ODST Helmet

[DaftAttic]

Quick update:

I think I'm done with the sanding and bondoing for now so tomorrow or over the next few days I'll be applying primer... And then further bondo and sanding.

But when that's finally done I get to paint it.
Oh and I just found out we already have the two spray paint colours I needed. Chrome silver and black. Maybe I'll pick up a third colour for the stripes?

Haha man this project has been going on for about 3 weeks now but the good thing is all the hard work is done now.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

DaftAttic, your bucket is coming out fantastic!!! I'm assuming that you scored the lines of the details? Great job. 3 weeks is an incredibly short amount of time for where you are w/ this. Very impressive time management.I wish I were up to snuff.

 

[Ashuraa]

It is looking very nice. For the smaller finer detail areas spot putty / glazing putty is what you use. It is a small tube. Spread on in very thin coats. It starts as a dark red and when dry almost looks pink in color.

 

[DaftAttic]

Haha thanks dirtdives! I was going through the pictures I've taken of it and seeing the progress from back when my bondo applications were clumpy and messy to this semi ready to paint resultisjust astounding.

Today I was gonna do the primer but I got home late from work and the weather was bad so I couldn't do any more work on the helmet today....

However I was messing around with making a visor and here's my third prototype...

What I'm really loving about this is essentially how I'm improving with each new thing I do. For the visor I'm essentially using a soda bottle and heating it with a heater for the broad areas and a heat gun for the front part. I fiberglass Ed and bondoed the visor I cut out way back when and I used it as my mold. Basically the plastic grabbed the shape of the mold when you press it in the desired direction. (I used painters tape to "encourage" it's shape)
I did botch this one though. I used the heatgun on the broad area rather than the heater and that caused it to warp big time. And I did the vice versa for the front part.

After the 4th or 5th prototype I should have a functional visor but for now this will be my reference point.
I know some people vac form their visors and others use motorcycle visors but I wanted to try something different.
Im confident I'll be able to achieve a similar result.

Anyway I'm gonna call it a night. G'night all.

 

[DaftAttic]

Alright so I took a few weeks off to break from this project. I just needed to reset my brain a little and put my mind on something else. Every now and then I did put an hour or two towards my helmet though.
Right now its painted black with some white strips (halo reach style) and I've installed a fan and led light system. It's amazing but the visor is what's got me hung up right now. I can't really go much further until I get that installed.

I've looked around at local hardware stores and nobody sells petg plastic so I think I'm going to have to order some online. I built a little vac form machine and borrowed a friend's shop vac so all I need now is to perfect my template, find something to heat the plastic with and get hold of some plastic.

Does anyone have an idea of how thick the plastic should be? Maybe a link to whatever supplier on Amazon you guys used? Idk. I'm kinda at my wits end.

Anyway here are some pics of what I've got now.

yes that is an air hockey fan and you guessed it. I repurposed an old air hockey table into my vac forming machine. I cut it almost in half and have the larger chunk lying around somewhere. I hope it will be big enough for the visor forming. Anyway any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Oh whoa! That looks spectacular! the black and white really make it look snazzy! Well done! Awaiting more progress....

 

[DaftAttic]

Alright so I kinda got into some trouble with the vac forming. I'm using my kitchen oven to heat the plastic. (I know I know. You shouldn't use appliances you're going to prepare food in. However I was only going to do one pull so the difference would be negligible right? I've seen mixed opinions on this and most people use their oven for more than one pull...)

Anyway what did end up happening was the plastic, in literally 30 seconds dropped on to one of the racks. I got everything out fast and nothing touched the heating element which I think is good? And I just pulled the plastic off the rack.
So how screwed am I?

I need to get a new oven don't I?

 

[mblackwell1002]

Alright so I kinda got into some trouble with the vac forming. I'm using my kitchen oven to heat the plastic. (I know I know. You shouldn't use appliances you're going to prepare food in. However I was only going to do one pull so the difference would be negligible right? I've seen mixed opinions on this and most people use their oven for more than one pull...)

Anyway what did end up happening was the plastic, in literally 30 seconds dropped on to one of the racks. I got everything out fast and nothing touched the heating element which I think is good? And I just pulled the plastic off the rack.
So how screwed am I?

I need to get a new oven don't I?

Haha, don't worry too much.

You should be fine if you be careful and make sure there is no plastic whatsoever on the oven rack. If you take 10-20 minutes to clean off your oven rack, you'll probably be fine.

If you want to be really safe, put a few sheets of aluminum foil to protect the heating element of your oven.

Then you can attempt another pull. Put some foil on your workspace as well. It will conduct heat well enough to behave as though there isn't any foil at all between your form table and the heating element.

Also, when vac-forming, try not to let your plastic get very droopy. When it does get droopy, it is usually burnt and behaves strangely. You may also get a more foggy visor than you desire.

 

[DaftAttic]

So its been a hot minute since i started this project... and i have returned a much wiser and battle hardened cosplayer. I just completed my first ever cosplay and blew myself away with my own results. Its wild looking at where i was last june to present. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

 

[OTSDerpy]

So its been a hot minute since i started this project... and i have returned a much wiser and battle hardened cosplayer. I just completed my first ever cosplay and blew myself away with my own results. Its wild looking at where i was last june to present. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!View attachment 261949 View attachment 261950 View attachment 261951

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Hey dude, that's your first armor-set, That a LOT more detailed than mine and that's amazing!

 

[DaftAttic]

Hey dude, that's your first armor-set, That a LOT more detailed than mine and that's amazing!

Thanks man
Lol i knew that if i wanted to have any personal drive to do another suit id have to kill it with this and i think i did. But theres still a lot i could have done to make this one better. Like cutting better angles for example. I felt like my knives were never sharp enough. :$