ODST Foam build - Stepping up from DFT (Finished Build Pic on Pg. #11)

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I second what dirtdives said. That helmet looks fantastic.

I myself have been trying to talk myself into building a vacuform machine. Let me know how it goes with yours, I'm interested to see hous it turns out.

Thanks and will do. I'll document it as well. Ordered a helmet from Sean Bradley a couple of weeks ago under the belief that I would botch this whole process up. Now I think I'll still get it just to see how close I came to his. LOL.
 
Agreed.... helmet is looking great. I made a simple vacuum forming box and tray using a couple sheets of MDF. Pretty in expensive when paired with a $5 goodwill toaster oven.
 
So on the cusp of building a vacu-forming set up, does anyone have an advise on plastic sheet sizing for a standard visor? I'm wondering if 12" X 12" would be sufficient or should I look into a bigger sheet size.
 
Another way to fill up the pin holes, that I love doing, is baby powder with superglue! Any superglue will do just get a nice pile of powder then squirt some superglue on it, mix it up, and yeah, works
 
Never heard of that. May have to give it a go! Thanks for the tip.

That is an old modelers trick. I did that myself 30+ years ago when building w/ 25mm lead figures.......when we didn't have 2 part quick drying epox like we do today.....we had but it was garbage and was unreliable. But instead of baby powder I use baking soda.......The idea was to absorb the moisture but allow for the curing of the adhesive properties of the glue to work.
 
That is an old modelers trick. I did that myself 30+ years ago when building w/ 25mm lead figures.......when we didn't have 2 part quick drying epox like we do today.....we had but it was garbage and was unreliable. But instead of baby powder I use baking soda.......The idea was to absorb the moisture but allow for the curing of the adhesive properties of the glue to work.
Yep, pretty old, my gramps taught that to me!
 
Almost had an issue this evening with the bucket. When I was rinsing off the sanding dust, I grabbed the helmet by the opening of the neck and when I turned, the helmet hit the wall and well..........
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I had some of this thin fiberglass cloth, so cut a few strips, mixed up a small batch of the same resin that the helmet is made of and went into repair mode.
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It set up in about 20 minutes and I was able to smooth out the area.
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And this is where we're at now.
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I'll let the primer cure over night then start light sanding it to smoothness tomorrow. Hopefully, if all goes right, final paint will be tomorrow as well
 
this build is insane well done

Niiiice! I like it! Is your other visor going to be blue as well?

Thanks. I was thinking of going with a silver to contrast against the black and blue, but the blue does look pretty good. I suppose now comes the question of visor tinting and vac-forming. Kind of bummed that technology hasn't evolved yet where a colored mirror coating is more affordable. I've googled and read just about every forum, opinion, and technique out there as to how to pull off a vac-formed mirror visor and it seems that a cost effective process is still ever elusive outside of of the dielectric deposition method.

I have hundreds of feet of window tint in silver and in sapphire blue and plan to put a theory to test once I build the vac-forming set up. I know window tint will crinkle and crack if heated. However, years ago I worked at a metallurgical testing laboratory and learned that by varying the temperature and timing to heat metals, the metal properties would change. Then cooling in different mediums (oil, water, air) did the same thing or reverted it back to its original properties. So I kind of want to test a theory with the window film and that is to slowly bring it up to temperature versus ramping it to 300 degrees quickly. Probably won't work, but since I have quite a bit of it, I plan to give it a go.

If anyone has tried this method already, please let me know so I can move on to the next theory. Well, as soon as I think of one at least.

I did take a small piece of .020 PETG scrap to see what silver rub n' buff would do, but that just obscured the view to much, so that's a no-go.

For now though, the plan will be to either die it blue and go the thin layered silver airbrush route or dye it smoke colored and just go with a more spec ops / black ops look since the majority of the armors color is black.
 
So this is where I am at on the Bio-Foam / Water bottle idea. Kind of trial and error as I go, but its coming along. The top will be bolted down to the cap and the handle has a foam core to give the handle some structural integrity. Still quite a bit to do though. The top of a one liter sprite bottle will finish off the bottom.

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Thanks. I was thinking of going with a silver to contrast against the black and blue, but the blue does look pretty good. I suppose now comes the question of visor tinting and vac-forming. Kind of bummed that technology hasn't evolved yet where a colored mirror coating is more affordable. I've googled and read just about every forum, opinion, and technique out there as to how to pull off a vac-formed mirror visor and it seems that a cost effective process is still ever elusive outside of of the dielectric deposition method.

I have hundreds of feet of window tint in silver and in sapphire blue and plan to put a theory to test once I build the vac-forming set up. I know window tint will crinkle and crack if heated. However, years ago I worked at a metallurgical testing laboratory and learned that by varying the temperature and timing to heat metals, the metal properties would change. Then cooling in different mediums (oil, water, air) did the same thing or reverted it back to its original properties. So I kind of want to test a theory with the window film and that is to slowly bring it up to temperature versus ramping it to 300 degrees quickly. Probably won't work, but since I have quite a bit of it, I plan to give it a go.

If anyone has tried this method already, please let me know so I can move on to the next theory. Well, as soon as I think of one at least.

I did take a small piece of .020 PETG scrap to see what silver rub n' buff would do, but that just obscured the view to much, so that's a no-go.

For now though, the plan will be to either die it blue and go the thin layered silver airbrush route or dye it smoke colored and just go with a more spec ops / black ops look since the majority of the armors color is black.

I have an idea in mind for tinting that I’m hoping to try. I bought a roll of this stuff LED LIGHT 12 by 48 inches Self... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FDVL29S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share . I’m going to try basically vacuum forming it onto an already formed visor. The same way I formed the visor. It’s a vinyl that stretches with heat. So I bought some for testing. Just haven’t gotten around to it yet because im printer-less and don’t have a buck for a visor. It was cheap and I figured it was worth a shot in the dark. I’ve done the spray mirror glass and dye route and it worked “OK”. But I’m like you, really looking to get that really mirrored look!!
 
I have an idea in mind for tinting that I’m hoping to try. I bought a roll of this stuff LED LIGHT 12 by 48 inches Self... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FDVL29S?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share . I’m going to try basically vacuum forming it onto an already formed visor. The same way I formed the visor. It’s a vinyl that stretches with heat. So I bought some for testing. Just haven’t gotten around to it yet because im printer-less and don’t have a buck for a visor. It was cheap and I figured it was worth a shot in the dark. I’ve done the spray mirror glass and dye route and it worked “OK”. But I’m like you, really looking to get that really mirrored look!!

SI3RRA 117 Please let me know how that looks if/when you get it. I was looking at the same exact stuff Friday on Amazon and was about to pull the trigger. I do have multiple colors of translucent vinyl (red, blue, green, yellow, & smoke) and I know that it stretches and can be formed with a heat gun on low setting. That was going to be another theory test of mine to do exactly what you are talking about. I was going to apply the colored vinyl to the PETG sheet, let it cure, then heat it as one piece then vac it. I still need to build the box and get the PETG sheets, so if you get to it before I do, please let me know how it turns out. I'd also be really interested in how that chameleon vinyl stuff looks in person.

Here is a pic of the smoke vinyl that I heat wrapped around the perforated metal on one of my kids airsoft masks when I was practicing my paint techniques, so I do believe that is doable in a vac-forming setup.
IMG_20190106_160435_058.jpg
 
SI3RRA 117 Please let me know how that looks if/when you get it. I was looking at the same exact stuff Friday on Amazon and was about to pull the trigger. I do have multiple colors of translucent vinyl (red, blue, green, yellow, & smoke) and I know that it stretches and can be formed with a heat gun on low setting. That was going to be another theory test of mine to do exactly what you are talking about. I was going to apply the colored vinyl to the PETG sheet, let it cure, then heat it as one piece then vac it. I still need to build the box and get the PETG sheets, so if you get to it before I do, please let me know how it turns out. I'd also be really interested in how that chameleon vinyl stuff looks in person.

Here is a pic of the smoke vinyl that I heat wrapped around the perforated metal on one of my kids airsoft masks when I was practicing my paint techniques, so I do believe that is doable in a vac-forming setup.
View attachment 265979
Cool, cool will do. But you’ll prob beat me to it. I already have the film. Just haven’t tested it yet.
 
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