First attempt armour build
- Thread starter chris uk 83
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OptimusWang
Jr Member
Too bad about the visor, but the helmet looks great 
tmccarty23
Member
Your helmet looks amazing. : ) I really love the weathering. You didn't make it look like your guy rolled down a hill of steel wool and rasp files lol. Anyway, keep up the awesome work and I look forward to seeing more.
tmccarty23
Member
I'm just curious, has anyone tried to use window tint on a vac-formed visor? Like taking to a professional tint shop?
chris uk 83
New Member
I finally got near the vac-former, so here are some progress pics of the visor.
Here is the cut out rondoed piece from the helmet (after I'd glued it back together, glassed the back, re-fillered and sanded the front) next to the first attempt in vac-form plastic.
Here is the original template going into the vacformer:
And here is me filling the first attempt with plaster of paris in order to create a better template for future visor attempts, complete with mirror finish (I hope).
[URL=http://img51.imageshack.us/i/visorplaster.jpg/]
I've also treated a piece of vacform plastic with mirror tint (the stuff for glass windows) which my dad had lying around his blind shop. Once I'm sure the vacform process is going to work perfectly I'm going to stick the mirrored plastic in and hope the mirror film is as bendy as the plastic its stuck to! I have great fears about that stage and I'm sure it will just split, or peel off. However, I can always apply film to a made visor and use a heat gun to shrink it (I hope).
EDIT: I just tested it for fit. As you can see it's not a terrible fit, but not perfect either. There's a bit of a gap at the top and round the sides (but you can't see the side gap in the pic).
Here is the cut out rondoed piece from the helmet (after I'd glued it back together, glassed the back, re-fillered and sanded the front) next to the first attempt in vac-form plastic.
Here is the original template going into the vacformer:
And here is me filling the first attempt with plaster of paris in order to create a better template for future visor attempts, complete with mirror finish (I hope).
[URL=http://img51.imageshack.us/i/visorplaster.jpg/]
I've also treated a piece of vacform plastic with mirror tint (the stuff for glass windows) which my dad had lying around his blind shop. Once I'm sure the vacform process is going to work perfectly I'm going to stick the mirrored plastic in and hope the mirror film is as bendy as the plastic its stuck to! I have great fears about that stage and I'm sure it will just split, or peel off. However, I can always apply film to a made visor and use a heat gun to shrink it (I hope).
EDIT: I just tested it for fit. As you can see it's not a terrible fit, but not perfect either. There's a bit of a gap at the top and round the sides (but you can't see the side gap in the pic).
chris uk 83
New Member
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by pouring cement behind it. Surely you don't mean actual building cement? Also how would you stop it from just running off the back of the pepped piece?
I've not tried but I have a feeling that a pepped visor would not take the same shape as the helmet it is meant to match, since the helmet itself pulls the visor into shape somewhat. In future builds I may give it a go though.
TheBradinator
Member
LOVE the way your helmet looks!
chris uk 83
New Member
Finally finished the helmet, well, I'm not quite happy with it yet, but it's a good proof of concept anyway.
I gave up with the vacform idea because the finished visors never quite fit the gap properly, instead I went with bending a piece of HIPS plastic across the gap, which left small gaps at the edges (more on that soon). I then covered my sheet of HIPS with mirror film for windows, which does not stick as well to HIPS as it does to glass, and went for it:
This was then shoved up behind the visor hole, and with the aid of a hot air gun I forced it to accept its new shape. I then squeezed a load of hot glue round the edges, trying (and failing) not to get any on my beautifully mirrored surface. Of course, by the time I'd put the visor in place and positioned it properly the glue had dried and it wouldn't stick. So I got the hot air gun out again and made it melt.
This caused the rondo in the helmet to soften and I could bend the edges of the helmet, where there were gaps, into place shutting the gaps and sticking in one fluid motion. It also meant that the visor bent a bit more to the shape of the hole. I thoroughly recommend the mirror film, HIPS plastic and hot air gun method of visor making. In total this cost me £0.00 purely because I work at a school and got the plastic and film for free, but it would be considerably less than the cost of a motorbike visor anyway.
So, without further ado, I present my finished Noble 6 helm (note that the film has got a couple of air bubbles in it that I can't remove so I may have to re-do it).
I gave up with the vacform idea because the finished visors never quite fit the gap properly, instead I went with bending a piece of HIPS plastic across the gap, which left small gaps at the edges (more on that soon). I then covered my sheet of HIPS with mirror film for windows, which does not stick as well to HIPS as it does to glass, and went for it:
This was then shoved up behind the visor hole, and with the aid of a hot air gun I forced it to accept its new shape. I then squeezed a load of hot glue round the edges, trying (and failing) not to get any on my beautifully mirrored surface. Of course, by the time I'd put the visor in place and positioned it properly the glue had dried and it wouldn't stick. So I got the hot air gun out again and made it melt.
This caused the rondo in the helmet to soften and I could bend the edges of the helmet, where there were gaps, into place shutting the gaps and sticking in one fluid motion. It also meant that the visor bent a bit more to the shape of the hole. I thoroughly recommend the mirror film, HIPS plastic and hot air gun method of visor making. In total this cost me £0.00 purely because I work at a school and got the plastic and film for free, but it would be considerably less than the cost of a motorbike visor anyway.
So, without further ado, I present my finished Noble 6 helm (note that the film has got a couple of air bubbles in it that I can't remove so I may have to re-do it).
chris uk 83
New Member
Well it's only taken me a year so far, and the armour's been on hold for a while, but I've now got a fancy dress party to go to so I need to get this finished! I've managed one thigh, and the chest since last I posted and I fixed the bubbles in the visor and added padding. Here's proof:
The helmet with a new, bubble free visor
Showing the padding inside. All I did was cut some foam (the stuff usually used for filling seat cushions with) to shape and stuff it in the helmet. It's not glued or anything.
See, it comes right out. These were the shapes I decided I needed.
And here's a close up of how the visor was installed. I just put the silver film on a flat piece of transparent HIPS plastic, cut the shape you see in previous posts then bent it and glued round the edges and behind it. I didn't glue the film to the helmet at all, if I had it would have peeled straight off again.
QUESTION: Does anyone know where I can get cheap buckles and strapping in the UK? I need to join my chest back together and I was going to use Spitfire's method (page 20) but I need a UK distributor of buckles and strapping cord first.
Also I've got some new brushes on order to resin my new parts, and some 220gsm card for pepping the rest of the kit. Codpiece is pepped to go, left shin came out a good fit but impossible to get my foot through (tips please?) and currently working on pepping right thigh. It's all systems go. I'll not bore you with pics of pep because we've all seen pepped armour pieces before.
I've also discovered a new way to do pep quickly: I'm a teacher at a high school and occasionally I need to put pupils on detention. Detention now consists of scoring lines and cutting shapes....
The helmet with a new, bubble free visor
Showing the padding inside. All I did was cut some foam (the stuff usually used for filling seat cushions with) to shape and stuff it in the helmet. It's not glued or anything.
See, it comes right out. These were the shapes I decided I needed.
And here's a close up of how the visor was installed. I just put the silver film on a flat piece of transparent HIPS plastic, cut the shape you see in previous posts then bent it and glued round the edges and behind it. I didn't glue the film to the helmet at all, if I had it would have peeled straight off again.
QUESTION: Does anyone know where I can get cheap buckles and strapping in the UK? I need to join my chest back together and I was going to use Spitfire's method (page 20) but I need a UK distributor of buckles and strapping cord first.
Also I've got some new brushes on order to resin my new parts, and some 220gsm card for pepping the rest of the kit. Codpiece is pepped to go, left shin came out a good fit but impossible to get my foot through (tips please?) and currently working on pepping right thigh. It's all systems go. I'll not bore you with pics of pep because we've all seen pepped armour pieces before.
I've also discovered a new way to do pep quickly: I'm a teacher at a high school and occasionally I need to put pupils on detention. Detention now consists of scoring lines and cutting shapes....
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