What brings me to the 405th?
About 2 weeks ago, my wife and I were trying to figure out what we were going to be for Halloween. Last year we weren't anything, and the previous year we were Bender and Leela from Futurama. So this year, we were attempting to find a nice couple's theme. Sadly, this doesn't end with me saying I am going to be Master Chief and she would be Cortana... But that's ok, because there's always next year!
No... To spoil the Halloween story early in this post, we're going to be dressed as Belle and Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
What the hell does that have to do with the 405th?
Well, fine sir (or ma'dame), there was a possibility that I was going to be Iron Man, and my wife would be Black Widow. But rather than settle for the horrible "Officially Licensed" costumes, I started searching for "how to's: on building my own Iron Man armor. Seeing as how I created my Bender costume from scratch, I figured I could do a bang up job on Iron Man...
So I started searching ye ol' Internet and found some pretty amazing videos of home made armor. As I clicked on the "Related Videos" from YouTube I started to fall further and further down the rabbit hole. Until I came upon a talented Mr. Ben Streeper! I am sure you are all aware of the detailed videos he has created and the quality helmets he's replicated. I am more than sure there are other very talented fabircators out there, as I've seen the quality work people have posted, but I tended to follow Ben's videos and tutorials most. I've watched so many "how to" videos now that I can almost recite the processes myself! It was time to build and ODST helmet. With all of that knowledge, and creativity coming out the whazoo I tried to pace myself by promising to only make a pepakura helmet to start. And, only once I had fully finished it and was extremely happy with it, would I commit to resining, bondo/rondo-ing, sanding, molding, and casting helmets.
So about a couple days later I was off to the local Office Depot for some card stock paper. Never before can I say I've been so diligent in working on and finishing a project (aside form my artwork). I spent the entire weekend, and most of the following Monday assembling and gluing my helmet. Satuday, by around 5pm, I had assembled the front portion of the helmet and some of the right side. I thought is was the coolest thing ever to see this helmet take shape before my eyes. I must have stayed up until 3am working on the helmet. Mid Sunday I was about 3/4s done with the helmet and said "To hell with waiting, I better start getting my resin together!" I made trips to the local Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight & Tool, and Target to stock up on everything I needed! And by the end of the night Sunday I had completed the entire helmet, minus some small bottom helmet details. Those I finished on Monday, which I also called off our weekly Star Wars Roleplaying session (nerd alert!) to show my sweet ODST helmet to my friend which we then spent some time resin-ing it. I have to say I was pretty hooked! Tuesday I Rondo filled the helmet, Wednesday I started sanding and Bondoing any imperfections. Thursday I was itching to work on it, but decided that my friend and I should spend some time on my Web Comic - http://www.zombiehood.com. Friday I was sanding, sanding, and sanding - filling a few low spots, then sanding sanding and sanding! I was out of town for the weekend, but when I returned on Sunday, I took up my dremel and mouse sander, and begain the arduous task of smoothing the helmet out. I have to say, if I hadn't taken a semester of Autobody, I don't think I would have been doing as good as I have. That's not to say my helmet is immaculate, no, far from it. But it's always a fantastic feeling to create something, even if it isn't near the quality of some of the helmets I've seen on this blog. I know this helmet will have some imperfections, but that's all what learning is about. Though I am excited to finish this project, I'm even more excited for what the next project would be!
So I'd like to thank Ben Streeper and everyone at the 405th for giving me something to really sink my creative teeth into! Thanks to all of the modelers who make and unfold the pepakura helmets. And thanks to all the fabricators for showing me how it's done!
So without further adieu, here are some small progress shots of my ODST Helmet!
About 2 weeks ago, my wife and I were trying to figure out what we were going to be for Halloween. Last year we weren't anything, and the previous year we were Bender and Leela from Futurama. So this year, we were attempting to find a nice couple's theme. Sadly, this doesn't end with me saying I am going to be Master Chief and she would be Cortana... But that's ok, because there's always next year!
No... To spoil the Halloween story early in this post, we're going to be dressed as Belle and Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.What the hell does that have to do with the 405th?
Well, fine sir (or ma'dame), there was a possibility that I was going to be Iron Man, and my wife would be Black Widow. But rather than settle for the horrible "Officially Licensed" costumes, I started searching for "how to's: on building my own Iron Man armor. Seeing as how I created my Bender costume from scratch, I figured I could do a bang up job on Iron Man...
So I started searching ye ol' Internet and found some pretty amazing videos of home made armor. As I clicked on the "Related Videos" from YouTube I started to fall further and further down the rabbit hole. Until I came upon a talented Mr. Ben Streeper! I am sure you are all aware of the detailed videos he has created and the quality helmets he's replicated. I am more than sure there are other very talented fabircators out there, as I've seen the quality work people have posted, but I tended to follow Ben's videos and tutorials most. I've watched so many "how to" videos now that I can almost recite the processes myself! It was time to build and ODST helmet. With all of that knowledge, and creativity coming out the whazoo I tried to pace myself by promising to only make a pepakura helmet to start. And, only once I had fully finished it and was extremely happy with it, would I commit to resining, bondo/rondo-ing, sanding, molding, and casting helmets.
So about a couple days later I was off to the local Office Depot for some card stock paper. Never before can I say I've been so diligent in working on and finishing a project (aside form my artwork). I spent the entire weekend, and most of the following Monday assembling and gluing my helmet. Satuday, by around 5pm, I had assembled the front portion of the helmet and some of the right side. I thought is was the coolest thing ever to see this helmet take shape before my eyes. I must have stayed up until 3am working on the helmet. Mid Sunday I was about 3/4s done with the helmet and said "To hell with waiting, I better start getting my resin together!" I made trips to the local Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight & Tool, and Target to stock up on everything I needed! And by the end of the night Sunday I had completed the entire helmet, minus some small bottom helmet details. Those I finished on Monday, which I also called off our weekly Star Wars Roleplaying session (nerd alert!) to show my sweet ODST helmet to my friend which we then spent some time resin-ing it. I have to say I was pretty hooked! Tuesday I Rondo filled the helmet, Wednesday I started sanding and Bondoing any imperfections. Thursday I was itching to work on it, but decided that my friend and I should spend some time on my Web Comic - http://www.zombiehood.com. Friday I was sanding, sanding, and sanding - filling a few low spots, then sanding sanding and sanding! I was out of town for the weekend, but when I returned on Sunday, I took up my dremel and mouse sander, and begain the arduous task of smoothing the helmet out. I have to say, if I hadn't taken a semester of Autobody, I don't think I would have been doing as good as I have. That's not to say my helmet is immaculate, no, far from it. But it's always a fantastic feeling to create something, even if it isn't near the quality of some of the helmets I've seen on this blog. I know this helmet will have some imperfections, but that's all what learning is about. Though I am excited to finish this project, I'm even more excited for what the next project would be!
So I'd like to thank Ben Streeper and everyone at the 405th for giving me something to really sink my creative teeth into! Thanks to all of the modelers who make and unfold the pepakura helmets. And thanks to all the fabricators for showing me how it's done!
So without further adieu, here are some small progress shots of my ODST Helmet!
