Duke's Prometheus Engineer Helmet

It has begun.
As promised..





I'm really happy with how this helmet came together. (I'll point to the download link later). It was interesting how many tabless lines there were. But it worked. Sadly I'll have to redo this one. The person I'm making it for is bigger than me and I could barely get my head into the pep.

I still wanted to post it so that any newcomers might see that even those of us who have made multiple pieces still end up repepping due to scaling issues.

I think I'll still finish this one though. Stay tuned.

 

Very cool.

 

Thanks, dude!

Here's my second take.

Much more to scale for the person who will be wearing it. Plus I gave higher tolerances of printable fold angles which I think added just a little bit to the shape.

Here is the link where I got the file.

I'll be fiberglassing it today and tomorrow, along with my reach chest and biceps. Photos to drop Monday. Thanks for checking it out and hope you are all having a safe Halloween weekend.

 

Haha, thanks! Rest assured I will finish this and it will look even cooler in the weeks to come.

This last weekend I was able to get quite a bit done. Finished hardening both helmets. Two thin coats of resin on the outside, removed the braces, one thick coat on the inside and then enough resin to soak into the fiberglass. Super durable now. Stinks like no other though. The tenants in my new apartment are going to hate me. :l

 

When they come to confront you about the odor......just look them dead on and say "What smell?"

 

So strong. I share an enclosed entry with three other tenants and my storage closet is in that entry way. So every time we come in and out of our apartments you can smell them all. :sick
I'm going to buy one of those deodorizing sprays that is supposed to get rid of smoke smell. I'll make a post if that worked.

Haha! I chose to go with bribery. Everybody likes brownies.

Thank you!

Yeah, I thought so too. The discoloration you are talking about is from the hot glue that I use. Something about how the resin doesn't get to soak through the backside of the paper because the glue is in the way, that's my thought anyway.

 

New Update:

I'm getting a good amount of time into bondoing this weekend. I decided to take CommanderPalmer 's lead and tried rondoing the outside layer this time. I'm really happy with the results.

First I rondoed the inside and with the extra I applied it to the outside with a paint brush. Since I didn't lose much of the detail I then made a full batch of rondo for the outside. This time a little heavy on the bondo. Probably 40/60. I kept brushing it on non stop so that it wouldn't settle in one spot long enough to pool. Usually the flats of a pep sag a little after being resined. This did a great job of leveling out those saging flat spots.

Then I saved even more time, normally I would grab a rasp and knock out the high points, but this time I grabbed 40 grit sandpaper instead.

Here you can see the sides have been rondo ed and knocked down and the top has an extra layer of bondo already.


To bondo the top I used a putty knife, but to do the sides I used my hands. There are a lots of shapes that I needed to keep. If I ever started to lose them I would dig my fingers in and smooth it out.


Here I managed to get the eyes cut out. Another coat or two of bondo tomorrow and I should be close to done with this guy.

 

Two coats of Bondo unsanded:


Two coats of Bondo sanded in 6 steps 40 grit - 60 grit - 80 grit - 120 grit - 220 grit - 400 grit:


Nice coat of primer to show me all my little mistake. :/ I think I will keep the divots in since this helmet is supposed to emulate organic material and bone and skin has imperfections. I won't be painting the helmet. The person wearing it is making the rest of the suit out of foam so I think it would be best if he painted the helmet to match the suit. Right now I'm in the home stretch for my part. I will be installing a fan and switch. I will be installing lenses, hopefully like a mirrored smoke with some curve to it. And I think I will attempt to glue craft foam in strips along the trunk to create the ribbed effect. I have not worked with foam before so it will be interesting. Then everything will be plasti-dipped hopefully achieving a skin look. I'm open to suggestions on how to finish this guy up.



Here is my reference photo:

 

My friend has decided that he does want me to do more detail. So I will be adding in the veins and whatever I can do to improve the look.

So far this is the reference image I like the most for detail.


A lot of the other helmets built out there are similar to the one from the movie in that they've been decayed for years. Since the guy I'm making it for is going to wear the suit, we're going for the "newer" look.

This is the only other reference image I can find of a newer space jockey.

 

Pictures not working in last post but looks Fantastic so far.

 

Thanks! We all have to start somewhere. I've been doing this for a year now and I learn more and more with each project. If you'd like to follow my progress I try to detail out what I learn along the way and the links to them are in my signature. The Pipboy was my first one which shows how I approached it. The Venator was my second and I attempted to organize my process into repeatable steps. I hope you might find them helpful.

 

Not a big update, but I'm still moving along. I can't get quite the detail like I've seen in warbola and foam, but it's the best I can do at the moment. I sharpied black lines to give me the idea of what I wanted and then used small files to grind grooves in. Not super dramatic, but I think it gives the helmet more dimension or character. The grooves are not very deep and once they are painted the same color you won't notice them as much. But, I like to think that each engineer's suit was unique. Every decayed one is so different it gives the impression that they were originally handcrafted by the engineer that wore them. Just an idea. Up next will be my first venture into foam! Wish me luck!

 

Why, thank you, kind sir.

Update: I don't envy you foam smiths. I've been at this for two hours now and this is as far as I've got. No mess ups, just super slow. First I drape 1mm craft foam over because it contours really well. I outline what I want and cut it out. I then use that as a template and cut out the piece in a 2mm foam. Then round one edge using a craft knife and sand paper. Then I superglue it down. I'm happy with the result. 6 more hours I should have an alien trunk beak thing.

 

Thanks man! From the sound of it, I don't think you're doing anything wrong. My guess is that it comes down to patience. If you haven't watched them yet, I really recommend Cereal Kill3r's youtube videos on resin and bondo. I use those same techniques and maybe a couple other tricks I've picked up from the site. My younger brothers complain about the same thing you did. They are just as excited to build as I am and they have all of the same abilities that I do (they can hold a sander, they know how to apply putty), but after 20 minutes of sanding they say, "ah yeah that's good right?" Kinda like how you mentioned.. If it was me I would then say, "oh no, I missed a spot." 4 hours later and saying that I missed a spot 50 more times ..that's when I am done. And I hate doing it, don't let anyone lie to you. It is not fun to sit in a dusty room holding a sander for 4-8 hours, but it is the end result that makes it worth it. Maybe, I am wrong and I missed the mark, but this is my advise: patience. On this helmet here I can tell you that I have spent 8 hours just sanding, not including applying the bondo.

PS: I don't know if the BLEEEGHHH was the sound of your sander, but it is the sound of my sander and it made me laugh.

 

No I haven't. The alien head would be cool, but also super hard to make.

Update: Look who has a nose!

 

Thanks! It's hard to say because I did watch TV while doing it (2nd season of Dark Matters is on Netflix!) but I would say 6-8 hours. Way longer than I expected. :/