Phatjax's completed helmet

[Phatjax]

Hi Everyone, I just joined the forum after lurking for a few days... I got excited about this after seeing Adam's armor up for sale on ebay... $22k, way to go!

Anyway, I am quite experienced with pepakura and building of papercraft objects. I recently completed the Pulse rifle from aliens and am most of the way done with an Iron Man helm, which I am fiberglassing now after seeing the tutorials on here. Pics to follow!

I just printed my MC helm @ what should be the proper scale, and I plan on fiberglassing it and using bondo for the details. I have a great deal of experience in modeling, but not so much in the plastic casting I'm gonna go with my strengths, and try to get as close as I can to BlueRealm's helmet, I'll keep ya'll updated!

One question I haven't been able to find an answer for in my couple days of scouring these boards... what's the best method/material to use for padding in a helmet? I was thinking of cannibalizing one of my old motorcycle helmets, but if someone has a good method, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[Tmack674]

im using the detachable padding inside my football and bike helmets. they work pretty good.

 

[Macattack64]

Some people get motorcycle replacement padding... I found if you stick a baseball hat in side with the brim half way in the brim of the helm... It's comfortable, keeps the helmet from moving... and a good place to keep your hat when your wearing a suit...

I bought a foam pad thing that I'm going to cut and put in my helmet...

 

[Phatjax]

Alright, here's my completed helmet:

[attachment=1205:Finished.JPG]
[attachment=1207Laying_halo_more.JPG]
[attachment=1206:Finished_inside.JPG]
[attachment=1208:Lights_on.JPG]
[attachment=1209:finished_left.JPG]

 

[drgon47]

Thats looking really good! Man all these nice pepkura based helms are looking better and better every day. Kudos bud.

 

[Phatjax]

Tomorrow I'm going to start fiberglassing the Torso piece and try to get it to the same level of detail as the helmet. Could take a while as I spent about 100 hours on the helmet.

I'm not terribly happy with how some of the above pics came out, when using my flash the color of the helmet really seems washed out. I guess what I'm trying to say is, the pics don't do it justice.

 

[Master Chef]

Yay someone who knows something bout modeling!!! Awesome helm btw!!! Anyway heres a recommendation, just my opinion: I think you should make the gray parts on the sides of the helmet raised with some plastic sheeting or styrene, then paint over. I'd be much more realistic that way and look even sicker (if thats possible)

 

[Phatjax]

Yeah, that was the part I was least happy with. I had been going back and adding new details in bondo for the better part of a month and decided I wasn't going to mess with it. That, and I had already used my entire can! I may go back and build up some bondo in that area once I get some more for the torso piece and carve some real vents in there.

[attachment=1210:Bondo2.JPG]

 

[MasterChiefRules]

Helmet looks awesome dude. Nice work!!!!!

 

[prototype666]

This is a nooby question because Im new to this, so anyways. I just finished my helmet, what should i use for the visor, i've been trying to find this out for days, please help me, thankyou ^^


edit:i used pep to make my helmet and i need a visor thats somewhat cheap.

 

[Beremus]

Does you'll mold it?

 

[xcxkeithxcx]

just what all did you use for the inside padding?

 

[SPU7N1K]

That is just awesome man... I wish I had that talent..

 

[Phatjax]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. To answer a couple of the questions:

1. I used 2 gold HJC CL-14 visors, but I suggest using the AC-3, as it has some curvature in the horizontal plane as well. If I was to go back and make another one, that's what I would use. Also, my visor is glued on the outside of the helmet. I cut out the visor on the paper model, leaving a 1/2" flange all the way around. This means that I had to spend a lot of time cutting the visors to exactly the right shape, but they come out the right size that way, as opposed to stretching the helmet from the inside like I've seen on a lot of the pepakura helmets.

2. The padding is a combination of a Scorpion EXO motorcycle helmet liner, bought here, and 1" thick foam rubber bought at a fabric store. It's all in there with mounting tape, except the back piece, which is in with velcro, so I can take it out to replace the batteries if I have too.

 

[Phatjax]

An Update:

I purchased 25mm 5V fans from www.hardwarecooling.com, and they should get here near the beginning of this week. The cool thing about these fans, besides the fact that they are EXACTLY the right size to fit behind the vents I cut in the front, is that being 5V, I can put two in series, and solder them in in parallel to the circuit the lights run off of, and they will work just fine off the same batteries I have powering the LEDs. If anyone wants to do something similar, let me know and I'll post a wiring diagram for the whole thing.

 

[blakiki]

I would definitely be interested in seeing a small tut on how you are/have wired your fans and LED's

 

[Rocknrollcows]

as would i... i have no idea how to do this electronic stuff

 

[valdeztke]

as would i... i have no idea how to do this electronic stuff

I just finished up building my pep armor. Started some resin work but I'm VERY new to resin/fiberglass/bondo -

I'm about 2 hrs away from you Jax. Care to give me a few pointers? Maybe even come up to DC one weekend?

 

[Master Chef]

Yeah I'm down to the bottom of my Bondo can and getting scared. I hope I don't run out! On the plus side my helm's basically bulletproof now. Almost broke my friends knuckles when he punched it. I'm gonna post my wiring system some time soon that runs 2 12v fans and 4 sleds separately, so its got two switches.

 

[AoBfrost]

Thats some serious leetness going on, nice helmet!