New ODST Visor

[Sir HappyBear I]

Hello everyone!
I'm going to start making my first ODST armor and i ordered my helmet from Xcoser and i'm really happy with it. My helmet has the distinct ODSt visor with the curve and all and i really want to keep that kind of visor.

I'm going to repaint it and i want a different visor color. But the visor itself is pretty thin so i'm kind of afraid to try and apply tint foil on it since i've never done anything like this before. So i was wondering if there's a way to make a mould of the visor and make another one? Or is there some kind of other and easier way? I know there's a few sellers on etsy who sell ODST visors but i'm not sure they would fit properly in my helmet. Any tips and advice would be appreciated!

 

[xXDashIVXx]

Hello everyone!
I'm going to start making my first ODST armor and i ordered my helmet from Xcoser and i'm really happy with it. My helmet has the distinct ODSt visor with the curve and all and i really want to keep that kind of visor. View attachment 280495View attachment 280496I'm going to repaint it and i want a different visor color. But the visor itself is pretty thin so i'm kind of afraid to try and apply tint foil on it since i've never done anything like this before. So i was wondering if there's a way to make a mould of the visor and make another one? Or is there some kind of other and easier way? I know there's a few sellers on etsy who sell ODST visors but i'm not sure they would fit properly in my helmet. Any tips and advice would be appreciated!

There are good sellers on etsy, like you mentioned, but their visors are usually fitted to their helmets exclusively. There are a few different methods you can do. I recall some good tutorials on the forums that require you to cut up thin materials of plastic and glue them together, and it definatly works. If you want a clean visor like the one you have currently, vacuum forming is the best way to go. You'd have to make a vacuum table, sculpt or build a buck of the visor, form it, and then dye the plastic, but the results would be great. Not necessarily the choice you should chose here because of money, experiance, and probably never using it again. You may be able to dye the visor you have now and chrome the inside, but using tiny sheets would be a disaster because of wrinkles

 

[Sir HappyBear I]

There are good sellers on etsy, like you mentioned, but their visors are usually fitted to their helmets exclusively. There are a few different methods you can do. I recall some good tutorials on the forums that require you to cut up thin materials of plastic and glue them together, and it definatly works. If you want a clean visor like the one you have currently, vacuum forming is the best way to go. You'd have to make a vacuum table, sculpt or build a buck of the visor, form it, and then dye the plastic, but the results would be great. Not necessarily the choice you should chose here because of money, experiance, and probably never using it again. You may be able to dye the visor you have now and chrome the inside, but using tiny sheets would be a disaster because of wrinkles

And how do you dye a visor?

 

[xXDashIVXx]

And how do you dye a visor?

There are many great tutorials on YouTube. You may want to watch as many as you can to have more information on the topic and know different methods. It usually requires you to boil dye in a pot of water and soak the plastic in it for a little bit, but definatly work on a practice piece first so you dont ruin the visor

 

[Sentinel332]

Go check out Punished Props on YT. They have some videos on tinting but also vac forming

 

[Ashuraa]

I have vac formed and dyed several styles of visors over the last few years.


Dyeing visirs can be tricky. You have to use a fabric dye for synthetic fabric.
Most commonly availble are iDye Poly or RIT DyeMore.

Either dye you will need.

2 large pots, perferably old canning pots. They should be big enough to fit your entire visor with some movement room.

Several gallons of water.

1 to 4 packages of your chosen dye.

A candy thermometer

Gloves.

Some sort of grabbing utensil. Either tongs, long handled pliers. Or similar.

Old towles and sheeting to protect all other nearby surfaces.



None of these items can ever be used for cooking food with in the future.


Now that you have all of these items.
You fill both pots with enough water to completely cover your item that is going to be dyed.

Place your towles and plastic sheeting over all surfaces that you want protected, such as countertops and floor.

Place one pot to the side. The other pot you will place on a stove.

Make sure you are wearing your gloves, alpron, and possibly eye protection.


You will add heat to the pot on the stove.
While it is heating up you will add your dye. The bigger your visor, or the darker the color you want you will add more dye.

Stir well and often.

Heat the water to 145°f to 155°f.

At this point you will gently place your visor into the dyepot.

Stir and keep the water in the dyepot moving. Watch the tempature. You do not want to deviate feom the 145 - 155 degree tempature. Pull your visor out to check on if it is getting soft and if the color is to where you want it every 3 minutes. If the plastic is starting to soften, then reduce heat to the pot.
Once desired color has been achieved, take the visor out of the dyepot. You will then place the visor into the pot of clean cool water.
Move it around in the cool water to help set the dye and help anneal the plastic. After 3 minutes, remove visor and place it on the towles. Leave sitting there for 10 minutes.