RvB Felix helmet

[spleenbegone]

Hello everyone. As a long time fan of RvB and resident super-villain, it's only natural that I wanted to make a Felix helmet. the eventual plan is to have a full set of armor for both Felix and Locus that my friend and I can wear to cons together. Since this is my first project in Pepakura, fiberglassing, bondo, and cosplay, I figured I'd start with the simpler of the two helmets first. Go big or go home, right?

So I started with a Scout helmet pepakura file, and some free time at work/home. My first attempt was ok, but some things were slightly crooked and just not quite as good as I'd like.


I ended up scrapping this one and remaking it. I don't have any pictures of it just sitting around in all of it's paper glory, but I do have a few from when I started to coat it in fiberglass resin. I assure you it's not as crooked as this angle makes it look.


Some fiberglass and more resin for the inside to give me a good solid shell to work with. Fun fact, the standard neck size for this doesn't fit over my head. Had to do some trimming...then more trimming later.


I decided to throw a coat of primer on it after I got the fiberglass done for a few reasons. One it would let me know when I was close to the base shell as I sanded bondo, and two because it just looked weird yellow.


I've never bondo'd anything in my life before. The magic is starting to happen though!





Another coat of primer to keep track of my layers and some trimming to make a test fit happen. There's a lot of bondo in places it shouldn't be at this point, and a lot of sanding to go.


More sanding. I bet if I were good at this it wouldn't take me two cans of bondo and an untold amount of sandpaper to get it right.


At this point the sanding is getting to me and I need a little extra motivation. The solution? Quick paint job to see what it's going to look like. I didn't even bother to get all the lines straight, it was enough to get me going again.


Paint job's gone. Holy Mother of Invention am I getting tired of sanding. getting close though.


Since the last picture, I think I've finished with the bondo work and I'm just doing some fine sanding to get all the lines and such out of it. I'll update with a more recent picture when I get home.

 

[Chernobyl]

It's definitely starting to take shape and looking good.

Some advice for next time, however: work with smaller batches of Bondo. It looks like you've put a lot on all at once and made a rush job trying to get a large batch on, whereas ideally you should be working with an amount probably no larger than a ping pong ball. Slapping a lot on at once means you're going to have more work sanding it down smooth and more waste product as a result once you've cleaned it off.

Something to keep in mind for your next project, is al. Small, thin batches work much better.

 

[spleenbegone]

Thanks for the tip, I know I'm using more than that at a time. Originally I think I was putting a bit too much hardener as well and it was setting up really fast on me.

 

[Chernobyl]

Thanks for the tip, I know I'm using more than that at a time. Originally I think I was putting a bit too much hardener as well and it was setting up really fast on me.

Easily done, I found I had the same problems myself when I first got to using the stuff. I can guarantee that, after knocking out a few pieces and getting the hang of things, you'll look back at your first attempts, cringe, and go back to re-do them - not a bad thing to want to improve your work.

You'll get to grips with your mix ratios eventually. Every product is different, so I can't advise you on ratios specifically, though I will note that it's always better to have leftover waste than it is to go 'oh snap, it's curing on me, better slap it all on now!'. As I said above, the point is to make as little work for yourself as possible in the long run.

 

[bran3nbusby117]

take your time, you can do it

 

[JD of Asgard]

that looks spiffy.

question. does your helmet breath well? My 1st-3rd helmets were made from cardstock/resin/bondo but they never breathed well. I remember felt claustrophobic the second I put my old ones on. My new foam one just feels way more breathable.

 

[spleenbegone]

Right now there's no padding in it and a big hole where the visor goes, so it breathes plenty well. I think I'm going to end up rigging a little fan in it though.