwest of nashua. Nice spot, it's around a half hour away from manchester, nashua, and keene. Nice to see another NH resident! There is another, my brother in law, but he's not really active on here yet.

Nice, great job. Those visors look great for not being motorcycle visors.

Thanks! I was hoping for something cheaper than the moto visors that would look decent, 4 visors would have cost me around 130 bucks. With the tint it cost me around 24 to get all 4 done.

Whoa the odst looks cool!! Where did you get the file for that odst helmet?

ODST Helmet Thread
ODST Helmet Thread Look in Post #2

 

[Twitchfmx8811]

I really like that red one

 

[Ruze789]

I really like that red one

Heh thanks, it only looks good from far away. Finished that one in 2 days, and the mache on it twisted it like crazy.

 

[haloasc]

Good ODST

 

[PillowFire]

Wow, looks good, just feels like something is missing, possibly some extra details, just my two cents, but those would look even better if you somehow finished all the details.

Just wondering, how strong is the paper Mache?

 

[Killer Koala]

Also, where did you get the window tint for the visor?

 

[Ruze789]

Wow, looks good, just feels like something is missing, possibly some extra details, just my two cents, but those would look even better if you somehow finished all the details.

Just wondering, how strong is the paper Mache?

These helmets were just quickies for halloween, really... the detail is definitely lacking, but I'm about to start making my next couple of helmets which will come out much better.
The paper mache is strong enough to be worn to several parties and passed around, but not really long-term sturdy. I'll be switching to resin and muslin cloth for the next one. There's a lot of flex in the mache, and some spots do twist and warp.

Also, where did you get the window tint for the visor?

I got it on ebay for 24 bucks shipped, but the buyer is out of stock right now. This tint worked well, but had to be done in two layers, the tint is orange at the top and mirrored silver at the bottom. So I had to cut two sheets of plastic, and attach a layer of orange over a layer of silver. It's a 6 foot roll, and I got 4 helms out of it and have enough for one more. Anyway, this is what I used:
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[Vrogy]

I got it on ebay for 24 bucks shipped, but the buyer is out of stock right now. This tint worked well, but had to be done in two layers, the tint is orange at the top and mirrored silver at the bottom. So I had to cut two sheets of plastic, and attach a layer of orange over a layer of silver. It's a 6 foot roll, and I got 4 helms out of it and have enough for one more. Anyway, this is what I used:

Is this tint stretchy at all, or will it only curve in one dimension? If it stretches it'd be neat to see if you could get it seamlessly attached to an EVA helmet, and it'd also make Daft Punk helmets buildable...

Also, how much does it darken the wearer's view?